So, now the Tea Baggers are going to go after Republican senators who are up for reelection in red states. In particular, they are gunning for Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Thad Cochran of Mississippi. Of course, Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi is getting a neo-conservative challenge from Dick Cheney’s daughter, Liz.
I guess at least part of the assumption here is that the Democrats don’t have any candidates who they can field in these states who could beat a badly divided Republican Party. That may or may not be true, but making a go of these races is starting to look more attractive to Democrats, so recruitment should get easier.
And the divisions are real. With conservatives having just orchestrated the shutdown fiasco and now vowing to block any immigration reform in the House, the business community is absolutely beside itself with fury.
Everywhere you look, you can see articles about how Establishment Republicans are trying to figure out how to defang the Tea Party:
At what point do the baggers realize that Ted Cruz has been having them on, too?
Deep down, I believe they’re aware they’re being conned. They don’t turn in to Fox or Rush to get the hard truths. They want the comforting lies that tell them they’re the victims.
The one constant in the party of personal responsibility is that everything is someone else’s fault.
Calliope ready? Clown music in 3…2…
Also, too, is it true that House baggers now love Boehner because he indulged their crazy, or is that just Villager groupthink?
They raised this Frankenstein monster, now they can try to kill it.
Mitch McConnell is now in a bind. That’s the one that looks to best to me.
And they are trying to out-crazy each other in Georgia, where Gingrey has the mathematical lead in the mostly evenly divided pack.
With some dumb luck, Nunn could possibly win.
Poor South Carolina: “The one Democrat who has announced a run for South Carolina’s GOP-packed congressional delegation has a past that includes a felony plea, an agreement to repay millions to investors, and a penchant for what he calls “political performance art.” – The State 9/14/2013
The guy’s name is Jay Stamper.
And Tennessee, not to mention Mississippi. Opportunity but no bench. Canning the 50-state strategy was a huge mistake.
Can we at least get some candidates for these races who are legitimate to fill out the field in hopes of using their candidacies to build name recognition for another office? And candidates who have some life to them; not another Vic Rawls running for county supervisor candidate.
Leave the deep south to Christie. Lets see if he writes off the south or joins the show and risks looking like the fat clown that emerges from that tiny circus car.
We need to be everywhere to take advantage of political shifts. You never really know when they population is ready to catch on to the fact that the Republicans lie constantly.
In particular, the Republicans are very afraid of Obamacare. If they’re right, there will be one or two elections where even deep Red states may make big shifts to the Democrats – but only if our candidate aren’t clowns. If we’re running felons and dogcatchers for Senate, the voters will think “yeah, the Republicans lied about Obamacare and it’s pretty good, but the Democrats can’t find anybody who deserves to be in the Senate”. And they’ll keep voting Republican, and in a cycle or two Obamacare will be water under the bridge and the opportunity will be lost.
Every state in the Union should be solid Blue; the Republicans are just that nuts. We need to get the message out; but the voters of the deep Red states at least need the opportunity to come to their senses.
Poor South Carolina: “The one Democrat who has announced a run for South Carolina’s GOP-packed congressional delegation has a past that includes a felony plea, an agreement to repay millions to investors, and a penchant for what he calls “political performance art.” – The State 9/14/2013
The guy’s name is Jay Stamper.
Who is Stamper running against? I hope it’s not Old Gluehorse McCain’s BFF Mini-me(aka Lindsey Graham). Also, how does the SC Democratic Party keep letting crap like this happen?
Yep, it’s Lindsey Graham.
The SC Democratic Party keeps letting it happen because they do not have the infrastructure to field strong candidates. As best I can tell, they’ve effectively lost a lot of counties to control by an incumbent in the legislature who uses it for his own re-election until he finally gets voted out of office–at which point there’s little of anything.
Most of the white Democrats are older–outside of some places like Charleston that are trying to rebuild and James Clyburn’s district, which benefits from his GOTV organization.
I think it would be highly amusing for an openly gay candidate to run against Graham. Someone with a talent for mild satire could make it quite a talked about race. Unfortunately, I do not of anyone that fits that profile in South Carolina and who has the $10,400 (or whatever it is now) filing fee.
And Tennessee, not to mention Mississippi. Opportunity but no bench. Canning the 50-state strategy was a huge mistake.
Speaking of Mississippi. Did you hear that Gene Taylor is looking to run again for his old Congressional seat, as a GOPer? No, I’m not kidding. Get a load of this:
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/10/16/5037100/former-mississippi-congressman.html
Don’t think they’re likely to take him unless he already did a deal.
Rodney Alexander of Louisiana turned Republican; he now works for Bobby Jindal, and his seat is in a special election October 19.
Parker Griffith of Alabama changed parties and was replaced by a “real” Republican in 2012.
