News & discussion on house and senate races

rode on his Daddy's coat-tails using name recognition to get to be governor

MSNBC, and NBC touted USA Today/Gallup poll with Bush approval rating at 44 percent, ignored earlier Pew poll placing his approval at 37 percent

[Kinky] Friedman rips brouhaha over race-tinged remarks
Candidate says he was using satire to oppose racism

Gary L. Bledsoe, president of the Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches, asked Friedman to apologize in a Friday letter. Friedman said he would "absolutely never" apologize.

"The NAACP, I don't even want to talk about them. They're offended about just about everything," Friedman said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4208493.html

Earlier this month, Friedman referred to Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston, most of whom are black, as "crackheads and thugs." He later criticized ethnic politicking by saying, "I don't eat tamales in the barrio, I don't eat fried chicken in the ghetto and I don't eat bagels with the Jews."

Then a television interview from a year ago resurfaced in which Friedman was asked what to do about sexual predators. He said: "Throw them in prison and throw away the key and make them listen to a Negro talking to himself."

On Thursday, a left-leaning political Web site posted an audio clip of Friedman telling a joke at a nightclub in 1980 in which he used the n-word.

On Friday, the same Web site posted two more audio clips of Friedman telling race-related jokes, one of which included the n-word.

Re house turnover, etc... these guys are very good and they have lots of mechanisms in place to produce electoral results in their favor (eg, voter ID legislation, etc). As many (like Jimmy Carter) have noted, commonly with dismay and even disgust, these folks, Cheney for example, hold that 51% equates to revolutionary-level mandate.

Earlier this month, Friedman referred to Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston, most of whom are black, as "crackheads and thugs." He later criticized ethnic politicking by saying, "I don't eat tamales in the barrio, I don't eat fried chicken in the ghetto and I don't eat bagels with the Jews."

Then a television interview from a year ago resurfaced in which Friedman was asked what to do about sexual predators. He said: "Throw them in prison and throw away the key and make them listen to a Negro talking to himself."

[..] In a New York Times/CBS poll released on Thursday, 77 percent of respondents said most members of Congress did not deserve re-election. Fifty percent said they would support a Democrat in November, when control of Congress is at stake, compared with 35 percent who said they would vote Republican.

[..] Nathan Gonzales, political editor at the Rothenberg Political Report in Washington, said it's actually wrong to call this election an "anti-incumbent" race -- since only Republican incumbents are truly endangered.

Heartland districts held by Republicans are among the most at risk. Seven Republican seats now lean Democratic, including three in Indiana and one each in Iowa, Texas, Colorado and Arizona. Another 10 Republican seats nationwide are considered pure toss-ups, according to the Rothenberg Report.

No Democrat seat is considered at risk. [..]

Pa. candidate falls short of signatures

The Green Party's U.S. Senate candidate fell about 9,000 signatures short of the number he needs to qualify for the Nov. 7 ballot as counting stopped Friday, according to his lawyers and those of state Democrats.

A review of the signatures Carl Romanelli gathered in his bid to compete against Republican Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record) and Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey was suspended Friday under a state judge's order issued earlier in the week.

Romanelli, a railroad industry consultant, needed to gather 67,070 signatures to qualify for statewide office this year. His candidacy is expected to help Santorum's chances for re-election by drawing votes from Casey.

State Democrats are suing to have him thrown off the ballot. Casey's campaign and the state Democratic Party have accused Santorum of engineering Romanelli's candidacy.

Santorum has openly supported Romanelli's candidacy and Republicans helped bankroll his signature-gathering effort.

Lawrence M. Otter, a lawyer for Romanelli, said Friday he hopes to persuade Judge James R. Kelley to allow Romanelli to remain on the ballot when a hearing on his nominating petitions resumes Monday. [..]

Pennsylvania Senate: Santorum Lags by 10

rasmussenreports.com
Fri Sep 22, 10:29 AM ET

In August, the Rasmussen Reports election poll showed Democratic candidate Bob Casey, Jr. leading Republican Senator Rick Santorum by just 48% to 40%. It was the closest the candidates had been all year and many wondered if it marked the beginning of a surge that would enable Santorum to draw even closer.

So far the answer is no. The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows very similar results; with Casey leading 49% to 39%.

Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli continues to attract 5% support [..].

The two major-party candidates recently debated for the first time, clashing over the war in Iraq, pay raises for politicians in Pennsylvania and DC, and abortion. Many independent observers say Casey, not exactly renowned as a speaker, surpassed low expectations and was at least on a par with the more fiery incumbent. Some argue that Casey won the debate. [..]

Voters here are more likely to trust the GOP on national security, more likely to trust the Democrats on the economy and taxes. On immigration, the split is 37% to 38%, with 25% unsure.

For a plurality of 28%, the top electoral issue is the economy. But national security (21%) and Iraq (18%) aren't far behind [..].

GOP cancels $1 mil in Graf ad support

The Republican Party canceled about $1 million in advertising support for Randy Graf, a blow to his chances of winning the congressional race in southern Arizona.

Graf, a conservative who has campaigned mainly on a platform of zero tolerance for illegal immigration, vowed through campaign manager R.T. Gregg to go it alone if necessary in the district once considered one of the most competitive in the nation. [..]

An independent political observer said yanking advertising support is "a very powerful signal."

