Liz says…

Coryan just announced it on cspan this morning…and yes he said, “we have republican in the house who is going to run for the Senate, that is Mike Castle of Delaware”. Now you tell me where you get your stamp it, book it, file it?

Here is how the wishful thinking went down:

Delaware’s Senate seat could be in play in 2010, at least if the Senate Republicans’ leading recruiter has his way.

In an interview for C-SPAN “Newsmakers,” National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn said he had been chatting with Delaware congressman Michael Castle, and that he is “considering” running for the Senate.

“What I think is interesting is the opportunities President Obama and Vice President Biden have given us,” Cornyn said. “We’ve got Joe Biden’s seat in Delaware where a guy like Mike Castle, a very successful two-term GOP governor, a very popular individual, is considering the race.”

Castle, a leading Republican moderate, has comfortably won re-election since first winning the House seat in 1992. He served as the state’s governor from 1984-1992.

Outside of Castle, Republicans don’t have much of a bench in the state.

That last part is the understatement of the century. The rest of it is pure gibberish and posturing.

Castle has not run a real race in 20 years. He will be 99 years old for that election and, time and again, he has knuckled under to the right wing of his party

He would be demolished trying for a Seate seat and he knows it. His career is built on being given elections, and the Dems are not going to just give away a Senate seat.

Unless Tom Carper cranks his mafia Don powers to 11, some perennial loser punching bag like Mike Protack or Charlie Copeland will be the GOP challenger for that seat.

Take it to the bank.
Endorse it.
Cash it.
And buy yourself something nice.

Just don’t tell these guys.

And, as Think Progress notes, even the so-called intellectuals in the conservative room don’t know that there is a real report. According to this, AEI denizen Phil Levy writes a blog post today proudly claiming to be one of the Bad Faith Economists that Krugman has called out recently. Note though, that Levy cites the CBO preliminary analysis of a portion of the package from early this month — not the one that was released today! But apparently the media doesn’t seem to have a clue that they have been punked on this thing — Think Progress finds 81 citations to the bogus report in the last week.

So the result:

In an eagerly awaited analysis of the stimulus package, which is set for a vote in the House tomorrow, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded that the measure would cost the federal government about $816 billion over the next 10 years and that approximately $526 billion, or about 65 percent, would be spent by the end of September 2010.

This is less than Obama’s stated target of 75% of money out of the door by the end of FY 2010. Some of this (according to the CBO report) is due to the virtual physics of the thing — having more budget authority doesn’t mean that agencies are ready to spend and oversee that spending immediately. In addition, there are some restrictions on when projects can be done. The other thing noted in this report is thatvthis reflects the limitations of “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects — both in the number and the quality of projects. Deferred maintenance and building isn’t just about not having the money, it is also about not having enough information to define needed maintenance and building — and projects that may have been designed and ready to bid but shelved in a shuffling of priorities likely need a bit of review to make sure that at least the original Government Estimate is solid before bidding. There may be a need to ground truth some design data before moving forward. Additionally, there are projects like the carbon sequestration demo that are here that will in no way be complete by FY2010. But there is no doubt that this Bill as it is currently written does not hit the 75% target yet. But don’t take my word for it — you are going to run off and read the CBO report for yourself, so you won’t have to rely on media that is still stuck on He Say She Say — not what the real report tells you.

The DE GOP’s totally unkillable Rasputin gets his hat in early:

Jason,

Happy New Year. After a disastrous 2006 (Ting) and even worse 2008 (Lee and others) I have no concerns about where I stand. I am sitting real good right now. I have a statewide recognition over 75% and the issues I care about are the same ones most Delawareans do also.

2006 and 2008 proved the Delaware GOP can stop a candidate but not elect one. Most Delaware Republicans want something better and for what it is worth the State GOP has lost any credibility on choosing candidates.

The things I debated Markell and Carney on in 2008 will be more important in 2010/2012. Universal Health care is one very important issue.

Plus I do not think Obama or Markell will be very popular given the incoming challenges they face. Wait till we all see the budget in Delaware.

Enjoy the New Year.

Happy new year indeed.

While I love the vision of Ron Williams’ head crashing down on his keyboard sending the “F,” “U,” “C,” and “K” keys momentarily into orbit around his giant noggin, I am equally pleased to know that Governor Markell and Lt. Governor Denn will be free to focus on policies instead of politics.

Thank you for your continuing service to the state Mike.

More comment rescue from this AM:

At this point the Republican Party is not a proper vehicle for anyone to run and win statewide in 2010. I have worked hard to change that fact and maybe after a total implosion it might be possible to rebuild. I hope so.

In 2008 we talked about a Universal Health Care plan which would work, about implementing Vision 2015, about having an Inspector General, about open government, about an aggressive move to renewable energy , Shot Spotter technology for gun violence in Wilmington etc.

Things which would be good for Delaware but for which I was roundly attacked for in the primary and things which are supported by most readers on this site. If and when the GOP realizes those priorities we might move ahead as we must move beyond the Reagan legacy to be viable.

In the end we suffered a huge loss at every level and not one GOP official stepped aside, not one. Every candidate in the state was hurt by the Lee candidacy especially Charlie Copeland. Charlie deserved better, he ran hard and gave it 100%. You folks roundly attack him but he worked hard.

While some of you take the courageous action of sitting behind a keyboard and making comments I stood up and ran on things I believed in. Many groups I have been in contact with since the election bemoan the disintegration of the GOP, they see it as a negative to have a one party state, I agree.

We in the GOP have to understand voters are disgusted with us and it isn’t all Bush’s fault. In 2009 we need to offer more than criticisms against Markell and Obama, we need to offer a plan.

Myself and others plan to launch an effort to offer a plan to rebuild the Delaware GOP, more to come. Guys like Tyler Nixon are essential to this sort of effort, let’s hope we can find more of them.