(R) KY congresswoman loses seat because of BUSH!

[AgadorSparticus]

I just read this tonight and it warmed my heart:

<snip>
FRANKFORT, Ky. - Former state attorney general Ben Chandler easily won the House seat of the man who beat him in last year's governor's race, and became the first Democrat since 1991 to win a Republican-held seat in a special election.



<snip>

Kerr "hooked her fortunes to George Bush, and his fortunes took a nose dive," said Dale Emmons, a Democratic consultant from Richmond. "I think tonight is the opening shot of the November election."

Hopefully it will be the first of many to come. keeping my fingers crossed.

[burythehatchet]

1. I thought exactly the same thing

when I heard the results

[boobooday]

2. The opposite of coattails

Bush is like a big old piece of toilet paper stuck to their shoes.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[Fovea]

12. He will prove to be

like a giant smirking anchor.

I think the Dems are going to win big this year.

I would not be surprized to see the Republican
party lose a lot of ground in the House and Senate
this race and the next midterms. Deep Red America will
fade a bit, and the contested states will flip deep Blue.

But Texas will unravel without Dubya's help.
That will be Tom DeLay, going down in flames.
And Enron may not go away as smoothly as hoped
either.

I am interested in seeing if Cheney will hang on to power. Without him, it can be argued that Dubya is almost irrelevant to the half his actual constituency.

[thinkingwoman]

27. LOL

Good analogy

[flowomo]

3. I'd Love to believe it...

but you gotta consider the source! I don't trust this political operative's explanation any more than I would trust a Bush operatives claim that she lost because she strayed from the Bush message. Like to see more analysis of the situation.

[newyawker99]

37. Hi flowomo!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[calimary]

42. Hey, flowomo, Welcome! And I wouldn't trust a bush operative

to tell the truth. If she lost, she's just making excuses now. Granted, I am not the world's greatest authority on this particular election, BUT, if she ran saying she was, in effect, joined-at-the-hip to bush, well, she LOST. And that obviously wasn't something she hid or whispered to just a few close cronies. She made it a campaign theme. So tough tooties! She made her bed. Now she's LYING in it. Lost because she strayed from the bush message - my ASS. I think we're gonna hear more of that, come November. At least I'm HOPING so.

[alfredo]

4. It was obvious that she would have been a lapdog for bush

Chandler came back at her as an independent voice. He also hit her on her voting record in the state house. She had voted twice for pay raises for herself and for a pension increase.

She was also good at killing Democratic bills, then putting her name on the bills, then reintroducing them.

[Wapsie B]

5. Honestly,

I don't see how chimpy's coattails can be very long at all. Dickie's coming to Iowa next month to campaign for a reich-winger running for the House. For the life of me I can't see that being much of a help.


progressivebebe welcome to DU!

[buycitgo]

11. Nussle?

my sister is an appointed official in Cedar Rapids, and LOATHES that prick! he's so STUPID....and a really bad liar. not a felicitous mix, what with his obnoxious arrogance

she went to law school in Iowa City; has lived there since 75 (after four years at Iowa State)

dunno why anyone would want to spend so much time there, heh

Marty Heldt is from Clinton, btw......I drive through there every time I go visit.

[Wapsie B]

14. No,

it's some rwinger running against Leonard Boswell, the Democrat in the Iowa delegation. I forget this guy's name though.

Nussle's an ass, one of Newt's wet boys, a true neocon disciple if there ever was one. And if the rumor is true he has a little sexual dirt in his closet as well. He divorced awhile ago, but the details were kept out of the press.

Cedar Rapids huh? One of the few areas of the state even close to the rest of the civilized world. I wonder if they still have the same woman mayor who received all those death threats from repugs in the area when she supported Gore in 00?

[AgadorSparticus]

15. thanks for the welcome bushwentawol!

I also saw an article from yahoo news how bush is trying to reach out to his conservative base. Apparently, they too, feel alienated by his ridiculous spending. I'll paste a little snippet of that. Very interesting read. Either way, he's alienating a whole lotta people. <smirk> LOL

[Taeger]

6. Bush has ANTI-Coattails!!!!!

Bush doesn't have coattails. He has the OPPOSITE of coattails.

Congressman will have a VERY hard time associating themselves with Mr "Outsourcing Amrican Jobs is Good".

[whirlygigspin]

7. if this keeps up

the only one supporting *Bush will be Tom Dashle.

[hang a left]

18. had a good laugh at that one

n/t

[Taeger]

24. Laugh harder ...

Bush's coattails are shoved up his butt. That's why no one wants to hop on ;-)

[roguevalley]

9. This is good news regardless. Consider if the repugs in power

view this as a 'downward trend', they will be less
likely to f**k things up so fast. Also, it very well
could be the start of a backlash vote of voters
who normally vote Repig voting dem or not voting to
'send a message to the white house'. This sort of
thing has happened before. It could bode well for
us to regain the house and senate if its big enough.
after all, the majority of america always polls that
they want all of them in the hands of not one party,
put divided, the house, senate and white house.

This could be the start of that now, especially since
everyone can see what happened when the repigs got all
three.

[nostamj]

21. we need a graphic or cartoon

of bush* with his naked ass hanging out and the caption:

"Bush's Coattails"

[4morewars]

8. Hangin' in the breeze

that's where they left her !!!

[proud patriot]

10. Great News

:bounce:

[fizzana]

13. The media has all but ignored this win.

In many ways it was far more important than the Wisconsin Primary.

Another 12 or 13 seats and we take back the house. That was unthinkable a year ago.

