Another Deadline Whizzes By
So, does everyone remember back in June when Mike Castle said he would make a decision on his future by August 30? So far, no announcements yet.
I think the longer Mike Castle doesn’t make a decision the more likely Castle will be the Senate candidate by default. OK, tea leaf readers, what are your thoughts?
Castle in or out for Senate?
Castle in or out for House?
If not Castle, then what Republican will run for Senate and House?
Tags: DE-Sen, Mike Castle
asking what republican should replace Castle, is like asking what disease should replace leprosy
LOL, delacrat. We could get ebola instead, though.
Castle is in. He is now seeing a little sunlight between the moderate voters (for lack of a better word) that he needs and Obama. He can now run against the President instead of against Biden. Tom Carper will make the final decision about wether this is going to be a real race. He will either stand down or openly support Castle in the next few weeks.
The only thing the Dems have going for them now is the fact that the White House needs the seat to stay blue and while the Democratic Party sucks at governing, the White House will still be a force. Even is the Delaware Democratic Party is true to form and lacks the guts to fight the Carper/Castle machine, the White House and national Dems will not let the fact that Castle was as solid Bush supporter pass unnoticed.
Biden 51
Castle 49
The Republican Party will win this seat no matter who runs. Possibly, you could focus on the deep thinking and action oriented AG who looks to get the job by way of the system so many on this site supposedly dislike?
We know you attack Castle and other potential GOP candidates to defend the Baby Biden.
Dynasty, legacy or pure nepotism is bad for Delaware.
As for the disease comment, under Obama care that disease is not covered-sorry.
Mike Protack
Well, one thing we know for sure is that Mr. Shallow Bench here won’t be winning this seat.
Are you trying to tease Jason into coming back? 🙂
“The Republican Party will win this seat no matter who runs.”
Can you back this up with anything but your usual “because I say so” bullshit? No, didn’t think so.
BTW, if Castle runs, Beau won’t.
You’re right, Geezer. If Castle runs, Beau would be better off serving another term as AG, this time in Delaware, and then running in 2014, after Castle finally retires.
It always angers me whenever anyone degrades Beau Biden’s service in Iraq, like A1 just did. He was called up and he had to serve, and if he resigned his commission and stayed in Delaware, he would be attacked by the very same people who attack him now for serving. It is disgusting.
Oh, come off it. Beau joined so he could burnish his resume, and considering it took him away from a job he didn’t have to run for, it was irresponsible to the people of Delaware besides.
Beau is not the first AG to serve in the National Guard, though he joined before being elected. He worked for the US DOJ in Kosovo in 2001.
http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/april04stories/4-04%20lt%20beau.asp
Yeah, so? That makes it OK?
Uh, Geezer….
Correct me if I am wrong but Beau Biden’s race against Ferris Wharton was competitive, not a walk in the park against a sacrificial lamb like Castle’s last six elections have been.
Also correct me if I am wrong, but Beau Biden joined the NG well before 2006. He was in Kosovo back in 2000, right?
As for his motives in joining, I dare say you cannot know what they were, but many join the National Guard to “pad” their resume.
Let me put it this way, DD. I have seen young Mr. Biden on the campaign trail. I see nothing — nothing — that translates to a burning passion for public service. I don’t see why I should vote for someone just because his dad wants him to take up the family business — especially when I think the dad is a piece of crap to begin with.
Delaware is a blue state represented by a Republican Senator, Tom Carper, and a Democratic Senator, Ted Kaufman. There is no stomach in DC for two “moderate” Republicans from Delaware in the US Senate.
For chrissakes, DD, quit whining. I didn’t degrade his service in the NG at all. I degraded his service as AG which has been non-existent. The only record it has given him to run on in 2010 is a bad one.
Look folks, Beau Biden is not going to back down for a challenge. As we saw in 2008, he doesn’t want any office handed to him and he isn’t taking anything for granted. Some 37 years ago, Joe Biden won that Senate seat by taking on an entrenched incumbent and prevailing. If AG Biden decides to join the race, I see no reason why he wouldn’t do the same. Mike Castle’s days in public service are numbered–I’m just hoping Biden ends them sooner not later.
Agreed. The volume and passion of the Biden detractors on these forums is not representative of the public sentiment.
Beau’s not going to run this time. He barely has a track record as AG. And as Paul Hackett showed in Ohio, military service, good speaking skills and a chiseled jaw aren’t enough to propel one to the Senate.
Paul Hackett ran for the House, not the Senate.
Many great jaws in the Senate. Baucus is up there with Steve Garvey.
I join in rejecting the degrading of AG Biden’s decade of service to the nation. I know Mr. Biden. He is a patriot. I can’t read his mind, but every other motivation pails in comparison.
