"The Fix" Picks Ten Worst Run Incumbent Campaigns Tomorrow (PM - 11/1/2006 8:43:38 PM)
Cilizza did the ten best campaigns today; tomorrow he promises the worst.Any bets on a certain campaign?
Check out George Allen's new ad, "Record," which purports to talk about...well, George Allen's wonderful record. The only problem is, Allen never talks about his record. Instead, he prattles on about his opponent's "Washington allies," busy "distorting my record." Yeah, right George. We all made up the fact that you voted 97% of the time with George W. Bush. Or that you said "macaca." Or that you plagiarized an amendment from another Senator. Etc., etc.Seems to me that George Allen doesn't talk about his record because - to quote Jim Webb - he has "nothing to report." What do you think?
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Senate 2006
Republicans' outlook for the Senate continues to deteriorate, but still, none of their close races are hopelessly lost. If the election were held today, we see Democrats splitting a 50-50 Senate with the GOP. Democrats +5, Republicans -5.
Virginia: Sen. George Allen (R) was always the favorite in this race, but now he's gotten his own hands too dirty in what is by far the dirtiest Senate race of 2006. He has let this race devolve from a serious campaign into a circus campaign, which runs on personal attacks and lacks any debate or discussion of issues. Nearly every ad on the air in Virginia is either a negative attack or an attack on the other candidate for being too negative.
One can certainly blame Allen's opponent, former Navy Secretary Jim Webb (D), who has launched his own personal attacks through surrogates. But the final blow to any seriousness in this race was Allen's criticism last week of the disturbing and racy scenes in Webb's novels.
We believe that this attack may be backfiring against Allen and that the effects are being seen in the latest polls, both of which have Webb leading. It is much easier to dump an incumbent in a circus campaign than it is in a serious campaign. We see here shades of the same miscalculations made by Jerry Kilgore (R) as he lost to Gov. Tim Kaine (D) last year after running highly negative ads that backfired.
George Allen, once a leading candidate for President, is on the verge of losing his Senate seat, and possibly Republican control of the Senate. Leaning Democratic Takeover.
I think it is worth reading Schaeffer's entire piece in the Dalla Morning News:
Any bets on a certain campaign?
I looked at the Science section of NYTimes yesterday, and there were *two* photos of our current "representative" in the US Senate, right on the front page...
To be sure, the article was, purportedly, talking about the influence of diet on aging in primates, but the primates in question were the -- easily recognisable -- rhesus monkeys.
Here's the relevant entry in the Wikipedia, for those who skipped their biology classes... :)
I think it's appalling that a respectable newspaper such as NYT should give Allen free publicity, photos an'all...
HIALEAH, Fla. (AP) — A state lawmaker resigned Wednesday from the Florida Legislature and was charged with two felonies in connection with leaving obscenity-filled messages and a racial slur on a colleague's voice mail.State prosecutors charged Republican Ralph Arza, 46, with one felony count each of retaliating against and tampering with a witness. Arza's cousin, 25-year-old Paulino Barbon Jr. was also charged with the same two counts. Both men could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.