Comment Rescue: On Beating Castle…Someday.
Cassandra writes…
I have to agree with Rothenberg too — neither of the Dem candidates seem like much more than vanity candidates at this point. I do respect the both of them for their commitment and their effort, but Castle just never seemed to be the real target for either campaign. And just because I am thinking alot about the Delaware blogosphere and grassroots, neither made much of an effort (or maybe impact is the right word) to try to spark a real crashing the gates kind of effort. Which, if you are light on resources against an incumbent, seems to be the path that gets you anywhere near winning.
And as for an impact on Castle’s viability — we (bloggers and progressive Dems) probably need to step up on this. Mike Castle is demonstrably not a moderate, but he gets a pass from the media since that is the path of least resistance. Crafting and sending out an alternate narrative is likely our job.
Speaking as someone who has been trying to change the press narrative on Castle for a few years now my response is a Mike Castle-esque “yes and no.”
An enterprising candidate would be a godsend.
Even if they were underfunded, by called Mike Castle out on EACH BUSH LOVING VOTE (and make no mistake, there have been plenty this cycle) we’d be able to amplify that and the tradition media would be complled to notice. Mascitti could probably speak to this, but when bloggers say something it is not news – but when a candidate does, they need to at least pretend to cover it.
“Representative Jason”
Has a nice ring to it. Problem is, if he got elected, as a US Representative he could just have geek and DV whacked (without using a gun) and would win hottest blogger by default.
I disagree with you that Castle is not a moderate. Castle is not a liberal, that is what bugs you.
A liberal who chaired Bush’s campaign TWICE and voted on Iraq with Bush 95% of the time.
Okay.
An enterprising candidate to help promote would certainly be the easiest way to the task. But what I was thinking of was more of a Mike Castle Watch — responses to not just his political activities, but also to those who would invoke him as a moderate. For example, I heard Castle on Radio Times early in the year talking about political moderation with some NJ Dem (Rush Holt, maybe?). Some of us should have been trying to call in to that show to challenge that moderation — politely, but clearly — to ask him how he could possibly be a moderate when he supports the BushCo agenda fairly routinely? LTE not just here, but to the national publications that also use Castle as a source for “moderate” views. Opinion pieces for print and online publication that factually call out his moderation but also critique the whole press corps view of moderation (as someone who will sometime not be in lockstep with his party).
IOW, more workin’ the refs.
I did not mean that comment as a critique of you or your effort, just to call for upping the ante.
I didn’t take it that way. (I hope I didn’t sound touchy.)
Your points are excellent. The Mike Castle Moderate “brand” seems too durable to be effected by point out mere facts.
It would take an ongoing type watch-dog type effort like the one you describe.
aren’t there 3 dem candidates?
Opposing Mike Castle is the third rail of Delaware politics. What is the deal?
I will not have to hold my nose too tightly this November. Mike Castle has disappointed me on more than one of his votes. Yet any Democrat replacement that has been offered would be a disaster.
We have an underfunded airhead who seems to be into ‘new age’ energy as one potential opponent. At least Senator Carper is not part of the neo-luddite opponents of nuclear energy (that could well be the key to practical hydrogenation that could provide abundent liquid hydrocarbon fuel).
Representative Castle did not pander to the terrorist huggers of the ACLU on the FISA reauthorization. He gets at least one cheer for that and Senator Carper also cast a responsible vote.
It seems to me that cassandra sort of tangentially hits a point that has interested me for some time (and that Al Mascitti also sideswiped over at DWA).
First, what is the proper use of the blogosphere in statewide politics. Dean, Ron Paul, Obama, and even Hillary made successful use of the blogs, primarily to sign up supporters and raise funds on a nationwide scale. But when you shrink the scale to DE I don’t think there are actually enough people on the blogosphere for them to operate that way.
Example: there were about seventy or eighty people involved in the Ron Paul meet-ups. Once that fad passed, so did they. They weren’t converts to the blogs, they were people sucked in by a particular candidate/cause, who gave money and stuck around while it was novel. Within the state I don’t think–even on the liberal Democrat side, where the blogs arguably have the most effect anywhere in the spectrum–we’ve reached the point where bloggers can be effective fundraisers.
Which brings me to Al’s point that he raised about Mike Protack, but which applies to the Dems (“vanity candidates”) trying to unseat Castle. Al noted that there is a difference between “running for office” and (here I’m paraphrasing “Doing what’s necessary to win an office.”
Like it or not, what’s necessary to win an office like US representative is big bucks. We’re talking bare minimum in the .75 million range to run even a minimally credible campaign, and the example of Markell, Carney, and Lee suggests we’re really talking 1.5 million as the table stakes.
You don’t get that kind of dough without spending at least two years doing the work behind the scenes to raise it–not in a pond as small as Delaware.