AG Biden is already in office. He no longer needed to “pad” his resume. Judge him based upon real factors. Don’t degrade his service and that of hundreds of thousands of others who left their jobs, families, and homes at the call of their nation so we don’t have to draft your child.
RDavid: Your comments are sensible. Yet, there is an element that seethes with Biden hatred, in some cases bubbling for over 30 years. It’s how Wharton funded his laconic campaign.
I stand by my prediction that Biden will run against Castle. He will show that he is a hard campaigner and has a passion for the family business.
At the end of the campaign, when he beats out the former Governor, undefeated, much admired Michael Newbold Castle, a Biden will get his wings. He will be able to say that he beat Mike Castle, and there’s no one else that can say that.
And it won’t even be close.
Urgently hoping Carney runs for Senate. And who knows, maybe Scotty Spencer will slipt into the House seat.
“it was irresponsible to the people of Delaware besides”
So was RAM but she got elected twice. 🙂 Geezer, if you don’t like Biden, just say so. No need to blame him for being in the National Guard.
Atticus, if Biden does not run Carney will (for the Senate). The House race will then be a free for all on both sides.
“Beau Biden is not going to back down for a challenge. As we saw in 2008, he doesn’t want any office handed to him and he isn’t taking anything for granted.”
What a load of crap. Beau Biden has never fought for anything in his life. The laughable part of this comment is the suggestion that Beau Biden calls his own shots, and his Daddy isn’t calling them for him. Let’s put it this way — he’s never been decisive enough to even get a real job all these years.
“The volume and passion of the Biden detractors on these forums is not representative of the public sentiment.”
I’m pretty sure I”m the only Biden detractor here; too many of the rest of you (yeah, John Manifold, I’m lookin’ at you) think “Democrat” equals “progressive.” What none of you can do is show me any progressive stance any member of the Biden family has ever taken, beyond support for unions.
As for public sentiment, it runs against anointing young Beau, which is why in a landslide Democratic election he won a seat against an inept campaigner by only 6 points.
I don’t like or dislike Beau Biden. I merely think he doesn’t belong in politics.
DD, I don’t know where you got that idea about Carney. You don’t win elections by declaring for one race only to abandon it when a better opening comes along. It makes you look like a rank opportunist — something John Carney clearly isn’t, since he served as a good soldier to the worst governor Delaware has had in my lifetime.
“Beau Biden’s race against Ferris Wharton was competitive, not a walk in the park against a sacrificial lamb like Castle’s last six elections have been.”
First off, it should have been — most political legacies have no problem winning such races, especially against a guy who was a prosecutor, not a politician. Second, there’s a reason nobody challenged Castle — none of them wanted to lose. Given the White House’s problems in recent months, 2010 is shaping up as a more competitive year. The Democrats might have missed their best chance of taking him out, as opposed to letting the clock run out on him.
Great comment, Geezer. Biden has no record to run on. He has no significant public accomplishments that would appeal to any progressives. And the atrociously bungled case of the DSU shootings happened on his watch. Dems should just say “No to Beau.”
I agree with Geezer in one respect. I don’t think Carney can just jump races. I think he should stay in the House race. We will see.
When is the next campaign finance report? I wonder what Castle is doing.
I think the next quarter closes the end of this month, so we’ll know something about fundraising in a few weeks.
While Geezer may be the only Biden detractor here, I don’t think that it is unfair to say that there a a few of us who are in definite wait and see mode. And that goes for Carney too. Neither could possibly be defined as Progressive — but the choices are shaping up to be pretty slim. And I know that I’ve argued at length that Biden’s current record in the AG’s office will need some serious burnishment, because I do think that he is vulnerable on his record and among Democrats he should be able to count on. Some here will go to some lengths to make either of these guys look alot better than they are, but I don’t mind saying that I really wish there is some serious competition for both of these seats from the Dem side.
Hey UI,
Don’t you think that fund raising is the least of Castle’s concerns? I do. He could raise enough money to run a statewide campaign virtually overnight – this is only tiny Delaware, after all.
I should also say that I am not saying that Beau is the best choice. I am predicting what will happen. I am willing to bet that Geezer will vote for Biden if he is running against Protack or O’Donnell.
I think Castle will raise plenty of money if he wants to. My question is whether he’s actively raising money. If he is, that’s a strong signal that he’s running. If not, who knows?
It’s dangerous to try to discount a rival’s victories by dismissing their level of competition. Larry Bird’s fans would talk down the Lakers because the Western Conference was weaker. The teenage message boards diss Sanford basketball for similar reasons. I remember trying to discount Pete du Pont’s first statewide victory [53½ percent], using arguments like Geezer’s.
