Fitz!

Netroots!

How strange – I am seeing my post as “0″ with Dru’s as #1…

Voter turnout shouldn’t have been abyssmal for democrats. Now I’m really concerned for this November.

I’m afraid immigration is going to carry the day for the Republicans even though the “base” is to the right of Bush on this issue. In fact, it works because it distinguishes Republicans from their 30 percent JAR leader.

I live in Southern California. Demonizing illegals will trump all the other issues every time. It is far and away a better wedge issue than gay marriage.

Mr. Rove is taking notes on CA-50. The TV ads in all the local races in So. Cal. were Willie Horton redux.

Well done, Taylor!

Progressive passion gives people a reason to vote. The anti-corruption narrative tends to depress turnout, allowing GOP smear tactics to buy late squeaky vote margins.

I didn’t follow Busby too closely, but I’m very excited for Tester. An organic farmer in the Senate? What a pipe dream..

What the dems need is their own Frank Luntz to teach them to use little words. “Accountability” and “integrity” and “culture of corruption” are fine concepts, but the words are too danged hard to say. Voting shouldn’t feel like studying for the SAT.

Questions – this special election in California only seats a Rep. through the end of this Congress, with another election for the seat in November, is that correct?

Also, any notion that Busby’s much-publicized comments the other night about people not needing “papers” to vote (a comment I understand she immediately corrected, but that correction didn’t make the news…go figure) may have hurt her?

Agree totally that this should be a huge wake-up call for November. While I think there are a number of things that may continue to dog the GOP and keep opinion low, I also think the GOP is going to use every weapon in its arsenal – including gobs of cash – to get the wins they need. There will be no moral victory for Dems if the GOP ekes out the victories it needs – whether they win ugly or win by a whisker, a win is a win is a win.

The party needs focus, it needs discipline and it needs to get out a message NOW.

I think it’s interesting that Al Qaeda means “the base” and the group of voters keeping Republicans in power the last six years is called “the base.”

I’ve been saying for a LONG time — and getting troll-rated for my trouble — that the Democrats aren’t going to gain SHIT this cycle. The Busby race is the first concrete indicator that I am right. The Democrats are seen by the voters as weak and cowardly. They are now going to pay the price for all the waffling and kowtowing to Bush.

I predict a gain of one seat in the Senate and two in the House — max. The day after election day is going to be absolutely crushing for 99% of the FDL and Kos communities.

It would be very different if the Democrats had been posing strong opposition to Bush. They will now have to live with their triangulation and their cowardice. The sad part is that we will also have to do so.

Not enough bad news for you? Try this: I see no reason why the same thing won’t happen in 2008.

We are preaching to the choir here. We each need to pledge that in November we will contact the neighbor to the left of us and the neighbor to the right of us (and perhaps the neighbor across the street or hall) and make sure that they vote. Small thing, no doubt, but we each should reach out and try to increase those voting.

Anne Haygood- you sound just like I feel right now. But give me a couple of days, I’ll bounce back.

I predict a gain of one seat in the Senate and two in the House %u2014 max. The day after election day is going to be absolutely crushing for 99% of the FDL and Kos communities.

It would be very different if the Democrats had been posing strong opposition to Bush. They will now have to live with their triangulation and their cowardice. The sad part is that we will also have to do so.

I agree Anne, and find it pathetic that these narrow defeats are always spun as victories of a sort. Its getting harder and harder to support a party that thinks coming in 2nd, no matter how close, is a good thing. It sucks.

Dems need to give the general public a reason to vote FOR them — most registered Democrats are nowhere near as angry, thus motivated, as those of us that read blogs.

It would be great if Dems actually did post mortems and lessons learned exercises after “moral victories” like Busby’s in SD, but they don’t seem to do that much. Instead they just go on to the next “moral victory” and repeat pretty much the same play. Over and over again.

Oddly enough, this practice does not win seats in the Congress, and Dems continue to be the beat up minority.

But getting closer to winning. YAY!

Come on. Our side needs to get a lot smarter and a lot stronger pronto, or we are not going to see any gains in November, we could actually see losses in Congress.

And leading Dems have to get to the psychological point where they really want to win — not just their own seats, but see the Party actually win power in one or both houses and then the White House. They aren’t there yet.

I’m not sure our browbeating them does any good, either. The more we rail, the more they dismiss.

It’s a mystery yet to be solved.

California’s deep predudice towards Mexicans is not representative for all of America. When I was there recently I was discusted multiple times by racism towards Mexicans, one person even told me that I ought to “try living around them”. This is the type of arrogant off the cuff ignorance that I often heard out there. I live in Queens New York possibly the most integrated place on earth, (I don’t know what living with Mexicans is like) perhaps I enjoy their culture and consider them hardworking good neighbors. The arrogance, prejudice and racism of Californians should be addressed as much as immigration.

By bad luck of the draw, nationally watched by-elections 2nd Ohio and 50th Cal. took place in some of the most Republican territory in the nation, making close losses for the Dems the most likely outcome of a disaffected electorate.
By REAL bad luck, these narrow losses will convince the Dems in Washington to say and do even less than the nothing they currently say and do.
Look at this way. The person in elected office who stands to gain the most from the upset that will take place in November when the Republicans hold Congress is Hillary Clinton (and to a lesser extent any other Dem Senator running for President in ‘08). If her party controlled one or both houses, it’d take positions and cast votes she couldn’t control, ones which would force her to, you know, take stands.

Much easier to be all things to all people (her strategy) if things are still headed straight to hell in the all-GOP handbasket.

Of course, the people who have most to gain from a Democratic sweep are John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, because a beaten GOP base would be desperate to hold the White House. Purity would take a back seat.

Could make for an interesting election this fall. You don’t see many games where the stars on BOTH teams are trying to shave points.

One of the things about Montana that intrigues me is that the polls say Montanans think Montana is doing well and the nation is not. They have some hope. We need to give people a reason to go vote. We have all the tools to get them to tune out, getting our neighbors to tune in is the key.

Please oxide (at 7), You are right that short, pithy slogans are effective. But anti-intellectual sentiments feed the right-wing. One syllable words may bring us to great things, say little words like — Fire. Dog. Lake. — but, we must be able to read and reason beyond the second grade to follow the great writing and incisive analyses from Christy and Jane. Democracy demands an informed, thoughtful, literate citizenship, not fooled by flag-waving, gay-bashing, fear-mongering appeals to ignorance. That you are reading and writing at FDL means that you probably did very well on your SAT.

I find it good news that progressives are making a foothold in Montana.It’s slow going to be sure,but it makes me feel like that little shift I’m feeling isn’t all in my imagination.Besides,any organic farmer is a good egg in my opinion at least.(it would be interesting,to me anyways,to find out what Tester’s plans for his state’s small farmers are.We need a return of the small family owned farm,badly)

It’s a long uphill slog ahead,but you gotta start someplace.

ppp at 15:

California went for Kerry in 2004.

I had a Republican friend in Tennessee call me to discuss immigration. REPUBLICANS LOVE THIS ISSUE. Why? Because it diverts attention from the bloody streets of Iraq and all the other policy failures of the Bush Admin.

What the Republican win in California tells me is that wealthy Americans are completely disconnected from and immune from the effects of what is really going on in the world. I’m guessing this vote was about two things: immigration and taxes – ie: the usual GOP strategy of creating an enemy that threatens the American way of life, and money, money, money, per usual.

