Pawlenty’s candidacy was very much predicated on winning Iowa, a neighboring state to Minnesota. He hoped the momentum from that early victory would slingshot into other states. He spent months in Iowa and put up the first TV ads of any candidate there. But he never gained traction, either there or nationally.

Forget being drowned in a bathtub; America’s going to get stabbed to death in an alley.

We know that Republicans are, to this point, looking a gift horse in the mouth by not yet taking an extremely favorable deal on the debt limit that would transform government and usher in radical austerity in exchange for a few measly closures of tax loopholes. It could be that they’re simply being tough negotiators by holding out until, they expect, Democrats just fold on everything. That’s certainly a possibility. But there are some other options …

To help define what role Firedoglake should play in the 2012 election and beyond, on Wednesday, May 11, at 7:00 pm EDT, I plan, as part of the FDL members webinar series, to examine four basic electoral strategies that have been used by groups or organizations to influence the political process.

This was very expected among the community in Wisconsin. Schultz represents the 17th Senate District in Wisconsin, which Obama won 61-38 and even Kerry carried. Schultz has been a longtime moderate, and there are a lot of union members in his district. He offered a compromise, since removed, to sunset the collective bargaining restrictions after two years. He has been trying to find a way to bridge the gap here, and with the Republican leadership not budging, he finally had to side with the people and say no.

Blanche Lincoln’s loss was immediately called in Arkansas. John Boozman gave the second pickup for Republicans of the night, though two others were held off. John Raese has lost to Joe Manchin in West Virginia, and Linda McMahon lost to Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut. Republicans held Georgia, New Hampshire and North Carolina Senate seats, the [...]

I hate to disrupt the “GOP goes extreme” narrative the media has latched onto (hampered somewhat by the fact that Christine O’Donnell was the nominee for US Senate for Delaware, um, two years ago), but that wasn’t the only story coming out of last night’s end to the primary schedule. In fact, we saw a fair number of progressive candidates, a mix of incumbents and challengers, knock off opponents running to their right.

Yes, it’s primary night once again in America. Or at least on the Liberal Hippie East Coast… and Wisconsin. And as is so often true, it’s looking like a referendum on each party’s political direction. All three Republican races above feature a Tea Party candidate against a more establishment one, and both Democratic ones feature a conservative Blue Dog type against a progressive.

Think back to 2006. Not only did no member of the Democratic leadership even think about stripping Joe Lieberman of his seniority when he lost his primary, but several Senators openly supported his third-party run.

Today, important primaries are taking place in Michigan, Kansas and Missouri. FDL Elections will be live blogging the results as they come in this evening.