Despite everything, we’re still a democracy and we still have elections. Which ones are you thinking about?
18 thoughts on “Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?”
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Despite everything, we’re still a democracy and we still have elections. Which ones are you thinking about?
Comments are closed.
OK, so I am working on this campaign, but I’d be interested even if I wasn’t.
Former Congressman Larry LaRocco is the only announced candidate in the 2008 Senate race in Idaho. (Larry Craig hasn’t yet decided whether or not he wants another term … http://www.dailykos….)
LaRocco is introducing himself to the netroots through some live blogs this week and next. He did one Tuesday at IdaBlue:
http://idablue.blogs…
He has one at 2 p.m. EST today at New West:
http://www.newwest.n…
and he will make his debut in the diaries at Daily Kos at 2 p.m Eastern/1 Central/noon Mountain/11 a.m. Pacific next Tuesday, June 5.
More info here: http://www.laroccofo…
Every single day this week, I’ve posted on some new development in the 2008 Kentucky Senate race, featuring Senate Republican “leader” Mitch McConnell. Run through the last week of posts at Senate 2008 Guru for all the citations. Here’s the nutshell.
First, there’s a potential primary challenger in former KY-GOP gubernatorial nominee Larry Forgy, who is irked that McConnell hasn’t been more supportive of their corrupt Governor, who is polling terribly against the 2007 Democratic nominee. So McConnell sees a lose-lose situation – get in bed with the corrupt incumbent, turning off independent voters who oppose the corrupt incumbent, or oppose him and provoke a primary challenge.
Then, there are more and more signs that former Democratic Lt. Gov. nominee Charlie Owen is going to enter the race. Owen’s background as a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and head of the Kentucky Crime Commission means he knows how to root out corruption. Doesn’t bode well for somebody like McConnell.
Meanwhile, the conservative netroots are growing more and more infuriated with McConnell’s lousy job as GOP leader in the Senate, particularly on immigration. And these right wing bloggers are not shy about calling McConnell out.
To top it off, the Sunlight Foundation is taking it to McConnell for roadblocking legislation; and they’re putting up billboards and websites making McConnell look bad.
So, McConnell is literally taking it from all sides. To boot, McConnell has lost two of his three strengths: his DC power departed when the GOP lost the Senate in November, and the value of his KY political machine diminished when Northup badly lost the KY-GOP-Gov primary to Fletcher.
All McConnell has left is his pile of money. And if McConnell faces both a spirited primary challenge AND a strong Democratic challenger all while tying himself to the Bush disapproval anchor, he could be in for a bumpy 2008.
Curiously, I find myself less interested in the presidential race than I was a few months ago. I feel like our leading Dems are all solid candidates (and Gore would be the strongest yet if he gets in). On the flip side, the infighting and hand-wringing among Republicans over their huge field – coupled with the GOP’s unwavering support for the war – adds to my sense that the Democratic nominee will win fairly handily next year.
However, anyone who survived in 2000 and 2004 knows the GOP may yet pull off another improbable White House win next year, which makes the attainment of Democratic gains in both the House and (especially) the Senate all the more critical.
Friendswood City Councilman Chris Peden has announced that he is running against Ron Paul for 2008, but I am thinking he is betting it ends up being an open seat.
Peden has served on the City Council of Friendswood since 2005 when he was elected as part of a “cut taxes now” group that was backed by local land developers. Since then he has acted as a voice of the far right in Friendswood, a Repubulican town, but not extreme. He is up for re-election in May 2008 to the City Council but i get the feeling he’s bailing early after seeing the results this cycle where his allies were defeated badly.
In his time on City Council Peden has tried to make English the town’s official language, tried to throw out our tree ordinance, and removed water conservation education form our elementarary schools.
I do not know if Peden is backed by Club for Growth, but such an endorsement would not surprise me. I do BELIEVE he does have connections to Grover Norquist.
I will provide a full diary on this sometime early next week. I supported Shane Sklar in 2006 and will support the Democratic nominee in 2008, but Paul is leaps and bounds over Chris Peden. We can not let this district go like MI-7 did, because unlike Michigan-7, this is a very republican district and if it goes far right with their republican nominee, we will not have an easy opportunity to throw the republican right out.
A quick recap, for those unfamiliar… For more, visit Walberg Watch.
In 2006, quasi-moderate Republican Rep. Joe Schwarz was defeated in the primary by far-right former minister Tim Walberg. Walberg got lots and lots of out-of-state money from the Club for Growth, and they proceeded to defeat the Democratic nominee, Sharon Renier, by just 4 percent, where Schwarz had defeated Renier in 2004 by 23 percent. Oh, and, compared to Walberg’s $1.2 million, Renier spend less than $60,000.
In other words, Walberg is vulnerable. He’s way too conservative for the district. It should be (and, from what the DCCC has been saying, is) a top target for 2008.
Walberg has been making it easier on us, with a few mini-controversies in his term so far. First, he got himself national attention (and was mocked by Stephen Colbert) for comparing the security situation in Iraq to that of Detroit. Then, when a local reporter dared to *gasp* correctly quote something he said, instead of just copying and pasting his press releases, he blacklisted that reporter (who is now assistant editor at the newspaper… heh).
The latest is his advocacy for drilling for oil in the Great Lakes— a big mistake for any Michigan politician. Even rabidly pro-business Republicans oppose that, but Walberg doesn’t think it’d be a problem.
So far, three Democrats have announced that they’re running: Sharon Renier, the 2004 and 2006 nominee, David Nacht, a lawyer, and Jim Berryman, a former mayor and state senator, who ran in 1998, lost to an incumbent, but managed to raise $400,000 and get 40 percent of the vote– not too bad.
All eyes this month will be on ex-Rep. Joe Schwarz, who said he’d make a decision on running again this month. He says he won’t run as an independent, but he’s left open the door for both a primary challenge to Walberg and running as a Democrat.
…a D one, this time. No indication that he’ll resign yet, but Rep. Jefferson of LA has been indicted. Maybe Karen Carter, who drew 43% against Jefferson, would fare better in an open race.