World Upside Down: wRong Williams Right
Ron Williams wrote in his column Sunday that Beau Biden will be running for Senate in 2010. Given that Williams was correct regarding Castle’s run and a Delaware Liberal writer was wrong regarding Castle, should we not take Biden’s run as a done deal? Can we take Williams comment, “Those close to the family insist that Beau Biden is going to run,” to the bank, if you will?
Tags: Beau Biden, DE-Sen
A friend at the PDD meeting noted how strongly Carney rejected the notion that he (Carney) run against Castle. The friend concluded that Carney was told very clearly (presumably by Daniello) that a preferred Democratic candidate (read BB) would (not might) be running, so John should steer clear.
I am VERY hopeful that this was not the Delaware Way in which the parties ensure that the top guys are not seriously challenged, even if this means that the DE Democratic Party hands over a US Senate seat to the Rs.
I always knew that Carney would not change races to the Senate race. His words at PDD made it sound like he was still a bit bitter about the Senate seat vacancy. I don’t think Carney is afraid to take on Castle. By jumping in as early as he did I think he wanted to force Castle to make a decision on the House race. When Carney jumped in, there was still consideration that Castle might run for re-election to his House seat.
I’m sorry, guys, but you can blame any mess here on your buddy Markell. He HAD to force a primary, even though everyone knew at LEAST a house seat would be up this round. If Carney was gov, now (and there would be every reason he would be,) Jack would be positioned to run for the House… although I personally think he’d have had a good shot at being appointed to Joe’s seat and be running for that as an incumbent.
Now we have to fight for TWO damn seats, and everyone has considerably less money to do it with. Honestly, childish ego is most of what I saw. Ridiculous.
I always knew that Carney would not change races to the Senate race.
Same here.
Brooke,
Sorry, but your comment totally comes off that you are severely pissed off at Markell for not taking a knee to the Delaware Way. In all your criticism of Markell running for Governor, you close with this:
I don’t think the childish ego is on Markell here, but those who insisted the path of righteousness led from the Lt Gov office to the Gov office and voters be damned. Carney, to his credit, doesn’t subscribe to that in that he actually worked to try to get elected.
Brooke, if it was “childish ego” on Markell’ part to run, how was it not “childish ego” on Carney’s part to run for Gov?
*fingers crossed that you don’t give me the answer I think you’ll give me*
Also, Markell would have NEVER been appointed to Joe’s seat. If Minner didn’t appoint Carney, why the heck would she have appointed Markell? With Ted in the seat, and Carney as Gov, we still would have had two open seats. The SAME situation.
That doesn’t make any sense unless you are arguing for the everyone-take-their-turn process that calcifies the Delaware Way.
Really, Brooke? “Childish” ego? Could it be that maybe a job in Congress isn’t the equal of the governorship, and that waiting eight years for the job didn’t interest Markell? Could it be that he cares more about himself and the state than he cares about the party — and who could blame him?
In short, your plan was exactly what the party wanted — and had nothing to offer to make it happen that way. The cliche that sums it up best is “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
I’m new around here, but I kind of gather that “The Delaware Way” is insulting. No one ever asked me to ‘Delaware Way” anything, and my understanding of “the way things are done in Delaware” is probably different that what you’re talking about, and doesn’t come from blogs, because I don’t usually read any.
But my personal opinion is, I’d rather see Jack Markell as a Senator than a governor, because I think the job is a better fit for his interests and skills, and I NEVER understood why that isn’t what his friends told him. It frustrates me. Because MY job is mostly to get as many seats as possible, at all levels, into Democratic hands, make sure our representatives are doing an awesome job, and hold them forever, until the rest of my children are old enough to take over.
And, despite what some people may think, finding good people for all those seats is a big job. I have no idea what went on behind closed doors between all those people, but no one ANYWHERE will tell you a primary fight is a great thing for a party, in purely practical terms. A case might be made that parties benefit from the excitement, may expand their base, things like that, but you have to build an organization and keep them involved, and there are a whole lot of people who had happy yard-signs that I could sure use in meetings now…and not 4 years from now.