Shame on these privileged people who seemingly could care less that there is an illegal bloodbath of a war in which other people kids are dying and being maimed and screwed up for life but which is not paid for. So long as they get their tax cuts…

Got an email from my local Dem leaders asking if I would help in a drive to provide fruit baskets for a silent auction for the local candidate. Somehow, I have to get the local Party to the party and arrive in the 21st century. After reading CTG and applauding Matt’s work in Montana the fruit baskets just seem to fall flat.

aschoonmaker –

Again, I’m from Northern California, not Southern, but my sense is that Busby’s open mic gaffe really hurt her. Immigration in SD is a local issue, and she stepped in a big local pile of manure – with the damn microphone on.

Sigh.

Not trying to be a pollyanna here, but it will be interesting to see what Bilbray does in the House for the next couple of months as the general election heats up, and see how Busby reacts in her campaign work. A win’s a win, from anyone’s point of view, but Bilbray’s win came because his opponent screwed up big time right before the votes were cast. You can’t plan on that happening again.

One this is for sure, though: lina’s right – Rove is taking notes: “Tester/Burns. Not so good. Bilbray/Busby. Better, but still not great.”

Anne at 12 is unfortunately correct. We need to rid the party of its embarassments–Lieberman would be a good starter–if done before the primary! I’d rather lose with dignity than almost win, pandering.

I couldn’t agree with Lina above, more. The immig issue is a killer for the Dems. The country is split, but those that are against the Senate bill are motivated to vote for GOP House candidates and those supporting the bill are split between some (and I stress this, not all Dems support the bill) Dems and GOPers who support Bush and aren’t gonna vote for Dems becuase, on this issue, they agree with him.

And BTW, how smart a strategy is that for us. Wow, we managed to find an issue that’s resonating with the public and somehow we’ve decided to SUPPORT THE 30% PREZ on it.

And, just to set the record straight this was not that narrow a win. Add Griffiths’ numbers to Bilbray’s (and don’t EVEN tell me that Griffith’s supporters were going to Busby) and you get a 9 point win, in a district where the GOP incumbent went to fucking jail, for Chrissakes.

So how do we encourage Democrats to run more genuine and compelling campaigns?

Look at Angeledes and Westley, who managed to make a campaign against Schwartzenneger look like a playfight between 12 year olds. First Westley falsely insists that Angeledes wants to raise taxes on the middle class — making the Republicans’ argument for them, at a time when we NEED new tax revenues to support schools and fill potholes. Then Angeledes responds that Westley doesn’t hate Schwartzenneger enough. No matter what they did, it looked so stupid and boring that people didn’t even care to vote.

We don’t need movie stars running — as Tester showed in Minnesota; and as Hollywood director Rob Reiner proved, as he brought together a constellation of supporters but the preschool initiative he supported in California went down in flames.

Not enough Democrats came out to vote!! In Southern California they did not come out to elect Francine Busby in Duke Cunningham’s old seat (though she almost won in the Republican district – losing by just 4.5 points with the Republicans flooding the district with money). Elsewhere in California, they didn’t come to vote for the gubenetorial candidates.

Finally, squinting at the lengthy California ballot, it took an hour just to figure out which of the 15 choices seemed reasonable to make, and then it took the time to vote. Overwhelm set in too quickly.

So friends — please — let’s figure out how to bring interest and enthusiasm back to these elections. It’s not enough to say how bad the Republicans have been.

Wow. Francine Busby comes within 5% of a heavily-funded Republican in a district that has a 45%-30% GOP-Democrat registration advantage, and people are WHINING about how badly she did?

Folks, if we’re able to damned near win in ultra-red areas, how do you think we’ll do in places where the GOP doesn’t have a 15% registration advantage?

Remember, Busby lost by 18 points back in 2004. Now she’s down to within spitting distance of a win — and November is five months away.

Meanwhile, Jon Tester is going to be the next Senator from Montana.

But of course that’s not good enough for the wrist-slitters and professional buzzkillers, who apparently WANT the Democrats to do badly — or just think that putting on a cynical pose to go with the beret is, like, y’know, tres cool.

Not me. I’ll go throw some coin at Busby, as the race isn’t over. Not by a long shot.

Color me suspicious nonetheless

Bilbray was about 3000 votes ahead from the minute the polls closed and ended up…about 3000 votes ahead.

That means that pretty much all of the winning margin was in the very first batch of absentee ballots counted.

Odd, wouldn’t you say?

–MarkusQ

P.S. And for anyone who feels like calling me a tin-foil moonbat for suggesting such a thing, do you really think people who would do the sort of things we now know were done by the Rove, Dukestir, et al, would quail at a little ballot box stuffing?

Lina at 20;

I think the GOP finds groups of people to portray as scary enemies who will invade and take away “your” way of life. The terrorists “hate us for our freedoms” (granted, they ARE an enemy, but they do not hate us for our freedoms, and the message there is the usual GOP manipulation), working women are responsible for the decay of the American family, gay people are responsible for everything from tooth decay to 9/11, Mexicans, the French, Germans, the UN…on and on it goes.

I’ve always likened the GOP to Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast”, particularly the scene in which he, having had his ego bruised by Belle’s affection for Beast, implores the townspeople to take up arms against Beast by telling them he’ll kill their children, destroy their homes, etc. Of course, Gaston’s motives have nothing whatsoever to do with protecting the townspeople but instead are selfish, but he needs an enemy and to fill the people with fear in order to get an army together to do his dirty work for him.

Same thing. The GOP is Gaston, fake machismo narcissism in the flesh!

I recall the sealing-the-border issue being arisen because of terrorism, but there is no talk of sealing the Canadian border, which is much more likely to see terrorists pass through.

Americans are too easily duped, I think.

I say hold out hope for Busby as JMG says

“By bad luck of the draw, nationally watched by-elections 2nd Ohio and 50th Cal. took place in some of the most Republican territory in the nation, making close losses for the Dems the most likely outcome of a disaffected electorate.”

As for the Washington Dems, it’s better to follow the testie advice “if the politician stands up, the outsider can get in. But that will only happen if the person shows some authenticity and has the spine to let the voters know they actually do have a choice and it’s not between a Joe Lieberman Democrat and some brand name Republican.”

Danbury at 29: Canadians are not brown.

The Busby “gaffe” was more than we think. Even her explanation, if you believed her, was telling. The right wing on this issue doesn’t want illegals working on campaigns, they want them locked up and deported.

I can’t see why the border issue is a positive for the Republicans. This really emphasizes that there is no increase in security. We can’t protect our borders?

As for Busby not winning. If she wants to try again and claim we’re just letting Bellboy or whoever serve out a fellow Republican’s seat. Ballot stuffing, or just controlling the voting roles, fine. Get up for another round as it’ll cost the republican treasury at a good clip. The republican managers’ hands have to be doing a lot of washing each other so it’s going to be harder to do that. While we have our expert consultants, the weak link for the republicans has to be their managers.

Hey pach, did you catch this ?

In the White House press briefing, yesterday, Tony Snow talked about gays not being in the room. When asked by a reporter, Snow said that there were not “any gay participants in the meeting with the President” when he discussed the Constitutional amendment. No gay people in the room.

Really? I find this fascinating. Just out of curiousity…how does the White House identify everyone’s sexual orientation in the room before they have a meeting?

Any ideas?

Their are limits on overseas involvement in our campaigns. There is no overseas funding allowed. I think only people allowed to vote should be working on campaigns.

Larry:

Presumably, Mehlman has all the possible gay attendees on speed dial.

Re: CA50 race; I am sure many dems now wish the dnc had spent 4.5M to elect busby. The dems needed this win more than they realize. To me this is just another indication that dems won’t spend the money or fight the fight necessary to win.

Larry 34,

Maybe there is a “Are you gay?” box they have to check on the loyalty oath?

Larry @34

Snow didn’t say there weren’t any gays in the room, just that they didn’t participate in the meeting.

Kind of like children in that cliche: seen and not heard.

Or is it that they just weren’t practicing at the moment?

