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In a number of states the electorate chose the kind of people they said they didn't want running their government. Really makes you wonder, doesn't it?
If you listen to what a lot of voters say they want this year, especially in conservative states like Indiana where a huge chunk of the population identifies as Tea Partiers, it's candidates who are ready to break with the past, question long-held assumptions, relate to the concerns of regular people, and can bring a fresh perspective to the entrenched insiders in Congress.
And with that in mind, Hoosiers, by a 15-point margin, elected an old, wealthy Washington insider, who left Indiana more than a decade ago, and who's spent several years as a corporate lobbyist. Indeed, Coats intends to go to the Senate and vote on issues he handled as a lobbyist, and has no intention of recusing himself when his former clients will be affected by his votes.
The first of many maps from our 2010 election series is now available on Miscellany Blue. This preliminary map tracks 2010 voting participation by county, based on voting age population estimates published by the U.S. Census Bureau. The most current county-level population estimates are from 2009, so there may be some adjustments when the 2010 census figures are released next year.
It's the economy, stupid. Except, ironic as it is for the Republicans to return on the wings of the crisis they helped cause, the economy was just a necessary precondition.
Like it or not, the Tea Party was the wave. Maybe it's only 10% of the electorate, but that's pretty much the balance of power. Whether it is a grassroots movement, or a cleverly manipulated corporate movement, or both, it had the same effect this year that some of the progressive movements had 2 and 4 years ago. Aided, in a symbiotic frenzy, by the corporate money released by the Citizens United court decision.
I could wish the Dems were better at putting out their message, or had more volunteers, or whatever, but I'm not sure the Tea Party could have been countered even early on, and certainly not once it got rolling. And given the hidden, and overt, racism that winds through much of the TP rhetoric and thought, I don't think it could have been co-opted either, despite its occasional populist strains.
Unfortunately, I also don't think it will go away as long as Obama is in office. If the economy improves over the next 2 years, that may take some of the wind from TP/Republican sails. But mostly I hope Obama's personal popularity and inspirational skills, along with Republican obstructionism, are enough to bring out the Dem vote next time around, because the opposition is not starting from scratch anymore.
(The following is a letter written by my daughter, Ariana, which I wanted to share with all of you)
You may know Paul Hodes as a public servant, a lawyer, or perhaps as a musician. I know him as something entirely different and unique. With less than a week left to go before New Hampshire decides who they'll send down to the US Senate, I want to tell you what I know about my father.
My father is a man of integrity, thoughtfulness, and strength of character who can stand behind any decision he makes because it's his own. He's smart, kind, and genuinely sensitive to the needs of his constituents; the combination of which allows him to weigh different outcomes of a situation, see the big picture, and understand how individuals might be affected by different decisions.
Out of everything I know about my father, the one thing that proves his earnest desire to do good is a simple choice he made many years ago: the decision he and my mom made to raise their family in New Hampshire.
The Tea Party is coming to town. Yesterday, Sarah Palin--Kelly Ayotte's biggest supporter--kicked off the Tea Party Express' national tour.
The Tea Party's final stop on their tour will be on the steps of our state house in Concord the night before the election.
Sarah Palin, Karl Rove, Glenn Beck and their friends on the Tea Party Express are working hard on Kelly Ayotte's behalf. Ayotte proudly accepted Palin's endorsement and groups like Karl Rove's American Crossroads and the Glenn Beck-backed Chamber of Commerce have spent millions of dollars to boost her campaign
After reading Jack's post from Politico about Ms. Ayotte's response to E-Mail-Gate 2.0, and wondering why as a simple matter of personal integrity Ms. Ayotte would refuse to fire an employee who would make wildly abhorrent jokes about her prosecution of an ongoing capital punishment case, I wondered who is Rob Varsalone?
1) First, her "friend" Rob Varsalone was hired in June to be her campaign strategist.
(Imagine the positive impact of having both Paul Hodes and Jeanne Shaheen in the Senate... now go make some phone calls or knock on some doors. - promoted by Mike Hoefer)
Yesterday, I stood with environmental leaders in New Hampshire to talk about my dedication to a national renewable energy standard. I challenged my global-warming denying opponent, Kelly Ayotte, to take a position on the issue. She responded that she would look at the proposal.
It's puzzling. Why would someone who doesn't think global warming exists think that we need to enact a proposal aimed at reducing carbon emissions? Why would someone who supports things like drilling off the coast of New Hampshire all of a sudden try to convince us she'd be supportive of renewable energy efforts in the US Senate?
In her competitive primary, we watched Ms. Ayotte move to the far-right wing of her party. Now, with the general election less than a month away, she's trying to have it both ways. She's hoping New Hampshire won't notice that big oil and coal companies continue to fill her campaign coffers as she talks about drilling off the coast of New Hampshire.
The bottom line is that Kelly Ayotte has as many doubts about global warming as I have about her ability to stand up to her special interest donors in the oil and coal industry.
(Meant to promote this earlier. - promoted by Dean Barker)
Kelly Ayotte's political transformation is no secret. For nearly a year, we've all had a front row seat. The woman who was compared to Olympia Snowe when she entered the race has emerged nowhere near the center of her party, but rather clinging onto Sarah Palin at the far edge of the far right.