And “childish ego” applied to EVERYONE. lol Again, no one asked me. Wonder why? 😀
Again, no one asked me. Wonder why?
Um…let’s start with that your comment came off as quite absolute. You may have imagined a grey area that was up for interpretation, but it should be quite apparent by now that your supposed intent was off the mark.
Because MY job is mostly to get as many seats as possible, at all levels, into Democratic hands…
So, you’re a party operative that is bitching and moaning about Jack Markell on a Liberal blog? Sure, that makes sense.
I’m new around here, but I kind of gather that “The Delaware Way” is insulting.
-1) You are making fast friends. 🙄 Kicking it off with insults usually isn’t in the ‘making friends and allies’ manual.
-2) For someone insulted by the Delaware Way, you sure to hell defended it with your earlier comment with your indignation, intentional or not.
Good luck filling those seats, it’s a hell of an approach your starting with.
Smitty – Brooke was saying that she doesn’t understand the shorthand of “The Delaware Way” that blogs in DE use.
The Delaware Way is what has allowed Mike Castle to go as far as he has without a serious challenge. To kill The Delaware Way, primary challenges will be necessary. For example, if it were not for The Delaware Way we might have been rid of Tom Carper by now.
I guess I misunderstood that Geek, especially in light of the obvious disdain she expressed for Markell for daring to challenge Carney and not just wait-it-out for his rightful place somewhere in Congress. Unless, of course, anon222, Cass, Geezer, and I all misunderstood that as well.
Nah, I take that back. I don’t think we misunderstood the intent there.
Okay, it’s clear to me here that I do NOT understand what this conversation is about.
Any suggestions where I go from here? I don’t even know where I was insulting, and I certainly didn’t intend to be. 🙁
Delaware Way = the state-political-machine decides who has the RIGHT to run for an office and which office that is. It transcends party lines, as well. Once in a while, there is a clash, but seldom. Many political individual-dynasties in this state were built upon a bilateral nod-and-wink. It’s reciprocal as well. Very often a we-take-this-and-you-get-that approach. It has been known to shut-out better-abled people from any opportunity for the right office due to the virtual black-ball any opposition to it brings.
Carney, while most likely would have run for Gov on his own will, had the path paved and lined with gold via the Delaware Way. Markell, who by my own analysis would be a far better Governor than Congressman, utilized his own LEGAL RIGHT to run for Governor. Yes, there is ego involved, because if you are going to run for office, you better damn well believe you have what it takes to do it well. If you want me to vote for you and you don’t have a strong enough personality to tackle the office, I’m not voting for you, period. The DE Way poo-pooed Markell and hard. Markell, who had the perfect attitude to take it on and game plan, also had a huge base of supporters. He was one of the very few to challenge the DE Way and win.
If you are pleading that you accidentally stepped in it with your initial comment, then trust me, you stepped in it all the way up to your knees.
And don’t feel bad about it, Smitty pretty much steps in stuff WAY deeper.
What went on behind closed doors is that Markell agreed to swallow his pride and wait eight years as Lt. Gov., with some high-profile duties on his plate. Ted Blunt, Wilmington’s most impressive empty suit, refused to step aside, so Jack ran for gov. instead.
Yes and Geek is always happy to point it out via blog, text or email; although, his text and email seem to both have their reply options disabled recently.
Oh, FTR, Brooke, Geezer has decent inroads to info. Other commenters here may faint with faux-indignation over that, but I give him more credit with facts than many other commenters. On the opinion side, yeah, well, that’s up to you.
Brooke,
The “Delaware Way” is that everyone waits their turn and that who gets what office is decided behind closed doors by party operatives. Liberal bloggers, in general, do not like this system. We think that primary challenges are good in most cases because it keeps the party from becoming calcified. Elected officials should be accountable to both to the people and that includes people in their own party. I think the gubernatorial primary and the Democratic presidential primary generated a lot of interest in the race, a lot more than if there had been no primary.
