Archive for October, 2014
Lack of Clean Hands: Complaints filed against GOP Organizations for Campaign Finance Violations
After the Dana Long incident, I warned Republicans against triumphalism, indicating to them that they better have clean hands when it comes to this election. While this is not necessarily directly analogous, indeed I would say this is worse, the Democratic Party has filed a complaint with the Elections Commissioner over multiple campaign finance violations by state Republican organizations. Come inside for the full release….
Kevin Wade’s Ebola Ad: A New Low for Delaware
Really, this is just…
First off, Chris Coons never said or tweeted “Stop freaking out about America’s single Ebola death.” It was the title of an article he linked to. But deception and lies are to be expected when we are dealing with Republicans. Second, even if he did say it or tweet it, Chris Coons is right, which is why is linked to that article. There is no outbreak of Ebola in the United States, no matter how much fear mongering the media and the Republicans engage in. Indeed, this ad is an hysterical attempt to make you scared of something, and then blame Chris Coons for it. Hence the allegation that being a chairman of a sub-committee on Africa in the Senate gives Senator Coons the power to stop Ebola!
That is just rich, coming from a Republican such as Kevin Wade. Let’s pretend for a moment that being a chairman of a sub-committee on Africa did empower a Senator with God-like powers to stop a virus in its tracks. Kevin Wade, as a Republican, would not have any interest in using that power to help the people of Africa. He would cut funding for scientific research the first chance he got. Hell, he would not even consider sitting on a sub-committee on Africa.
But really, I am spending too much rebutting this fearmonger of an ad, and what we should be doing is condemning Kevin Wade. I call on Charlie Copeland and John Fluharty to condemn their candidate’s fearmongering and see to it that Mr. Wade apologizes to the people of Delaware for it.
Halloween Open Thread [10.31.14]
![Halloween Open Thread [10.31.14]](http://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Halloween-Decor-Walgreens-240x180.jpg "Halloween Open Thread [10.31.14]")
“Democratic efforts to turn out the young and nonwhite voters who sat out the 2010 midterm elections appear to be paying off in several Senate battleground states. More than 20 percent of the nearly three million votes already tabulated in Georgia, North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa have come from people who did not vote in the last midterm election,” according to an analysis of early-voting data by The Upshot.
I have felt all along that this election was not going to play out according to the normal media’s Republican Landslide/Obama/Democrats Repudiated narrative. The reason why is 1) the Democrats were going to do a presidential level GOTV operation to make up for the embarrassing loss in 2010, and 2) like in 1998, I felt like there was going to be GOP overreach and a pushback from the public. In 1998, the result of that was the Dems breaking even in the Senate and winning 5 seats in the House. In 2014, it will be the Dems holding onto the Senate. I will be releasing my full predictions of how the Dems will do that on Monday.
Come inside for more polls…
Your Predictions
El Som and I have posted our predictions. And we vary wildly from each other on a few key races. Where do our beloved readers and commenters stand? If you want, please post your predictions below in the comments from the following races. The House and Senate races I selected are the ones that are most competitive.
US Senator–Coons v. Wade
US Rep–Carney v. Izzo
Treasurer–Barney v. Simpler
AG–Denn v. Kittila
Auditor–Mayrack v. Wagner
6th SD–Snyder-Hall v. Lopez
10th SD–Hall-Long v. Marino
17th SD–Bushweller v. Warfield
18th SD–Emory v. Simpson
21st SD–Venables v. Richardson
4th RD–Brady v. Keesler
9th RD–Hortiz v. Hensley
10th RD–Matthews v. Travis
11th RD–Newlin v. Spiegelman
15th RD–Longhurst v. Lenzini
20th RD–Mayor v. Smyk
22nd RD–Mackenzie v. Miro v. Newton
29th RD–Paradee v. Kramer
30th RD–Gallo v. Outten
31st RD–Lynn v. Chick
37th RD–Rappa v. Briggs King
41st RD–Atkins v. Collins
I’ve still got $50.00 that says Republican economics are full of shit… any takers?
With all the recent talk about how the Republicans want to “fix” the economy by cutting taxes, I feel the need to reintroduce everyone with my standing bet.
Friday Daily Delawhere [10.31.14]
![Friday Daily Delawhere [10.31.14]](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2874/11660162465_ddc71b6dc6_z.jpg "Friday Daily Delawhere [10.31.14]")
Happy Halloween! This photo of Frightland was taken by Jay Joslin on Flickr.
