Tomorrow is election day in Virginia, New York City, and New Jersey. In New York City, Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio will be elected mayor in the largest landslide in several generations. Likewise, in New Jersey, Governor Christie will be reelected Governor by wide if not landslide margins. And in Virginia, we have a relatively competitive Governor’s race, but the Republican candidate has not led a poll in two months. Will the results tomorrow be a harbinger for 2014 and beyond? Ed Kilgore at the Washington Monthly argues that it might be, depending on the results:
What I’ll be most interested when the votes are in next Tuesday are turnout patterns (normally an off-year election like Virginia’s is even more skewed towards pro-Republican older white voter than a midterm) and whether McAuliffe did unusually well in demographic groups that went Republican in 2009, 2010 and 2012. If the Republican hold on old white folks is fading, that’s good news for Democrats in 2014 even in districts labeled solidly Republican due to their partisan character in 2008 and 2012.
Truth is, after 2010 confirmed the heavy shift to the GOP of the groups most likely to turn out in mid-terms and off-year elections, I figured it would be a good long while before a Democrat would win the governorship in a “purple” state with off-year elections like Virginia. There’s got to be a non-trivial reason for McAuliffe’s apparently easy win, and while it may perhaps be personal to Cuccinelli, there’s no reason to conclude that without post-election evidence.
First Read: “Remember when Hillary Clinton said she was looking forward to some rest after her whirlwind travel as secretary of state? Well, that rest has certainly ended… just look at all the cities where Clinton has either delivered speeches or attended fundraisers in the past 10 days – Buffalo, NY, Washington DC area, Minneapolis, New York City, Chicago, Beverly Hills, CA, and Hamiliton, NY. And today, Clinton will speak in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. Just askin’, but does any other potential 2016 candidate have a busier schedule than Clinton.”
Rand Paul has a Joe Biden problem. Last week, he was busted by Rachel Maddow for plagiarizing a Wikipedia entry for the movie Gattaca, then busted by BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski both for plagiarizing a Wikipedia entry for the movie Stand and Deliver and for plagiarizing a Heritage Foundation study in his book Government Bullies. The man is a serial plagiarizer.
Instead of being concrite and apologetic, Paul on Sunday threatened to murder any one who dared question or criticize him.
Seriously.
“I take it as an insult, and I will not lie down and say people can call me dishonest, misleading or misrepresenting,” he said, dismissing his critics as “hacks and haters.” Presumably in jest, Mr. Paul added: “If dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, it’d be a duel challenge.”
I do not give Mr. Paul the benefit of the doubt, so I am not going to presume he was kidding. I am going to presume that Mr. Paul would challenge Mr. Kaczynski and Ms. Maddow to a duel, if such were legal, where he would attempt to shoot both of them before they shot him.
That is his response to being caught in the act.
He wants to murder them.