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

  3. Could they make a difference in the implementation of the Walker bill? If a D is elected in the next WI Supreme Court election, would that make a difference w/r/t any potential legal action to overturn that bill?

  4. that after late last year, WI would be in reach for the GOP prez candidate, but after the WI GOP willingly betrayed the electorate, I’d say that prospect of it being a pick-up for a GOP prez candidate is now dim.

  6. http://www.politickernj.com/45…

    Democrats say their map submitted to the commission’s tiebreaker meets the 11th member’s definition of fair and constitutional, which Rosenthal issued this week. That interpretation promptly trickled into the party’s collective bloodstream, and by evening, lawmakers at a Tuesday night political event were crowing that it’s over: the Democrats have won the map and the Republicans have lost.

  7. http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.c…

    The New Times’ unnamed “GOP sources” may just be talking out their asses, but if this is true it doesn’t make much sense except as theater. Palin has a 57% unfavorable rating in Arizona.

    http://www.publicpolicypolling…

    Palin has a 67% favorable rating among Republicans so she might be a threat to Flake in the primary, but Goddard (43/35 favorables) would probably beat her easily. If Giffords recovers quickly enough to make the race, you would get the tv networks’ dream matchup and probably a 20-point blowout.  

  8. The Gov. has 14 calendar days to set the special election dates from the start of the vacancy. Harman resigned 2/28. So by my math that makes Monday at the latest when Brown is supposed to make his decision.

    Ironically, Harman delayed her departure a couple weeks per Brown’s request so he could attempt to sync the date of the special election with his proposed state-wide referendum. But since he doesn’t have a deal on that yet with the Repubs, it looks like it will have to be a stand alone special.

    With 3 Democrats, at least 2 Republicans, and various 3rd party candidates likely to run, the odds of a top two runoff happening are very high.

    Unfortunately, this may wind be being a nasty campaign (at least among supporters) between two very good Democrats. Janice Hahn City Hall Allies Conduct Whisper Campaign, Claim Debra Bowen Against Marriage Equality

  11. Randy Hopper, family man?

    Recall target, Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac), talks a good game about family values.

    But protesters outside the Hopper house this week in Fond du Lac were met by his wife who reportedly came out and told them: Hopper no longer lives there, but with his 25-year-old mistress in Madison.

    No confirmation on whether the divorcing wife signed that petition to recall Hopper who represents Wisconsin Senate District 18.

  12. Not just me, but the Bleeding Heartland community seems more interested in IA-03 than anything else.

    The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that the shape of the new district will greatly affect Leonard Boswell’s chances against Christie Vilsack, if she runs against him. He’s represented most of the counties to the south and east of Polk, and during the 1990s he also represented Story (containing Ames) and Marshall (Marshalltown). I don’t think a Boswell-Vilsack primary would be as nasty as the 2008 Boswell-Fallon primary, but Vilsack will have to answer some questions about the non-profit job she just resigned from. I kind of doubt Vilsack would run against Boswell from the left, as Fallon did–I think it would be more of a generic “time for new blood” plus “time for Iowa to finally elect a woman” message.

  13. Hows THIS for a gerrymander??

    Racial Info:

    Black: 57.8%

    White: 36.3%

    Hispanic: 3.0%

    Asian: 1.3%

    Other: 1.2%

    Native: 0.3%

    18+ Population:

    Black: 54.6%

    White: 39.9%

    Hispanic: 2.9%

    Asian: 1.3%

    Other: 0.9%

    Native: 0.3%

    Photobucket

    Not sure if it warrants a diary, since its only one district and not a full map, so its here.  

  14. WISH-TV's Jim Shella noted on his blog today that that there exists a hypothetical but plausible scenario in which state Democrats could sue to overturn the results of last year's election for Secretary of State by arguing that Charlie White wasn't a valid candidate for office. That's not really anything new, and has been rumored in the Hoosier political press for a while.

    What is new here is that Shella points out that such a lawsuit, were it ruled in favor of the Democrats, wouldn't just remove White from office, but would also make the Republicans a 'minor party' under state law. SSPers probably remember the whole 5% threshold thing from the Colorado governor's race last year where Dan Maes' trainwreck candidacy nearly cost the Colorado Republicans their ballot position as a major party, and there's a similar regulation at play here. The difference is that in Indiana, it's the Secretary of State race that decides which parties are “major”, and the threshold is 10%. If White's candidacy is invalidated, though, that could mean that the Republicans, legally, recieved zero votes in the SoS race last year.

    That outcome would also mean that their nominating process for statewide candidates for the next four years would be via convention and not primary. And that means Dick Lugar becomes the next Bob Bennett.

  15. I sat in the front row at “The People’s Debate” in The Northwest last night, and I’m still trying to make sense of what happened. Do the bright lights of Las Vegas just attract crazies to come here and run for high office? 😉

  22. on account of Wisconsin, do you think the DNC is regretting picking Charlotte for the convention? North Carolina is a right to work state and, if I’m not mistaken, has the lowest rates of union participation in the country. Did the Democrats just miss a huge opportunity to tap into the unions’ frustration?  

  24. In my English class were learning about argumentation. Do any of my fellow Swingnuts have any recommendations for a book on politics or foreign policy?

  26. http://www.theatlantic.com/pol…

    The best example is in Wisconsin, where newly elected Gov. Scott Walker is seeking to revoke most collective-bargaining rights for public employees. Every major Republican presidential hopeful has endorsed Walker’s initiative–which has galvanized conservatives but ignited volcanic resistance from organized labor.

    WI is turning into a D political winner in every state where Labor still has a significant presence.

    Something similar has already happened with Hispanics. Most of the major 2012 candidates have embraced Arizona’s tough anti-immigration law (except for Huckabee and Romney, who hedged).

    If the R nominee is anyone but Huckabee/Romney, I could see Hispanics becoming more solid as a D constituency.  

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