On Tuesday night Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district held a special election, pitting Democratic candidate Mark Critz against Republican Tim Burns.
Mr. Critz won solidly: a nine percent margin of victory off 53.4% of the vote. Severalpolls had predicted a very close, photo-finish election; this result contradicted that assumption.
This victory constitutes good - very good - news for Democrats.
With his fourth run for Governor failing to get traction, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi yesterday announced his plan to run for Congress in the East Bay's 10th District - in a special election to replace Ellen Tauscher. On name recognition alone, Garamendi will be the front-runner in a crowded field - although State Senator Mark DeSaulnier has key endorsements that will make it competitive. But while running for Congress is a smart move for Garamendi, it would be far better for Democrats - and progressive politics - for him to run in District 3 against Republican incumbent Dan Lungren. Tauscher's seat is safe for Democrats regardless of who runs in the special election, while Garamendi is probably one of the few candidates who can win District 3. He has deep roots in the 3rd District - which includes a large swath of the Sacramento suburbs, along with Garamendi's native Calaveras County. It is traditionally a "red" district, but Barack Obama carried it last November - and Lungren came unexpectedly close to losing to an under-funded Democratic challenger. At a time when Democratic activists are pushing the Party to take back "Red California," Garamendi's choice of districts could not be more disheartening and misguided. Expect this to become an issue at this weekend's State Democratic Convention.
Two months ago, I entered this race declaring we are in the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Every day more and more people lose their jobs, health care, and homes. We are witnessing not the unraveling of a few years of excess, but the insolvency of many of the economic practices and theories that became conventional wisdom over the past 30 years.
Most important of these, and that which has caused the greatest destruction, is the idea that debt is wealth. Over the last 30 years, American wages stagnated and people grew deeper in debt -- their homes, educations, health care, every aspect of life. And at the national level, the story hasn't been much different. We lost manufacturing and borrowed from across the globe. There were only two winners in all this, Wall Street and the banks.
Read this if you want to elect a true progressive to Congress
I've been calling for Tom Geoghegan for the past few days. I've called for 7 past campaigns during my politically active years and here are some of the differences I'm seeing with this election:
- very low awareness of the election (not surprising, but different than other elections)
- very low commitment to any candidate
- no mention to me of support for any candidate other than tom. I realize they are less likely to tell me, but it is unusual not to have 1 mention of another candidate during calls
- people who do talk about Tom are enthusiastic about supporting him
I thought Sara Feigenholtz and Mike Quigley were going to be clearly in the lead at this point, and that isn't what I'm hearing from people I talk with. Definitely motivating me to keep on calling.
With the state bankrupt and giving I.O.U.'s instead of tax refunds, the California legislature is expected to vote on a mid-year budget later this week. It's bound to have horrific cuts, but no one has details because it's being crafted in secret negotiations with the "Big Five" (Governor + party leaders in each chamber.) Democrats control 63% of the legislature, but the "two-thirds rule" lets Republicans run the show. And the minority refuses to vote for a single tax increase - unless Democrats agree to kill the eight-hour workday (and other similar extortions.) Everyone thinks a statewide special election is inevitable, which could help us get meaningful budget reform. But June 2nd would be a terrible time to do it, because none of the needed fiscal reforms would be on the ballot. Instead, we'd have the Governor's awful proposal to borrow money off future lottery revenue - and a deeply insidious proposal to cap state spending. While San Francisco has no choice but to call a June special election (or else cut half of its General Fund), the state musn't go full speed ahead.
In my previous diary, I wrote that fighting for reform hasn't always been easy.
I've spent a career in Cook County government on the opposite side of the Chicago political machine on virtually every issue. That itself can make one's career tough.
But the truth is that I enjoy finding ways to improve government. Call me naive, but my view is that government should play an important role in improving the lives of citizens. I believe that government can and should do more.
I am running for Congress in IL-05 to replace Rahm Emanuel because we desperately need reform and because it's too important right now in our country's history to not have our best and brightest fixing our problems.
Tom Cole, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, held a press teleconference today in response to the third straight special-election loss this year. Losing Roger Wicker's Mississippi seat stunned the House GOP caucus, which now has three more seats to recover in what looks like a very bad year for Republicans.
"My sense is--we had a leadership meeting this morning--the sense of the group was we need to pull together as a team. The message of a candidate being 'too liberal' or 'too out of sync' is not what voters want to hear...It just didn't work. But what does work, though, is a realization that the paradigm has been shifted. This country is tired of excuses and doesn't want to hear about 'too liberal' or 'too this' or 'too that.' What they want to hear is solutions."
