Delaware Cattle Call, Fall Edition [2012]
Next week and over the course of the next month, we are going to be highlighting each Representative District and Senate District, to find out about the new districts (since most if not all of the districts have undergone some changes, from minor to major), about which Representatives and Senators are calling it quits in 2012, which are safe, and which are in trouble. One of the reasons we are doing this is because of the seemingly inability of the Republican Party to act like a political party in the state of Delaware. With no candidates or even prospective candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, Insurance Commissioner and Senator, 2012 is looking disastrous for the state GOP and boring for the rest of us.
But let’s again take a look at the possibilities.
GOVERNOR–Jack Markell. Governor Markell will run for reelection.
Republican Opposition?
1. Former Speaker Terry Spence. He always thinks about running, and never does. Even Celia Cohen has gotten wise to that game.
2. Former Senator and failed 2008 Republican Lt. Gov. Nominee Charlie Copeland. He seems much happier as a blogger now. Plus, with some of the things he has said over there at Irrational Delusion, I doubt very much his campaign would be successful.
3. Failed 2010 Republican congressional candidate Michele Rollins. She forced her grandchildren onto food stamps. Yeah, not happening.
LT. GOVERNOR–Matt Denn.. Lt. Governor Denn will run for reelection.
Republican Opposition?
1. Sussex County Councilman Vance Phillips. After his recent troubles, I doubt it.
U.S. SENATE–Tom Carper. Sen. Carper will run for reelection. Republican Opposition?
1. Kevin Wade. The News Journal doesn’t even consider him a candidate, even though he has announced, so why should we?
2. Glenn Urquhart. Yeah, go ahead and run. That will be fun.
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE–John Carney. Congressman Carney will run for reelection.
Republican Opposition?
1. New Castle County Council President Tom Kovach. He’s running, and he marks the first recruiting success the State GOP has had in many years. But will he suffer the same fate as Mike Castle?
2. Rose Izzo. She is running. The question as to whether she will be another Christine O’Donnell depends entirely on whether bigoted Sussex Republicans can get over the fact that she has a New York accent.
INSURANCE COMMISSIONER–Karen Weldin Stewart. Commissioner Stewart will run for reelection, but if she is smart, she will retire.
Democratic Primary Opposition?
1. Mitch Crane
2. Vincent White
Republican Opposition?
1. Jim Van Houten. Who?
The GOP bench has gone from shallow to convex. The only interesting race is going to be the Dem primary for insurance commish.
Van Houten embellished his military record when he ran for state rep last year. Many of us who are veterans don’t like and won’t support people who lie about what they did on active duty.
Vince who?
Rose Izzo has no traction as an alternative to anybody. Near as I can tell, she’s not really a teabagger, she has no base of support, and I don’t think she ever leaves Holiday Hills.
You can’t get elected by merely appealing to those who stop by your place for your weekly yard sale.
As a Democrat, I find this depressing. One-party rule invariably leads to corruption and/or slothfulness.
I STILL say, especially in the wake of the Occupy movement, that Carper is vulnerable to a primary challenge. Any challenger can actually turn Carper’s perceived advantage (boatloads of corporate cash) into a disadvantage (he doesn’t represent us).
And a primary challenger could at least help John Carney find the inner John Carney. If there IS an inner John Carney.
BTW, this will also be a disaster for R legislative candidates. Maybe the powers-that-be can convince Monsignor Lavelle (isn’t he Vice R Chair or something?) to run for statewide office. I would consider that a win-win for everyone but Lavelle. Which sorta defines the term ‘win-win’ for me.
And when he loses, there’s a nice gold-plated sinecure as Executive Director of the CRI awaiting him. A bloviator’s wet dream.
Rose Izzo has neither the looks nor the long record of anti-abortion activity to become another Christine O’Donnell. She is a nuisance candidate.
One-party rule invariably leads to corruption and/or slothfulness.
Truth.
And I see plenty of signs of the slothfulness, frankly.
The One-party rule which we lived through was the Incumbency Party rule. There is no doubt that the Incumbency Party took a hit when MiCastle lost, but it is still plenty strong enough to keep Carper safe from a primary.
There is no liberal version of O’Donnell and I don’t know who would argue that there should be such a thing.
And by the way, do you know who else hates one-party rule? Sigler. It is is go-to comment.
If Coons had faced a closer race (against Mike Castle?) I’m not so sure he would have flipped his position on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy from “expiration” to “temporary extension” two weeks before the election.
Same concept for Carper and Carney. The right is putting absolutely no pressure on them to define themselves as Democrats.
I responded to a long telephone survey last night. Lots of Q’s about the various Delaware players and I gave Carper “very unfavorable” ratings on just about every question.
Then they switched it up and asked, “If Carper was running against Glenn Urquhart, who would you vote for?”
I said Carper, but tried to convey a large does of chagrined remorse in my tone.
That was surely a GOP internal poll. I hope they get the message that we don’t like Carper but we like their wingnuts even less.
It’s like my answers on the national polls:
“Do you approve of Obama’s performance? ” (No).
“Is the country on the right track or wrong track? (Wrong track).
“Who do you plan to vote for?” (Obama)
Must confuse the hell out of them. It confuses me too.
I hope the national pollsters are smart enough to figure out when disapproval comes from the left. You don’t see those kind of polls very often.
Leigt, if KWS wins the primary I will vote for the Republican. I hope a better one than the current emerges, but I don’t really care.
They asked me to state why I had an unfavorable view of Urquhart and I said, “He is a religious fanatic, a right-wing ideologue and a deranged teabagger. Is that enough or do you want more?”
“That’s enough.”
Plus he looks like Freddy Krueger.
Oh please let Urq the Jerk run. He’s fun to mess with.
I thought maybe an unknown Republican like Kevin Wade might be something different until I heard him touting a Fair Tax and he says it will be great because exchange students and drug dealers don’t pay income taxes now so a national sales tax will nab a pile of new revenue from them.
I hope Urq runs. He has great political skills, like calling an obscure blogger (me) an extremist and calling liberals Nazis.
The thought of KWS or some Sussex teabagger trying to implement the ACA gives me dyspepsia.
Just got a call for a political survey. My guess it was for the GOP since they referred to “Obamacare” and asked if I would vote for Carper if I knew he voted for cap and trade. They asked me about Urkel and I told them he was a fascist-teabagging idiot who believes that anyone who doesn’t agree with him is a Nazi. Guess anon got the same polling call.
I should have really screwed with their minds by telling them I was a libertarian.
@ UI: What’s the ACA?
I understand Jacobson’s been fishing for endorsements for KWS, but nobody will return his calls. Looks like everyone’s caught on to their game, and it’s not transparency and consumers like they’ve been trying to pretend lately. She always was and is and will be all about pleasing the companies she’s charged with regulating.