Sep 04 2010
The 3 Most Important Races Of This Year – Where To Focus Our Energies
I noted yesterday that the the anti ‘big government’ wave building in the country was about to make control of the senate hinge on 4 senate races: WI, WA, IL & CA. Right on queue, Jonathan Martin at Politico comes out with a nearly identical assessment:
Control of the U.S. Senate increasingly appears to hang on the fate of an unlikely trio of Democratic incumbents who were elected along with Bill Clinton in 1992, hail from liberal-leaning states and have lived mostly charmed political lives.
At the start of the year, few observers thought the Senate was up for grabs, in part because it seemed implausible that Washington’s Patty Murray, California’s Barbara Boxer and Wisconsin’s Russ Feingold were in any serious danger.
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But with the political environment turning toxic for Democrats and incumbents, Murray drawing perhaps her toughest possible opponent and Boxer and Feingold facing self-funders, the three Class of 1992 veterans are in the fight of their long political lives as the battle for control of the Senate moves from traditional battlegrounds to blue state venues.
It is a worthy read, but more important it is a rallying point for everyone and anyone serious about throwing the Democrats out of power this fall. These 3 races are now the pivot point to success for the GOP, the Tea Party groups and independents who want to get this country back on track and growing again.
It is especially important that the  disparate Tea Party groups need to decide if defeating the GOP is more important than saving this country. Instead of the nonsense we see in the DE primary, we need to see the nation swing behind the GOP candidates in these key three races, since they represent the path to a brighter future for our families, our communities and our nation. The WA race especially needs donations to level the playing field biased by a 3 term senate incumbent.
If people can come together behind the challengers in these three races, we will have put this nation back on the right path. There are plenty of primaries and elections to refine the course of that path after 2010. Plenty of opportunities to debate the direction of the conservative movement. This year, however, it is more important we just start heading away from the brink of self destruction.
One step at a time…kick the Democrats out of the general election. As for the DE election, even Erik Erickson abandoned that election entirely.
I am not fond of Fiorina but as long as she can get Boxer out of the office, I’m ok. Fiorina pretty much ran HP down the tubes.
@lurker
Fiorina was canned for her signature move at HP, which was ramming the Compaq merger down the the throats of the shareholders. It was controversial then, and you can question how well the details of the transition was managed, but in retrospect there is no doubt that it put HP in a position to take out a competitor that was cleaning their clock (Dell) – and position HP to challenge IBM. HP had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the next level.
I watched her performance in the debate Wednesday, and developed some new respect for her. I’m expecting to see a bump in the polls as a result of that performance. My assessment of this critical race linked here.
[…] The Strata-Sphere explains where conservative energy needs to go. (And be patient if the site doesn’t load. Apparently it’s been hinky.) Bottom line: Washington, California and Wisconsin are the Senate races to watch. They could be the real game changers. Here in California, I know that I’m voting for Carly. Are you? […]
Boxer and Fiorina Debate in Red State California…
Carly Fiorina and Barbara Boxer met for their first (and potentially only) debate of the election season. It is one of the “dirty dozen” contests that will determine whether the GOP retakes the majority in the Senate….
From Tsunami
(AJStrata, of The Strata-Sphere has frequently used the term as an analogy of what may come in November, and is the “he” referred to below.)
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He points out (in some of those other posts) that, like an iceberg only revealing 1/10th of itself above water, a tsunami wave doesn’t doesn’t look all that different from other waves out in mid-ocean (unless you can note its length).
It’s when it begins arriving in the shallows that the true monster rears its head.
Pointing to pent-up frustrations among likely voters waiting until November to speak their piece, rather than talking to pollsters now, he feels that current polls (bad as they already are for Democrats) may not even hint at the bloodbath to come.
I hope to God that he is right. If he is, this raises hope that the shoving down our throats of the worst of the Democrat’s agenda, promised for the lame-duck session following the election, may not be a given after all.
