Midterm Election of 2010

Personal Fortunes And Election Success: Only In Wisconsin And Florida! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

This election year saw many businessmen and businesswomen who decided that they were going to utilize their personal fortunes to seek office as Governor or Senator, and happily, it can now be reported that they failed to accomplish their goal, except in two tragic cases: Wisconsin and Florida!

All of the personal fortune candidates were Republicans except for Jeff Greene in Florida, who ran for the Senate in the Democratic primary against Congressman Kendrick Meek, and was soundly defeated, by a margin of about 25 points!

Meanwhile, Meg Whitman set an all time record of using a personal fortune to seek the California Governorship, spending approximately $150 million, but losing to Jerry Brown!

Carly Fiorina sought the Senate seat in California, but lost to Senator Barbara Boxer.

Linda McMahon spent a good part of her fortune for the Senate seat in Connecticut, but lost to Richard Blumenthal.

John Raese sought the Senate seat in West Virginia, using a good part of his personal fortune, but lost to Governor Joe Manchin.

Carl Paladino ran for Governor in New York, but despite the use of a good part of his personal fortune, lost to Andrew Cuomo.

However, sadly, Ron Johnson, without any background in running for office, spent a lot of his personal fortune, and defeated Senator Russ Feingold, a major loss to progressive reform, probably the greatest single setback of the 2010 midterm election! 🙁

And even more tragically, Rick Scott, who had been involved in massive Medicare fraud in the 1990s, and forced to pay a major fine but able to avoid prison, had the gall to run for Governor of Florida, defeat state Attorney General Bill McCollum for the nomination, and defeat Chief Financial Office Alex Sink by the small margin statewide of 50,000 votes, and therefore will succeed Governor Charlie Crist, who lost his Independent run for the US Senate to Republican Marco Rubio! 🙁

The idea that a wealthy man, with a background of business fraud, and with not one newspaper in the state of Florida endorsing him, and with police chiefs and many Republican politicos refusing to back him, could end up winning the Governorship of the fourth largest state, is a sad commentary on politics in the state of Florida! The voters of the state should feel ashamed at what they have wrought! 🙁

The Volatile Nature Of Public Opinion Polls Regarding The Midterm Congressional Elections!

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The Republicans were rejoicing last week, when the Gallup poll indicated the largest lead for the GOP among likely voters in the past 60 years, a margin of ten points over the Democrats!

But just one week later, the shocking reality is that now there is a literal tie between Democrats and Republicans, switching from 51-41 GOP last week to a 46-46 tie today!

This shows the lack of validity of public opinion polls, particularly in a highly volatile situation as we face now, where there is tremendous amounts of flux among the electorate!

But what else does it seem to show? It demonstrates what the author has made clear in earlier entries! And that is that Barack Obama by being assertive, combative, aggressive, and on the offensive, can indeed have an effect on public opinion!

Barack Obama has been vilified wrongfully by the GOP opposition for too long, and has been too nice, too much of a gentleman, to attack in an aggressive way! But now this week he has been acting like “Give Them Hell Harry!” Truman, who produced what was seen as a miracle when he won reelection in 1948!

Obama has a lot to be proud of, and he needs to make that case to the American people over the next 55 days, and fight for his agenda, and declare “war” on the Republican Party which wishes him ill! He needs to make it clear that the GOP is not concerned about the middle class or the poor, but only the wealthy two percent of taxpayers and the corporations!

It is time for this nation to be taken back for US, the American people, who are entitled to leadership that cares about the average American, and Barack Obama and the Democrats, while not having a perfect record, have done much in the 111th Congress to deserve to keep control of the 112th Congress in 2011-2012!

Charlie Crist: Possibly The Most Important US Senator Next January?

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Governor Charlie Crist of Florida continues to lead public opinion polls over Marco Rubio, since he left the Republican Party and started an Independent race for Senator!

Crist is gaining a large portion of Independents, as well as Democrats, who are not thrilled by either Congressman Kendrick Meek , or his primary opponent, billionaire real estate investor Jeff Greene!

Crist could become the third Independent Senator next January as a result, joining Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, both of whom ally with the Democratic caucus and often vote with the party!

The question that arises is what Crist would do if he won the Senate seat, but it seems likely that he would ally with the Democrats as an Independent, similar to Lieberman and Sanders!

This issue could be more than just interesting; it could be decisive in organizing the Senate if the Republicans, somehow, manage to gain eight seats, and Crist joins the Democratic caucus, creating a 51-49 Democratic Senate!

Of course, if the Senate was evenly divided, Joe Biden could organize the Senate by his tie breaking vote! But a nine seat gain could also be resolved without Biden, if Crist declared he was in the Democratic caucus!

So Charlie Crist could be the man of the hour and the year, and in some ways, become the most important US Senator next January!

I am sure the thought must please him greatly, particularly after the collapse of his GOP support, which led to his Independent candidacy in the first place! 🙂

The Difference Between The Two Major Political Parties

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One often thinks the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is simply that the GOP is overwhelmingly conservative, and the Democrats are strongly liberal.

That is oversimplifying the issue. A new poll shows the problem of what is called “enthusiasm”. 81 percent of Republicans are “enthusiastic” about voting next year in the midterm elections, while only 56 percent of Democrats have the same passion. Independents, by the way, are at 65 percent level of “enthusiasm”.

The Republicans are always more unified and committed, as evidenced by this poll, while the Democrats tend to split and divide and fight more often, and are far less committed to voting and general involvement in the election campaigns and issues.

Last year, the Democrats were more united and committed and therefore, their turnout led to victory. But if this poll follows through, they could be in trouble for 2010 and 2012.

Will Rogers said in the 1920s that the Democrats were a disorganized group of competing factions, and here we are nearly 90 years later, with the Democrats still as always since 1932 the leader in voter registration, and yet having to be concerned about their ability to win in future elections.