I’m certainly sympathetic to arguments that primaries mean candidates spend money running against their own party. However, I can think of several local races that would have benefitted from a primary race. Several promising-looking candidates ended up being terrible campaigners and we didn’t really know this until it was too late.
Kos’s saying at Daily Kos used to be “more and better Democrats” which is now moving to just “better Democrats.” We want officials who are accountable and listen to our needs. Back room deals don’t really insure this.
Okay, well at lease we’ve identified a substantive difference … a different view of Jack’s aptitudes. And I think he’s shaping up to be a fine governor, I just never got the impression that the stuff that really moved him, as a person, was the stuff that tends to fall into the “state” realm, but more likely into the “federal” realm. I’ve never given any thought, at all, to the relative status differences of jobs, and I’d have to take your word for it that there are some. I’m all about ‘happy” and “fit”, which may come from a lifetime of associating with children.
Thank you for the definition of “the Delaware Way.” I appreciate it. Of my own experience, I can’t speak to that, at all. I’m, on the whole, in favor of consensus approaches to problem solving, but I’ve never seen that demonstrated in any Democratic party environment I’ve ever been in…all about voting and majorities, that I’ve seen, but perhaps folks higher up the pecking order (which would be, um, pretty much everybody) are doing deals another way. As I’ve said, I don’t know.
So, just to let you know, and for what it’s worth, no one anywhere ever asked me to vote for someone because it was “his turn”, or to talk to anyone about changing a vote or running or not running, and maybe people figure I’m just a lost cause in that kind of thing.
Being judged a lost cause wouldn’t surprise me at All. I’m pretty infamously using my own drummer. But over the years I’ve known both men a little, and thats what I base things on. I’ve also turned down longtime activists and friends asking for support in favor of virtual strangers, because I thought they were wrong for a job.
For what it’s worth. 🙁
Brooke,
I could be wrong here, but I think the term “The Delaware Way” comes from Celia Cohen’s book “Only In Delaware”. In the book she examines the historic back room deals that have gone on in the tiny first state, both inter- and intra-party mechinations to hold power. Some of it is not so pretty. BTW, Celia is not going to win any popularity contests around here because it is widely suspected that she is a paid shill for the R’s. Having said that, I always read and learn from Delaware Grapevine, Celia’s electronic newscolumn devoted to politics, and I love her book. But I’m a total wonk.
Anyway, The Delaware Way has become a derisive descriptor around here, with the implication that deals are being made and voters are being screwed and candidates can only be counted on to be loyal to themselves and their cadres of syncophants. It’s the sort of thing that results in Vince Merconi serving in a new administration as the Stimulus czar. It’s The Delaware Way. We just rearrange the chairs. Delaware Liberal has always stood against The Delaware Way bacause it represents old-style, smoke-filled-room politics.
More later, don’t despair, you’ll be up to speed in no time and this is fun and an open forum.
By the way, many (including myself) encouraged Jack to run against Castle in 2008 rather than in a primary against Carney for governor.
I believe that Jack had two main reasons to run for governor in 2008–1) he felt that his skill set would be well suited to the challenges the state faces at this time, and 2) he didn’t want to be away from his family (wife, kids) for the time required to serve in the US House. Both are legitimate concerns, and he was certainly the one to make the call. Brook, I share your goal of more and better D’s in the governors’ mansions and in the state and federal houses. However, a prospective candidate certainly deserves the right to say ‘thanks, but no thanks.’
The “Delaware Way” originally referred to a bipartisan framework for solving true problems, and an understanding that neither side would make political footballs out of governing necessities (tax increases, for example). This was why Pete du Pont and Mike Castle made excellent governors despite a Democratic state senate — the party out of power didn’t set up roadblocks (left unsaid was the truth that the Democrats were the ones who would have suffered if they had).