If the Democrats get smashed hard enough, then there may be many among the survivors (assuming they’re not all freaking morons) that may be reluctant to commit to a kamikaze run to help the walking dead force their bills upon us.
That’s all we can hope for right now, but to get there, I’d like to borrow from Blogger Robin of Berkeley’s A Shrink Asks: What’s Wrong with Obama?…
“It means that liberals need to wake up and spit out the Kool-Aid… and that conservatives should put aside differences, band together, and elect as many Republicans as possible.“
We must do this. If you don’t want the “death of a thousand cuts”, of crushed dreams and opportunities, from a bunch of arrogant snots controlling absolutely every aspect of your lives, then your best hope (at present) is to purge out as many Democrats as you possibly can and replace them with Republicans.
While the Republicans may be cursed with a few of these controlling types, the Democrats seem absolutely infested with them.
So, don’t ever delude yourself that there is no real difference between the two parties. What I’ve just described above is fundamental, and worth fighting for.
GO FOR IT! It truly CAN be done.
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I apologize for repeating myself so much; I probably get so full of myself that I just can’t help it. 🙂
But, I really DO believe the points I keep hammering, and feel they cannot be emphasized enough.
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I absolutely agree AJ. The important thing is to stop the Democrats right now. The whole thing is DE is absurd, O’Donnell is virtually unelectable in a general election, she is no Joe Miller. And I am starting to worry about Nevada. According to Rasmussens, Reid is at 50%, three points ahead of Angle. She might pull it out in the end, but this should not have been a race, a guy like Tarkanian would have beat Reid easy. People might be miffed with the GOP but they need to keep their eye on the ball, otherwise we all lose.
I think the DE controversy will fix itself. If Castle wins the primary (likely) he will go on to win in November. I also think Angle will win in the end, especially if Reid #2 …err I mean Rory…gets blown out in the governor’s race.
As for RINOs in general, here’s my opinion. If the GOP is going to get anywhere, we will have to accept that some so-called RINOs will be elected. I’m not convinced that these RINOs are all bad either. For example, I like Scott Brown. Did he make a vote or two that I disagreed with? Sure. But he will go on to make many more votes I DO agree with. Absolutely! Plus he will prevent Harry Reid from ever again becoming majority leader. Which is one aspect of RINOs we should consider – in the end, they will help us establish leadership positions within the House and Senate so that the GOP can affect things like budget priorities, investigations, judges, etc.
So I will welcome having Senators Castle and Fiorina as much as I will welcome Senators Rubio and Miller…
And give generously to their campaigns – our country’s future depends on it !
[…] you know that the Los Angeles Times recently published a series of articles … more… The 3 Most Important Races Of This Year – Where To Focus Our Energies – strata-sphere.com 09/04/2010 I noted yesterday that the the anti ‘big […]
So I hear the Democrats have a firewall strategy to save the House, burn it down …
archtop:
I think you are probably right.
Y, I agree, we have to become the true blue-dogs: I’ll even vote for a blue dog as long as he’s NOT a #%#@%# DEMOCRAP!!!!
While Fiorina’s move with HP on Compaq paid well in market share, the real price of it was the most coveted high tech culture in Silicon Valley: THE HP WAY.
I really do not know any HP guy who liked or likes Fiorina.
Having said that, I will back her all the way in her fight against that Boxer.
Or any heavy investors in HP. A friend of mine had lots and lots of stock with HP and those actions that Fiorina did destroyed the value of her stock. That was also part of her (diversified) retirement savings.
But in spite of that, if I lived in that district, I’d pick Fiorina over Boxer, mainly to kick Boxer out of the house.
Not exactly sure how that Democratic “firewall” is. I’m really surprising that they think this “firewall” is going to be successful. They’re just going to pour money into it but I think that they have reached the point of no return in investment.
I see that Obama’s doing the last act of desperation in “fixing” the economy hoping to gain back the independent vote. Will Reid’s “small business” bill save them? I don’t think so. Will Pelosi’s tax cut debate save them? I don’t think so.
