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Wednesday, May 24, 2006

WA-08: Darcy Burner Added to Netroots Page

Posted by DavidNYC

I'm terribly swamped (not to mention exhausted) at the moment, having just moved home after three years in DC. So I can't do this announcement justice, but Matt Stoller certainly can: We've just added Darcy Burner, who is running in Washington's 8th congressional district, to the Netroots Candidates ActBlue page. I encourage you to read Matt's post to get a sense of why Burner was chosen, and to learn more about her.

Also, please visit the ActBlue page as we've updated it to include local blogs covering the relevant candidates and races. If you have any other suggestions for blogs covering NY-29, MT-Sen, etc., please post them in comments. And thanks for sharing your thoughts in this great experiment.

Posted at 12:56 AM in 2006 Elections - House, Washington | Technorati

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Comments

there was a primary election in idaho yesterday to decide who was going to face the excellent D candidate in CD-1, and in a crowded R primary the craziest of them prevailed. I realize it's still Idaho, but can this race get a teensy bit of coverage in the spirit of the 50 state strategy?

Posted by: mediaxhype at May 24, 2006 10:01 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

hey media, could you tell us more about the Idaho races this year? I heard one of them would be a race to watch...

Posted by: AlecBGreen at May 24, 2006 10:23 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Perhaps some of the learned commenters here could tell us a little bit about what's going on in Idaho.

Posted by: DavidNYC at May 24, 2006 10:35 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Bill Sali won the primary, he is the most conservative of the Republicans (endorsed by the Club for Growth). He defeated an one issue immigration candidate, a more moderate woman, and a boring, yet conservative state controller. Sali has a bad relationship with the state GOP, being forced out of being a chairman in the State House, and also being at odds with Congressman Simpson, who once threatened to throw Sali out of a window.

Posted by: PaDem at May 24, 2006 12:59 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Bill Sali also was stripped of his committee chairmanship by the speaker of the house, and has more or less only been the primary sponsor of anti-choice and anti-tax legislation in his career in the house of reps in idaho. The speaker of the House told the idaho statesman (largest newspaper in the state) to quote him as calling Bill Sali "an idiot" who didn't have one sympathetic bone in his body. Because of debate in the house this last session, and his insistence on repeatedly quoting questionable stats linking breast cancer to abortion, the House Minority leader and the Minority Caucus all walked out in protest, and even after being asked not to continue that particular line of debate he did and the Minority Caucus walked out in protest again (the minority leader herself a breast cancer survivor).
Bottom line, this guy is a nutjob and even though he won, it was in a very crowded primary field, and the more moderate candidates received more votes than he did. the Idaho dems have a great candidate who was, i believe, a VP of Micron Technology and helped grow the company (as well as other companies int he industry) to a position of prominence. he is moderate and well-connected.
I fully realize that there is much more of an argument to support D candidates trying to defeats Rs in blue states, but if we could just get the word out that there is a very real shot at taking a seat in the heart of a republican stronghold, it would make a lot of difference in this race.

Posted by: mediaxhype at May 24, 2006 01:45 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

It seems as if there might be hope that Grant can pull a few crossover votes from Sali, from among people who find him too extreme or who dislike him personally. He might have had much more trouble diverting votes from Sorenson if she had won the primary - that was my fear.

Idaho-01 is still a long shot, probably. I think I'd pin more hopes on the Montana At-large seat. But to have *any* of these traditionally-Red seats out West turn into real races is great news. We may win some of them, and we make the GOP divert money and other resources from other races to defend them.

Posted by: Christopher Walker at May 24, 2006 01:51 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Idaho CD-1 is a longshot but we just got the best positioning for our candidate, Larry Grant, to run against. Sali won this primary with 25% of the vote.
Here's a CQ politics article:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/05/id_1_early_returns_give_sali_l.html

Posted by: Predictor at May 24, 2006 02:00 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

i can't talk about the montana-at-large seat, but i truly truly think that sali being the candidate shifts this seat from safe republican to leaning republican. plus, the seat has been won by a dem before in recent memory.

click my name to go to the blog of Julie at Red State Rebels to read some of the commentary surrounding the election and larry grant's chances.
just acknowledging this race (and any of the races in traditional red states) is a positive first step to building an actual fifty state strategy. for instance, there isn't even an idaho category on this blog! read more about the ID-01 and i think you'll see it is entirely doable.

Posted by: mediaxhype at May 24, 2006 02:03 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Thanks for all the Idaho-related feedback. I'm definitely going to keep my eye on this one. I understand that Grant is getting some good endorsements. How do you guys feel about having LaRocco near the top of the ballot this year?

