GOP picks Eileen O’Shaughnessy-Coleman for the 18th RD Special Election
Good luck getting that all on a sign.
Last night, the GOP, in an undemocratic smoke filled closed door backroom*, picked a pretty good candidate for the 18th RD Special Election: Eileen O’Shaughnessy-Coleman.
* – I’m sure some kind of relevant committee picked her, just like the Democratic 18th RD Committee picked Bentz, but the GOP always likes to pretend such selections are undemocratic smoke filled backroom selections. Well, touche, Republicans. Unless you had an open primary where every GOP voter in the District had a chance to vote between two candidates, you just did the same thing. So go protest yourselves.
Mrs. O’Shaughnessy-Coleman is “a lifelong Newark resident and intern with former Congressman Mike Castle.”
O’Shaughnessy-Coleman, who has never run for office, raised her five children, two with autism, in Newark. She is a volunteer with several churches, Brandywine High School, Padua Academy, and the Salesianum School.
“Over the nearly 25 years I’ve lived here I’ve learned that most of my neighbors have had to confront their own unique challenges. I’m running for office to speak out for those that have too often not had a voice. I’m running because I want to help,” she said in a written statement.
Given the Democratic Party’s absolutely abysmal record of turnout and of victories in not only midterm elections but in special elections, I expect the GOP to pick up this seat. To remain competitive, Bentz better meet with Mike Matthews and John Kowalko and Paul Baumbach quickly. For example, Mr. Bentz, you don’t “strongly consider” voting for the override of Governor Markell’s veto of House Bill 50, the Opt Out Bill. You say you are going to vote for the override as soon as you take office on the first day of the session in the new year.
The boilerplate sent out by the Democratic Party on behalf of Bentz is utterly insipid:
“We have a lot of challenging issues facing Delaware, and I intend to fight for our middle class by pushing for good-paying jobs and better educational opportunities, and making sure our economic policies don’t unfairly burden them. A strong middle class is essential to a healthy Delaware economy. That is where our focus must be.”
Yet another tabula rasa. And ‘ditto’ on the HB 50 override. If he’s gonna be a Pete/Val puppet, might as well say so. And if he’s not, then maybe he’ll give people a reason to vote for him.
Why does everything have to about Opt Out… this is turning into a creepy obsession. Is this going to be suburban liberal’s version of the “Repeal and Replace Obamacare” campaign for the next 6 months? I don’t even know what the pro-Opt Out group is fighting for in education anymore. I know what they’re against, but I don’t know what reforms they’re fighting for in the classroom. However, they are in favor of being against stuff. Lol Its the Tea Party. If I held the same position as Donald Trump, I would probably kill myself as a favor to planet earth.
Milli Vanilli, because this is a local special election in a small district that has been at the heart of the recent controversies over education testing, priority schools and charter schools. It is the number 1 issue in the district if not the state. Local elections turn on local issues like this. And special local elections are all about local issues where there is one passionate side.
If any candidate, Bentz or O’Shaughnessy-Coleman, ignores this issue or gets on the wrong side of it, they will lose and they will lose badly.
It really doesn’t have to be about opt-out, IMHO, except that it’s such a no-brainer. If he’s reticent to take a stand on this, will he stand on his own, or only with the assistance of marionette strings?
It’s a special election. Who the bleep will be motivated to turn out to vote for such mealy mush-mouthed utterances? Labor? You mean the people Jack Markell has disdained for 8 years? Progressives? Not w/o a reason.
The registration strongly favors the D. But, if he’s just a generic visionless apartchik D, why bother?
I’m not saying he is. But we’ve so far been given no clue as to who he is or what he stands for.
Has Pete Schwartkopf endorsed Mrs. O’Shaughnessy-Coleman yet?
Damn. It just flipped.
The Republicans don’t even need to do anything to tear down a Democratic candidate. We do a pretty good job all by ourselves. Not a single person here short of AQC has suggested actually helping to elect Bentz. Instead, people are wringing their hands over his position on a single issue and lamenting that the district is lost. On a liberal blog.
With friends like this, who needs enemies?
Why are we supposed to be his friends? He hasn’t given a single indication that he’s a liberal.
I anxiously await the non boiler plate utterances from the totally not handpicked behind closed doors Eilleen.
Drink up every time you hear Tax cuts, burdensome regulations, or the private sector can do it better.
Double shot for “I am a housewife, I know what it means to balance a checkbook and make the hard decisions.”
Sussex Anon, aye, there’s the rub.
We were allies with the Soviet Union strictly because they were fighting the same enemy as were we.
We latter parted ways.