Speedo dial ? ….ugh

Phoenix Woman – as a gambler I gotta say, “I’ll take that bet”. First of all, Busby didn’t come with ’spitting distance’ of anything. She got the same percentage Kerry got in ‘04 and LOST two points from what she got in April. Second, there was a third party candidate that drew all of his votes from Bilbray, so without him in the race, the margin is between 8-9 points. Third 18% against a popular incumbent vs. 8-9% against a lobbyist of the same party as the incumbent who went to jail for bribery? Yeah, I’ll take the bet (and any coin you want to throw away), with bilbray as an incumbent and absolutely no other motiviation for CA Dems to vote in November, unless Angelides can close his 13 point gap against Ahnold.
I’m telling you, unless you live in the district, there’s more productive places to give your money to. One example, completely overlooked by the entire blogosphere is NJ Senate which predict is gonna be really close and, without big support, may just cost us a seat. Remember you heard it here first.

christofay at 35: And if YOU feel that way, think how Republicans and right leaning independents feel. Then consider Busby’s comment in that context.

Lina #20 I don’t want to make this personal, Californians call it an immigration issue many see it as about race. Mexicans immigrate all over this country not just Ca. and not all of us have issues with them, most I believe would prefer not to propagate the hatred and racism as that found in SoCa.

I am reading the comments and am glad I am not the only one thinking that November could be a shock to the Democrats unless they start figuring out that coming in 2nd is not a victory.

If CA50 was the bellweather race as labeled, we are in big trouble.

For those depressed by the CA election results, there’s a great defense of the SF Bay Area and creativity by Garrison Keillor today in Salon. I loved this line: ” The iPod was not developed by Baptists in Waco, Texas.”

It made me feel better, anyway, and ready to wrestle with numb elephants again.

ppp at 43: I don’t have any documented proof there is more racism in California than in the other 49 states. Perhaps you do. FYI, I’m the caucasian mother of a latino child.

matt stoller has a must read post on results over at mydd: http://www.mydd.com/

Matt Stoller has an excellent post-election analysis up:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/6/7/101138/8639

Angry old broad:
We need a return of the small family owned farm,badly)

I’m afraid this is going to be a long, somewhat impressionistic riff, so skip over it if you wish.

As a recovering (and retired) sociologist, I thought I understood the inner workings of societies, and the various “species” of them; but now I become more unsure every day. But there are some things that appear to hold. Angry old broad’s comment “pinged” something in me that brought out these ideas:
- societies are systems, and as such have to have structural and functional integrity.
- One cannot have a self unless there is an other, because there could be no self-identity without some way of differentiating between the inside of a system and the outside world.
- We are in a transition between a “traditional” society, which is hierarchially organized, and a “distributed” society which is , to coin a term, “heteroarchially” organized. A good example of such a system is the Internet.
- A distributed system is a threat to a hierarchically organized system, because it does not recognize the top-down authority that such a system needs to maintain its identity and system integrity.
- A distributed system is more stable, more adaptable and adapts faster than a tradition-based system.
- A hierarchic system is more fragile than a distributed system. Example: many small farmers is more stable and adptable than mega-farms with monolithic management structures. If one goes down, the whole system doesn’t go down.
- Memes that might flow from this world view might be the following:
o We are for the little guy, the small business.
o One could imagine all of Washington DC becoming part of the Smithsonian, and federal government run out of state offices using the internet.
o We are for decentralization of big government, but also for reducing the gap between rich and poor (bringing the Gini index down)

Well, I could go on about how insurance companies were once co-ops run by the “animal clubs” (Moose, Elks, etc.) and were cooperatives in structure. And, at one time, “freeways” got their names because they were not privately-owned toll roads.
Enough, already. Sorry for the long post, but I just had to say it.
-sofistic

Anne Haygood 10 — first of all we don’t have a troll rating system so I have no idea what you are talking about. And I’m certain your election analysis background is sterling, so would you like to explain to me how a Democratic candidate grabbing 45.5% of the vote in a solidly Republican district is some sort of demoralizing harbinger? (She lost by 4.5%; during the last election she lost by 22%. I see a trend line here, and it does not support your conclusion.)

I love when the concern trolls come out and accuse us of “spin” but the fact is that the Democrats voted for Demorats, the Republicans voted for Republicans in CA-50, and independents broke 9 to 1 for Busby. This despite the fact that the GOP dumped TONS of money into the campaign. It’s a horrible bellweather for the Republicans and they have to be concerned this morning.

The fact is that we’ve been saying on this site over and over again that the Democrats’ failure to put forward a solid progressive message, one of hope, is a big problem and their “don’t rock the boat” strategy will probably keep turnout amongst Democrats low (last night, in fact). Yes, everyone here is well aware that there is a problem. So maybe stop whining in our comments section and spreading defeatism, and letting Rahm Emmanuel and Chuck Schumer know how you feel, the people who could actually do something about this?

DSCC website
DCCC website

Post-election bellyaching that only spreads more cynicism and makes people feel hopeless is one of my pet peeves. It’s childish, petulant and only serves to make people MORE demoralized and depress the vote further, which I often suspect is the goal. Jon Tester’s victory last night was huge for progressives and if anyone doesn’t have the brain cells to figure that out I really just don’t know what to say.

And thanks, Taylor. Great post.

“it seems to me Democrats need to walk away from the assumption that voter disgust with Republican incompetence and corruption is going to carry them to Congress”

Damn right! All polls show that the voters are disgusted with politicians of all parties. Simply claiming: “Look at the republicans, they are worse than we are! For a slightly less annoying experience, vote Dem!” won’t encourage a single voter to turn up on election day. And low voter turnout favors the GOP. So Dems have to offer a program which appeals to a broad public. And imho simply an idea for withdrawal in Iraq won’t be enough, they need a real plan for it, and some reasonable initiatives for the domestic problems of americans, too, something like a new healthcare policy. Less than half a year left until the elections, when will Dems start to talk business?

No cloture on marriage amendment– 49- 48

duh!!!!!!!

next up– estate tax.

What a waste of time on our dime.

Hear, hear Jane!

Anne 50 — you should be fixed.

“letting Rahm Emmanuel and Chuck Schumer know how you feel”

Hehe, don’t they know that already when they look at that 60 % victory for Tester? :)

Morning, all!

Shouldn’t the wave of local/national-dirty-Gooper news yet to break (and Bilbray’s snaky persona, which certainly gives me the cold robbies) still carry Busby to November success — IF her staffers carefully keep her fresh enough to avoid more big bloopers, and IF the national party has sense enough to help, and IF local progressives work like demons in her cause?

I gather the SDUT ed. board will be a problem — but one the paper’s own investigative reporting is apt to neutralize or even overwhelm, no?

As to McNerney vs. Pombo, I’m actually relieved to see that ahead rather than McN vs. Pete McCloskey (especially with McC throwing his vocal and moral support to McN: great!). Where will the local media come down on that one?

CNN: Senate cloture on anti-gay-marriage debate passes 49-48.

Lina at 47: I’m in S.D. often and comment is only from personal experience (no Data) if that count’s for anything, once again not about you so please don’t take it as such. Though as long as people don’t address the issues of growing racism in SoCa. things may continue to get worse, I would think you would be less defensive of it.

I wonder how many Democrats in California felt as disgusted about voting as I did yesterday. The campaign between Angelides and Westly was such a turnoff. As much as I hate Arnold, I am so turned off by Angelides and Westly that if I could vote against having a governor I would. I hope the rest of the Democratic party takes better advantage of the opportunity this election presents than these two assholes have.

I vote absentee and usually have my ballet in long before the election. I was so turned off by the election I finally brought my absentee ballot over to my precinct 15 minutes before the polls closed, mainly because I would have been embaressed to participate at FDL if I did not vote.

