The first race of the season is the race to find great candidates.
Michael Finnegan of the Los Angeles Times takes a look at the current environment for Republicans.
President Bush’s unpopularity and a string of political setbacks have created a toxic climate for the Republican Party, making it harder to raise money and recruit candidates for its drive to retake control of Congress.
Some of the GOP’s top choices to run for the House next year have declined, citing what Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) called a “poisonous” environment. And Republicans’ fundraising edge, an important advantage over the last five years, has dwindled.
What does this mean for us here in Delaware? Well…Delaware’s Dean of political bloggers, Celia Cohen, has udpated her “early Line” feature and there seems to be a poverty of Republican candidates for offices great and small. That is good. But better would be a top tier challenger to Michael “I♥ Bush” Castle.
With the toxic atmosphere for “R’s” created by Bush and the horrible job Castle has been doing, we should have a Jack Markell, or a Chris Coons representing us in Congress. Markell would make a great governor, but he would also trounce Castle in no uncertain terms. Markell needs to start thinking about the fact that the State may need him – but the country needs him a litttle more right now.
Castle♥Bush
Castle♥Bush
Improved:
Castle♥Bush
Castle♥Bush
This ought to come out red when posted by an admin. Also you can change the point size.
This ought to show the code:
Castle<span style=”font-size:24pt;color:red;”>♥</span>Bush
Thanks.
I wonder why Celia failed to mention Castle’s primary challenger?
Simple. If she never mentions a primary challenger, than there is no primary challenger. She views herself as less a report than a creator of political reality.
After sealing the deal with Christine, is Castle campaigning, or just testing the waters? He is turning up all over the place and is getting plenty of free coverage from his house newsletter:
speaking before the DSEA and inexplicably showing up at Delaware Park for Barbaro’s birthday party:
Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., drew loud applause when he said the federal Horse Slaughter Act has passed the House and is now before the Senate.
“I don’t want to pick on my colleagues in the Senate, but we all have to continue to work on the passage of that bill,” Castle said.
Castle bears responsibility for the stupid and bloody war, and he’s protecting freaking HORSES??? Mike, if you want to hear cheering, try calling a meeting of National Guard families down at the armory and announce you are voting to end reserve deployments ASAP.
Castle is cranking up his tried-and-true campaign strategy of planting feel-good articles in the News Journal. And the NJ crack reporters and editorial staff can be trusted not to dig too deeply into Castle’s stories, or to compare his warm-mush quotes with his actual voting record. That is how Castle has maintained his undeserved reputation as a moderate.
Castle strictly controls his message as printed in the News Journal. The more interesting news and quotes from Castle are in the national press and out-of-town papers. Mike Castle has always counted on outside press not being readily available to Delawareans – until now.
Castle has not bargained on blogs watching his every move. If Castle is testing the waters, let’s make them HOT.
Apparently Castle does figure to play a significant role in the next Iraq War Bill. From his previous votes I take it that he doesn’t favor a pullout date, but he also doesn’t favor the administration’s current strategy. So it should be interesting to see what exactly he will be pushing for in this next bill.
http://www.buffalonews.com/260/story/63987.html
That RNC-planted article in which Castle is quoted drives me crazy. The headline is “Democrats turn to GOP on new Iraq bill” but doesn’t describe anything of the sort.
anon,
“That RNC-planted article in which Castle is quoted drives me crazy”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA