November 4th Is Election Day In The U.S.

This guy beat Kinky in today's runoff


Little-known rancher Jim Hogan wins (D) agriculture commissioner runoff against Kinky Friedman http://bit.ly/1i68tt3

Teaparty guy, Dan Patrick won

State Sen. Dan Patrick has defeated three-term incumbent David Dewhurst for the Republican nomination for Texas lieutenant governor, according to the Associated Press. Stay with KHOU.com and KHOU 11 News as we bring you the latest results as election returns come in.

Tea party favorite Ken Paxton has won the Republican nomination for Texas attorney general after a bruising runoff against fellow lawmaker Dan Branch, according to Associated Press.

GREENVILLE, Texas — Nationally, many Tea Party-backed candidates have been losing primary elections. But in Texas, Tea Party candidates are doing well.
One big Tea Party organization has joined with other conservative groups. Their goal: becoming the dominant voice in Texas Republican politics. They recently urged North Texas voters to “retire” more sitting Republicans during the May 27 runoff election.

In a meeting room in a Greenville, Texas strip mall, filled with rows of folding chairs, the head of the state’s largest pro-life group told activists the enemy in Austin, the state’s capital, isn’t the minority of Democrats. It’s Republicans who haven’t delivered.

“These guys work for us and if they don’t want to pass pro-life bills, tax cuts, home schooling bills they need to go home once and for all,” Texas Right to Life executive director Jim Graham told a crowd of about 100 people.

“Life, Liberty and Property”

Graham headlined the “Life, Liberty and Property” rally earlier this month with top honchos from Texas Eagle Forum, Empower Texans, the Texas Home School Coalition and Grassroots America, a powerful Tea Party group run by JoAnn Fleming.

Jim Graham, the Texas Right to Life executive director, says the Tea Party coalition in Texas is targeting Republicans who are not responsive.


“The one thing that scares the daylights out of the establishment ruling class in Austin, Texas, is the Texas liberty movement and they have everything to be scared of,” Fleming said.
Separately, the groups use direct mail, election scorecards and extensive social media networks to promote their political endorsements and legislative goals. Combined, Graham believes they might be the most potent conservative machine in Texas.

“We have demonstrated in the last election cycle we can remove very powerful, entrenched incumbents when we work together for a common goal,” Graham said.

Working to defeat longtime incumbents

Graham says the groups united to defeat longtime state Sen. John Carona of Dallas and another Republican, state Rep. Bennett Ratliff of Carrollton, Texas. They’ve backed state Sen. Ken Paxton, who finished first in the GOP primary for attorney general. Some in the group take credit for putting David Dewhurst, the incumbent lieutenant governor, on the ropes as he tries to overtake their pick, Dan Patrick. The runoff election is May 27.

“What we’re looking for is true transparency,” Fleming said. She says the groups have individual efforts but are unified in wanting to preserve personal freedoms and limited government.


For voter Ben Davis, who came to the rally to support the Tea Party opponent to state Sen. Bob Deuell, a Greenville Republican, that means less spending.

“I would like to see them become a little more efficient in their spending of money,” Davis said. “Not playing games about balancing the budget.”

For Ray Myers, it means controlling the border.

“They’re not all coming over here to work,” Myers said. “They’re coming into our country. We don’t know who they are. Terrorism is a very, very vital issue we must address. That scares me for my grandchildren.”

Les Roisum just wants some honesty.

“There’s back-door money, underhanded politics going on, cronyism,” Roisum said.

Analyst: Tea Party successes could create challenges

Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, says the success of this Tea Party-type coalition would create challenges in a growing state that will need to expand its highway system, develop water supplies and prepare to educate more children.

“Institutional business-friendly Republican interests want to see some additional spending on education, access to health care, but particularly on infrastructure,” Jillson said. “We’re going to need additional resources to manage those problems. The Tea Party will not permit that to happen.”

Fleming’s response? Find a way to pay for what’s necessary without increasing the budget. And get rid of the Republicans who won’t do that.

