Nothing too exciting happened tonight in the primary elections in Ohio, North Carolina, and Indiana. A quick look didn’t reveal any major upsets or surprises. Probably the best news of the night came from Ohio’s 2nd District, where former The Apprentice contestant Surya Yalamanchili won the right to contest for Mean Jean Schmidt’s seat. His opponent had suggested that the district’s voters wouldn’t vote for a name they couldn’t pronounce. A big win for Procter & Gamble.
As The Hill put it:
The anti-establishment fever wasn’t enough to take down incumbents or big-name candidates on Tuesday, but it was enough to be noticed.
It was noticed by Rep. Dan Burton who won despite failing to crack thirty percent. And it was noticed by North Carolina Reps. Heath Schuler and Larry Kissell, too.
In North Carolina, two vulnerable Democrats who voted against their party’s healthcare bill – Reps. Heath Shuler and Larry Kissell – each saw their opponents take about two-fifths of the vote, even though their opponents barely raised any money at all. Shuler won with 61.5 percent, while Kissell took 62.5 – strikingly low numbers for incumbents without major opposition.
In the North Carolina Senate race, Elaine Marshall and Cal Cunningham are headed for a run-off, neither of them able to crack the 40% threshold needed to avoid one. I don’t have any big problems with Cunningham, but progressives would be well advised to lend Marshall a hand because the party establishment will be backing Cunningham in a big way and he’s not the better of the two.
In the Ohio Senate race, the winner was Lee Fisher. That’s kind of a bummer, but he’s a conventional Democrat and would be a marked improvement over the retiring George Voinovich or former Bush OMB director and trade representative Rob Portman.
There are some jewels to glean from the data, but a quick look doesn’t reveal anything glaring. There was resistance to the Establishment of both parties, but not enough to overturn any applecarts.
In North Carolina, a non-Young Guns candidate, Tim D’Annunzio, finished first in the primary to face Kissell, beating three Young Guns candidates. But he failed to achieve 40 percent of the vote and will go to a runoff with former sportscaster Harold Johnson.
Overall, it was a night of indecision on the part of GOP voters. In nine contested primaries in Indiana, only one nominee came out with more than 50 percent of the vote.
I think I detect some numbers to support a higher energy level on the Republican side, but nothing overly troubling on its face. The Republicans got who they wanted, for the most part and (the North Carolina senate race excepted) so did the Democrats. The winner of the Marshall/Cunningham runoff will emerge stronger in every respect except cash-on-hand, and the Dems are going to be very competitive in both Ohio and Indiana, so I don’t have anything to complain about. It would have been nice to see the backside of Dan Burton, though. Oh, you know what I mean.
Chili is not going to win in OH-02. I will wager at this moment a modest sum on that fact. He will not come within 25 pts of Mean Jean. I am not clear why you are so pleased that Chili won, and Krikorian lost. I don’t think Krikorian would have won against her either, but I just don’t see this guy winning in this deep red rural district.
I don’t care about winning there. As you said, we’re not likely to win there in this climate if we couldn’t win in ’06 or ’08. But the better Democrat won. And they guy is pretty talented and energetic. So, you never know.
Why would you even want Krikorian running? The guy is just a loony as “Mean” Jean. Did you hear what he said the other night? He’s said racist stuff. He claims that Proctor and Gamble has conspired with Olbermann to sink his chances. Yeah, you read that right!! We don’t need any more Blue Dogs, especially ones that make people like “Mean” Jean Schmidt look sane.
I no longer live in OH (Columbus 83-89; Cleveland 89-98). So, I am not privy to the minutia of day-to-day political discourse. I did not hear that, and it certainly does not sound like appropriate language. If he turned off enough Dems, that would account for his loss.
We’ll see, as Booman said. Mebbe this ‘chili fella will pull it out. I wish him well.
I live in OH-02. And I agree with Boo. The better Democrat won. It is highly unlikely that Surya Yalamanchili or any Democrat will win in this district right now. I have met Surya, talked with him and heard him speak before Democratic gatherings and I am proud to say that I voted for him. If you’re a Dem in this district, Krikorian is an embarrassment. He has been all over the map and he is the least likely to have won against Schmidt, in my opinion. Jim Parker, the third place candidate, would have been a much better pick than Krikorian.
I’m happy that Surya has a chance to make his case to the voters.
Do you think it will be good or bad for Elaine Marshall to have a dragged out primary? I’d rather have had her win outright, but a possible silver lining would be name recognition.
My friend doesn’t think so, and would rather have the DCCC rallying around a winner to start attacking Burr right away.
Thoughts?
Word is that a lot of Ken Lewis’s voters will now move to Elaine Marshall. Runoff is in June; probably fewer voters than this time around. It it time for Marshall and Cunningham to have a contest as to who can beat up on Burr the hardest.
The important thing to notice about the Kissell and Shuler votes is that the no-name-recognition candidates were running against them for not being progressive enough and not supporting the Obama agenda. However, in the general election both will be better than the loons the Republicans are putting up.
is toast. I gave him some money last time, since he was running against a genuine asshole. Never again. Kissell did none of the modest promises that he made when running and getting contributions. I myself am no longer willing to settle for a copperhead dog. I want an actual yellow dog.
I agree with you, but he is not likely to be toast this year. His likely opponents fly with the loons.
I haven’t figured out whether he is lying or just as clueless as he looks.
You mean the DSCC. Hopefully Lewis’ backers get behind Marshall. Ohio shows just how weak Fisher is. Brunner didn’t have any money and yet still got 45%(or so) of the vote.
Yeah lol, woops. Senatorial, Congressional…they’re the same corporate fucks who we all hate, no difference 😛
As I said, the only downside is depleted COH. All other factors favor a runoff.
If you win, you get the aura of a victor. You have time to engage more voters and get more people volunteering for your campaign. You get a lot of publicity. You have two Democrats going out and bashing Burr day after day, and the media coverage of that.
Primaries are dangerous when they occur too close to generals and the losers don’t have time to lick their wounds. They’re dangerous when they split the party along racial lines or stark ideological lines. And it’s always a problem to spend scarce resources winning a primary that could be used to win the general. But, in this case, we have plenty of time to heal, the ideological differences are not stark, and there’s no racial component.
And I think a successful Marshall campaign will be able to refill the coffers.
Like I said, I want to see both Marshall and Cunningham start messaging against Burr instead of each other. That will make the runoff helpful instead of risky.
The turnout numbers are more alarming that I thought at first glance.
speaking of elections, guess who just cut an ad for Blanche Lincoln.
most progressive president EVAH!
Probably secured her vote in favor of financial regulation. Stupid, in my opinion, but w/e.