My votes were mostly progressive protest votes: against Feinstein, against Lantos, against Angelides and Westly.

We definitely should not minimize the victory of Tester. I am pretty gleeful about that one.

Anybody get the feeling that the Democratic National Party really doesn’t want to win? I live in Montana and I feel the reason the whole state went Democrat is the desire to win on the ground and at the party level. Nothing left to lose after years of being beaten by the state Repubs. Also the Republicans mangled the state so badly (Judy Martz) that the voters felt like they had no choice but to vote Democrat. You could use this model on a national level, using charismatic populist leaders running reforminst agendas in a broken state. I don’t think the established Dems will follow this model and we will gain nothing nationally.
James

The Tester win in Montana is exciting. I’m also mildly encouraged about CA-50 in November. Turnout will be much higher then, and I think that will help. Still, it is a heavily Republican district, and is going to be very difficult to take under the best of circumstances.

It has been my belief for a long time that trying to “run out the clock” until November won’t serve the Democrats very well. I’m not as pessimistic as some posters on this thread about Democratic gains. I think we’ll pick up enough seats in the House to get very close to control, as well as several seats in the Senate. However, I think Democrats can do much better than that if they run a tough, focused campaign.

Most Democratic encumbants just aren’t going to do that. The encouraging thing is that we aren’t depending on incumbants to pick up seats. So a lot depends on how good the crop of challengers is. A weak candidate is a weak candidate, and we aren’t going to win every competitive seat just because people are unhappy with Republicans.

The main danger is that an otherwise solid challenger will listen to the DLC insiders, run a weak campaign, and lose when he or she could have won. I’m convinced some of that will happen, and it will cost us some seats.

All the political babbling nothwithstanding, it is only June. A lot can and will happen between now and November.

Jane – Now first of all I absolutley love this site and your posts, and I truly, TRULY am not one to wail ‘the sky is falling”. However…

1. As I have stated, her 45.5 was pretty much what Kerry garnered here in ‘04. This against a lobbyist from the same party of the incumbent who was walked off to jail for taking bribes and of a Prez whose approval ratings have dropped 15% since that ‘04 contest.

2. Busby LOST close to 2% of what she garnered in April, meaning that she picked up absolutely no disaffected GOP voters.

3. Let’s not keep on ignoring the factor of a third party candidate, without whom, the difference would have been 8-9 points.

Again, I love the site and the posts and I’m not at all saying that all is lost. What I AM saying tho, is that Busby’s strategy didn’t work, that immig is an issue that we ignore at our peril, and, to agree with Matt at MyDD, we have to do more than say “we’re not them” and then run and hide. this is ESPECIALLY true when, regarding the hot button issue in the district, we end up telling people that we SUPPORT the 30% Prez.

Thanks, Pach and Jane. Morning to all. The night owl has arisen!

Gray at 52

This pretty much sums up the branding problem the Dems have to beat.

“Look at the republicans, they are worse than we are! For a slightly less annoying experience, vote Democrat!”

The campaign for war in Iraq, pre and post 9/11, and the associated hooliganism is something the dems need to distance themselves from.

Why they can’t take a stand against middle-east-misadventure, is part of what is hobbling them, and why they are ‘only slightly less annoying than republicans’.

<speculation>
OT: Was watching the trailers for ‘The Omen’, and it occurred to me that millenialist tripe like that is targetted at the ‘end-times’ christian zionist ‘base’ of the repugs. So it seems as though we have ‘gay marriage’, and an ‘anti-christ’ movie to scare the base into ‘remembering what they’re fightin for’.

I’m curious about the production team on that movie and their political perspectives. It is entirely possible its just mercenary marketing, making the most of a numerological date phenom, but it sure will add to the end-times hysteria that the televangelists have been spouting the past couple of years.
</speculation>

So, in CA 50, the total Democratic vote in the April primary was 45,000.

Yesterday, the Busby vote was 55,000. So, after spending $2M in a general election, the total increased by 10,000.

Not an encouraging sign. Get out the GD vote.

BTW, I emailed Matt Singer to congratulate him. He sent this:

Thanks. The feeling on the ground was simply incredible. We thought we were going to win it, but we thought we had it by maybe 5 or 6 percent. Simply incredible.

Our last minute media and mail buys made a huge difference. Let your readers who contributed know that they helped make this victory.

I don’t want to bum his high so I’ll tell him to stay away from our comments section.

All this apples-and-oranges chicken little shit is certainly irritating me.

ppp says:
June 7th, 2006 at 6:42 am

I assume you’re speaking from your experience in the area where you live, because it isn’t that way everywhere in CA.
—
I’d like to see the Dems in CA (heck, everywhere in the country) actually campaign, not just throw insults at each other and their opponents.
I want a reason to vote for a Dem, not just a sort-of-a-reason to vote against a GOoPer.
The Dems need to learn that anything they say that isn’t crystal-clear to a 10-year-old will be turned against them by the GOoper operatives: watch your tongue and make sure that mike really is off!
RE: the marriage amendmetn: the LA Times points out that Shrub can’t even use the word ‘homosexual’ when he’s talking about it, and how can he have any kind of debate on the subject when he can’t mention the subject?

Thanks Jane–

We need to keeep our spirits up and noses to the grindstone. Having worked through a moral victory here in another of the top ten Republican districts in the country,OH2 against Mean Jean, I can say that there IS such a thing. Paul Hackett’s race against Jean Shcmidt has palpably changed the dynamics here. Jean faced a strong primary opponent from the right who has now urged his constituents to stay home and an Earth-shoe wearing physician from a wealthy Cincinnati family, Victoria Wulsin, may still knock off (never up, she’s Right to Life) the Weird Sister yet. Money and volunteers are going to both Wulsin and John Cranley, who is taking on one of the RIGHTEST reps around, Steve Chabot in OH1 in a way unheard of around here in the past. Chabot is RUNNING from the President’s policies and Jean long ago lashed herself to that sinking mast.

Nobody wants to come in second and that’s the whole point. We are not going to win every seat, but for the first time sice the 1960s, we’re going to TRY to win every seat including CA-50 and OH-2. That’s not fatalistic; that’s invigorating. Hackett and Busby are the cararies in the gooper coalmines. Bad news for the canaries. Good news for us.

The Kerry numbers are not comparable. The real comps are congressional numbers, particularly in off-years.

Ignore thee Bush-Kerry results in the district. Outside of the Presidential numbers, Republicans have a solid track record of winning this district by 20 points. Unless Republicans win by twenty, there is a shift toward Democrats. More on the actual partisan leanings of this district can be found here:

http://mydd.com/story/2006/4/25/183449/631

Thanks, Jane!

OT, but really caught my eye last night, was this from a Time article about the DCCC and Rahm Emanuel:

http://www.time.com (”Whose Party is it Anyway?”)

Each week the DCCC brands one congressional Republican the “Rubber Stamp of the Week,” to mock fervent support for President Bush, and holds a conference call with reporters in the member’s district to hammer the point home. “Our rapid-response operation is presidential timber,” Emanuel brags.

Maybe we need to get a supply of rubber stamps in his hands…

Jane, I agree.

The greatest hurdle we face is not Rahm Emanuel, not Chuck Schumer, not Karl Rove, not voter suppression or machine corruption, not Republicans, not “moral values” and not flouridated water.

The greatest hurdle we face is the loser mentality that becomes a comforting, warm blanket of shit that so many on the left see fit to wallow in.

If I’ve insulted anybody, well, so be it.

And on that note, I have to head to a meeting. Back this afternoon!