And the blogosphere here will be a commenting media and not a real player in politics until it can figure out a way to facilitate candidates raising those kinds of dollars.
Not sure what the answer is (and since I’m not a liberal Democrat this is sort of a disinterested process exercise), so take this all for what it’s worth–which may be nothing.
He can be beat. Jason it is your job to figure out how to get someone the money to do it.
The blogosphere can whip up interest. Interested parties can then chip in, expecting favors.
That is the problem. For bloggers prefer their candidates unencumbered….
I believe that the issue today, after looking over everyone’s archives, is that Bluewater Wind sucked all the oxygen out of the room, and little interest was whipped up for either candidate….
Had that been done, and fundraisers held, their pots would be higher at this point…..
At least until the primary is over, blogs should focus on Mike’s voting record, and how ineffective he has been for Delaware.
There will always be a scattering of Art Downs, but that is ok.
K: I think it’s more than a smattering. Jason has done a good job of thumping the “Castle = Bush” tub for a couple of years now, and it has helped erode some of Castle’s automatic support. Unfortunately for Democrats, Matt Denn wouldn’t take the bait.
Taking the longer view, though, this looks like a Democratic seat waiting to be picked up whenever Castle decides to retire, because the Republicans have nobody in the pipeline. The key to restocking the farm system is getting people elected to office, any office, so their names hit the newspaper with some regularity.
The only place this happens these days is Sussex County, where the party is buoyed by a combination of rapacious development interests and loonjob social conservatives. Good luck winning statewide office from that base.
The national GOP might win back a house of Congress before the state GOP controls a chamber of the General Assembly again.
I did not mean that comment as a critique of you or your effort, just to call for upping the ante
*
Please, outside of jihad Jason, we do need to challenge the false Castle-asModerate-meme. This is the year, no matter who wins the DEM primary (of which three people make up the ballot…)… , that the DEM who stands against Mike Castle in mid-September will benefit greatly from our efforts herein.
Let’s go at it folks. Let’s leave the primary to its ends and go for the throat of the general. I speak in tongues? Mebbe. I. Know. Of. What. I. Speak :- )
To be clear, Jason has been the consistent voice of anti-Castle clarity.
We owe him a great deal. We all need to do more to actively challenge him in radio, press or otherwise. He is trying to hide is voting record with the platitudes of grains of sand and some beach grass…not much more.
Unfortunately, you’re going to be going up against reality. Voting records in Congress don’t do much to accurately reflect a politician’s place on the political spectrum, because not every issue gets voted on. Castle established his brand over 30 years. You’re not going to undo it in a single election cycle, unless you have at least $1 M to devote to buying air time to drum the message home.
If you think Castle is viewed as reliably conservative by Republicans, please go back to David’s comment at #2. This is how he’s viewed by doctrinaire conservatives, of which Delaware has relatively few. Barring another health issue, he will win re-election by a wide margin.
Example: there were about seventy or eighty people involved in the Ron Paul meet-ups. Once that fad passed, so did they. They weren’t converts to the blogs, they were people sucked in by a particular candidate/cause, who gave money and stuck around while it was novel
I wish I knew this. I would have tried to make a meetup to share our Deaniac story and encourage the Paul supporters to stick with it and “crash” the DE GOP.
Good thread though. I have a lot to think about before I comment on the other comments.
Maybe some people should be asking themselves “whats going on in the democrat party? Are they waiting for one of the “chosen” to step forward, are they willing to sit with another 2years of McCastle? The answer is a flat out, YES!
Politics remains the art of the possible and it takes a major effort to dump an incumbent.
Last year I spoke with Mike Castle and noted that his friend Wayne Gilchrest would be going down.
Gilchrest ran some nasty and intellectually dishonest ads that initially seemed to help him but the truth came out.
I have tried to keep in contact with elected officials and exchange views with them in a civil manner.
How many follow this?
One of the least effective members of the House from Maryland was Clarence Long. His strong suit was constituent service in matters that had nothing to with the Federal Government. Duirng one chat, he admitted to voting for bad legislation because ‘his arms were twisted’.
The Democrats did not think much of him but he was a member of their party. Each election some GOP blueblood would get about 43% of the vote and vanish after election day. Finally, a crusty female reporter whose beat was the waterfront took him on. Her issue was the dredging of the Baltimore channel. The Congressman fought it on environmental grounds. The woman tried again and came closer. The third time was a charm and the channel got dredged. The Port of Baltimore was saved and the spoil was used to expand a recreational area.
This pleased the (then) mayor of Baltimore and when he became Governor, the Congressional districts were to be revised. He chose to save the Republican seat and throw an incumbent Democrat to the wolves.
Perhaps Mike may get a primary challenge in 2010.