Winners and Losers [2010]
WINNER: Governor Jack Markell. The only state in the nation that got more Democratic last night was Delaware. Markell’s Delaware Democratic Party picked up 2 seats in the State House to return to their supermajority status. And he helped Chris Coons, Chip Flowers and John Carney win their races. With the supermajority back, Markell has the ability to enact his agenda to keep this state on the road to recovery. I am going to write a column, if someone doesn’t beat me to it, comparing where Governor Markell went right and where President Obama went wrong. Both were faced with comparable circumstances. Horrible economy. Epic job losses. Exploding budget deficits and falling revenues, which was worse for Markell since he is required by law to balance the budget. Markell, like Obama, was armed with huge majorities of Democrats in both Houses to enact his agenda. And both of their agendas were largely passed successfully. Yet Markell gained seats last night. Obama lost them. It occurs to me that Jack’s communications team is really good at what they do, and was able to get out the Governor’s message explaining his agenda much better than the White House was. Regardless, Governor Markell has never had more political capital. He has a bright future in national politics if he wants one. To say that his prospects for reelection are very good is to be making an understatement. The only danger is, he has to continue to perform. He has no excuses, and no obstacles.
Photo courtesy of the News Journal.
LOSER: Charlie Copeland. Wow. Where do I start on the series of epic fails that are the responsiblility of Charlie Copeland. Since Charlie left his safe Senate seat (which is now in Democratic hands) to make a quixotic run for Lt. Governor, which he lost horribly to Matt Denn, Charlie Copeland has had an almost O’Donnell-esque need to be seen constantly as the leader of Delaware Republicans. To be seen as a Governor-in-Waiting to Jack Markell. He has invested a lot of money and time and effort into doing so. He incomprehensibly blogs at Resolute Determination, which will be a goldmine of pronouncements in the coming 2012 campaign. He sets up the Casear Rodney Institute as his, or rather, the GOP’s, own paid-for think tank to produce the figures and talking points needed to oppose the Markell Administration. He encouraged and embraced the Delaware teabagger movement in New Castle County, in a transparent effort to jump on and then incorporate the movement into his own. But much like the story of the scorpion and the fox, the teabaggers he embraced defeated fellow establishmentarian Mike Castle. And finally, he was apparently behind funding a flood of anonymous negative mailers against Democratic candidates in the General Assembly. All this time, effort and money invested by Charlie Copeland. And his opponent, Jack Markell, is more stronger than ever before. All this time, effort and money invested by Charlie Copeland, and the Democrats gain two seats in the Assembly. All this time, effort and money invested by Charlie Copeland, and the only statewide Republican left is Tom Wagner. Charlie Copeland brings new meaning to the Reverse Midas Touch.
WINNER: John Carney. He found his voice in the final weeks of the campaign, and finally stepped out from Minner’s long shadow, which has dogged him for at least three years. Coon’s coat-tails helped, but Carney won this on his own. May he have a long career serving Delaware in Congress.
LOSER: Beau Biden. Yeah, yeah, he won reelection yesterday with something like a kajillion percent over some guy. Yeah yeah, he has the most important prosecution in the state since the Capano trial coming up, which will put Biden front and center in the public domain. But, he could have been Senator!!!! If he had run this year, he would have undoubtedly won against O’Donnell. But, something tells me Biden actually considers himself a winner in this respect, so….
WINNER: Beau Biden. He won reelection by a kajillion percent, he will be front and center in the most important prosecution in the state since the Capano trial, he avoided losing this year to Castle (which would have happened if Castle had not lost himself) and, if rumors are true, Beau Biden may indeed find himself in the Senate sooner than we all think, with a much more established pedigree than he would have had had he won this year as a first term AG and the VP’s son.
LOSER: Christine O’Donnell. For obvious reasons. She lost. In an unmistakable landslide. I wonder what it is like to have 182,000 people sceam in one voice “YOU SUCK” and know they are talking about you. She also singlehandedly destroyed the Delaware Republican Party, a once proud institution. And by all appearances and expectations, she will not stay to help rebuild what she destroyed, for she will most likely go the Palin route and cash in at Fox News. Does that mean we will never see her witch hat again in Delaware? No. Something tells me she will be back for her fourth consecutive ass whopping in 2012. Which makes Rob Tornoe a …..