To complete Ayotte's reinvention into a rubberstamp for the new GOP, she's had to do some work. Namely, flip flop across the political map and run away from virtually every position she took as Attorney General. Health care, immigration, energy - you name it, she's flipped. We saw the latest and most blatant, in my opinion, today.
In August of 2009, the Concord Monitor reported that "Ayotte said that global warming is a 'real issue' and that scientific evidence has shown human activity could have contributed to higher temperatures." But last night, at a debate hosted by the Seacoast Republican Women, Ayotte sided with her GOP primary competitors and said "no" in response to a question asking whether she believed man-made global warming was proven.
Unless she has got her hands on some new scientific evidence the rest of us aren't privy to, I'm not sure how she can defend this election-year conversion.
As I travel across the Granite State on this campaign, there seems to be one thing the people of New Hampshire can agree on - Washington is broken. It doesn't matter if you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent. You've seen exactly what I see down there: a system that is simply not serving the needs of our middle-class families and small businesses any more. A system that has become rigged against the people it's supposed to support.
That's why yesterday I announced my proposals to change the Senate rules to increase accountability and break the partisan gridlock in Washington. Right now, Washington Republicans in the Senate are blocking a vote on a critical bill that will provide tax cuts and increased credit to New Hampshire's small businesses. My plan calls for an end to anonymous holds and gradually lowering the threshold needed to end debate and hold an up or down vote on Senate bills.
I just wanted to make sure you all saw the latest video from my campaign, which is about my time on the trail this week and my upcoming statewide tour:
(I'll have more later on Fred Malek. I took an especial interest in him during the 2008 Presidential race. - promoted by Dean Barker)
Kelly Ayotte and the Washington special interests behind her campaign are getting nervous. They're seeing the same things we are: my campaign is surging in the polls and the Sarah Palin endorsement is backfiring.
So what do they do? Launch an attack ad full of facts and figures so misleading I have a feeling they were taken straight off Glenn Beck's chalkboard. They're attacking me for standing up to the special interests and big oil companies and supporting efforts to reduce our dependency on foreign oil and address climate change.
The special interest group funding the ad, American Action, is headed by Washington insider Fred Malek, a top backer of the Ayotte-Palin team. He's a life-long K-Street Republican from Washington who wants to tell Granite Staters how to vote.
We knew this would happen. Ayotte and her special interest backers see that we're within striking distance of taking a senate seat that has been in Republican hands for the last 30 years. So they're throwing everything they can to stop my momentum. Plus, Republicans can't help themselves. They have nothing to offer this country but the failed policies of the past and nasty attacks.
For years, there's been an express train between Capitol Hill and K Street.
We have former employees of big corporations ending up in the agencies that are supposed to regulate them. We have former public servants securing high-paid jobs in the businesses they used to oversee.
That may be good for K Street, but it's bad for the American people.
Today I am announcing my plan to end the revolving door in Washington between public officials and corporate lobbyists.
I've spent a lot of time on this blog talking about how we need to end business as usual in Washington. Earlier this week, we got another disheartening reminder of what business as usual has become. Rather than stand up for the voices of the people who define and deliver democracy in this country, the Republicans in Washington resorted to political obstructionism and caved to the special interests, once again. They successfully filibustered the DISCLOSE Act, which is a crucial first step in undoing the damage inflicted by the Citizens United Supreme Court case. It would have allowed us to start closing the door on corporations trying to buy our elections.
You know what? I wasn't surprised by their filibuster. I was expecting it. I'm sure you were too.
But I think everyone here can agree - it is one sorry state of affairs that leads us to expect special interest-funded obstructionism from our public servants.
(Great advice from Tim, veteran canvasser and state rep candidate for Goffstown/Weare! - promoted by Jennifer Daler)
Clipboard in hand, I pause for a moment. Check the name, age, party affiliation. Take a deep breath, smile, and press the doorbell.
Between now and November 2nd, most of us will knock on hundreds, if not thousands of doors. It is essential that we do so. Ads, mailers, events, blogs and viral video are all important parts of political campaigning today, but we all know that the foundation of any campaign is the ground game. Nothing compares to face to face conversations with voters. Yet many candidates and volunteers are reluctant to go door to door. It's intimidating, some say. Some procrastinate, say it's a waste of time, find other ways to fill their schedule.
I'd like to share my personal experiences and hopefully inspire these reluctant door-knockers to not only tolerate and endure canvassing, but take pleasure in it.
Over the past six months, my opponents have constantly reminded me of how crucial this race is. Whether it's a woman's right to choose or a family's right to affordable health care - they've shown us time and time again what we all stand to lose if Kelly Ayotte, Bill Binnie, or Ovide Lamontagne wins.
Earlier this morning, after a great pancake breakfast with more than 200 supporters, I officially filled out the paperwork to become a Democratic candidate for the US Senate.
I want to thank those of you who joined me this morning at the Statehouse. Not only was it a truly humbling show of support for Peggo and me, but it was also a great sign of things to come as we get close to November 2.
