Month: February 2010

What’s the matter with Illinois? #rsrh

Nothing, from my point of view: but PPP might disagree: Tom Jensen’s noted with some alarm that the Dem/GOP numbers for this primary (885K to 736K) are a great deal closer than the Dem/GOP numbers for 2004 (1,242K to 662K), which was the last contested Senate primary*.  As Tom said, “Those numbers are awfully close to each other for a state that’s overwhelmingly Democratic.”

They’re also too close together for comfort for any Democratic candidate (like, say, Alexi Giannoulias) hoping that the populace won’t notice that he’s more-of-the-same.

Moe Lane

PS: Mark Kirk for Senate.

*No Senate elections in 2006, and Durbin ran unopposed in 2008.

Elvis needs probes*.

Fun science fact of the day: the probes that we keep throwing out of the solar system aren’t quite where they should be.  That is one of those little piddling oddities that can sometime blossom into entire sub-fields of physics being named after somebody…and can sometime not blossom, but we’re almost overdue for a fundamental revolution in scientific theory anyway.  So keep watching the skies!

Personally, I find it unconscionable that the most obvious explanation has not been listed by Wikipedia:


Elvis Is Everywhere [Explicit], Mojo Nixon

Moe Lane

*Title courtesy of my wife.

Olbermann begins to swirl the drain. #rsrh #moo

The ratings drain, that is. He went down the rhetorical, ethical, moral, and mental health drains a while back.

Yes, all at once. On a Zodiac. With the engine redlined.

Anyway:

Olbermann averaged 268,000 viewers last month in that sector. That’s just several thousand sets of those eyes more than Campbell Brown over on CNN. According to one count, Keith even finished in that time slow behind Nancy Grace. Nancy Grace!

And she’s on Headline News, Headline News, the repetitious TV channel the repetitious TV channel inflicted on all U.S. airline travelers within any boarding area around the clock so that when, at least an hour late, each person is finally crammed into plane seats between professional wrestlers, they actually feel relieved.

In case you haven’t guessed yet, Keith Olbermann isn’t precisely on Andrew Malcolm’s Christmas card list, either. and that’s not even the nastiest thing that he wrote…

Moe Lane

Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) for Congress.

Now that the Illinois primary is over, we can show you the official GOP candidate for IL-11. Meet Adam Kinzinger:

(Donate to Adam Kinzinger here: he’s trying to raise 10K by 02/10/10.)

Adam’s a fiscal conservative, military veteran (Air NG, served overseas), and pro-life; his hobbies include toppling incumbents in elections, advocating smaller government, and subduing would-be knife-wielding maniacs with his bare hands. His opponent, Debbie Halvorson, is best known for folding like a cheap suit over cap-and-trade, then running and hiding over health care rationing like most of the rest of the supposedly ‘moderate’ Democrats in Red Districts. IL-11 is a R+1 district, so check Adam out.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

The NRSC wastes *no* time on properly greeting Giannoulias.

(H/T: @sorendayton) You know, I noticed during the run-up to the Illinois Senatorial primary that more than one Democratic activist expressed worries about a Giannoulias primary win.  And why were they worried?

Pretty much because of what you’re about to see.

Welcome to Chicago.

Moe Lane

PS: Mark Kirk for Senate.

Crossposted to RedState.

Meet fourteen worrying Democrats.

List extrapolated from here from Reid Wilson:

Candidate District PVI Cook Rating
Mike Ross AR-04 R+7 Likely Dem
Allan Boyd FL-02 R+6 Likely Dem
Alan Grayson FL-08 R+2 Toss-Up
Suzanne Kosmas FL-24 R+4 Lean Dem
Sanford Bishop GA-02 D+1 Safe Dem
Bill Foster IL-14 R+1 Lean Dem
Frank Kratovil MD-01 R+13 Toss-Up
Ike Skelton MO-04 R+14 Lean Dem
Earl Pomeroy ND-AL R+10 Lean Dem
Dina Titus NV-03 D+2 Toss-Up
Mike McMahon NY-13 R+4 Lean Dem
Michael Arcuri NY-24 R+2 Lean Dem
Chris Carney PA-10 R+8 Lean Dem
Ciro Rodriguez TX-23 R+4 Likely Dem

…and the reason that you can tell that they’re worrying is because everyone on that list commissioned a poll in the last three months of 2009. Reid explains why this is interesting:

Some political professionals advising their clients have told them to hold off conducting polls until this 3-month period, when the health care debate calms down. Dems saw a demonstrable drop in support during the final half of the year, thanks to health care, and polling during such a turbulent time gives unnecessarily worrying, or inaccurate, results.

Which last may or may not be true; but it still begs the question why these fourteen are worrying. Aside from the fact that they’re all in competitive districts.  And that all but one of them is in a race rated as competitive.  And that more than half of them are already at serious risk of losing their jobs.  And that it’s turning out to be a bad year to be an incumbent Democrat.  Other than that, no worries, yes?

Yes, ‘worry’ is an interesting word, ‘isn’t it?  It originally meant ‘to strangle,’ you know.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Reviewing the December Fundraising Numbers.

It’s that time again.  Short version: RNC above DNC, DNC took a big cash on hand hit, NRSC over DSCC in the biggest shocker, NRCC/DCCC more or less the same, DCCC has a big CoH advantage, and blessed if I know how much any of this means, post-Citizens’ United and post-Brown.

Raised CoH Debts
RNC 6.84 8.42 0.00
DNC 4.54 8.67 4.69
NRSC 4.10 8.30 0.00
DSCC 3.40 12.50 1.20
NRCC 3.21 2.67 0.00
DCCC 3.81 16.69 2.00
GOP 14.15 19.39 0.00
Dem 11.75 37.86 7.89

Continue reading Reviewing the December Fundraising Numbers.

Your warm, fuzzy, feel-good site of the day (health care edition). #rsrh

Megan McArdle says that this post may help those opposed to health care rationing understand what supporters of health care rationing are going through right now. I would say that this post is probably better-suited for helping you discover the proper level of Deep Hurting and existential despair of the Other Side; at least, it gives more entertainment possibilities.  I’d say at least Level V, myself.

Moe Lane

PS: Bad karma?  Sparky, I’ve had my Level II Punch in the Gut.  I’ve had two, in fact: they were called the “2006 and 2008 election cycles,” and I’ve spent four years that I could have more personally profitably spent on roleplaying game design theory helping to build political firewalls, instead.  I’m not saying that I’m an expert on karma, but trust me: I’ve gotten some exposure to it.