The Americans still remember all of those backroom deals and the very expensive vote bribes and do they really want another Congress under their influence and power? Only the liberals but they are mad at them for not doing enough.
AJ,
We have reached this part of the campaign:
“When in trouble, fear, or doubt…Run Around, Scream & Shout!”
See below:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/california/ci_15995785
DEMOCRATS PLAN POLITICAL TRIAGE TO RETAIN HOUSEN/b>
By Jeff Zeleny and Carl Hulse New York Times
Posted: 09/04/2010 07:43:22 PM PDT
Updated: 09/04/2010 07:43:22 PM PDT
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WASHINGTON — As Democrats brace for a November wave that threatens their control of the House, party leaders are preparing a brutal triage of their own members in hopes of saving enough seats to keep a slim grip on the majority.
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In the next two weeks, Democratic leaders will review new polls and other data that show whether vulnerable incumbents have a path to victory. If not, the party is poised to redirect money to concentrate on trying to protect up to two dozen lawmakers who appear to be in the strongest position to fend off their challengers.
That passage was propaganda.
There are enough Democrats House seats in trouble outside the 55 swing districts Democrats picked up in 2006 and 2008 that trying to save 24 of 55 swing districts won’t save the House from flipping. There are at best three to four Republican House seats that might be in trouble that at best the Democrats might pick up two — one in Hawaii and one in Louisiana.
The Democrats know it and are now trying desperately to remake the “national wave election” into 435 local ones.
See:
A national campaign trumpeting Democratic accomplishments on health care, education and Wall Street regulation has given way to a race-by-race defensive strategy. Democratic incumbents are moving to aggressively define their Republican opponents and individualize races in an effort to inoculate themselves from the national mood.
In Missouri, Rep. Ike Skelton has rarely run hard-hitting advertisements during 34 years in office, but he sternly accuses his opponent in one of not supporting the troops. In Texas, Rep. Chet Edwards, using the word “lie” three times, accuses his rival in an advertisement of claiming that he voted in a recent election when polling records said he did not. In New Jersey, Rep. John Adler accused his challenger, also in an advertisement, of buying a donkey so he could call his house a farm and get a tax break on it.
This isn’t working. But it is the only hand they have to play and they are throwing as much money as they have at it.
See:
Nearly four dozen Democrats are broadcasting television advertisements — far more by Labor Day than in previous election cycles.
and that passage indicates that there is no more available local TV or other media bandwidth they can spend money on.
The problem is that Democrats face is two fold. First, the economic environment is so bad that half their swing state gains of 2006 and 2008 ar gone no matter what they do.
The second is that their policies and the recent SCOTUS free speech decision in favor or corporate campaign spending means they are not just fighting out of power Republicans. They are fighting the big capital and small businesses interests they attacked with their domestic policies.
That means they are really facing a money disadvantage between now and November.
Even the NY Times is willing to go their and tell their Democatic readers the bad news.
See:
While several Democratic candidates have more money in the bank than their rivals, Democrats fear that outside Republican advocacy groups will step in and fill the gap. They are watching to see if interest groups and other constituencies increase their donations to Republicans in the hopes of winning access and influence should the House change hands.
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While Democrats have all but given up hope that the political or economic climate will improve substantially before the election, they are not conceding control of the House. Several party leaders and strategists privately acknowledge that about 20 seats are already probably lost, but they believe they can build a fire wall around seats in the Northeast and in other pockets across the country where Republicans have nominated untested candidates.
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The battle is boiling down to a question of mathematics and difficult decisions for Democrats. By the best-case Democratic calculation, party strategists believe that Republicans must beat about 35 sitting Democrats if the parties split 16 highly-competitive open seats and Democrats win four of five Republican seats they see as within their reach in Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois and Louisiana.
That last paragraph was pure wishful thinking.