Democratic candidates have always faced a structural disadvantage in the Attorney General’s race. Because they’re in an off-year, turnout plummets. Over 400,000 voted in 2008; just 242,000 voted in 2006. The off-year election involves no president, governor, county executive or mayor. Only three Democrats have been elected AG in the last 85 years [perhaps longer]. The GOP controlled the office for 60 of 80 years before Biden’s election in 2006. One of the five Democratic victories among those 20 elections was in 1954, when downstate voters blamed the GOP for Brown v. BOE. Two others were Oberly’s hair-thin victories in Democratic wave years of 1982 and 1986. So in 80 years, you have two clean Democratic victories – Wier [54% in 1974] and Oberly’s third victory [58% in 1990].
Wharton seemed like a dream candidate in March – quarter-century as career prosecutor, major role in the Capano case, big court cases in all three counties, personality about town, athletic heroics in his youth. Above all, he was able to galvanize the dormant GOP fundraising base, the guys who long for a return to Reagan, who contributed to Bush’s ’00 recount fund, who have been wishing for 30 years that Baxter or Burris or somebody could eliminate Biden from the Senate. Monstrous amounts were raised for Wharton.
Further, Wharton had access to funds that no previous candidate could tap. Grasping onto a federal appeals court decision that essentially eviscerated Delaware’s campaign finance law, his campaign treated GOP expenditures on his behalf as “independent expenditures.” Thus, for example, EleuthĂ©re Q. Republican could give Wharton $1,200, then give $25,000 to the state party, which would be used directly for Wharton. Biden’s folks and the Democratic state committee hollered loud and strong against this device, but the AG’s office [with Carl Danberg recusing himself] held that the federal decisions permitted the gambit.
Given the US Supreme Court’s possible decision on campaign finance, things are only going to get worse in this regard:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/opinion/08tue1.html
I’ll let others cavil about whether Biden’s 5-point victory [52½ to 47½ percent] was sufficiently robust. I don’t remember seeing a point spread on that race. It’s undeniable that Biden’s last name helped in some quarters and hurt in others, like JFK’s Catholicism in ’60 – or Pete du Pont’s surname in 1970.
John: I agree with your analysis, though I would quibble that one reason Wharton looked so good in March was that nobody had seen him campaign yet.
So explain, please, why we should get excited about Beau Biden the officeholder. I’m serious here — speaking to him, I get the distinct feeling he’s doing this because he has no strong passions himself and people, especially his dad, expect this of him. And, apparently unlike you, I object to the fact that Joe Sr. made common cause with the police early and often in his career, while showing very little concern over the relationship between police and minority communities. He didn’t (doesn’t) hew to the DLC line, but he’s nevertheless much more cautious and centrist than any actual liberal or progressive would be.
So what’s with the Biden love here (the site in general), when he seems not to care much about the progressive agenda? Is it just that progressives, like most people, will forgive a lot if you’re a winner?
Geek: I will probably vote for Beau for AG unless I know the opponent to be better suited for the job. I will probably vote for Beau for Congress or Senate no matter who he runs against.
I won’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Not this time, anyway.
Geezer: You have focused on the biggest problem with Biden over his Senate career. I don’t mind him bonding with cops – it has been a firewall in his electoral survival, particularly through the grisly 1980s – but so much of his crime-related legislation has been terribly counter-productive. The drug laws are hideous. Sentencing is out of control.
A new deadline: end of September.
http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/9-09castlecountdown.asp
I ran the Grapevine post through the MIcrosoft Word Auto summarizer.
In the beginning of October we’ll still be talking about how Castle hasn’t made a decision. Celia sounds like she’s in the Castle is retiring camp.
I think that Castle NOT announcing at his own picnic is a big sign of no, but that’s just my opinion.
Suggestion to those who’d like to see Democrats field an articulate, experienced Senate candidate from the Left: Jan Ting gave major speech at Academy of Lifelong Learning today, explaining why he became a Democrat and arguing for the public option.
She could not hide her adoration of Castle, but this was funny.
(Castle) is all that stands between his party and …”Vicmead: A Salute to Tom Wagner.”
Castle’s like Terry Francona: everyone who covers him likes him. He’s been getting good press for over 40 years.
Hurray for Journalismishness!
“everyone who covers [Castle] likes him. He’s been getting good press for over 40 years.”
Until Kaufman joined the delegation, Castle was pretty clearly the smartest of the three, but also the least likely to make a decision or do anything bold or upsetting. When Joe Biden gives a planned centrist answer to a question, it sounds a little phony because he’s such a passionate sort. When Mike Castle sounds unwilling to upset anybody, it’s because he really doesn’t like upsetting anybody. IMHO, it’s why he’s loathed by the GOP crowd that prefers bigmouthed assholes to anyone who gives a thoughtful answer. Having a brain makes you a RINO, apparently.