Delaware

The Tea Party, Sarah Palin, And The Delaware GOP Senatorial Primary: Suicidal Tendencies Grow! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Movement seem out to prevent any moderate Republicans from being elected to the US Senate, thus giving the Republicans a more extremist image, which is likely to lead to defeat, but even if it does not, marginalizes the long term future of the party! 🙁

Alaska’s Senate primary saw moderate Lisa Murkowski defeated by Joe Miller, an extremist Tea Party favorite, which at least makes that state a more competitive one for Democrats! Sarah Palin used her influence to help defeat the Murkowski family again, as she had when she defeated the father who was Governor in 2006!

Now Delaware, a state sure to elect a moderate Republican with a 20 year record in the US House, Mike Castle, suddenly has the possibility, due to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party extremists, of electing a completely unqualified woman, Christine O’Donnell, who happens to be attractive as her only virtue, as the Senate nominee next Tuesday, September 14!

The odds of O’Donnell defeating Democrat Chris Coons are seen as unlikely, but the desire to move the GOP to the far right seems to outweigh the reality that the GOP cannot survive intact as an extremist right wing party long term! 🙁

We already have right wingers named Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, Joe Miller, Ken Buck and Mike Lee, who make a bad image for the party, and hopefully most will be defeated, an advantage to the Democrats!

But if they win, and Christine O’Donnell wins, the Republican party is killing its long term future, as to govern the country we require a mainstream centrist set of parties, and the GOP is fast losing any possibility of being perceived as such!

Surprise In Delaware: Joe Biden’s Son Not Running For Senate

Ronald Leave a comment

A big surprise emerged today when Beau Biden, Attorney General of Delaware and son of Vice President Joe Biden, announced he would not run for his father’s Senate seat.

It is believed possible that the loss of the Massachusetts Senate seat to Republican Scott Brown may have affected the younger Biden’s decision. It was seen as easier for him to keep his position as Attorney General, than to challenge Mike Castle, the present Delaware Congressman, who has had a long career in that chamber and is now running as the GOP candidate for the Senate.

The problem with this decision, however, is the message it sends, that the Democrats are basically giving up the seat that was Joe Biden’s for 36 years. Interim Senator Ted Kaufman, the former aide to Joe Biden, has made clear he will just finish out the two year term to the end of the year, rather than run for a full term.

The whole situation seems to make no sense, and it is a shame that the Democrats are ready to just concede the seat. At this rate, the Democrats could lose more seats than one once thought.

The Cook Political Report projects that the GOP will gain 5-7 seats in the Senate this year as things now stand. If that is the case, then the Democrats had better get moving now to get some of their agenda accomplished, including health care in some form, because if the Senate is something like only 52 to 54 seats for the Democrats in 2011-2012, it will be a major battle to get anything done before the Presidential election. And as stated earlier, it will make replacements of aging Supreme Court Justices Stevens and Ginsberg all the more complex and difficult!