"It can mean either they're pulling out because it's hopeless, or they think he's got it in the bag," said Gary Jacobson, professor of political science at the University of California-San Diego.

Every indication is that the party is in full retreat, Jacobson said.

Gregg said Thursday that he had no specifics on what the National Republican Congressional Committee was doing, "but I don't care."

"It doesn't matter. Our game plan is set, and we're well on our way to raising the $1 million we need to win this race," Gregg said. [..]

Republicans had reserved about $1.4 million worth of broadcast time to boost chances of keeping the seat in GOP hands.

The party spent $250,000 in the primary trying to derail a Graf victory and had booked most of the remainder for closer to the Nov. 7 general election.

Democrats had budgeted about $1.7 million for the race. Both parties will now be able to redirect most or all of the money to other races. [..]

Giffords also has shown more fund-raising prowess than Graf. The $1.2 million she raised before the primary was more than twice as much as Graf took in, and she entered the general election campaign with $300,000, about three times as much as Graf.

"She's in good shape, and if the Republicans are pulling out a million bucks, he's not," Jacobson said.

AZ Dems issued a release 9/20 pointing out that David Duke has a link to ex-state Rep. Randy Graf's (R) site. Graf manager R.T. Gregg "swiftly denounced" Duke, saying they "have no ties" to Duke "or any of his racist crazies." Gregg: "In this day and age anyone can put a link anywhere to anything." But Dems demanded that Graf contact Duke and ask him to remove the link. Gregg "said Graf has no plans to do so," noting that Duke "doesn't even live in the" CD. Gregg: "He's somewhere off in the deep South" (Scarpinato, Arizona Daily Star, 9/21).

And Now Rahm's Getting Involved

DCCC Chair Rahm Emanuel, in a letter to NRCC Chair Tom Reynolds today: "While you and I may have differences of opinion when it comes to policy, certainly we can agree on the right thing to do. Supporting a candidate with ties to the white supremacist community is not the right thing to do...Tom, you should pull down your ads in support of Graf immediately. Candidates tied to white supremacists are not right for Arizona and they are certainly not right for America."

Santorum aired a spot featuring actors supposedly portraying four big donors to Casey's campaign meeting in a smoke-filled jail cell. The senator's campaign later conceded that none of the men had given money to Casey's Senate campaign and that two had contributed to Santorum's campaign, which donated the money to nonprofit groups.

Teammates: Allen used "N-word" in college

Three former college football teammates of Sen. George Allen say that the Virginia Republican repeatedly used an inflammatory racial epithet and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks during the early 1970s.

"Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place,'" said Dr. Ken Shelton, a white radiologist in North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback. "He used the N-word on a regular basis back then."

A second white teammate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retribution from the Allen campaign, separately claimed that Allen used the word "nigger" to describe blacks. "It was so common with George when he was among his white friends. This is the terminology he used," the teammate said.

A third white teammate contacted separately, who also spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being attacked by the Virginia senator, said he too remembers Allen using the word "nigger," though he said he could not recall a specific conversation in which Allen used the term. "My impression of him was that he was a racist," the third teammate said. [..]

Over the past week, Salon has interviewed 19 former teammates and college friends of Allen from the University of Virginia. In addition to the three who said Allen used the word "nigger," two others who were contacted said they remember being bothered by Allen's displaying the Confederate flag in college, but said they do not remember him acting in an overtly racist manner. Seven others said they did not know Allen well outside the football team, but do not remember Allen demonstrating any racist feelings. A separate seven teammates and friends said they knew Allen well and did not believe he held racist views. [..]

Shelton played football with Allen in the 1972 and 1973 seasons [..] Shelton said he also remembers a disturbing deer hunting trip with Allen on land that was owned by the family of Billy Lanahan, a wide receiver on the team. After they had killed a deer, Shelton said he remembers Allen asking Lanahan where the local black residents lived. Shelton said Allen then drove the three of them to that neighborhood with the severed head of the deer. "He proceeded to take the doe's head and stuff it into a mailbox," Shelton said.

Lanahan, a former resident of Richmond, Va., died this year at the age of 53, said his aunt Martha Belle Chisholm of Richmond. In an interview on Thursday, Chisholm said that she remembered Lanahan speaking highly of Allen. "Bill was very complimentary of George Allen," she said. "He said he was just one of the boys." Chisholm also confirmed that the Lanahan family owned hunting land near Bumpass, Va., about 50 miles east of the University of Virginia campus. [..]

For Shelton, the memories of Allen's behavior during his football days raise clear questions about the senator's fitness for office. "I just think that someone who attains that level of higher office needs to have higher standards," Shelton said. [..]

My take: the flap around his alleged past use of the "n-word" in itself seems a bit of a dud - I mean - to go after someone over his use of bad language thirty years ago? Seems a bit much.

Not to mention that Salon tracked down 19 former teammates of Allen's, and only 3 of them remember him as saying/doing something racist. While another 7 explicitly maintained that Allen had not.

Obviously, someone who talks of "niggers" is being offensive. But some news editors are apparently so spooked of possible accusations, that they avoid even mentioning the word in a news report about someone having said it.

The result is PC to the point of surrealism. You have a report here thats all about the breaking news of someone using a word - which never specifies what the word in question was. Thats surely taking it a bit far..

If I were a reporter or news editor, I would not use the word "nigger" in a story. It is such an inflamatory word. [..] Everyone knows what the phase "racial slur" refers to.