Thursday’s political round-up

October 5, 2006

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* In Tennessee, Rep. Harold Ford (D) is using the Mark Foley sex scandal to fend off criticisms from Republican opponent Bob Corker. The GOP is running an attack ad against Ford across the state, criticizing him for having attended Playboy’s Super Bowl party in Jacksonville, Fla., last year. Yesterday, Ford responded, “I’m not going to take a lecture on morality from a party that took hush money from a child predator.”

* Sen. Bob Menendez (D) seems to be weathering the storm quite nicely in New Jersey, and according to a new Fairleigh Dickinson-PublicMind poll, he leads state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., 42% to 37%. The five-point lead becomes seven points if voters who are leaning toward a particular candidate are included. “Now that Menendez is finally getting Democrats behind him, Kean’s support across the aisle is evaporating,” said Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson. “The party lines have been drawn, and in New Jersey that typically helps the Democrats.”

* Last month’s Rasmussen poll in Connecticut shows Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) leading Ned Lamont (D) by two; this month, the lead is quite a bit bigger. According to the numbers released this morning, the incumbent has increased his earlier margins and is now ahead 50% to 40%. GOP nominee Alan Schlesinger now garners 6%.

* In Ohio, a new Rasmussen poll shows Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) with his biggest lead to date over incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine (R), 49% to 41%. That’s up slightly from Brown’s six-point lead in early September.

* And in New York, the two big statewide races remain quite dull. According to the latest Quinnipiac numbers, Eliot Spitzer (D) now leads John Faso (R) in the gubernatorial race, 69% to 18%. In the Senate race, Hillary Clinton (D) now leads John Spencer (R), 66% to 31%.

Howe the hell can people in New Jersey who claim to be Democrats support that whiny little self-righteous fuckwit? Inquiring minds want to know.

  • “I’m not going to take a lecture on morality from a party that took hush money from a child predator.”

    Ka. Boom.

    George Will has a great column today (I know, but sometimes the guy says it best and I like it when a true conservative shows up the posuers):

    “If, after the Foley episode — a maraschino cherry atop the Democrats’ delectable sundae of Republican miseries — the Democrats cannot gain 13 seats, they should go into another line of work.”

  • To summarize:

    Democratic Party: 5 good polls.
    The ‘Connecticut for Lieberman’ Party: One good poll.
    Republican Party: One good poll (See above: CFL party is a GOP ally)

  • Two other items I saw in the news today and maybe they are headed for the daily round-up segment:

    1) Foley “may” have been found drunk outside the Page Dormatory in the past.

    “Boehner asked the Clerk of the House to investigate reports Foley “may have been seen intoxicated at night outside the U.S. House of Representatives Page Dormitory, possibly attempting to gain entry to the building.”

    The letter said the incident “may have occurred in years past.”

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/05/politics/main2065073.shtml

    2) Shays calls for Rummy resignation!
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/04/politics/main2064630.shtml

    3 – Bonus Item) Interior Department “Best PLace to Work”
    “A report made public Wednesday on an internal investigation examining a week of computer use found more than more than 1 million log entries in which 7,700 employees visited game and auction sites.

    More than 4,700 log entries were to sexually explicit and gambling Web sites. ”
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/04/politics/main2064740.shtml

    Man, HIllary “worse than Satan” Clinton could not have written a more tragic October for the GOP if she tried. What next? Waepons for Histages? Break in at the DNC HQ? Congress passes Stamp Act?

  • Yesterday, Ford responded, “I’m not going to take a lecture on morality from a party that took hush money from a child predator.”

    Now that’s how to respond to GOP attacks. Hopefully, Ford has the financial resources to put that into a compelling ad and get it on the airwaves.

    With Menendez surging ahead doesn’t that give the Dems the 6 gains they need:

    NJ
    OH
    MD
    MN
    MT
    TEN

    with VA and Missouri (MO?) still too close to call?

  • And the truth shall set you free:

    “MSNBC also relays comments by Speaker Hastert this morning on the Laura Ingraham show. He’s still saying that he won’t resign: “if I pull up my tent and leave, and others have to pull up their tents and leave, because they would — where does that leave us? It lets the Democrats sweep and we have no ability to fight back.” ”

    It’s all about maintaining power and nothing to do with protecting the child victims. Power over Decency. Power over honor. Power over morals. Power over common sense.

  • I can hear it now… “Oh Joe, we’re so sorry! We didn’t mean it!”

    Don’t hold your breath, dude. Ain’t going to happen.