House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida agreed with [Deputy Whip] Cantor's analysis.
Holy crap, when was the last time top Republicans questioned the wisdom of using "too liberal" as a campaign tactic? The GOP have been rocked. There's rumours of firing the leadership. 3 more Democratic votes in the House (and 3 less Republicans).
What happens in Podunk shouldn't stay there. Or at least if it does, the Democratic Party Establishment, the corporate wing of the Democratic Party, the Blue Dogs among us, will have won one more unrecorded battle against those of us who want real change.
What's happening most immediately in the IL-14 corner of Podunk (a term I use here to describe anything not directly inside the DC Beltway) is a primary and a special primary on Tuesday, between the DC insider "pick" for our district, an attorney who is a relative newcomer to both politics and our area, and John Laesch, the nominee against Denny Hastert last time out, and the only progressive in the race.
At this point, I'd call it a significant bellwether for the upcoming Congressional elections that virtually no one outside of IL-14 is paying much attention to in the glare of the presidential race, as well as a bellwether event in the battle for control of the party. So while I don't expect this diary to get much attention, I want to leave a record of what has happened in this primary. Bellwethers, however unobserved at the time, sometimes have a way of becoming useful history for those who follow.
Just found this late-breaking set of endorsements on the Laesch for Congress website. I say late-breaking, not just because of the time of day, but because we are a mere four days out from the both the primary and the special primary to replace the retired (i.e. completely gone and no longer my congresscritter - Yay!) Hastert.
I just learned today that the primaries in Illinois this year are special for this reason: unlike other super Tuesday states, Illinois is also conducting our Congressional primaries on this date, making them not just the earliest in the nation, but the earliest Congressional primaries in national history, per Congressional Quarterly.
I bring this up because events are happening at a wicked pace here: on March 8, this district will send a new Congressperson to the House, and we need to make sure it is the only real Progressive in this race.
I know the eyes of the world are on Iowa today, but here in Illinois, we were just treated to this bombshell from a local paper:
Election officials in at least seven Illinois counties plan to ask a federal court to intervene because they believe the dates set by Gov. Rod Blagojevich for a special primary and special general election will not give them time to meet federal and state statutes that govern elections.
The election is to replace Hastert, who has retired. The special primary is set for February 5 and the special general March 8. From the story it appears that the objection from the counties comes not to the primary date but to the March 8 special general date.
Not long ago, I ran across this comment from a dedicated Foster volunteer and supporter:
This will be unpopular... (0.00 / 0)
...but you know I'm going to say it anyway!
I am much more interested in what goes on in Northern IL than I am in what happens downstate. With work, I get more than my fill of politics in Springfield and the rest of the cornfields in IL. I just really don't care what is happening in politics in Podunk, IL unless it's really sexy and scandalous. Otherwise, I am bored. (emphasis added)
by: bridgetdooley @ Thu Dec 06, 2007 at 22:18:39 PM CST
As anyone who lives in Illinois knows, anything not in the City or collar counties is routinely considered "downstate" (aka "Podunk" to Ms. Dooley) even if it's north of Chicago. The distinction here, if you are local, is that Kane and (parts of) Kendall, being collar counties, are typically considered part of the greater Chicagoland region, while everything west of the urbanized strip on the far east of IL-14 really qualifies as "downstate."
So, a couple of weeks ago, I was in a public place, right here in St. Charles, Illinois, when I overheard a conversation that alarmed, but failed to surprise, me. The person doing most of the talking was -talking- complaining bitterly about her new job in an area public elementary school. Not a St. Charles school and not an educator. She's a peripheral professional who has frequent contact with children however, and that's bad enough.
Her major complaint? "All these Hispanic children."
According to her, not only are "all these Hispanic children" unable to communicate, they are "aggressive and obnoxiously rude - especially the girls." I was supposed to be paying attention to what the person in front of me was saying and lost some of the conversation I was overhearing, but suspect her companion must have voiced some objections, because she started trying to -explain herself- dig herself in deeper.
I always wanted to find an excuse to use breaking in a diary title.
This will be a brief diary, that I may add to as the evening progresses, but Roll Call is reporting that Dennis Hastert will announce his resignation (effective "later this year") tomorrow, Thursday, setting up a special election here in IL-14.
I haven't spoken to John Laesch this evening yet, but just gave this news to our campaign manager.
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