Apr
28
2012
4

Politico: excusing in 2012 their lack of foresight about 2010?

I need to push back on this cover-their-rear statement by Politico on the ‘surprise’ flipping of the House of Representatives in 2010.

[House Speaker John] Boehner doesn’t play political prognosticator often. But when he does, those close to him say, there’s usually a calculated reason. In April 2010 — almost two years ago exactly — the then-House minority leader said in a radio interview that an astounding 100 seats were in play in that year’s midterm elections, a figure he said was broader than “anything we’ve seen around here during my 20 years” in the House.

Few from either party believed Boehner at the time, but his assessment proved accurate. Republicans put about 100 Democratic-held seats in play, ultimately winning 63 of them to seize the majority.

(Bolding mine) Actually, people who read RedState (or MoeLane) were prepared for that scenario. People who read Sean Trende at RCP were prepared for that scenario. People who read Hot Air and AoSHQ were at least prepared for the possibility.  In fact, people who were following the election using right-leaning sites and news sourcess were by and large prepared for what happened. But the people were relying on the Daily Beast or the Left-blogosphere or, well, Politico for their political content? …Yeah, those folks ended up being kind of surprised in November. Usually unpleasantly. (more…)

Mar
30
2012
1

#rsrh House Natural Resources Committee orders special briefcases*.

Well now.

House panel votes to issue subpoenas to administration officials involved in doctoring a report on the Gulf oil spill to justify a moratorium and in squelching another that concludes EPA regulations will kill jobs.

The 23-17 vote by the House Natural Resources Committee authorizes subpoenas that will go to agencies such as the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency regarding two issues affecting domestic energy production and jobs.

(Via  @streiffredstate)

:sing-song: E-lect-ions mat-ter…

(pause)

Sorry.  I thought that I had more, but that was pretty much everything that I wanted to write.  Because they do.

Moe Lane (more…)

Nov
21
2011
7

Sex scandals: partisan poison at the polls?

Some unsolicited, un-paid for, and probably unwelcome advice to the Democrats: if it is true – again, if, if, if, if, if, if – that Dale Kildee is in fact guilty of the sexual molestation charges made against him, it will be in the Democratic party’s best interests to force Kildee to resign now.  Consider the following Representatives:

  • Mark Foley (R, FL-16).  Resigned due to sex scandal. Seat kept vacant until general election.  Result: seat flipped.
  • Eric Massa (D, NY-29).  Resigned due to sex scandal.  Seat kept vacant until general election.  Result: seat flipped.
  • Mark Souder (R, IN-03).  Resigned due to sex scandal. Seat kept vacant until general election.  Result: seat retained.
  • Christopher Lee (R, NY-26). Resigned due to sex scandal. Special election held.  Result: seat flipped.
  • Anthony Weiner (D, NY-09). Resigned due to sex scandal. Special election held.  Result: seat flipped.
  • David Wu (D, OR-01). Resigned due to sex scandal. Special election to be held. Seat considered in jeopardy.

Do you see the theme, here?  Of the last six Representatives who resigned because of a sex scandal, four saw their seats change party at the next opportunity and one will very possibly see that happen next year. Now let’s look at a list of Representatives from the last decade that didn’t resign*: (more…)

Apr
26
2010
1

President Obama concedes loss of House in 2010.

The race card? Sure.

But, more importantly, Obama played the GOTV Card here. The political junkies on both sides are now nodding: everybody else, watch this video and it’ll be discussed in just a bit.

Said discussion after the fold:
(more…)

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