Someone should take offense at your ping against “housewives”… I would rather trust any of them if they have children, over someone only 29 years old…. WTF does a 29 year old know? > “Hey, did you hear the new Whip, Nae, Nae song? It’s really, really cool…”
As for democrats supporting their party regardless… well that leads to bad politics, and bad politics lead to minority party status… Just look at how we dismantled the Republican structure in this state. If the Dems have a good candidate, he had better get moving… the hill he needs to scale is rapidly tilting against him….
And the bottom line answer to those party advocates… is that the current problem with the Democratic party, is that it is NOT being run top down by its Progressives…
If this party went progressive, the electorate would be 80-20 democratic majority. The state desperately needs progressive ideas put in action, and it needs them now.
I don’t think being 29 years old equates not knowing anything. And Kavips, you seem to have the Nae Nae down. How old are you? Some of you think you have no reason to like Dave or support him, but, do you have a reason to dislike him or not support him?
AQC: We have reason to want to find out who he is. The boilerplate that accompanied his announcement was pretty weak. To me, they might have accidentally cut-and-pasted Sean Barney’s announcement boilerplate to Bentz’ announcement.
We’d certainly like to interview him and find out who he is and what he stands for.
I hope we get that chance. Hey, if he shows promise and progressive leanings, I’ll write a check and support him.
Just not buying anything on trust any more.
“Some of you think you have no reason to like Dave or support him, but, do you have a reason to dislike him or not support him?”
You take whatever default position you want, and I’ll take the default position I want. Mine is, “Never trust a Democrat until he proves he’s a liberal.”
I prefer Republicans who come right out and say they’re Republicans, and run under the sign of the elephant, so I know not to vote for them. Republicans who pretend they’re Democrats — Tom Carper, John Carney, etc. — are worse, because they prevent liberalism from ever taking hold.
So, sorry again, but it’s up to Dave to show that he’s a liberal. Talking about jobs is standard for any politician, of either party, so he’s so far told me nothing.
Dave actually does not have to convince you guys of anything, he has to convince the voters of the 18th.
Right AQC!!! I’m with you. You have a young guy who did grunt work for that district for years being questions by people who do nothing but talk and type… which is their right.
I would not take their opinions too strongly. They’ve hated Carper for years, that hasn’t stopped him from winning. Meanwhile the people they love… Matt Denn (pulling new mandatory minimum sentences out of his ass everyday while standing against marijuana reform), Bryan Townsend (A corporate attorney to has sponsored “some” progressive bills sprinkled with a lot of pro law enforcement and business friendly bills which nobody seems to mention), show that they have a horrible sense of judgment on who is a progressive anyway. And they support a Dave Lawson bill, and they supported Markell while he was getting votes from Republicans… So the judgment of who is a progressive and who is not should be determined outside of this group AQC.
kavips for the win.
but seriously opt out is cop out in policy to discuss. Please REAL ISSUES……jobs, roads, etc.. This opt out discussion just obfuscates real issues, when parents can already be parents and don’t need a special veto note from the legislature to do so….geesh…..make your legislators do some real work, instead of just grandstanding, window-dressing, and gas-lighting. Rabies clinics NOW!!!
@Bane: Some of us complain about those things, too. Fact is there are many Democrats but few liberals in Delaware politics.
The discussion isn’t about whether he’ll win (he likely won’t, because Republicans are more likely to vote in special elections) but whether we should care. A Carper Democrat is indistinguishable from a moderate Republican; we don’t yet know what sort of Republican she’ll be, either.
The simple fact remains: Eileen O’Shaughnessy-Coleman’s statement of candidacy hit several points of commonality with voters: She has raised two autistic kids. She has ties to Salesianum School (which has alumni everywhere in Delaware). She interned for a well-respected Republican.
Bentz, meanwhile, gave us nothing specific, just banalities about the middle class and jobs with a “not burden them economically” (meaning no tax increases, meaning another squishy Democrat) thrown in.
Leave aside liberal and conservative, or R and D, and the choice there is an easy one.
In short, it’s about tactics. Bentz’s approach is about as compelling as Sean Barney’s was.
“….I’m running for office to speak out for those that have too often not had a voice. I’m running because I want to help.” How is this compelling and not boilerplate drivel?
Has she even given a policy statement?
So far it’s O’Donnell vs. Barney.
I spelled it out for you. Do you need me to type it phonetically? I didn’t say it contained no boilerplate, I said it contained points for voters to relate to.
Nobody is voting in a special election based on policy issues. They vote for people they know and like, not necessarily in that order.
“Drink up every time you hear Tax cuts, burdensome regulations, or the private sector can do it better.”
Wait… was Eileen O’Shaughnessy-Coleman hand picked by Pete? Because this stuff is his boilerplate, a guy who is proud of his ability to even spell “gas tax”