February 26, 2017 Open Thread
Hansen wins, preserves Democrats’ control of Senate (link)
Dover rally calls for changes in Delaware prison system (a href=”http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2017/02/25/dover-rally-calls-changes-delaware-prison-system/98407846/”>link)
Federal suit challenges political affiliation law for judges (link)
I’m still savoring the beat down Hansen lid on Charlie Copeland.
“This was the first swing election in the country since the inauguration. It was the first chance for voters to rise up with one voice to say we’re bigger than the bullies,” Hansen said during her victory speech at the Odessa Fire Company.
“It was the first chance for voters to declare with one loud voice that we’re better than the politics of fear and division. What we accomplished together will have implications for our entire state and country, and I think tonight they’re hearing us loud and clear in all corners of this country – and certainly in D.C. and in Dover.”
Here’s the story from HuffPo, where it leads the front page:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/delaware-special-senate-election_us_58b22659e4b060480e089560?3uk9zh353rq7zxgvi&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
I cannot get excited about this result. This election is not going to change anything.
Puck has laid out all the ways it helps to have a D there instead of an R. Those are the managerial items. The larger leadership items, changing the terms of the debate, fall to us to implement.
@nemski: That’s the cruel irony of all this: As flawed as the status quo is, it’s better than the alternative.
Lots of letters to editor in Journal laying the prison mess on Markell for doing nothing.
Minner did nothing before Markell.
They were really able to sweep this under the rug. Until now. Carney might actually have to spend money to address this one.
Watch Carney go for privatized prisons.
Delaware Way just buy the election.
Sore loser talk. Copeland got his ass kicked. get over it.
Depends on the 2018 midterm elections.
“Delaware Way just buy the election.”
Considering that Delaware’s elections are some of the least expensively waged in the nation, you’re going to have to explain that one.
I’ll give you a couple of counter-examples just to get you motivated. Both Jack Markell and Mike Purzycki won their elections not by spending the most money, though they did (Markell just barely), but because they did the hard work of convincing thousands of voters (1,100 in Purzycki’s case) to switch parties in time to vote in primaries. The candidates didn’t pay voters to do that — in fact, many of those voters paid in donations to the candidates.
So go ahead — make your case that “buying elections” is part of the “Delaware Way.”
The truth is the opposite — the Delaware Way is about inter-party collusion. The most obvious sign of it in elections is how many General Assembly incumbents run unopposed.