“We have got to fire the fake conservatives in Austin,” Fleming said to a round of applause.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/tea-party-aims-become-dominant-voice-texas-republican-politics/

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Here is the achilles heel of the teabagger movement. After they have defunded everything and refused to pay for anything, and infrastructure collapses and the mass of Texans suddenly find themselves living like the Jeeters of Tobacco Road, maybe somebody will get an inkling of what this so-called conservatism really means. eb

Another Tuesday and a Slew of Primaries...
There are about six in all but none of them will result in a major shift in the political landscape.
The media, perhaps, is focused on the GOP Senate race in Mississippi. The incumbent is Thad Cochran who has been in Congress for some 40 years. He is straight out of Central Casting: soft spoken with silver hair and with a record of bringing lots of federal money to his, arguably, most impoverished state.
His challenger is state senator Chris McDaniel who has heavy support from the Tea Party faction. He argues that Cochran is too old, too much of a RINO and spends too much time in DC.
The campaign has turned really negative. I won't go into details but suffice it to say that it is really negative.
The end result is that the 2nd incumbent may fall as the TP tries to regain some semblance of relevance on the national stage.
The race is a tossup.

The Miss. GOP Senate primary yesterday ended in a near dead heat Cochran, the incumbent supported by "establishment Republicans" got 48.9% of the 310,000 voters while McDaniel, the favorite of the Teaparty movement, led with 49.5%.
The spoiler was a guy named Carey. He got only about 4,700 votes. That, however, was enough to force a runoff between McDaniel and Cochran on June 24th.
Outside groups spent $8M on yesterday's race. There seem to be noises from among those the supported Cochran that they will not pony up much in the three weeks ahead of the runoff. It looks like it will turn very negative. There is no chance of a Democrat winning and the GOP would only end up looking foolish.
I would not be surprised if Thad Cochran were to decide to retire rather than face defeat.

I never saw it coming...
Eric Cantor, the Speaker of the House, has lost his seat in a Virginia GOP primary. The winner was backed by the Tea Party movement.

The east coast media has had a busy day analyzing the defeat of Eric Cantor last night. It was a big deal: the first time that a majority leader of the House, of either party. failed to be reelected; it throws the leadership of the GOP into disarray; it reinvigorates the Tea Party; and it pretty much ensures that it will paralyze Congress for months.
So what happened?
> So was it all about the Tea Party folks? I don't think so. A few conservative talk show hosts didn't like Cantor but the money did not flow into Mr Brat's campaign. They evidently feel that it was a fight that could win.
> Was it because Cantor was a bit more willing to talk about immigration reform? That could be...but I think not. Cantor, who was supported by the national Chamber of Commerce, was a bit more willing to talk about the issue. That would offend some people in the state but there are polls (albeit not ones that I would totally rely on) that show immigration to not be a big issue in VA. In Cantor's own 5th District - which includes the western suburbs outside of Richmond, I am not sure that it is at all a biggie.
> Did the Democrats meddle? In Va, anyone who did not vote in one party's primary could vote in the other party's contest. I don't see any evidence from the turnout numbers that anything unusual happened.
> Was Cantor, who is Jewish, ousted because he is Jewish? No, in my mind. He has served 7 terms in Congress.

SO Why Did He Lose?
I have commented before about the attitude that many people have: vote the rascals out of office...except my rascal.
We are geographically close enough to DC to see and hear about all of the cronyism going on. And many people are getting weary of it.
The 5th District that Cantor represents does not get all that much pork. That didn't help. As his duties as Speaker increased his time in the 5th declined. He was an ambitious man surrounded by ambitious aides who had little patience for the wants of his constituents.
That was the cause of his defeat. All of the nattering about other reasons is cover for members of both parties.

There are no primaries scheduled for tomorrow.

