Howie!

Great update Howie. Thanks for the info. EMILY’s list should do a better job of vetting their candidates.

Way to go Howie!

You can Digg Howie’s post HERE!

It’s not the first time that Emily’s list has not vetted their candidates. I am for more females in Congress but they have to be the right females. Obviously, they have to be the right males also, but Emily’s list seems to have only one vetting process.

Steve Cohen needs our support for so many reasons, his astute questioning in HJC & other House hearings being a prime example of why.
Happy I gave $$$ to support you, Steve, & holding good thoughts for you tomorrow.

To be honest with you, the day EMILY’s List endorsed Tinker I called the political director and had a friendly argument. That wasn’t enough for Jane and she and the president of the organization have been engaged in a… discussion. I suspect that their virtual de-endorsement of Tinker today had a lot to do with Jane’s efforts.

And Jane and I both are working with EMILY’s List on something even better. (I’ve said to much– but next week I hope to say “That’s what I meant last Wednesday.”

Excellent update, Howie, thank you.

I have my fingers crossed for Cohen. What on earth happened to Van Hollen and what the heck is Pelosi thinking?

Despite Pelosi, Hoyer, Van Hollen and Emanuel refusing to go to bat for Steve the way they did for Al Wynn when he was challenged, Steve has done much better than Tinker– even with the Ford Machine helping her– did. He’s got the money he needs; now he needs some good juju more than any cash.

Howie, You didn’t mention the GA election. Although Martin has a slim chance against Chambliss, he is a decent guy and just maybe, if enough people turn out to vote, he might have a chance. Chambliss lost confidence because of his immigration views and hopefully his voters will stay home. A gal can dream right!

The only thing I left out of the update was the good news from Arkansas yesterday– no anti-gay amendment on the November ballot!

Howie, as a Kansan and resident of KS-2, I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the Kansas primary election results yesterday. I do take issue, however, with your characterization of Missouri’s Brock Olivo as “the stupidest candidate who ran for Congress in any district in any state for either party.”

Although I don’t know anything about Olivo, I find it difficult to believe that he is stupider than former Rep. Jim Ryun (Rightwing-KS2). After getting beat out of the office by Boyda in 2006, Ryun blamed his defeat not on his right wing views, not on his endorsements and speeches in the district by Bush and Cheney, not on his support for the war in Iraq and the rest of the Bush/Cheney agenda, but on his campaign volunteers! Next, even having announced his plans to run to take back the seat in 2008, Ryun went to the editorial board of the capitol city’s Republican daily newspaper, the Topeka Capitol-Journal, and blamed his loss on liberal bias by that newspaper! Then, this year, his strategy to get re-elected was to run against his somewhat centrist primary opponent, State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, vying for the right to oppose the moderate Democratic incumbent Nancy Boyda in the moderate, centrist Second Congressional District, by out-Rightwinging Jenkins and by letting his misogyny show.

I remain open, however, to becoming convinced that this Olivo character is stupider. But I am dubious.

I did, I did. It’s there

Howie, thanks for the update. Funny how CCK’s home district came in late with just enough votes to put her over the top!

Hoping for the best for Steve Cohen. This nastiness needs to be shaken out of the DCCC. Maybe if we elect better Democrats to sit alongside Cohen we can turn the DCCC into the light.

Go the the Olivo link and watch the video. If you still think Ryun– who sounds like a garden variety wing-nut to me– is stupider than Olivo after you watch that clip of him, I’ll be shocked. And don’t come back and say “But he’s so young.” He’s over 21 and, like he says, he went to social studies class between football practices. He was so breathtakingly dumb that I was hoping he’d win so we’d have someone to make fun of for the next two or twenty years.

Sorry, even a separate paragraph. Skimming sometimes is not my friend.

Is everyone making dinner?
Or, are people here and reading but hesitant to make a comment that might be construed as OT or too personal?
Lurkers…I throw out the glove.
(No slapping…don’t want to promote violence. :)

Howie, In your opinion do you think that Emily’s list can be fixed? I don’t have a lot of extra resources at this point, and I don’t feel comfortable donating to them. Today I actually received a mailer from them and immediately tossed it.

Charlie Cook put NC in tossup?!

Judy, aside from being a nice guy, what can you tell us about Martin? I know that character he beat last night had actually Bragged about voting for Bush, but how is Jim Martin on the issues that important to this community?

No mention of Finney’s homophobic win over Taylor??

EMILY’s List is too Inside the Beltway and too Establishment for me but, like Saul Alinsky taught, we should always be ready to ally ourselves, even if only momentarily with whomever will help us achieve the greater good. I think there are races where we’re on the same side as EMILY’s List. A good example is Carol Shea-Porter. She’s probably one of the 3 or 4 best freshmen from the Class of ‘06 but she’s being mercilessly attacked day and night by GOP front groups. She is their #1 target. EMILY’s list is helping her fight back. We need to step up better on this race too.

Howie!

I see the doorman will let just about anyone into the place these days… :D

The turnout was very low which helped Martin win but he ran an ad talking about how it was time to come home from Iraq and the amount of money that it was taking away from other things such as health care and education. His anti-Iraq ads were very gutsy here since it is such a conservative state. He received the backing of several civil rights leaders, like Lowery, which Jones did not do. The only chance he has is a back lash against Chambliss about his changes on immigration.

