Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?

Those turtles that were climbing turtles couldn’t get over the fence.

247 thoughts on “Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?”

  1. I’d like to see more of the Coats/Ellsworth race. Ellsworth seems almost like the perfect candidate, sort of an Evan Bayh-lite without the dickishness. But last I checked Coats, who only moved back to Indiana recently, is still ahead.  

  2. OMFG, the Germans beat the Argentinians 4-0? Hard to see Spain holding up against that assault (assuming they beat Paraguay)

    So it’s looking like it might be Deutschland against the Dutch in the final (assuming they beat Uruguay).

    And that would be an irony of former colonial masters playing in South Africa for the cup. But after watching Invictus, I think Nelson Mandela would be OK with it.

  3. After falling behind on researching the candidates due to a combination of ADD, cynicism, and life getting in the way, I’m finally trying to make my decisions for the July 20 primary.  

    My Congressional district (GA-11) and State House district (HD-15) are both uncontested by Democrats while my State Senate district (SD-31) has a fake Democrat running that I will not vote for in the General Election.  So, my decisions will be for U.S. Senate, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Insurance/Fire Commissioner, Labor Commissioner, Agricultural Commissioner, School Superintendent, and Public Service Commissioner.

    I’ve made a vow to vote on the issues, not money, not polls, not “electability.”  I’m even researching the single-person primaries (Insurance, Agriculture, and PSC) to see if they’re worthy.  So, this is taking some time.

  4. Anyone think there is a chance he actually resigns or is fired this time since he is facing more high-profile calls for his resignation from Liz Cheney, Jo Ann Emmerson, and Erick Erickson? Yeah, I know Erickson is a lot less important than he likes to think he is, but it is significant in this case. He has always been the one blogger that said we should not dump Steele in the middle of an election, but now he is saying forget that.  

  8. just politics.  I’ve been hanging out and campaigning with republicans, to get a feel for the other side (at the moment same as us, except they insult different people and have more money) and I heard the term “crunchy” used as derogatory term for liberals, or progressives (liberals to them as they don’t know the differentiation).  has anyone else heard this?  I figure it’s either derived from treehugger, or granola eater (granola, crunchy) (also, off topic, but granola is deceptively UNhealthy.)  any thoughts?

  11. In 2012, Obama and the Republican nominee should agree to provide a little entertainment. Obama should agree to make Grayson his running mate if the Republican nominee makes Bachmann his. I bet that’d be a fun debate…

  12.   Couldn’t climb over the turtle fence…

      So how is Mr. Turtle Fence himself doing in the MI-Gov race?  (That is Rep. Pete Hoekstra, for people unfamiliar with Auto-Tune the News #10)…

  14. http://www.politico.com/news/s…

    Pressure for Manchin to appoint himself is misplaced in my book.  I think Manchin is better off waiting until 2012 and not being caught up in another potentially anti-incumbent wave election.  Manchin should keep his powder dry and keep doing a decent job in West Virginia then run as someone who has a record of accomplishment as Governor not as a lowly Senator.

  16. Associated Press

    ST. PAUL, Minn. – Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer says Minnesota should factor tips into the hourly pay for minimum wage workers in restaurants and other gratuity-based jobs.

    After visiting a St. Paul restaurant Monday on a listening tour, Emmer advocated for a so-called “tip credit” to the state minimum wage.

    Minnesota is among seven states that currently prohibits employers paying workers less than the minimum wage if they earn tips, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

    Minnesota has a state minimum wage of $5.25 for small employers and $6.15 for large employers, based on annual sales.

    Emmer says tying base pay to tips will “level playing field so the employers can continue to exist, survive and thrive.”

    Federal law permits states to drop the minimum wage to tipped employees to $2.13 per hour.

    http://www.startribune.com/pol…

    Let’s cut the pay for those making the least, that will play well with working class folks.

  19. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/0…

    Franken says his model has been Hillary Clinton.

    snip

    She told me that what Hillary did was go to all her committee hearings. And be prepared. So that’s what I’ve been doing.”

    Despite the comparisons to Hillary, I think the better comparison is to a personal hero, Paul Wellstone. It bodes well for him in what could otherwise be a difficult ’14 election for Ds.

    Franken has pushed through major amendments to two of the biggest bills in decades, health care and financial reform. Just as notably, he has mustered the kind of bipartisan support that no one thought possible for the ultraliberal author of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, his 1996 book. “I spent hours in the chair,” Franken told NEWSWEEK, presiding over dreary speeches.”

  23. …December, when PPP had Paul up 42-36.

    Rasmussen, for the only other comparison, had Paul up 49-42 in its most recent poll, last week or so.

    I’ll note that PPP has always had the Democrats doing better in Kentucky than Rasmussen has asserted.  Not by a huge margin, but by some margin.  And this even though PPP itself has had a very slight GOP-leaning “house effect” per Nate Silver.

    I don’t detect that Conway has done much yet in the way of visible campaigning, so I’m thrilled it’s this tight now.  I recently gave Conway $250, after previously having given $250 to Harry Reid for the same reason:  an uncommonly odious Republican opponent in a state where we can win.

    If Reid and Conway, as well as Crist assuming Meek never recovers, can win in November, it will be huge for morale on what otherwise ought to be a bad night.

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