Tag: senate

Quote of the Day, @TheRickWilson Tells It Like It Is About An Alan Grayson Senate Campaign edition.

Oh, this is some prime stuff. Gold. Gold, Jerry!

Republicans, for their part, seem positively giddy at the prospect of [Alan] Grayson in a Senate general election. As Rick Wilson, a prominent Republican consultant in Florida, chortled, “He’d be a mixture of Sharron Angle, Todd Akin, and Hannibal Lecter.” While Wilson said Grayson would be nearly unbeatable in a Democratic primary, he gave him little chance in a statewide election in November. Wilson did add the caveat that he could see a path to victory for Grayson “if all the other Republican candidates were found to be part of a child pornography ring.”

…Yeah, maybe a little unfair to Sharron Angle, but she did under-perform.

Via @BenjySarlin, whose quote of the title (“Florida’s Craziest Liberal Wants to Be a Senator. It’s Nice to Want Things.”) reminds me of one of my late father’s favorite sayings (“It’s Good To Want.”). So I am actually well-disposed and beaming serenely at the the Daily Beast, at this precise moment in time.  …Yeah, I dunno how long that’ll last, either.  Hopefully until after lunch?  I like cheerful lunches.

Moe Lane

SecDef nominee Ash Carter makes the novel argument that he can protect the DoD from the PotUS.

So this is where we are, now: “Ash Carter vows to be a “stickler for the chain of command” if confirmed by the Senate as the next secretary of defense, according to the opening statement prepared for his confirmation hearing Wednesday.” As Glenn Reynolds notes, this is pretty much semantically equivalent to Ash Carter saying that he’ll keep Barack Obama away from the controls at the Department of Defense until the end of the Obama administration. Which is… great news, actually; and God help us all that it is.

Alan Grayson thinking of running for FL-SEN. …Because Jesus loves me.

Well, He loves everybody; but apparently I did something really, really good lately. Like, spectacularly good.

…because oh man but that would be fun.

Moe Lane

PS: Click the link for the icing on the cake. There’s apparently only one thing that might keep Alan Grayson from running, and it’s arguably even a more entertaining scenario.

Quote of the Day, Actually, Dude, It’s Not A Stunning Fact At All edition.

I mean, I get that Ronald Brownstein of the National Journal has a narrative to feed, but come on.

It’s a stunning fact that a Republican Party that still depends on whites for 90 percent of its votes has more viable minority leaders to consider for its 2016 presidential ticket than do Democrats.

It’s only stunning if you assume that white people will not vote for minorities. Now, I grant that this is true for Democrats, historically speaking: and before you say ‘Barack Obama’ let me just note that the President typically comes across as the reincarnation of Woodrow Wilson*. At any rate, getting a white Democrat to vote for a minority in a statewide race or better is like pulling teeth with a pair of pliers.  It can be done, but not gently. Continue reading Quote of the Day, Actually, Dude, It’s Not A Stunning Fact At All edition.

Tom Steyer reportedly mulling California Senate run.

Or, as I would put it, Tom Steyer thinking of eliminating middleman by signing up to directly lose a Senate seat: “Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer is mulling a run for Barbara Boxer’s Senate seat, according to a person close to the former hedge fund trader.” …and there’s the trouble, right there for Mr. Steyer: all those adjectives. ‘Billionaire’ is at best, neutral. ‘Environmentalist’ is not really all that helpful, even in California. And ‘hedge fund trader’ is going to be a really fun club with which to beat the prospective candidate. Continue reading Tom Steyer reportedly mulling California Senate run.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D, California) cuts and runs.

“Prepare the viands, prepare the foods, prepare the strange wines, for tonight is indeed a great night!” – The Martian Chronicles.

Barbara Boxer is retiring.  If you listen, you can hear the faint sounds of Democratic politicians all across California as they get up from their breakfasts and calmly go to open up their weapons caches. For there will be a Democratic war in the primaries over this.  A California Senator’s seat?  Oh, my, yes, but there will be a Time Of Troubles.  Lots of people want that job, and they won’t be shy about trying for it.  I cannot wait to see how far the Democrats involved will go…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: The Republican party of California needs to do precisely two things, here.  One: it must limit the viable candidates for this seat to two, no more, no less, and I don’t care if the CA GOP has to enforce this with a club with a nail in it.  Two: those two candidates must absolutely resolutely ignore each other before the jungle primary.  If they can’t say anything nice about each other, they shouldn’t say anything at all. I do not say that following this advice will ensure victory: but I will say that following this advice could not hurt.

Chris Gibson looking reallllly likely to run for NY-GOV in 2018.

Either Governor, or Senator.

Republican Rep. Chris Gibson of Kinderhook said Tuesday he’ll leave Congress after his current term expires and explore running for statewide office in 2018.

Gibson said in an interview he wouldn’t be able to effectively represent the 19th Congressional District while running a statewide campaign.

“If I am trying to be a statewide candidate going around 62 counties, I don’t think that in the 11 counties that comprise the district, I would be the kind of congressman they deserve,” he said.

By retiring in 2016 Gibson won’t have to worry about re-election, the NY GOP will have plenty of time to find a replacement candidate, and the Congressman will have effectively two extra years to network.  Heck, it even lets him keep his term limit promise.  As to whether Chris Gibson can win… well. I would say that Governor seems a somewhat easier path for Gibson that Senator, but both are reasonably within reach.  A multi-term Congressman would make for a much stronger candidate than perhaps New York State is used to seeing from the NY GOP lately…

Via @kerpen.

The 2016 Senate Retirement Watch may now officially begin!

Generally speaking, it is considered polite to at least wait until the new Congress begins before one starts to speculate on who will be leaving it soon. It should be extra-exciting this year because there’s at least two Republican Senators (Paul and Rubio) who are eyeing the brassiest of brass rings – the Presidency – and both of them are up for re-election next year. Heck, both of them are freshmen. Two Democratic Senators are also contemplating their Presidential chances, too – Warren and Sanders – but I don’t think that either of them will quit the Senate in order to run, which is frankly sensible of them.

Should be fun! No, really. I love retirements. It messes up everybody else’s careful calculations, at least briefly. I feel that this is generally a good thing for people; teaches them that the whole thing can’t be turned into a spreadsheet.

Why 54 REALLY > 53 or 52, when it comes to Senate math.

And this is why you always try to grab as many seats as you can in an election, period: “Democrats are looking to reclaim their Senate majority in two years, but after losing nine Senate seats in 2014, their path back to that majority won’t be easy.”  Because it took us picking up nine Senate seats to get an article like that in the Atlantic. If we had ended at fifty-two or even fifty-three, the tone would have been much different. Continue reading Why 54 REALLY > 53 or 52, when it comes to Senate math.