Lincoln described an argument for the Freeport Doctrine given by Steven Douglas during their famous debates as “as thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death.”

Brock Olivo gives new meaning to “thin”… Wow.

Hey, Howie!

Jackie! Proven twice over, I see….

I know! Could you imagine this guy in Congress! He would make Mean Jean Schmidt, Patrick McHenry and John Shadegg look like brain surgeons.

Howie, the video link on your blog does not work. I was only able to hear the audio, which was somewhat hard to hear. But you are the expert on Congressional candidates, and I do not seriously dispute your judgment that Olivo is the stupidest of all time.

But I would like to share with your readers the following tidbits from Ryun’s Wikipedia article:

“Raised in the Church of Christ, Ryun and his wife are members of Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lawrence. He spoke in tongues during a campaign rally in 1996, and restored the hearing of a woman who had been hearing impaired for most of her adult life, according to a report in the Wichita Eagle.[2]”

“In 2006, the National Journal rated Ryun as the nation’s most conservative member of Congress.[11] He was a member of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of 103 fiscally and socially conservative House Republicans.”

“In 2005, Ryun scored 0 percent on the Republicans for Environmental Protection (”REP”) scorecard. There were 12 issues that were considered by the REP to be critical environmental issues.[12] Jim Ryun voted with what the REP would consider pro-environment on none of the issues voted upon. These issues consisted of the drilling of oil and natural gas,Congressman Richard Pombo’s bill designed to weaken the Endangered Species Act of 1973, an amendment to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, by Congresswoman Lois Capps to remove section 1502, a provision that would provide liability protection for manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE, and the movement to increase fuel economy standards.[13]”

“Along with 89 other House members, Ryun gave a one time contribution of $1,000 to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s legal defense trust.[16]”

“On December 15, 2000, Ryun bought a townhouse in the District of Columbia from U.S. Family Network for $410,000,[17], in a private sale.[18] That organization was controlled by Ed Buckham, DeLay’s former chief of staff; funding of the organization came mostly from Jack Abramoff’s lobbying clients.[19] The townhouse had been purchased about two years earlier, for $429,000,[20] to house Buckham’s consulting firm Alexander Strategy Group and DeLay’s ARMPAC.

When Democratic blog site, TPM Muckraker[21] raised questions as to the purchase of Ryun’s townhome, his office released official documents showing that Ryun paid $80,000 more than the tax assessed value of the house, that he put another $50,000 into house repairs and that another home on the same block was sold for $409,000 on the same day he bought his home. According to property records, the other home does not have a garage or a back patio and is on a land area about half the size of Ryun’s. It was assessed in 2006 as worth $528,000, compared to $764,000 for Ryun’s home. In contrast, homes across the street from Ryun’s were sold for over $900,000.[22]”

See Wikipedia also for Ryun’s “Connection to Mark Foley.”

OK, Jim Ryun is a random sensless wingnut. Stupid, but not the stupidest. But the stupidest we’ve seen around here in about 30 years…

“

I’m in the KC Missouri area, sitting right between Ryan and Olivo. I think it’s fair to say that either one could make a strong claim for the title.

In MO, the GOP Gov primary was all about seeing who could claim to be the bigger wingnut. Compared with either Steelman or Hulshof, Jay Nixon looks like a DFH — which he isn’t even close to being. Watching this race makes me think that McCain is counting on the wingnuts really getting behind Hulshof to carry him over the top.

Across the state line, however . . .

Phill Kline’s loss was a delight to behold. On the local TV news, they were interviewing a local anti-abortion crusader, who calls Kline a real hero and predicts that now he will be freed up to do greater things on the national level. Right.

In contrast to MO, watching not only Kline’s loss but some other down-ticket races like State Board of Ed primaries and such, the wingnuts in KS seem to be losing their steam. Pat Roberts seems to be seeing this, as all his ads are about getting Boeing back into the tanker business and all the pork Roberts has been able to get for KS. Not a word about abortion, gays, or guns. The GOP in KS is getting nervous — very nervous.

*g*

I like that.

I don’t have to imagine. I’ve seen Lynn Westmoreland on C-Span.

I think Keith just previewed an appearance of Tinker in Worst Persons tonite!

what’s the matter with kansas?

nothing! they shot down the anti-abortionist handily!

Keith calls Tinker “shameful” and she wins Worst!

the ten commandments guy who could only name two commandments? or was it only one?

Tinker! KO’s worst person in the world today!

[reply button broken–reply to newt at 30]

“I don’t have to imagine. I’ve seen Lynn Westmoreland on C-Span.”

the ten commandments guy who could only name a couple of commandments?

sorry for the repeat

You got it, Teddy. Tinker’s ugly ad displayed for all the world to see as she makes Countdown’s Worst Person.

Good.

Is KO consulting with Howie right before air time? Seems likely.

I’m so excited!!

there is a new thread up

what’s up with the comments on the David Niewert thread?

they don’t seem to be working.

never mind

They seem to be coming in OK for me. What is the problem you’re having/seeing?

never mind me either.

*g*

when I clicked on the “comments” button at the bottom of David’s article, I got an error message

it’s not happening right now

Kossaks please recommend