Rethugs are virtually wetting themselves (except for the octogenarian Vicmead Hunt denizens, who really ARE wetting themselves) over the possible entrance of Michele Rollins into Delaware’s US House race.
Michele Rollins earned her entree into Greenville gigagazilionaire circles the old-fashioned way: She married into it. A dewy-eyed 1963 beauty queen (the dew formed in the shape of dollar signs) marrying a buzzard-like arrogant plutocrat in a match made in accountancy heaven. Together, they engaged in a lifelong journey (his was far shorter as he was far older) of squeezing every ill-gotten penny they could out of the landscape. Hence, the ‘Rollins Building’, aka, “The Giant Phallic Symbol”, on Route 202 that was deliberately built in violation of carefully-negotiated deed restrictions, and the ‘Rollins Mausoleum’ at the old Brandywine Raceway site that bears no resemblance to the verdant-green design that Old Man Rollins put out there for public discussion. Unless ‘verdant-green’ and ‘moonscape’ are synonymous.
Her entry into the race would certainly warrant shining a light onto the avaricious couple’s business history.
Like Rethug chair Tom Ross, I, too, am excited about the heiress’s entry into the race. Castle/Rollins is indeed the Republican Dream Team…the Republican Dream Team circa 1962. Everyone in Greenville is excited precisely because everyone in Greenville is precisely who (whom?) the Dynastic Duo would purport to represent. In other words, the Entitled are the only ones entitled to entitlements, just like the old days. This is the duPonts, Lamottes, Copelands, Stablers redux. Time to get the seersucker (emphasis on ‘sucker’) out of storage.
However, contrary to the PT Barnum imprecation that ‘There is a (seer)sucker born every minute’, this is quite a finite, if oligarchic, segment of the electorate. And their rapacious greed is their one defining factor. Granted, Rollins can self-finance, the real reason the Rethugs are urging her to get in. But, and pay attention, Democrats, her greatest strength is also her greatest weakness. I’ll even write the paragraph that should appear in the Democratic Party press release:
“Michele Rollins and Mike Castle represent Delaware’s wealthiest citizens, and have devoted their careers to amassing and protecting that wealth, respectively. As such, they are ideally suited to head the Republican ticket. Chris Coons and John Carney will represent those who truly need representation. In other words, they run to help those who have played by the rules and who, through no fault of their own, find themselves and their families struggling to make ends meet. These are people who could never afford a stay at that fancy Rollins Jamaican spa, but people just looking to keep food on the table for their family.”
Got it? Turn the perceived advantage for Rollins into a disadvantage. Run as true populists against those representing the entrenched big money interests.
This becomes a race only if Democrats let it become a race. And, by pairing Castle with Ms. Moneybags, I think the Rethugs have made Castle even more vulnerable. It’s easy to run against them as a team only concerned about Delaware’s To the Manor Born. Yes, it would require Coons and Carney to run as real Democrats, another plus. And (my fondest wish), the term ‘The Dynastic Duo’ makes it into the Delaware political lexicon.