Unfortunately, what happens when debate and, by extension, discussion are discouraged is that a small group gets used to making all the decisions (hence the emergence of the ad hoc “Big Head” committee) and grows to resent it when anyone bucks the system. You gain peace and avoid embarassment at the expense of greater corruption, because everybody OF BOTH PARTIES closes ranks behind anyone in the club who gets in trouble. Which leads eventually to John Atkins.
The foremost promulgator of the Delaware Way as something to be desired and bragged about is Celia Cohen, who first at the News Journal and since on Grapevine has fed this beast with happy tales of how Delaware politicians of both parties are really just one big team working for the good of the state.
“The Delaware Way” is also a convienent whine for clueless wannabee candidates and their supporters. When a CWC complains “they told me to wait my turn” what usually happened is the CWC was told “to eat his veggies” and “do his homework” ie write a campaign plan, raise money, gather volanteers, network through community organizations…
I understand “Thanks but no thanks”. 🙂 Done correctly, public service is a LOT of work.
Rebecca added to the discussion extremely well. Another example of The Delaware Way is that we have a State Auditor who is supposed to investigate fraud, waste, and abuse, but the Wilmington News Journal exposes these shenanigans through investigations, not the State Auditor.
A republican I know told me that the democrats don’t go after Wagner at election time because Wagner doesn’t really go after anybody and he doesn’t upset any of the Big Boys. That is part of The Delaware Way.
I’m running for State Auditor and I intend to take on The Delaware Way, regardless of who likes it or not.
Ken Matlusky, CPA
Democrat for State Auditor
Going to sit on my hands in this election unless the Dem’s deliver a strong Public Option on Health Care effective 2010. No sence voting for folks who can’t deliver.
Hey, Brooke…’stepping in it’ is something we have all done and, in the case of contributors, continue to do on a daily basis!
Besides, who’s to say that we’re not stepping in it now? You know, it IS just possible that you may be right and I and others may be wrong.
It’s why we enjoy arguing so much here. Keep bringin’ it!
Ken, honestly, you just promoting yourself and your campaign on this thread, not blog, but this particular thread of all threads, just made my lunch turn the wrong direction in my esophagus. I certainly wouldn’t disqualify consideration based on it, but a tad bit opportunisitic.
Oh, “A republican I know…” doesn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination, whether it’s a correct conclusion or not.
Hey, Brooke…’stepping in it’ is something we have all done and, in the case of contributors, continue to do on a daily basis!
Hell, some have said I wallow in it.
Dear RSmitty,
Don’t jump to any conclusions. The republican of whom I speak is not a blood relation.
Frankly, in my opinion a little self-promotion for a first-time statewide candidate and unknown is acceptable, especially a candidate such as myself who would ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING if I had the honor of being State Auditor. God bless.
Sincerely,
Ken Matlusky
Ken,
Thanks for responding. Good stuff.
No hard feelings intended, btw, as I acknowledge I can be a bit hard-edged in reaction. That now makes you and Brooke to experience that in a single thread! 😛
My point was given that I don’t know you and you don’t know me, to read your comment in a thread that took a turn like this one did, it came off to me more as opportunisitc grandstanding than it did anything remotely constructive as far as positive promotion. For an introduction to you, at least from my point of view, it had a certain ick-factor to it. Let me re-emphasize, though, it wouldn’t be a deal-breaker, just not a great start.
On the other part, that was meant to be an advisory that when you make that disclaimer, the first thing that popped to mind was exactly what I had replied. It may be unfair to dog you with that, because I am absolutely believe what you said (not a blood relation), but again, from someone at my vantage point (who really doesn’t know you aside from comments on this blog), the obvious connection is the first suspicion. Just something to keep in mind, not an indictment of any kind whatsoever.
Good Luck.
I agree a little judicious self promotion on this site can be a good thing, especially when it is filling a vacuum.
The childish ego was Ted Blunt’s. Markell was ready to drop to LG, but Blunt vainly pursued running for lieutenant governor, an office for which he had minimal qualification and no support. For background:
http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/5-07blunt.asp