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at May 24, 2006 02:17 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Back to WA CD-8, here's some statistical info from 2006 AAP:

2004 General
Dave Reichert (R) 173,298 52% $1,569,196
Dave Ross (D) 157,148 47% $1,446,406
Other 6,053 2%

2004 Presidential Vote
Kerry (D) 177,601 (51%)
Bush (R) 168,291 (48%)

2000 Presidential Vote
Gore (D) 140,387 (49%)
Bush (R) 136,575 (47%)

Posted by: Predictor at May 24, 2006 02:19 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Given that La Rocco once held CD-1 for two terms, think its a plus to have him on the statewide ballot.

Posted by: Predictor at May 24, 2006 02:21 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

sorry to have steered the comments so far off the initial posting...

i'm glad larocco has jumped back into the ring, so to speak...i really feel he was taken out in his prime, mostly due to the 1994 republican sweep, and i think the energy, money, and excitement that he is bringing will playout in the rest of the dem races in one way or another.

Posted by: mediaxhype at May 24, 2006 02:37 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

If we do have a tidal wave ID CD-1 is now not possible given that Sali has quite the reputation, and its not good.
I can see the preference of putting our resources into a seat like WA CD-8 given those stats.
An open Gop seat vs. a marginal/dem seat with a Gop incumbent?
Bush has a 52-45 % positive approval rating in Idaho. In Washington State its 32-65% disapproval.

Posted by: Predictor at May 24, 2006 02:49 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

That was meant to be: "now not impossible"

Posted by: Predictor at May 24, 2006 02:50 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

i'm not saying we should throw a ton of national resources into the race (yet, anyway), however, it would be nice to get a bit of acknowledgement within the grassroots blogosphere...as a start. idaho is the reddest of the red, so i understand the initial reaction is to ignore the state, or give it up as a lost cause, but that would also mean ignoring this opportunity that has been handed to us.

Posted by: mediaxhype at May 24, 2006 03:24 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Given Sali's ultra-conservative stances, trust that I would love to see him go down and yes, would hope that Netroots, etc. consider this as a target albeit difficult given that this is Idaho. LOL.

Posted by: Predictor at May 24, 2006 03:30 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I got a question for people from or knowing about ID-01. What appeal does the Democrat have to Republicans or people that voted for Bush. Cause I know in Idaho you can't win the state with just Kerry voters.

Posted by: D in FL. at May 24, 2006 03:35 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Here's a link to Larry Grant's site, clean, conservative looking with a flag and a tiny donkey at the bottom to let you know where you're at (LOL):
http://www.grantforcongress.com/

Posted by: Predictor at May 24, 2006 03:53 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

well, D in FL, the bottom line is that idaho voters are staunchly independent, and libertarian in nature. they have and will vote for a democrat. the main problem in idaho has been an incredibly sub-par party structure with little to no funding and poor candidate recruitment. this year the party has more support, we have a good chair, and a larger staff, as well as some great candidates...also, it is arguably going to be a pretty good year for dems as a whole.
there's a more detailed statistical explanation as to why it is possible to have hope for idaho, but i'll leave that to someone else.

Posted by: mediaxhype at May 24, 2006 03:57 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

2004 Presidential Vote
Bush (R) 409,235 (68%)
Kerry (D) 181,098 (30%)
Badnarik (Lib) 3,844 (1%)
Other 4,199 (1%)
2004 Democratic Primary
Kerry (D) 25,921 (82%)
None (D) 2,479 (8%)
Kucinich (D) 1,568 (5%)
Sharpton (D) 927 (3%)
LaRouche (D) 590 (2%)
2000 Presidential Vote
Bush (R) 336,937 (67%)
Gore (D) 138,637 (28%)
Nader (Green) 12,292 (2%)
Other 13,749 (3%)

5% to minor party candidates (in 2000) shows somewhat of a streak of independence there.

Posted by: Predictor at May 24, 2006 04:01 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

also, you need candidates that appeal to the state's western sensibilities.

Posted by: mediaxhype at May 24, 2006 04:11 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

also, i don't think that presidential numbers are the best to correlate into this race, in an mid-term election year in a congressional race.

Posted by: mediaxhype at May 24, 2006 04:15 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

No correlation intended about the congressional race other than to prove your point, which was a generalization about Idaho politics, at 3:57.

Posted by: Predictor at May 24, 2006 04:20 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

The Netroots should really be focusing on steering all fundraising attention to Francine Busby right now, considering her election is in two weeks! If she wins, it will take the media spotlight off William Jefferson and back onto the GOP's struggles. Plus it will significantly hurt the GOP fundraising operation, our biggest obstacle to taking back the House.

Posted by: SamKessler at May 24, 2006 10:04 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Getting Busby elected is more than just winning CD-50, it makes a real statememt which can cause great positive momentum.
I also hope that Busby is closely tracked and support focused, its only 12 days away.

Posted by: Predictor at May 26, 2006 01:12 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment