2014: The Year for Primaries in Delaware [Updated with Townsend Statement]

2014: The Year for Primaries in Delaware [Updated with Townsend Statement]

The chart is starting to fill in. But a lot of candidate recruiting remains, especially on the Republican side. One trend is clear: 2014 will feature a lot of primaries. Which makes some sense to a certain extent. Delaware is in many ways a one party state now. Some voters and some candidates recognize that and join the dominant majority party (the Democrats) and then the Democratic Primary is now the only place where there is a competitive election. Perhaps that is why we already have a primary for the 18th Senate District between Gary Wolfe and Patrick Emory. Other primaries result from the actions and performance of the incumbent in office. These kind of primaries take three forms. First, you can have an organic, grass roots affair with a progressive newcomer challenging an entrenched establishment figure. That was certainly the case with Senator Tony Deluca v. Bryan Townsend in 2012. Second, you can have an incumbent so incompetent and/or vulnerable that multiple challengers enter the race. Indeed, the incumbent might be so incompetent and vulnerable that even the state party establishment will turn its back and endorse one of the challengers. And example of this is the 2012 Insurance Commissioner's race with Karen Weldin Stewart, Mitch Crane, Dennis Spivak and Paul Gallagher. Finally, you can have a situation where the incumbent has pissed off the establishment in some way. It could be that the incumbent is rightfully (or wrongfully) challenging the status quo. Or it could be that the incumbent has several scandals that are damaging to the party's chances of keeping the office should the incumbent be the nominee. Or it could be both, if your name is Chip Flowers. And so the establishment puts up a candidate against the incumbent in the hopes that the incumbent will lose.

Thursday Open Thread [2.20.14]

So, now that Governor Chris Christie has been destroyed as a credible Presidential candidate in 2016, some in the GOP have turned their lonely eyes to Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin (R). Walker is a golden boy in the GOP hive mind for talking on the public sector unions and winning, and then surviving a recall, but I have never pictured him as a viable presidential candidate for one very important reason: he has what I call a permanent Eli Manning Face. You know that face, right? Come inside to see some picture comparisons if you don't. Anyway, Mr. Walker, like Mr. Christie, has an email problem.

Delaware Wages Decline is 5th Worst in the Nation.

Wages in Delaware have dropped by nearly a dollar for low-wage workers since the Great Recession. With the minimum wage hike of a dollar by the middle of 2016, Delaware's workers would get back to where they were in 2009. 7 years. No wage growth. All the while the wealthy in Delaware have never done better. Record profits and record shares on all income. And yet God forbid we dare increase their taxes a cent.
Is Wagner even running?

Is Wagner even running?

Tom Wagner. A living example of an extinct species: a duly elected Republican in statewide office. He has been in office for years, so long that I was still in freaking middle school when he was first appointed to the office (I'm knocking on 40 now). And he has been living on borrowed time. In 2010, he barely got re-elected by 0.8% of the vote.... against the now indicted Richard Korn. This time around, he has a very credible upstart challenger in Brenda Mayrack. Celia Cohen reported that Wagner has raised only $26,540. For the entire year of 2013.
Charter Schools ignore anti-bullying law.

Charter Schools ignore anti-bullying law.

Most public school districts are complying with new state laws aimed at battling bullying, but fewer than half of charter schools have adopted new cyberbullying rules. And some schools are not sufficiently reporting incidents of bullying to parents, according to a report released by Lt. Gov. Matt Denn and the state Attorney General's Office.
Emphasis mine. Do these Charter Schools, who receive more and more taxpayer money to the detriment of our already existing public schools thanks to dubious legislation passed last year, think state laws and rules do not apply to them? Fewer than half have even adopted the new rules? That's pretty outrageous.

Voters Blame Trade Deals For Job Losses

Surprised? According to the most recent Gallup Poll, one in four Americans think that jobs is the highest priority problem in America today. It's almost one in two Americans if you combine concerns for unemployment and the economy. Only 8% of Americans think that the debt or deficit is a high-priority problem (pointed out for the Delaware Congressional delegation, in particular). Take a look:
“Smart Guns” are calling the NRA’s bluff

“Smart Guns” are calling the NRA’s bluff

If it were true that law abiding gun nuts wanted to keep guns away from "criminals" then this sort of thing would be a slam dunk.
According to a Wednesday report in the Washington Post, the era of “smart guns” — weapons that would only fire when their registered user is using them — may be closer than many think. The Armatix iP1 is now being sold in California and is considered to be the first true smart gun available on the market.
Of course the gun nut community will hate this. Why? Because keeping guns out of the hands of criminals ...