OT NPR was just reporting that Arlen Specter won’t be calling the telco executives to testify “for now” and will concentrate rather on ways to improve NSA oversight. This is not another cave from the good Senator from Pennsylvania. Nope, that would be a totally unfair characterization, completely. So you go, Arlen, whip those bad boys with that wet spaghetti thing you call your spine!

Pach and Jane:

I admire you for your ability to persevere. I’m one who gets easily discouraged and wants to hide under the covers. I need people like you to keep me moving forward.

Morning. Well, well…election results are in. My own thoughts:

1. I read the article by that Stoller guy, as referenced by Pach. Interesting. So….Busby’s problem is with the issues? She’s not putting forth, clearly, her stance on issues? She’s not following the K.I.S.S. rule? I don’t know.

2.What’s the plan, Stan? Maybe that needs to be more sharply crafted. A few commenters indicate that the Democrats still don’t have sharply crafted messages, and/or positions. I tend to agree.
a) Tester made his stand on Iraq plain and simple…follow Murtha.
b) Did Busby have a simple stand/message on Iraq?
c) and, I sure do agree that just sitting on our collective rear ends, and letting the R team continue to fumble the ball isn’t going to get us very far.
d) ALWAYS carry the fight to the enemy. Always. Attack. It’s the only way to win.

3. Overall, I think it was a pretty good election night. Perhaps we should learn a bit….but then, CHARGE FORWARD!
Ghostman

Tester’s win is huge. We need to savor it. Montana, people!

The GOP spent $4.5 million to defend a safe seat in CA-50. I read somewhere that was something like 20% of their cash on hand. That money is spent. Gone. Can’t be used in tight races again ever. The corrupt CheneyCo ATM needs to raise it all over again.

And as far as California turnout, I blame the Dems at the top of the ticket. Nothing like trash-talking your opponent to keep voters home. Those guys spent $70 million!

Finally, I intend to ask my Congresswoman this weekend at YKos what changes she plans after seeing 4 of 10 Democrats oppose Jane Harman in the party. Say what you will about how we “crow about losing,” this needs to be a wake-up call for national Dems: offer a compelling vision to voters or risk losing. Coasting won’t work. Voters want progressive solutions, and our country needs them. Now.

==========
Had Enough?
==========

Pachacutec #73:

According to some poster upthread, Busby lost because Southern Californians like me are racial bigots. So don’t worry about insulting anybody, ’cause you’re a bit late to that party.

Yes I agree that there was a shift toward Democrats in this race. You also had a GOP incumbent that was walked off to jail for taking bribes in a manner that every voter could understand. That resulted in closing the gap to 8-9 points from 22 points against the then-popular incumbent in 04. Again, I’m not saying the sky is falling, but I’m not about to say that this show that we have any huge momentum going for us.

Does everybody know that the Little Big Horn River is in Montanna?

From the front lines via Fargo talk radio: heard from a SD Dem legislative honcho that yesterday’s primary had some real shakeups and the state lege will likely end up with 1/3 to 1/2 new faces after November.

The abortion issue a big item. On the Repub side, 4 hardliners knocked off moderate incumbents. Dems making gains in the urban areas–previously moderate Repubs switched parties in the Sioux Falls areas.

Strong feeling that the abortion legislation was a major overreach with its rigid nonexceptions for rape, incest and health of the mother.

While the “homerun” races matter–and big props to neighbor Tester in Montana!–we should pay strong attention to the “little ball” going on at the state-level races as well. This is the feeder system for future races, and Howard Dean’s commitment to a 50 State Strategy is exactly what the Dems need.

Jane said… The fact is that we’ve been saying on this site over and over again that the Democrats’ failure to put forward a solid progressive message, one of hope, is a big problem and their ‘don’t rock the boat’ strategy will probably keep turnout amongst Democrats low (last night, in fact). …

There could not be a stronger message right now, sent by Tester’s win, which is to stand up for what you believe and don’t worry about what anyone thinks. People follow authentic leaders, are hungry for a Democratic vision that isn’t clouded with circumspection, which demands declarative statements and a vision that is uniquely your own. If you present it the people will come. If you don’t they’ll stay home.

I just can’t find much to whine about, because you don’t always win when making amazing forward progress. I’m so jazzed about what Tester’s win means I can’t find a rock in my ice for anything!

Jane, I sent you an e-mail that is bouncing back for some reason. Gist of it was “all is well.”

Pach @ 71 and 73:

I think you’ve got the right comparation going in looking at past congressional races, not Kerry. Sadly, someone ought to pass that along to the Democratic spinners. From MSNBC’s “First Read”:

In the ballyhooed race to fill imprisoned Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s congressional seat in California, Brian Bilbray (R) defeated Francine Busby (D), 49.5%-45% (with 90% of precincts reporting). This morning, Democrats are pointing out that national Republicans were forced to spend millions on this race in a GOP-leaning district, and that Busby outperformed John Kerry (who got 44% in the district in 2004) while Bilbray underperformed Bush. “In an election cycle that is shaping up to be a change vs. the status quo contest, Francine Busby has shown that a strong change message can make even former members of Congress vulnerable in deeply red Republican districts,” House Democratic campaign spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg tells First Read.

Can’t we find some democrats who understand how to make a valid comparison?

To get over that hurdle, we need a hose to wash down the folks wrapped up in that blanket, then we need to give them hope. Not false comforts, not pie-in-the-sky, but real hope.

Tester Now.
Lamont in August.
Congress in November.
Accountability in January.

Little Big Horn is indeed in Montana:

http://www.nps.gov/libi/

31 lina says:

June 7th, 2006 at 7:03 am

Danbury at 29: Canadians are not brown.

Uh sorry Lina, but Canadians come in all sorts of colours. When my daughter graduated from high school a couple of years ago, her principal said that the student body represented people from 44 different countries.

I would suggest the biggest difference between illegal immigrants from the north and south American border would be one of education. I read here last night that many of the Spanish speaking illegals can’t even read Spanish.

But I have also read of a number of illegal immigrant gangs being caught running mainland Chinese into the US.

Recently, the big news here was the deportation of Portuguese illegals.

I don’t know what category you want to put them in, but I don’t think it would be white.

And Danbury 29 I read a comment in our local Toronto paper that pointed out that the leader of the “Toronto Terrorists” was a US citizen from Georgia. The targets they apparently planned to hit were all Canadian, so it looked to him that we had far more to fear from what would come through our border from the US than the other way around.

While the comment was obviously snark, it reminds us to take what is reported in the media with a grain of salt.

You know, the showing in the (California) polls is not a reason to despair.

The power of the blogs, and particularly this one, is just beginning to show, and even though we are doing a prototype right now, it is working.

As the commercial says, “This changes EVERYTHING.” Think of the Federalist Papers, and Thomas Paine and the writings of Thomas Jefferson multiplied by literally millions, and that is what we are doing; right here, right now, all the time.
-sofistic

CNN: A Lt. Watada (from HI) is refusing to deploy to Iraq on principled objection to an illegal, about to have a news conference.

an illegal WAR

Sorry.

Evans 68 and others: I’m speaking to the growing comfortable ease that people I often come accross in SoCa. now find in blurting out comments about illegal immigrants which are not so carefully veiled and easily understood to include others (not to excuse the first). It isn’t about them being illegal but implied to be about a cultural attribute or presumed lack of education, intelligence or life motivation. By any motivation why defend it, it’s sickening and growing? Don’t forget Mexico has alot of oil and a current election of importance.

Yeah Tester! He (and Ned, soon) should be the example for national Dems, but I am not confident in their abilities.

Seeing the CA-50 results this morning was instantly depressing. After reading all the comments here, the only good I see from it is that if Busby had won, the Rove machine would have kicked up their dirty tactics from “aggressive” to “you-ain’t-seen-nothing-yet super-dirty-aggressive.”