  • “George Will has a great column today…” – TAIO

    No it wasn’t. He didn’t refute Hastert’s lie that the Democrats had Foley’s Sext-messages and sat on them until October.

    “I can hear it now… “Oh Joe, we’re so sorry! We didn’t mean it!” – JRS Jr.

    I may admit I was wrong about Lamont winning (not yet, though) but I won’t say I’m sorry about calling Lieberman a jerk and a loser.

  • I may admit I was wrong about Lamont winning (not yet, though) but I won’t say I’m sorry about calling Lieberman a jerk and a loser.

    Agreed.

  • I thought George Will’s column was pretty good, as far as it went (which, granted, wasn’t very far). The more seeds of doubt that can be planted in conservative soil (Will’s reader certainly qualify), the better. I’ve heard some wonderful ads by a government employees’ union … but they were on Air America, whose listeners don’t need it. I certainly hope it’s being played before and after Rush Limbaugh, where it would do some real good.

    Anyway, back to Will. The part I liked best was his distinction between the Western and Southern branches of the GOP:

    The former is largely libertarian, holding that pruning big government will allow civil society — and virtues nourished by it and by the responsibilities of freedom — to flourish. The Southern, essentially religious, strand of conservatism is explained by Ryan Sager in his new book, “The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to Control the Republican Party”:

    “Whereas conservative Christian parents once thought it was inappropriate for public schools to teach their kids about sex, now they want the schools to preach abstinence to children. Whereas conservative Christians used to be unhappy with evolution being taught in public schools, now they want Intelligent Design taught instead (or at least in addition). Whereas conservative Christians used to want the federal government to leave them alone, now they demand that more and more federal funds be directed to local churches and religious groups through Bush’s faith-based initiatives program.”

    We should constantly work this Western vs. Southern split (and impending divorce) among Republicans. In the end they’re their own worst enemies, as Elmer Gantry found when the mainline churches turned on him. If Republicans somewhere between Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater could send the Falwells, Robertsons, and Dobsons back under the rocks under which they used to lurk — back to selling snake oil to the hillbilly snake handlers in their backwoods churches — it would be a much better America, even with our current crop of uninspiring do-nothing (except focus groups and polls) Democrats.

  • With Menendez surging ahead doesn’t that give the Dems the 6 gains they need:
    NJ
    OH
    MD
    MN
    MT
    TEN

    Not after Lieberman takes a Cabinet post and the GOP governor of Connecticut fills the vacancy.

    It’s incorrect to say the Republicans aren’t contesting the seat. They’re contesting it. Their stealth candidate is Lieberman’s replacement.

  • Not after Lieberman takes a Cabinet post and the GOP governor of Connecticut fills the vacancy.,/i>

    that’s okay, we’ll win MO and VA, so even if we lose CT we’re still 1 seat in the majority. Can you say “subpeona”? I thought you could.

  • Come on… Wasn’t talking re: you guys begging for Joe’s forgiveness… I know better… I’m talking about all those elected Dems in the Senate (temporarily) “supporting” Lamont.

  • Come on… Wasn’t talking re: you guys begging for Joe’s forgiveness… I know better… I’m talking about all those elected Dems in the Senate (temporarily) “supporting” Lamont.

    Of course. But Joementum’s been pretty busy burning his Democratic bridges in the run up to the General Election. He’s always had a shaky allegiance to the Democratic Party anyway. Even more so now that he’s campaigning as a Republican and against Democrats.

    I suspect there will be no line of Democrats offering apologies and begging for his votes should he be re-elected.

  • For the record, Democratic victories in MD, MN, and NJ will not be gains. Those are seats we already hold. We need to win RI, PA, OH, TN, MO, VA, and MT to take the Senate. A tall order? Yes. Impossible? Maybe not!

  • Caped Composer,

    You listed seven seats–that means that the Democrats have to take 6 out of 7 and hold MD, MN, and NJ. Things like an “inside straight” happen.

  • Ford responded, “I’m not going to take a lecture on morality from a party that took hush money from a child predator.” Well, at least he he didn’t say “pervert”, which the press loves to conflate, incorrectly, with “gay” or “homosexual”.

    It’s a picayune point, I’ll agree, but I think we’d do better to always describe Republicans like Foley as “child molester”. “Predators” are hunters on the prowl, but “molesters” have prowled successfully. “Child molester” is also the term convicts use to describe the lowest of the low on their rank-ordering of fellow convicts.

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