It’s Election/Primary Day in eight states

June 6, 2006

For early-June, today is a surprisingly important day for elections nationwide. Voters in eight states will go to the polls, including what will probably be the most important race between now and November. Among today’s highlights:

California’s 50th congressional district: The race to pick Duke Cunningham’s replacement was supposed to be easy for the GOP. It’s a conservative San Diego district, which backed Bush over Kerry by double digits two years ago. Today, however, [tag]Francine Busby[/tag] (D) will face former Rep. [tag]Brian Bilbray[/tag] (R), and it’s too close to call. The Republican establishment, in a near panic over what a defeat here might mean nationwide, has spent about $5 million on the race, and sent as many as 150 operatives to the district to eke out what they hope will be a narrow victory. The winner will fill the seat immediately, but stand for re-election in the fall.

California’s Democratic gubernatorial primary: State Treasurer [tag]Phil Angelides[/tag] and State Controller [tag]Steve Westly[/tag] have fought a very nasty primary for the right to take on Gov. [tag]Arnold Schwarzenegger[/tag] (R). The San Diego Union-Tribune reported today that the results may be unclear for up to a week due to absentee ballots and a “laborious” manual counting system.

Montana’s Democratic Senate primary: State Senate President [tag]Jon Tester[/tag] will face state Auditor [tag]John Morrison[/tag] today, the winner of which will take on Abramoff-plagued Sen. [tag]Conrad Burns[/tag] (R). Tester seems to have the momentum, though polls show the two about even. The winner has a real shot at picking up the seat; a recent Mason-Dixon poll showed Burns trailing both of his Democratic rivals.

Alabama’s gubernatorial primaries: On the Republican side, incumbent Gov. [tag]Bob Riley[/tag] is poised to crush theocrat [tag]Roy Moore[/tag] in the GOP primary, while among Democrats, Lt. Gov. [tag]Lucy Baxley[/tag] is expected to beat former Gov. [tag]Don Siegelman[/tag], who has been running despite facing racketeering and bribery charges.

Iowa’s Democratic gubernatorial primary: In the race to succeed Gov. [tag]Tom Vilsack[/tag] (D), Democrats will choose between Iowa Secretary of State [tag]Chet Culver[/tag], former state economic development director [tag]Mike Blouin[/tag], and state Rep. [tag]Ed Fallon[/tag]. The most recent Des Moines Register poll showed Culver with an eight-point lead over Blouin, his closest rival. The winner will take on Rep. Jim [tag]Nussle[/tag] (R) in November.

New Jersey’s Senate primaries: Sen. [tag]Robert Menendez[/tag] (D) and state Sen. [tag]Tom Kean[/tag] Jr. (R) are supposed to cruise to easy victories, but keep an eye on the GOP primary. Conservative activist [tag]John Ginty[/tag] (R) has picked up considerable far-right support, and if Kean doesn’t win by a lot, it could reflect trouble for him in November.

So, any predictions?

Prediction: Dems screw everything up again.

Sorry, hope might spring eternal, but she’s getting tired of getting punched in the back of the head every time she does. . . . Maybe I’m just grumpy.

Either way, it seems to me Dems are in the exact same position they’ve been in for years: an incompetant and likely corrupt administration, terrible congressional leadership by the Repubs, and the economy tanking. The only difference is that now many Americans are realizing it. I would like to say the Dems managed to reach people, but come on. We knew all this, heck, Dems had evidence of all this when Kerry ran, and he got whooped.

I like that America is waking up to the travesty that is the current political leadership of this country, but the fact that Dems were such a small part of that process makes me wonder if our current leadership isn’t part of the problem, not the solution. Dems still don’t have leaders, they have survivors, the mouse-in-a-hole variety.

  • Yesterday on NPR, All Things Considered, ran a story about the democratic primary in Montana. That story made it seem like Morrison was running pretty strong, but that it might not be best for the Democrats if he were to win.

    Apparently, he had an extramarital affair when he was state auditor. The woman he had the affair with went on to marry a business man who later found himself in regulatory trouble with the state. There is concern that Morrison went easy on this guy because he was married to his former lover.

    The thinking is that the Conrad Burns campaign and the GOP would use this to smear Morrison (they haven’t said anything so far) and thus win the race. Tester, on the other hand, maintains that he has no skeletons in his closet.

    It will be interesting to see which Democrat wins this one and then how that plays out in the race for that House seat.

  • The fact that the best we can come up with in California for Governor is a pair of “Democrats” who remind me that Ah-nuld is personally a smart and personable guy – two moneyed-up dolts who have been proven to have cast their votes on boards and commissions on which they serve in favor of their major campaign contributors after getting major campaign contributions, makes me want to puke.

    I left the offices of Governor and U.S. Senator (the execrable goddamned pain in the ass Dianne Feinstein, who I only ever voted for one since 1969 – in 1994 to keep Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington out of the Senate Wives Club) blank on my ballot, since I only vote for actual Democrats.

  • So, any predictions?

    CA
    –50th: regrettably, we’ll see Bilbray win this.

    –Dem Guv primary: Westly wins in a squeaker

    Montana: Tester wins in a squeaker

    Alabama: Riley and Baxley both win comfortably, as expected

    Iowa: Culver wins as expected, but it is more narrow than predicted

    New Jersey: Kean Jr. and Menendez both win comfortably, as expected

    FWIW: my optimism for the 2nd and 3rd outcomes are counterbalanced by my pesimism for the 1st.

    And yes Tom, neither CA Dem gubernatorial candidate is particularly inspiring, but at least Westly openly talks about protecting our coasts. Herr Gropinator has set us back decades. Hopefully, Westley will win, he and Angelides will make up and beat back Ah-nuld in the fall.

  • A lot of people know Republican’ts are corrupt and ineffective. They vote Republican’t anyway.
    When I ask them what the Republican’t party does to earn their vote they usually respond with Clinton, blah blah blah. Or some other non sense.

  • Angelides supports higher taxes, California Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Aliens, and In-State Tuition for Illegal Alien students. These things will be his downfall.

    • Comments are closed.