Dems need to set the fucking agenda instead of waiting for the GOP to implode – that is a losing strategy. I will make my calls and emails to the DSCC and DCCC today cuz I AM PISSED!

Btw, what is being done to stop Blackwell’s BS in Ohio? Are the Dems countering that at all?

Tester Now.
Lamont in August.
Congress in November.
Accountability in January.

LOVE IT, youbetcha!

I hate that Francine lost, but if this result means that the GOP thinks they have it easier in November, it’s worth it. Seriously, do they believe their spin that this result shows that voter discontent isn’t there? If the media had played a Busby win as first evidence of the great wave about to overwhelm the GOP, I’d rather the GOP not see it now, but in November, when the stakes are so much higher.

I am sorry for Francine, but if her election meant the goopers saw the canary in the coal mine die, just as well we wait for that….

So as long as we’re dissecting CA50, let’s look at one other set of causalities. One of Bilbrany’s contentions was that Busby was inexperienced – she had a couple of terms on a school board vs. his couple of terms in Congress.

Here’s a question nobody seems to be asking: why didn’t the Dems have a stronger candidate? No disrespect to Busby, she was the one with the courage and passion to get into the arena in a usually hopeless district, but why (a) didn’t the Dems have a deeper bench, or (b) why didn’t they coach her up so that she wouldn’t make the Big Mistake a couple of days before the election?

I know it’s terribly unfashionable to talk about fundementals, but isn’t that where this race was really lost?

Here’s the thing about Montana, and I oughta know, I’ve lived here a long time, is that Montanans are sick of Republican incompetence. We used to be, only 6 years ago, the reddest of states. Schweitzer came in and was unapologetic about his positions on a range of issues. He didn’t try to be Republican Lite. He was elected and the Dems took back BOTH houses of the state legislature from Repubs and now Schweitzer is hugely popular and the voters are happy with the direction of the state.

Tester came from nowhere to beat Morrison because Morrison is part of the old Dem establishment that lost everything. People everywhere are dissatisfied with government. But to win, you have to show competence. You can’t win by being Republican lite. Voters want to vote for people who are unafraid to take a stand. Voters may not agree with the candidate on every issue, but they want LEADERS, not the same kind of putzes who got us into this mess in the first place.

If Dems want to win, they need to look at Montana. These candidates got nothing from the National party and had no good ol’ boy network. But, the common thread with Schweitzer and Tester is they aren’t politicians. They aren’t afraid to take a stand. And, of course, they can answer a quetion in one sentence, not like John Kerry.

Bionic, homegrown Portuguese are Caucasians.

omg– Judd Gregg changed his stance from the last vote on the discriminatory and vile marriage amendment and voted against cloture and the preznit on the FMA– i just got off the floor. The thugs have lost this one big time. There is no momentum. Tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing– the republican party in a nutshell.

I think we’re going to have to stop counting on Busbys and look towards the Montanas for where to concentrate the efforts of the Dems. Montana is a good example that Howard Dean is right to start rebuilding the party from the ground up. I see hope there, especially since I lived next door to MT for many years and swore it would always be die-hard Republican.

Hello, Firepups! i’m giddy with excitement – i’m leaving now for the airport (Logan). Will be in LV at 7:15 PM and will help Siun with registration tasks. I can’t afford eating at hotel prices for 4 days so i am bringing ceareal and trail mix – does anyone have other cheap ways to eat / where to buy groceries? Thanks!! Will continue to blog….

“Here’s the thing about Montana, and I oughta know, I’ve lived here a long time, is that Montanans are sick of Republican incompetence. We used to be, only 6 years ago, the reddest of states. Schweitzer came in and was unapologetic about his positions on a range of issues. He didn’t try to be Republican Lite. He was elected and the Dems took back BOTH houses of the state legislature from Repubs and now Schweitzer is hugely popular and the voters are happy with the direction of the state.”

THAT’S IT! Exactly. Run a campaign with a forward-looking, progressive/populist message and the people will embrace it.

Looking forward to 2006:

Hooray! We only lost 2 seats in the senate and 10 in the house. This is a great win for our side.

Now up at http://www.crooksandliars.com:

9/11 Widows respond to Coulter

After Coulter attacked the 9/11 families on the TODAY Show yesterday- I enquired to see how they felt. Here is their initial response.

Statement of September 11th Advocates Response to “Godless”

We did not choose to become widowed on September 11, 2001. The attack, which tore our families apart and destroyed our former lives, caused us to ask some serious questions regarding the systems that our country has in place to protect its citizens. Through our constant research, we came to learn how the protocols were supposed to have worked. Thus, we asked for an independent commission to investigate the loopholes which obviously existed and allowed us to be so utterly vulnerable to terrorists. Our only motivation ever was to make our Nation safer. Could we learn from this tragedy so that it would not be repeated?

We are forced to respond to Ms. Coulter’s accusations to set the record straight because we have been slandered.

Contrary to Ms. Coulter’s statements, there was no joy in watching men that we loved burn alive. There was no happiness in telling our children that their fathers were never coming home again. We adored these men and miss them every day…click here to read the rest.”

Babington took my question– ROTFLMAO at his response!

>>>>>>>>>

New Hampshire: Jon Tester won in Montana. Montana was as red a state as any. What implications does this have for the Republicans in November? I see it as a huge loss for Conrad Burns and the party and a major wake up call to incumbents.

Charles Babington: Wait a minute. Jon Tester won the Democratic nomination to oppose Sen. Burns in November. He may or may not win the general election. Big difference.

_______________________

new thread alert

Lotus 8:29
Reading that response of the 9/11 widows made me so angry with Coulter that all I could think of was that there should be a new term in our language called “social pornography”
-sofistic

I truly don’t know which is more despicable:

Ann Coulter’s 911 Widows Slapdown – “And This Time, It’s Personal”

or

“>The Dr. Jonathan “Strangelove” Hoenig’s Economic Stimulus Plan

Kathryn in MA,

Cheap Eating in Las Vegas

http://govegas.about.com/cs/va…..aplsit.htm

Have fun, Firepup! ; )

Moderator – feel free to delete my post at 8:42 am

Either I was confused or the blogging software was confused. Either way I’m going for anothe rcup of coffee.

Busby really really lost it with last weekend’s comments. HUGE mess.

This immigration thing really has taken me by surprise. I live maybe five minutes from the CA-Mexican border, in a pretty affluent area, chosen by my partner (who is latina) and I for its diversity, so the mexican-americans I see are very well off, hardly fitting into rightwing stereotypes. I’m pretty immune to the prejudice–(no minutemen bumper stickers in Chula Vista)not like it is where I’m from originally, the central valley. When my partner and I lived there for a few months, she had people in grocery stores telling her the beans were in aisle 4. But I understand other areas in SD are less diverse.

The thing is, this issue doesn’t just affect illegal immigrants. Do you realize how many “shadow” american citizen there are, the pretty much english-only speaking ones who went to school in the US, have driver’s licenses and social security cards, vote in every election, yet if they were forced to produce a birth certificate, they would be screwed. They have been grandfathered into the system, but what if they change the laws? Resident legal aliens are being detained as we speak because they are changing/enforcing the immigration laws. An extended family member was cuffed in the immigration office in Miami because of a minor crime he committed and served his time for (7 months) 9 YEARS AGO! They say the immigration laws have change. Successful US businessman–been in jail for a month.

I am really scared for my family (so crushingly normal, but with the cards truly stacked against us), and our future, which apparently in the hands of people comfortable spinning losses as wins.

Although there is a real range of emotional tone, I don’t think that the “positive” and the “negative” posts here are saying things that are all that different from a content standpoint.