WINNER: Rob Tornoe. Being a political cartoonist in Delaware must suck beyond all comprehension. We usually elect boring and uninteresting politicians. And that pesky “Delaware Way” does not allow for the kind of cartoonish material one needs to lampoon in a political cartoon. Until this year. Christine O’Donnell was a godsend to Tornoe and other political cartoonists in the state as Sarah Palin was to the national counterparts. And Christine, despite my telling her to get lost last night, will likely be back in 2012 for Rob’s, and our, enjoyment.
LOSER: David Anderson and the Delaware 9-12 Patriots. You got your hands on the wheel finally, driving the car where you wanted it to go. And apparently you wanted to drive off the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Because you, and the car, are sinking in the river now. Some people are not allowed to drive, due to physcial or mental limitations. And others are not allowed to drive because when they do, they kill things. Like the Republican Party.
WINNER: Best Buy. The retail store will apparently get their employees back for the Christmas Rush.
WINNER: Chris Coons. For once, a gracious, hard working, honest, knowledgeable, intelligent and dedicated public servant defeated an ignorant and pathologically dishonest fear-monger. It doesn’t always happen that way. More times than not, lies, hate and fear win. I, and I think many of my fellow Delawareans, are proud to have him as our new Senator (almost immediately, I think he will be sworn in this week). He is also a winner for proving that fortune favors the bold. Coons got in this race as an underdog, financially and in the polls. No one expected him to beat Castle. Some of us where just happy that finally we had a credible challenger to Castle. We knew Coons would give it his all, but he would probably lose in a Republican year. He took the risk, and is now our Senator.
LOSER: New Castle County residents Paul Clark and his developer friends now run the county. Time to find a replacement, stat.
WINNER: Pete Schwartzkopf Despite having an estimated $80,000 in negative, anonymous ads spent against him, he wins re-election and now has a super-majority in the House.
LOSER: Sussex County Sheriff Eric Swanson. Ran a lazy, non-existent campaign and didn’t take his opponent seriously until 2 weeks before the election. And he lost (along with the other Democratic row office holders).
WINNER: Russ Melrath Russ lost last night in his race to topple George Cole in the 4th District of the County Council. Still, he was chosen by the party to run this race in early September. With no name recognition, a shoe string budget, and very little time to campaign, Melrath got the race off the ground and campaigned like crazy, garnering 40% of the vote in Sussex County in a Republican year.
LOSER: Sussex County Councilwoman Joan Deaver. She is left as the only countywide Democrat in Sussex County after the GOP sweep of the Row offices and the two other county council seats. She will probably be redistricted out of her seat next year.
The campaign to defeat Paul Clark needs to start immediately.
Wonder if we could get Joan Deaver to move up here and run? 😉
And yet Charlie will probably remain (with non-Speaker Lavelle) the News Journal’s go-to-quote for Republicans.
Great post, but you missed one thing.
You missed “Winner: Delaware”
Good for us. 🙂
It was an honor to work for Russ Melrath. He was all over the place introducing himself to voters. A very honorable man. And he made George Cole spend money and actually have to campaign.
“Wonder if we could get Joan Deaver to move up here and run?”
I voted for her, and she’s a good balance to the ole’ boy bullshyte politics down here. But, if it would help improve New Castle County in any way, I’d be willing to share,
A sad loss yesterday was John Brady. My hope is that he runs again for Insurance Commissioner as a Democrat.
Winner: Jim Westhoff. He ran a progressive campaign in a conservative district. He never strayed from his issues to please his audience and he never went negative against his opponent.
Losers: The residents of the 35th District. By re-electing Dave Wilson instead of choosing Westhoff, you get what you deserve – a lazy, do-nothing legislator who votes against schools and roads and bitches that there’s no one from Sussex County on the JFC, but then begs off serving on it as he “doesn’t have the time.”
Winner: The people of the 14th District. They thumbed their noses at St. Bodie Girl, the Hudson Family and Rich Collins & the Positive Growth Alliance and their anonymous, nasty campaign against Pete Schwartzkopf. Bodie, do us all a favor and keep your ass and your white high heels in Georgetown.
The Battle Against Paul Clark began today. I’m on board.
“A sad loss yesterday was John Brady. My hope is that he runs again for Insurance Commissioner as a Democrat.”