I don’t know. I find it hilarious that Taylor would even consider such a thing given what happened to Griffiths. I remember that and laughed when he got smoked in the GOP primary. The same thing would happen with Taylor. Better yet, I hope he runs so he can get humiliated.
I think these guys are hoping it will work for them as it did for Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama. Things were somewhat different back in 1994 in the Republican party, although Newt Gingrich performed in the prequel to the current tragedy. I can remember watching TV when Shelby announced he was becoming a Republican. Couldn’t believe my eyes. Now it has become common in the South to switch.
“On November 9, 1994, Shelby switched his party affiliation to Republican, one day after the Republicans won control of both houses in the midterm elections, giving the Republicans a 53-47 majority in the Senate. He won his first full term as a Republican in 1998 by a large margin, and faced no significant opposition in 2004 or 2010.” (Wikipedia)
In the South so solid is the Republican majority, you are likely to see some folks switching from Republican to Democrat just to get the chance to run.
Sure wish someone could figure the electoral magic to take out Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III.
I don’t think Senator Sessions is beatable, especially with a name like that. This article is dated, but says it all.
http://newsok.com/sessions-takes-lead-in-immigration-fight/article/3072995
Also, I don’t think the Tea Party will be successful in unseating these targeted Southern Republican senators. I’ll “eat my grits” if these guys like Thad Cochran get primaried.
I thought I heard of a Black candidate running in the Democratic Primary from South Carolina.
All I can find are these (from Politics1):
John Scott (D) – State Sen.
Rick Wade (D) – Ex-US Commerce Dept. Official, Political Consultant & ’02 Sec. of State Nominee
Neither have web sites yet.
Rick Wade Weighs Historic South Carolina Senate Run
This from August, but running against Tim Scott for the other seat for the remainder of Jim DeMint’s term. That would turn into an interesting race.
South Carolina Senator John Scott
No evidence that either of these two have decided to run.
Stamper sounds like he could be from the DLC bench. Like McAuliffe hanging around with the million dollar rolodex waiting for a race with a candidate so nutso that he’s competitive. Did Stamper choose his opponent was well as McAuliffe?
Stamper is clearly carpet-bagging. Whether for the DLC or just freelancing, he looks like a rich white Alvin Greene. A catastrophe waiting to happen. He thinks he’s the next Dick Tuck, but he got himself sued.
Here’s an example of how businesses are hurting without immigration reform. For about 12 years I worked for a restaurant chain in Chicago. The chain boasted three restaurants in the top twenty revenue grossing restaurants in the country, with the three cash cow restaurants located in downtown Chicago. A couple of my friends still work for this chain. They informed me that the State of Illinois has gotten so strict with its undocumented workers crackdown which utilizes massive fines to businesses for “illegals.” This in turn, sees the franchise hurting for line cooks and kitchen staff.
This particular company has resorted to offering bonuses to legally documented and native born workers if the employee reaches a six month staying period, and survives the tough six months “on probation” as freshmen line cooks in a really demanding work environment. It’s also worth noting that this particular restaurant chain has always been pro-Republican as they discourage unions and contribute to Republican candidates in state elections. the owners are well entrenched with the 1%. Their superstar chefs routinely make million dollar bonuses. Now, the scuttlebutt is that the management is through with the Republican Party. They feel like the Teabaggers burned them on harsh immigration policies.
I think this is a great time for Democrats to go all out against the Republicans, who were willing to destroy the economy and the country. What they did was unpatriotic and selfish. I personally will commit money to any and all Democrats running in any state against any of the Republicans who voted against the bill to reopen the government.
Regardless of what happens to the GOP and whomever feels cons it remains a fact that a solid chunk of people in the South deeply believe the Civil War is still going on and throughout the North there are chunks who sympathize with them — just as they did in 1860.
These people are not and will not go away.
And just as they were willing to destroy the nation/union and start fights based on “principle that they can’t possibly win while creating massive collateral damage in 1860, they are more than happy to do it now.
They will always TV, radio and internet outlets to stoke their flames and seems to be as bad or worse than ever. I think as with Lincoln, Obama has to (and has) be very careful to not over reach and let the important failures of the Right happen while also letting enough steam out of them so they don’t explode.
Still there has to be at some point a Sherman’s march to step on their necks and castrate their political power to do much of anything. Hopefully this latest GOP debacle and upcoming elections will turn out to be a Sherman’s march circa 2013-2016.
I agree with your sentiment, but I’ve seen these dogs getting kicked for far too long and I’m starting to think they don’t know when they are down.
Another point is, I remember times when GOP has been weak, and it was during those times that the Democrats were most disorganized and splintered. GOP’s been the reason the Democrats are united and we should not squander that.
Also, what Andrew Longman said.