There are a number of primaries on tap for tomorrow.
One of them is in Oklahoma where there is a race for the final couple of years of a retiring Senator's term. In red, red OK there is no chance for any Dem. The contest is, as usual in this cycle between a candidate backed by the establishment Repubs and one preferred by the tea party faction. Polls are scarce. And neither guy could not get to 50% of the votes.
Mississippi is amusing. The incumbent (Cochran) is a 76 year old whose campaign slogan could be "I bring home the pork." His opponent (McDaniel) is an advocate of a smaller federal government - even if it means rejecting disaster aid.
There have been a series of bizarre events in the campaign. The latest involves a series a robo-calls made to black voters (read Dems) urging a vote for Cochran.
In MS, anyone can participate in the Repub primary as long as that person did not vote in the Dem primary.
Polls, which may be suspect, show McDaniel with a lead.
Finally, in NY long-time House member Charlie Rangel faces a tough primary.

In the last election of Rep Charlie Rangel (DEM), he said he was "afraid to buy green bananas" because he was so old. Now he's running again at 84! I guess he's now afraid to go to sleep for fear he will not wake up. Rangel is 84 years old.....he was first voted into congress in 1971. He's a wily old geezer.

Hi, M-in-T...I am amused that I get few responses to my posts on this sleepy thread, but I do get a fair number of views. Go figure.
Rangel is not one of my favorite pols. It would be fine with me if he loses tomorrow. But he probably will win...again.

Many of us are keeping up with it. I am happy that it has not become another battleground thread.

Although I'm a New Yorker by birth, I am not so enthused with Rangel's past performance. Mr. Rangel, at one time was the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee; he used his fourth apartment, as a campaign office, despite state and city regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence. Rangel paid below the actual rent for this stabilized apartment. Subsequently, there was an investigation and he lost his position as Chairman of the House Ways and Means....a real blow to his ego. I think he enjoys the power of being in congress for why else at 84 would he be seeking another term?

Well, Rangel was pretty well corrupted, but at least he was funny. Some of the other crooks could learn from him.

No surprise here. Most politicians are corrupt.

Senator Thad Cochran is leading in Mississippi by 9 points. Who woulda thunk? Like Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel was leading in all the recent polls and even the Cochran team thought they might lose! It's still too early to say with only 38% of the vote in, things might still change in this GOP political showdown in Mississippi.

If Cochran wins, it will be interesting to watch the consequences.

Will the state change their elections and make them closed elections?

Will there be continuing charges of voter fraud and the need for voter ID?

Will people demand Cochran be stripped of any seniority or committee assignments for courting democratic votes?

Will they go so far as to attempt to kick him out of the party.

Will Cochran need to switch parties in order to continue winning subsequent reelections?

I hope Rengel writes a book about his long life and also finds a way to enjoy retirement.

Your entire list of questions are throughly fascinating, Butrflynet. I am not as a general rule into southern politics, especially Mississippi, but the Tea Party candidate has made the conservative Cochran race engrossing nationwide. Besides, I read that the lawyer for the KKK contributed lots of money to McDaniel's campaign. Also, if Cochran goes down like Eric Cantor (VA), the Tea Party will most likely consume the Establishment Republican Party, creating hell for the ordinary American and hell on earth for the poor and elderly on a fixed income...not to mention repealing the ACA.

It was also exceedingly interesting to see the conservative Cochran appeal to Democratic African Americans to vote for him. It will indeed be most interesting to see how many AAs turned out for him.

Cochran is not the only moderate Republican but one would not think so in this highly charged Washington Party's extreme turn to the right in order to fight of Tea Party primary candidates; don't think the GOP will kick him out of the Party, like how could they if he won reelection fairly? If McDaniel wins (Cochran is maintaining a small lead as I write) I would think he somehow manipulated the vote.



Now that's a strong possibility seeing as how they have a primary that is open to both parties; a closed primary for GOP would prevent Dems from participating.



Exceptionally so! McDaniel, even when he is smiling, seems to be suppressing a great deal of steel anger. If he loses I certainly would like to hear his concession speech.