Aug 8, 2006

Election Blogging

Some people may know that I am an election junkie; coming up this fall will be an on-going preview of the 2006 elections.

Tonight, however, could be a historic election in its own right. The Joe Lieberman-Ned Lamont primary battle ended today; results should be in shortly.

Basically, the Democratic party may be ready to dump an incumbent Senator who was their Vice-Presidential nominee just 6 years ago in favor of a political newcomer. The reason is solely for the Senator's stance on the Iraq War.

I'm not saying it is right or wrong - it is just fascinating to see a possible realignment of a political party in real time as it occurs. For the record, I applaud the effort to give voters more choices, and find the argument that no one should oppose the Senator because he is an incumbent as absurd.

As of now, it is Lamont 51.7%, Lieberman 48.3%, with about 70% of the precincts reporting. Stay tuned.

6 comments:

Eric Z said...

As Howard Cosell would say:

"Down goes Lieberman! Down goes Lieberman!"

95% reporting, Lamont 52, Lieberman 48.

And Lieberman has vowed to file the paperwork tomorrow to run as an independent.

This is going to be a fun 3 months.

Don said...

I agree that the Lieberman race will be very interesting. I'm even more excited that I can watch it unfold without having to see the barage of TV commericals that will come with it. My condolences go out to the good people of Conneticutt. Get Tivo or a DVR now.

RRD said...

I dined last night with a dyed-in-the-wool democratic couple who made the statement, "I'd rather see the democrats gain little ground in the upcoming elections, so the country can remain angry at the Republicans and we can have a full head of steam going into the election year."

Interesting statement, do you agree or disagree?

Eric Z said...

Um, Don - you do know that:

- we have a close Senate race in Ohio
- we have a governor's race, too
- and close house races in OH-1, KY-4, and IN-9

October will be FILLED with political ads here.

Most of our readers will be subject to political ads:

OH: Close Senate, Gov races
MD: Close Senate, Gov races
VA: Interesting Senate race
PA: Close Senate, Gov races

The only one who may actually escape this fall is... Derek! If Arnold keeps his lead in CA, there are no other races out there that will require massive ad-buying.

Eric Z said...

RRD- perfect! This is the trap the democrats will fall into!

BECAUSE they have no agenda to speak of (besides "I-hate-Bush"), they will be lost in 2008 when...

surprise! Bush won't be running!

They, again, will be left without a viable plan or policy to offer the voters.

In 08, the Repub nominee will critique the current administration, and offer a modified direction. So the R candidate will be offering a "new direction", whereas the D's will be.... still criticizing Bush.

Don't believe me? what has changed in the Democrats' policy since 2004?

There is precedence for this. Remember HW Bush's campaign in 88? "A Kinder, Gentler Nation"? This was a slight distancing from Reagan which made Bush seem a bit separate from Reagan...
while Dukakais just kept hammering about Reagan's policies. Hey idiot, Reagan wasn't running.

Do you remember W Bush attacking Clinton in 2000? I don't - he went after the policies of the nominee, Gore, in the campaign. that's the way you do it.

Eric Z said...

And, by the way, that comment by the couple makes so little sense.

there is no question that the R's in charge (ESPECIALLY Congress) have made mistakes in policy domestic wise and could be a lot better in communicating their foreign policy.

So they are willing to let them be in control for 2 more years - where they could have a chance to get their act together?

This is like a football game - you are up 24-3 on your (superior) opponent in the 3rd quarter. Do you try to score and WIN THE GAME , or do you just play conservatively, giving the ball back to the other team who may jsut get their act together and score a couple of touchdowns?

If I were the Democrats, I'd want to knock out the R's now. You never want to give them another 2 years in charge to turn things around.