I am starting to get pretty pessimistic about the midterm elections. I think Bob Menendez has done a dreadful job of recruitment. I give him credit for getting (a candidate I can’t support) Charlie Melancon to run for David Vitter’s seat, but where else are we challenging an incumbent? North Carolina? And we don’t even have a candidate there yet. I kind of doubt the DSCC’s guy is going to win the primary there anyway. I can’t wait to lose the president and vice-president’s old seats and the majority leader’s seat, too. That’s going to be awesome.
About The Author

BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Totally agree. Why is he doing such an atrocious job? what’s wrong with him?
Where is the pressure on McCain? DeMint?
No one even filed to challenge Thune, so he’s free to ramp up for a presidential bid if he wants to. We should be on offense, and we definitely should have someone running everywhere just in case the Republican pulls an Ensign or something.
yes, I’m wondering why he isn’t on offense!! looks like he’s putting no energy into this. is he so narcissistic that he only cares if it’s himself on the line, doesn’t care about dems as a whole? the future of the country? Should I brusquely accost him next time I run into him in the store across the street?
No, I would not accost a US senator, which should go without saying.
You might politely ask him if he knows why the Republicans are being rewarded for their bullshit.
Because Obama and the Dems weren’t hanging the Recession around their necks .. he prefers playing nice .. that’s the biggest problem with Obama(and how he differs from Ray-gun) .. Ray-gun always reminded people(didn’t matter that it wasn’t all Carter’s fault) that Carter was to blame for the economic mess of the time …. he hammered it home over and over
Exactly. Obama’s dearest wish is to work with sane Republicans. He also is too cowardly to put his prestige on the line for things that don’t benefit him politically as opposed to the party.
I’m not sure cowardly is the reason. Mind you, I don’t know what the reason is, but I’m not ready to call it cowardice.
There aren’t any sane Republicans. Only a few who are canny enough to be scared.
We should be challenging hard for every Senate seat. Remember the 50 state strategy? It worked. Some of these Republicans are beatable. We have more money, and they have a number of interesting primaries in prospect.
The DSCC let Martha Coakley go on two weeks’ vacation while Brown defined himself and her. The poor planning requires Chuck Schumer’s intervention. Let’s hope it’s not too late.
amen.
all the premature capitulation, the absolutely dreadful HIR bill…which the number crunchers at HHS have now determined health overhaul will increase costs…[the rats are going to have a field day with that report] plus the administration continuing to court a non-existent bipartisanship; the demoralization of the base; the lack of message discipline, or even having a coherent message; the continuing disregard and disparagement of the progressives/DFH’s in the party…the list is interminable…they’ve squandered the largest electoral mandate of the past 40 years by being petty, cowardly, and stupid.
the ugly tree they planted and nutured for the past is going to bear a very bitter fruit, as evidenced by the latest PEW survey:
a lot of people on the left have been raising concerns about this for a year, and have been ignored, or written off as the rabid left.
the cynic in me is beginning to believe that they…the pols of both parties, but especially the democRATs… really are afraid of a progressive populist movement and would prefer gridlock to actually having to do what they were elected to do. ergo, providing them with an excuse for ineffectiveness while simultaneously protecting their cushy sinecures with all the attendant corporate dollars and perks.
just my 2¢, ymmv.
thanks.
That’s too bad. What do y’all think of Chris Van Hollen’s performance on the House side?
Also, as a silver lining, it’s possible that this cycle could bring some conservative moderates into the Senate: Kirk, Castle, Crist, etc. That’s important too over the long-term.
If you think they are moderates, you are fooling yourself. There is no such thing as a Republican moderate anymore.
In the current political climate, yes. In the future, I wouldn’t be so certain.
It’s a vicious circle. The Republicans seem to have momentum, so many good potential candidates are afraid to take the risk, and then you have weaker candidates and that gives the Repub even more strenght in the polls.
I’m very concerned too.
And to top that, thanks to Arizona, there will be a very explosive immigration debate before and during (?) the election. You can count on the Republicans to fan the flames, forget any sense of responsability, and use the fear of white voters for political gain. It’s already begun. See John McCain.
this is the same dscc that gave money to nebraska’s ben nelson, who then used it to run anti-HIC ads, right?
Don’t forget … it’s the same DCCC that’s also spending money on Mark Critz(in Murtha’s old seat) .. hell .. I got a call from OfA this week wanting me to phone bank for Critz … I politely declined .. because there is no way I am phone banking for that dirtbag
Boo:
When will you realize it’s not a big deal to them(meaning the WH)? We know Emanuel loves Republicans, especially the DINO types. It’s another one of those “keep the powder dry” type things. Why did the DSCC back Cunningham to begin with? Marshall had won statewide before(including beating Richard Petty once .. yes .. that Richard Petty!!) .. so Marshall has a pretty big base of support .. they weren’t going to be able to run her out of Dodge .. so to speak .. you do realize that the DSCC and the DCCC recruits the most conservative candidates they can out of choice .. right? They don’t give a shit if a Progressive is viable .. or can be more viable with some support .. I’ll be curious to see how many more appearances Obama does with Harry Reid in Nevada .. it will be interesting to see if they go down with that ship … because if the whole bartering thing doesn’t doom Snowden … nothing will .. not even Reid sizable war chest(which hasn’t done him any good so far)
Sorry Booman. Wish I’d been wrong but… well I called it months ago.
a lot of us did.
I don’t know how the midterms will play out at this point, but I can promise you this when you have the country’s largest minority ready to sit out the midterms and declare its independence from both parties and a growing percentage of the 2nd largest minority all too ready to do the same after Obama leaves office because of bull shit like Shumer has pulled today, things will only get worse for the Democratic Party in years to come.
What did Chuck do today?
he may be referring to this.
total bullshit move.
Why are Democrats are resigned to losing the election? Look anything can happen. The fact of the matter is that Giannoulis is a weak candidate. That’s all there is to it.
on giannoulias; Illinois: Bank Owned by Candidate’s Family Is Shut:
obama and the dscc will abandon him now. l doubt even the daley chicago democratic machine can pull this one out.
But this was known for a while it could happen. The election is still 6 months away.
I still don’t understand why this is “bad news” for him…his bank got shut down, so what? It’s happened to hundreds in the country.
The Madigan’s are making their grab for control of Illinois. Speaker Madigan has Pat Quinn dancing on strings like a marionette. Harold Washington was sure right about him (Quinn). It looks like Emanuel is throwing in with the Madigan’s. Alexi G. is the only Democrat that I’m voting for in Fall, mainly to stop Mark Kirk. Quinn is anti-senior anti-labor pro-business and the running dog of Mike Madigan. (I’ll bet you haven’t heard that expression in a long time.)
Rahm Emanuel’s candidate for Congress is an anti-Choice Christian Conservative. Don’t waste any breath trying to persuade me to hold my nose and vote for him. The Illinois Democratic Party is an open sewer and a lot of blame for that goes to Rahm Emanuel.
Quinn is the running dog of Mike Madigan – very nice!!!