Starkey’s thin reporting includes a few quotes
If Jonathan Starkey’s candidate forum report from the Siegel Jewish Community Center in Talleyville was any thinner it could be measured in microns.
Here are the reported facts:
– Carper, Markell, Cragg, Pires, Kovach, Mobley, Wade and some other people who didn’t say anything quotable took part in a “mostly friendly event” hosted by the Jewish Federation of Delaware at the Siegel Jewish Community Center in Talleyville.
– Cragg challeneged Markell on Fisker and schools. Cragg also doesn’t believe in science. “I’m a little bit more of a skeptic on climate change,” Cragg said. “The weather will be different next year and it will be different over the next 100 years.”
– Markell defended his record.
– Alex Pires, called Delaware “the most corrupt state in the union,” accused Carper of accepting campaign contributions from banks and supporting them with his votes in Washington and said that Carper was against caps on swipe-fees charged to merchants and tightening trading rules at banks.
– Alex Pires said “I think he (Carper) is the most corrupt politician in the history of the state,”
– Kevin Wade, repeated some debunked Fox News talking points about President Obama avoiding meetings with Israeli leadership but seeking meetings with Muslim leaders in Egypt.
– Carper said “There are plenty of bomb throwers in Washington these days, I don’t think we need any more of them. We need bridge builders instead. That’s what I do.”
– Tom Kovach, said he would not favor the full repeal of President Barack Obama’s health care law but added, that additional reforms are needed to drive down cost.
– Ben Mobley’s remarks about lowering health insurance rates and increasing competition in the health insurance market were well-received. He also criticized Stewart’s approval of the Highmark/ Blue Cross deal.
– Also present (but apparently not speaking) were Lt. Gov Matt Denn, John Carney, Sher Valenzuela,Andrew Groff, and Karen Weldin Stewart.
Pires must be ramping up. There’s a pro-term limits sticker on TNJ today that doesn’t mention Carper by name and has a pic of Pires without the baseball cap and the hippie hair not visible. Also saw a billboard along Rt 1.
I was struck by how much Kovach sounds like Mike Castle.
– “Yes, but also no.”
– “I fully agree with “X” except for the parts I that I strongly disagree with.”
What a joke. Carney should clobber this guy.
I think you underestimate how much middle and lower slower DE dislike Carney.
What’s to like or dislike? I’m sure he’s checked in on his fire halls, modern maturity centers, and veterans events.
What can a wishy-washy challenger like Kovach challenge him on? Not being beige enough?
Have to go with jason on this one (can’t believe I’m typing this): if you look at Carney’s and Kovach’s positions on their web pages, the Kovach message is, “I’m not John Carney but I pretty much support everything he does, so vote for me to get fresh leadership.”
Pires problem is that Tom Carper is vulnerable to critique for not supporting Democratic effort hiding behind *bi-partisanship*. Those arguments aren’t available to Pires since he decided to go Independent.
“I think you underestimate how much middle and lower slower DE dislike Carney.”
I think you fail to understand how little that matters.
I agree with Cassandra. Carper needs to be challenged on the fact that he is proud to be building bridges to (and happy to be validating) crazy people.
Pires doesn’t do that.
Yes, Pires brings the crazy himself.
If Pires were already in the Senate, he would be one of he people to whom Carper would be building bridges.
The only question about the Senate race is whether Pires will get more votes than Wade, which I highly doubt. The floor for Republicans is the 29% that Jan Ting got, but that deserves an asterisk because downstaters just wouldn’t vote for a non-Anglo. So Wade gets 30 automatically. Carper would normally get the 40% floor any Democrat gets. So unless Pires changes the minds of tens of thousands of Democrats, only 30% of the votes are even available for Pires.
He might be a smart guy, but I can’t see where he’s thought this out very well.
Starkey is bummed out because his boy Judge Mitch lost.
Reviewing some of Starkey’s past work, I’m surprised he didn’t love on Mr. Cragg a little harder.
Carpet agreed to 10 debates with Wade: http://www.wgmd.com/?p=69498
No mention of Pires. I suspect he won’t be involved.
Jason: I know Starkey loves Lavelle, but that doesn’t mean he’s a Republican. Reporters love Lavelle because they know what he’s going to say all the time.
Sam Lathem is a scumbag.
Jason–Is Carney any less beige or wishy-washy than Kovach? Carney will win, but only because he’s a D in a D state. He’s accomplished exactly nothing. What does he stand for?
I’m not arguing with you. Carney, like all Delaware Dems, works too hard to prove to Republicans that he is a safe, sober tax hater.
I’ll never understand why none of our statewide Dems stakes out a brand position as a Democrat.
Jason,
It’s because they live here but they don’t represent us.
One is D-Pharma, another is D-Credit Cards, and the third is D-Big Businesses Incorporated Here.
And the labels are pretty much interchangeable.
They pay lip service to the people while relying on the special interests to fund their next campaign.