Sign This Petition — Rep. Smyk Should Apologize
Sexual assault is serious and traumatic for its survivors — and there is no comparison to paying taxes. Insisting on that comparison is certainly callous and certainly stupid. Two things that may, in fact, be habit with Rep. Smyk. He needs to apologize (and stop chasing down people he thinks are responsible for circulating this) and he needs to apologize now. Please sign this petition that calls upon Smyk to apologize for his stupid and offensive use of the word “rape” in trying to defend corporate interests.
Then, make sure you go vote for Marie Mayor, who will certainly respect and represent her constituents better than this.
The guy who wants to turn Medicare and Medicaid into a voucher system is thinking about running for President
FSM does not love me enough to allow Paul Ryan to be the GOP nominee.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) indicated in an interview published Thursday that he is open to a presidential run, saying he does not see himself as a House “lifer.”
Ryan said he will make his decision next year. “I’m not in a rush,” he told The Washington Post. “My way is to do the job at hand, do it well, and not worry about strategizing how I can do better than this guy or that guy in New Hampshire. I’m not in a place where I have to scratch and claw to get my name out there. Why do I need to blow money on that? I’ll line it all up next year and do my long list of pros and cons, this and that.”
Kevin Wade – Fear and Ebola
Kevin Wade has chosen to abandon his campaign against Chris Coons, and instead started to run against science.
UPDATED: No political fall out from signgate anticipated
I haven’t spoken to anyone who thinks that this significantly changes the dynamics of the race. Here is a round-up of statements that pretty much put this thing to bed.
The Bethany Hall-Long apology:
“My husband is the man depicted in the video. The video shows him removing a handful of signs this morning. He turned them over to the Democratic Party and asked that they be returned to the Republican Party about six hours after they were taken up,” she said. “Sadly, this race has become tough and personal. My husband is my high school sweetheart and he loves me very much. I was not aware that he had allowed his frustration over the campaign attacks to get the better of him. Of course I’m disappointed and wish that it had not happened.”
Thursday Open Thread [10.30.14]
Man, you get Republicans into a room with their donors and supporters and they really open up about their plans. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is inexplicably considering a presidential bid for reasons passing any human understanding, said earlier this month in such a private gathering that “white men who are in male-only clubs are going to do great in my presidency.”
I’m sure, Senator. I’m sure.
Much like my predictions yesterday for all the state races, I will also predict all of the U.S. Senate races as well. Look for that on Monday. Here are some of the latest polls, inside…
Thursday Daily Delawhere [10.30.14]
![Thursday Daily Delawhere [10.30.14]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3949/15436580357_02fe96fe2f_z.jpg "Thursday Daily Delawhere [10.30.14]")
A bridge for the Wilmington & Western Railroad over Red Clay Creek near Yorklyn. Photo by Xzmattzx.
2014: My Predictions
Everyone knows who the President of the United States. But after that, it’s a crap shoot. A Jimmy Kimmel (I think, maybe it was a Jimmy Fallon skit) revealed that some people in New York don’t know who Joe Biden is. And we know moving down the electoral ladder, from governor to U.S. Senator to your representative in Congress to your state Senators and Representatives and your local councilpeople, that the smaller and more local a position, the less likely it is that people are going to know who they are. So the people who have the most power to affect your daily and everyday life, i.e. your county and city councilmen and women, your state representatives and senators, are strangers to you. But everyone knows Obama.
As a local political blog, we strive to keep you informed as to who the most important politicians to you are. But even we fail at that sometimes. National political news is easier to follow, because you know the players and the players want to be known, and you have many people wanting to tell you the story. If you want to follow local politics, your choices are limited, hard to find, and often lacking much substance. And its hard to follow events because the players are lesser known to you.
So to help in that, let’s start in talking about and predicting all of the offices up and down the ballot. And as you see below, I have included all the statewide and county level Row offices, even though I think some of them should not be elected offices (yeah, we shouldn’t be electing sheriffs, treasurers, recorders of deeds or wills, at any level of government).
Now, El Somnambulo has already posted his predictions for you. And he, along with our illustrious founder, Jason330, are very pessimistic, in their attitude, and in some of their predictions. I am a little more optimistic and realistic.
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