Dems who either take, or allow themselves to be pushed into, an apologetic, appeasing footing and who do not get their message out clearly and forcefully are challenging to the base AND to the vote – the ultimate vote and the get out the vote effort.

Candidates who are self confident in their message and not hanging on insider consultants to develop their personas for them win not just with the base but with the wider population.

Tester and Feingold are examples of Dems who are pretty unapologetic of their positions and their constituents are supportive. They may not agree with everything, but they know where they do agree and they know that on the things where they agree, their candidate will be there for them.

Positive or negative, the posts all trend towards acknowledging that candidates whose basic message is that they believe in their positions, not that they are “selling their positions, subject to the next best offer,” don’t have problems – catchy quips or not – with message clarity. The fact that we have some of these candidates is reaffirming on a lot of levels and that makes people happy.

The posts also trend towards acknowledging that while Republicans are ripe to be taken down, the insider Dem leadership circles – from a consultant selection to $$ allocation to “lack of message” – are barriers for powerful message Dem candidates to overcome, not a support structure for them. And that makes people mad.

Dem insiders are truly befuddled that the base doesn’t buy the “honey, it will make our marriage stronger in the end, trust me on this” approach and from the “base” that generates contempt and a desire to walk away from some; a desire to whomp someone upside the head from others; a desire to not throw everything out and to try to dig in and see about patching holes while finding a way to generate accountability and hold feet more to the fire in the future by others; and desire to just ignore the old insiders and concentrate on having fun with the new guys by others.

Or that’s how it seems to me -more difference in emotional reactions than seeing the circumstances differenly. fwiw.

Lotus @ 96

Sorry my snark wasn’t more obvious.

Frankly, I find the whole notion of parsing out what “color” or “race” people are a stupid construct. People of Mediterranean extraction would not have been considered “white” when people are labeling “Latins”.

As shown throughout history, the strange has always been treated as the other. Americans are really big on identifying people as “white”, “black”, “brown”, “hispanic”, “latino”, “anglo” etc etc. I don’t think these terms are all that useful.

Go back a few generations and you’d probably find most of the bigots’ ancestors if they were even in the country, were treated as despised interlopers of one sort or another.

For me, the biggest distinguishers are people’s economic class and culture.

I can remember sitting at a pool side in the UAE 25 years ago, listening to a Canadian doctor, who still had his Scottish accent (ie he was an immigrant) complaining about all the Asians who lived in BC. They were taking over!My comment that many of their families had probably been there for generations longer than his own, flew right over his head.

Patch @ 72 writes:

The greatest hurdle we face is not Rahm Emanuel, not Chuck Schumer, not Karl Rove, not voter suppression or machine corruption, not Republicans, not “moral values” and not flouridated water.

The greatest hurdle we face is the loser mentality that becomes a comforting, warm blanket of shit that so many on the left see fit to wallow in.

If I’ve insulted anybody, well, so be it.

I’m not insulted, but I strongly disagree. While you are probably right about most of the points you mentioned, you are clearly wrong about voter suppression and machine corruption.

To see the error in your thinking, try mapping it on to a more personal situation. Let’s say I offer to play a game of chance against you, for serious money. You can bring all the positive attitude and such you want, as long as we play with my (loaded) dice and (marked) cards.

Who do you think will win?

– MarkusQ

al 78: As Republicans Use hatred of Gays, Moslems, Liberals etc. to propel their agendas, the Hatred of Mexicans disguised as (illegal immigrants) is being bred in border regions and played on the rest of us. It seems those living in border regions don’t get their being used to propagate hatred. I suspect in the end “illegal immigrant wars” will have something to do with who controls Mexico and Mexican oil supplies and further the rest of central and south American oil suplies. We were pushed to hate Moslems and then went after Iraq why are we being pushed to hate Mexicans (illegal immigrants).

Coming in late, but THANK YOU Jane for smacking down some of this bleating and whining over Busby’s loss.

This is a MOVEMENT we’re talking about, guys. It’s not one race or candidate. Learn, move on and work harder — but please, what’s the point of the defeatist moaning after the fact?

One of the problems, as I see it, is countering the spin the MSM puts on all of these races. They are only too eager to pick up on the “moral victory” statements, which provide the perfect opportunity for the GOP to say that the only real victory that counts is the one earned at the ballot box.

It is impossible to entirely control what the MSM says, but if the candidates and party reps are “on message” every time they are interviewed by any media outlet, assuming the MSM continues to interview Democrats, the message that will go out across the country will be the same. The party rep who’s talking about a race in Virginia can deliver a message that has meaning to voters in the other 49 states; that can be done without losing sight of the Virginia race.

Total focus. Total unity of purpose. As much cash as possible.

Kathryn in MA,

There’s a Denny’s right down the road from the Riv and there are also a bunch of small grocery type stores in strip malls in the same area.
Also, if by some chance you’re going to gamble (and this goes for everybody), BE SURE to join the casino’s player’s club so your play gets tracked. It can lead to comp meals, and even dollars off your room when you check out. (so I hear, I most certainly wouldn’t know, teehee).
And also, since I have to repond to a motion on Friday and had to cancel my comps at Wynn and stay here in NYC, if anyone goes to Wynn during YearlyKos, I hear that the $1 Wheel of Fortune machine which is the one on the left end of the banks of the dollar Wheel machines as you’re facing out towards the lobby and is a Double Diamond wheel machine, is loose and pays well. I just hear…but the source is VERY well known to me.

Got that? $1 double diamond Wheel of Fortune machine. Last one on the left as you face out toward the lobby. that means that its on the non-lobby side of the bank of machines so that when you sit at it you’re facing towards the lobby. Pays well. You should put $40 in to start. I mean it. I’m so friggin mad I had to cancel.

Howie Klein has more on the California races and Tester http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/
I have to say I am encouraged.

The problem isn’t with Busby or money or the Democratic party. The problem is us – the American people. It pains me to say it, but somewhere along the way we’ve turned into a nation of selfish, short sighted, hypocritical idiots.

This was a golden opportunity wasted….Being a life long Democrat,,,today, Im very concerned that the Dems are missing the boat again….

Read MY LIPS====NO AMNESTY for “illegals” Bilbray said that when he went against Bush’s Guest Worker Program his campaign picked up Steam……

The McCain/Kennedy Bill is a DOG and the Democrats are gonna get burned being tied to it…Democrats need to make a Stand for “Americans” not “illegals”=====Most Americans want a Hard line against “illegals” invading our country to pander to the Spanish voters in hopes of getting their vote is a insult to “Americans” who see the debate over “illegals” as giving in to breaking the law and getting away with it…..

Dems better wake up or they will see More Defeats in Nov and 08…..I am a Democrat but I disagree with my party on Immigration…..Enforce the LAW.

The MCM fluffers are doing all they can to emphasize to news consumers that the Dems are just as corrupt as the Rethugs. Any time they have the chance.

So, the “party of corruption” is going to have limited purchase for additional votes, most likely. What is needed is strong Dems speaking to solutions for the needs of the people, as well as pointing out the K Street corruption–which is a complex corruption issue; the House bank checking issue was presented to the electorate as very simple to understand.

We desperately need political solutions for the Dems to talk about–and we need elected Dems to stand up to the WH and the Rethugs.

(Hint to Diane Feinstein, not a good idea to say you wouldn’t vote for subpoenas for the telco execs, even when you didn’t have a chance to do so. Cripes, Madam Senator, what were you thinking? Do you really want voters to think the Dems support invasions of privacy? You know, yes, we deal with terrorists, but use legal means, with court oversight.)