[opihimoimoi]

16. Yup, the Pubs are TOAST

Thanks Chimp. ya done made it easy. Somehow, you managed to fuck the Pub Party to the losing side of the equation.

[Hailtothechimp]

29. and the vacancy in SD will narrow the gap when the dems win

[dusty64]

17. What really struck

me was the COMPLETE lack of coverage of this story by our Pravda. Somehow I think it would have gotten a lot more if the rethug had won. Its a VERY good omen and South Dakota ought to be another pickup, no wonder the extreme right was so hellbent on reredistricting Texas.

[alfredo]

19. The big story is the fact that a candidate pushed and financed by

Mitch McConnell did not win. Usually his big money and power could get a musty dishrag elected, but not this time.

[xchrom]

20. one down

[mandyky]

22. Kerr (the GOP lady) did an ad

saying Chandler still didn't say where he was on Iraq. I think even KY GOPs are getting very wary of shrub's war and motives behind it.

[Nashyra]

23. This victory is exactly why the grassroot movement

needs to stay alive, we need to continue to network and be willing to call voters and make sure they vote and donate to candidates that are in tight races and push them over the victory edge. We can have an impact on the house and senate races, all it will takes is as much work as we did for our partcular candidate.

[Arugula Latte]

25. Dean needs to target a handful of Congressional races

and a few Senate races, like he did for Boswell (who raked in mucho dinero from Deanies). Direct supporters' energy and their money in some key places. I think he might have something like this in mind...don't know for sure.

[Iris]

26. Before this election,

I saw an article on Salon tha talked about how the Democrats were really needing a victory in this race to help set the pace for the rest of the year. I can't remember if I saw any other coverage of it, but I never heard anything about it AFTER the fact (and quite frankly was too afraid to find out for myself!).

thanks for posting this. It's very good news!


(Actually, I did see a little snippet on the evening news about how the Dems. needed to win this one.)

[knight_of_the_star]

28. Nice

If we can knock out 13 seats, we'll be able to take back the house. This one will go a LONG way to doing that.

[SharonAnn]

33. Remember Texas redistricting will cause us to lose seats and

the GOP wil gain seats.

Because of that redistricting we're going to have to pick up even more seats.

[AgadorSparticus]

36. does anyone know how many seats we will lose from the TX redistricting?

[jmowreader]

38. If we work it right, none

By and large, people like their elected officials.

This means that unless (1) the opposition party does something really underhanded, like putting Max Cleland's picture next to Osama's and Saddam's, or (2) the official violates the law in an especially flagrant manner--see Jim Traficant--an official can serve for a very long time. Look at Tom DeLay. We hate the guy, that's true, but very few of us get to vote for him. Until The Hammer really steps on his dick in such a way that it's impossible to ignore, we'll be looking at his sorry ass for years to come.

How to play this: point out that the Republicans' illegal redistricting has the effect of depriving you of the legislators you've come to know and trust. Blame it directly on DeLay, because he spearheaded this. Describe it as virtual disenfranchisement. Call the Republicans who came up with this unpatriotic. Detail the records of service (leaving out the bad stuff, naturally) of the Democrats who will go home if DeLay's gambit is successful.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

30. Was this State legislature or Congress? (nt)

[kentuck]

31. And if the Dems can win in such a heavily Repub district....?

What's to keep them from doing it across the nation ?? I would think many Repubs are very nervous at this time...

[AgadorSparticus]

32. I was thinking the same. It is looking VERY good for us.

I feel like the victory in this will be more than just that seat. I'm excited!!!!! And keeping my fingers crossed all the same.

[opihimoimoi]

34. See what happens when Sanity and Reason returns from prison

The equation is simple;

Smart voting results in smart decisions

Special interest voting is not objective, thereby, FLAWED.

Come, we enroll in Voting 101

[Jose Diablo]

35. Bu$h is an anchor

But the republican party cannot cut the chain.
:toast:

[Art_from_Ark]

39. I hate to be a party pooper, but

this is just one, local, election. Remember how excited everyone got when both Virginia and New Jersey elected Democratic governors in the immediate aftermath of 9-11? And then, one year later, the election results were against us. A lot can happen between now and November, and I have a funny feeling it will.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

40. Hey what is the story in ARK?

Even though no favorite son involved this time, I see this as a possible swing state, one of the "two smaller states" (vs. "one big state" like OH) that could help do it for us... Do you sense a possible Dem win there? Would Clark on the ticket help?

[Art_from_Ark]

45. Clark on the ticket would definitely bring ARK into the D camp

If Clark is not on the ticket, the problem with Arkansas would be that since 1972, the only Dems it has supported have been Southern governors (including Clinton). If you include 1968, Arkansas supported a (formerly) Southern Democratic governor, George Wallace, rather than vote for Humphrey. So the historical trend would not be in our favor.

However, on a recent visit back to the state's Bu$h country, I was cheered to hear one of my town's most respected businesspersons tell me that a lot of the vocal Bu$h supporters who had been coming into the store had suddenly become very quiet. And that was before all this AWOL stuff had made it to the mainstream. I would imagine that there are a lot more angry people now.

[alfredo]

41. This was a must win for the GOP, they pumped a lot of money

into this campaign. Kerr was hand picked by Mitch McConnell to take Ernie Fletcher's seat. Mitch never loses, but he did this time.

Our precinct is extremely Republican, but she only won by two votes.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

43. I read in a news article that this KY district 60% registered Dems but

typically votes Repub in federal elections... is this true?

[alfredo]

44. Our mayor is an Arab woman (single mother), our state senator is gay

and another state rep is a plucky leftist woman.

But when it comes to federal, the GOP seems to win, but not this time.