Indeed it was a sad loss. I’m hoping he runs for something more substantial than Insurance Commissioner John is a good man.
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Miscreant, sad but not final. John lost by the thinist margin of the row office Dems, 700 votes. He actually out polled Pete in the 14th, also won the 41st,36th and 37th.the 35th with the 2 Wilson’s Sam and Dave not the musical group 🙂 did him in. He had a difficult year medically and personally and had to contend with a primary foisted on him by that POS alleged Democrat leader, Tim Willard. Willard then proceeded to slyly support Daily a developer who means $$$ to a disloyal prick like Willard.
Johhn handled the result with class and I think you can count on a swift rebound.
Willard however needs to be called out. He was Joun Carney’s Sussex guy and Carney should NOT reward him based on his behavior towards a fellow Dem, That is all.
BTW Joan Deaver Represents a district NOT countywide. She is also very likely to be Gerrymandered into G Cole’s district. meanig she will be forced out of office without benefit of an election.
Oh yeah, she lives about 10 feet from the line, she’s done for. But the demographics on the north side of her home will leave room for a different anti-development Dem. it’s just that the election might be close.
Loser: moderates/centrists (F*CK YOU Christine O’Donnell)
Winner: Me…because I at least still get a beer at the expense of Liberalgeek.
What was the bet on? And how, given the results last night, did LiberalGeek lose?
Ran into Pete Schwartzkopf after voting and told him I appreciated his taking the high road with his campaign. I received so much fear-inducing BS in my mail box trashing Pete and others, but nothing positive about any other candidate or their platform.
Pete remained focused on accomplishments and testimony of real life constituents and that, to my mind, made all the difference.
He was happy that I noticed and grateful for the comment.
DD – It was like laying chips on the “Insurance” bar at a blackjack table. It’s a sympathy beer among friends. Since Walker won, he buys me the beer. If Marino won, I would have bought him the beer. We laid this one down at some point during our fifty thousand phone texts the day/night before, when we were just brutalizing each other. Turns out he was right, but I get the beer. Now, who really won? Don’t answer that.
Can’t argue with that list, but one quibble. Who is to say that if Biden was the Dem – Castle doesn’t hold off O’Crazyddodle? Beau was a clear winner.
Winner: Rhode Island. Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee was elected governor, running as an Independent. Chafee was a reliable progressive voice in the Senate.
‘With his family at his side, a jubilant Chafee told a cheering throng that: “Ultimately, what this election was about was honesty, the honesty to say how we are going to pay for a civil society and a public education system, and a civil society means a fair safety net, humane prisons, clean parks, good roads and bridges, swift and fair judicial proceedings and yes, no seven-hour waits at the DMV.” ‘
Mark Kleiman:
http://www.samefacts.com/2010/11/uncategorized/ri-to-caprio-shove-it/
it was an honor to work on and run pete’s campaign… the 80K spent against us clearly proves the negative attacke doesn’t work in the 14th… charlie copeland, stay out of sussex.
Just received a call saying that the anonymous negative House mailers were all paid for by the House Republicans’ PAC.
You boys are right, Copeland is toast. He jumped on for Christine and brought Pete duPont with him so he could claim the Tea Party for himself.
Too bad Charlie backed Castle and only joined the O’Donnell race when he could get something out of it.
Sorry Charlie, you lose.
It’s a statewide behind the scenes ponzi scheme to take Blue Delaware to RED Tea Party Nation. The extremists in the New Republican Party, ala O’donnell got busy Tuesday morning. Vengenance is mine. Christine O’Donnell.
Pete and Charlie lost when they headlined the TeaBagz rally at the Riverfront. Christine was just the logical outcome of that process. How could they not support someone who was campaigning on everything they had demanded at that rally?
Pete and Charlie – standing strong against the estate tax.
Checked out the DOE Finance Reports website and there’s no filing for the GOP House PAC30-day General Election report, at least not on line. That would have covered the time when they were making all their mischief. Maybe? Dunno! But it looks suspicious to me.
If Charlie runs in the Special Election for NCC Council President we need to kick his butt. Why would he? Kind of a lower-class sorta job for a DuPont. They tend to prefer statewide, classy jobs like Gov. or U.S. Senator. I don’t see Charlie rolling around with the Dems on Council. He tried that in the State Senate and it wasn’t to his taste. He fancies himself more an “executive” type than a legislative type.