Some time ago on this site, lurkers were encouraged to post and join in. I am a lurker, mostly because I feel I have nothing outstanding to contribute to the comments made here

I am delurking to express my opinion that people all have differing views on the Busby loss. And let us be clear–Busby lost. Those who are whining , or whatever you thuink they are doing, Jane, are offering a view that is, imo, being slapped down. They have something to offer and since when is it requisite that everyone on this blog conform to it’s personal “viewpoint” that is, we MUST be upbeat and seek the positives rather than “whine”. To some people, the “whine” as it is referred to, is a peek into reality and not sound bites. Some of us are so sick and tired of sound bites that it turns our stomachs.

Face it–Busby lost. Period. Now let us analyze why without fawning soundbites and without overly positive sell.

IMO, and it is a humble opinion considering my lack of higher education, the most outstanding reason, perhaps, for the failure to get a message across is because NO ONE is addressing the war in Iraq, save Murtha and a few others. Polls show that is of primary concern of Americans today. Yet, the issue is avoided like the plague and so therefore it is logical that voters see NO difference between the two parties.

Thank you and I do enjoy lurking here.

Speak up more often, Porta Bella! And welcome.

Well said 123.
Bill 120: I hope you are including Cubans entering in Florida, Asians in Washington and the whole slew of others in NYC and elsewhere. Enforce the laws, tighten the border, fine but this administration tends to make it just about Mexicans and for all the wrong reasons.

Trends set the tone for future sucess ONLY if they are picked up upon. To discrad them only contributres to failure.

125,,,Excellent point…by “illegals” I mean all “illegals”…by Enforcing the laws, I mean FINE Heavily Fine,,,Employers who hire “illegals” I believe that last year only 3 cases were ever brought forward…..Unless we are willing to bit the bullet and say out loud that Democrats believe in Enforcing the Law against “illegal” hiring,,,housing,,,giving state and local Services too we will continue to have a BOOMING problem…..

Why is NO Democrat or Republicans====Taking on Mexico for supporting “illegals” to come to this country? Why are Americans picking up the Tab for “illegals” using our Healthcare systems, education systems,,,State and Federal and Local Services? that is a total Outrage,,,,,Building Walls are good but there are So Many other things that can be done to address this problem and NOT 1 Democrat is speaking out against this Invasion of our Country.

Just some humble thoughts, here. It’s been my observation that people, in general, hold politics in the background, like the tv which is talking while they are talking or eating. Only the catchy soundbites capture their fleeting attention. With a citizenry which is so unengaged by political debate unless it is one of shouting or demogoguery, how do the legitimate office-seekers get their attention with constructive agendas?

Frankly, I think that some of the problem lies with the fact that the people running may be smart, but not terribly creative thinkers. A big difference. Feingold is smart and creative and spontaneous. But the system of choosing candidates rewards those dullards who have been plodding along in local politics for a long time.

The Democratic Party needs to take a chance on new faces from different venues: higher education, secondary education, science, the arts, etc, instead of the endless parade of ex-lawyers, businessmen,
insurance salesmen, and the like. Recruit from the thinkers and professional commmunicators, like educators, in our society. They know how to use language to communicate, and they tend to be idealistic and folks of integrity.

I haven’t a clue as to the moral content of the candidates who will be running in my state in November. All I have is some faces, some names, and a sense of which party they belong to. It really isn’t enough to generate enthusiasm, but I vote, anyway, because I grew up doing so, and will still do so. But, what about people who have no history of civic involvement, for instance, people like Gleen Greenwald, who admittedly didn’t vote because he just trusted things were being taken care of…by somebody else. He woke himself up, but what about people who don’t know how?

CA-50 was exciting because it was suddenly an open seat. The special election offered what looked like an opportunity to flip a long shot.

The netroots set our hearts on it because it was open and the GOP seemed in disarray, with a welter of candidates vying for the seat. But under normal circumstances CA-50 with its long GOP history and registration margin would never have been identified as a top-tier target.

I wish Busby well, but I’m taking her off my ActBlue page. She had her shot and missed. She gets due credit, not for coming so close, but for making them spend millions to defend what should have been a safe red seat.

What I’m afraid of is our well-known habit of sulking when we lose, and clinging to vanished chances. I propose we move on.

As I glance down the calendar looking for primaries yet to come, the one I see on the horizon where a progressive is battling a conservative Democrat for the soul of the party, and might *win*, is … (some of you are thinking Lamont, and I do wish him well) Dina Titus, running for governor in Nevada against an anti-choice, anti-gay former Republican, and leading him in the latest polls.

I’m moving some of my Busby energy there; some to upcoming state legislature races; and the remainder to the effort to identify the ten most important *and* *winnable* November races.

I have to add my two cents in regards to Angelides and Westley. There have been a few who have mentioned what a downer this race has been. I concur that it hasn’t been fun to watch, but the only way either one of them had a chance to win was to run their races the way they did. I don’t know who started attacking whom first and in the end it doesn’t really matter. Americans love to say “stick to the facts” and “stop all the backstabbing.” In reality sticking to the facts and not attacking your opponent is a sure fire way to lose. Americans love the ideal of taking the high ground when in fact history has shown that we gravitate to the gutter, and unfortunately in the end it’s the only way one has a chance in hell of winning.

I am a 67 year old retired old fart drowning in red in SC. Recently discovered you folks. Bought CTG. Liked what I read. Sent another copy to Dems in congress. Re Busby. I read her site and she did a good job. She would have done better if she would have been truly a progressive liberal and stayed out of the middle of the road where there is only yellow stripes and road kill. But she would have done a hell of a lot better if We would have manned the phone banks at MoveOn, Sent more $’s, Knocked on more doors and supported the candidate that we had. We have unfortunately got our self into a rock fight with a bunch of people that have been working smart and hard since Goldwater described their core values for them. We now are engaged in our own values debate and are unfortunately at the bottom of a well in this rock fight. It’s bad but it’s all we got. Lets get off our buts and work harder. One voter at a time. Go read the web site for the Democratic candidate for Attorney General in Texas. That will get your juices flowing. If you live in a Red district – quit bitching and get out and work. We nearly elected Tannenbaum to the Senate here in SC. Glad to be here! this is fun! I liked sending a rubber stamp to congress. I also enjoyed talking to nearly 90 CA-50 voters yesterday on MoveOn’s phone bank. See you at the victory parties in Novemeber!

in epu territory again – some of the usual suspects are on NPR’s Talk of the Nation discussion right now of yesterday’s election results. Matt Bai just introduced – writing a book about the new political game…A caller just now asked about CA 50 and allocation of resources for the fall – so much like our discussion here I wonder if it was a Firepuppy???
Anyone

Fred 67 — an excellent idea. What’s your plan?

Nope. No 18-point gain. Busby matched Gore2000 and Kerry2004 in the district. There is _no_ comfort in the CA-50 result.

This was a big nothing, and should scare the bejeezus out of Dems. Voters weren’t pumped, turnout was low, and the ins stayed in. No vote, no change.

CA-50:

In 2002 the dem got 50,202 votes.

In 2006 the dem got 55,587 votes.

The % victory is close, but the increase in turnout was only 7%. The ‘increase’ in support is markedly similar Hackett, running against a weak candidate, in Schmidt.

NB-In 2004 Busby got 105,590, although a Presidential year. she lost 48% of her support. If dems want change, they certainly don’t vote like it.

Busby deserved to lose…Her obscene blunder urging the illegals to vote for her, reminding them they didn’t need papers to do so, was over the top. Her clarification of those comments was trying to unring the bell. Hope the election in her district this November will bring forth a candidate the dems could support with anti illegal gusto. I’d rather see the dems go down than to see my country overun with illegals. This is the hope of the house republicans..When will the dems get the message?

Let’s not forget the effect that Tester’s win might be having on the Lieberman camp right now. Heh!!! And how encouraging it is to us Lamont supporters. I say strike up the band!