2010 Primaries Thread (It's all over now, baby blue)

[Lunar]

Herenton, as a big city mayor, really proves the importance of this thing we call an "issue" for upsetting incumbents in primaries.

Do SOMETHING.  It doesn't have to be something that the majority of the electorate agrees with you on.  For challengers going after solidly liberal/conservative incumbents, as long as it's something you believe in, it's better, in my opinion to passionately back an issue that 45% of the electorate agrees with you on, 55% disagrees, than to never have any policy distinction between you and your opponent whatsoever

Do something to make your campaign interesting.  The race argument was lame, and everyone knows it.  Reporters covered Herenton's "just one" campaign message as a gimmick when his real #1 argument should have been "Cohen can't care the jobs we need, I can."  

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Oh right, today's election day.

The YouTube guy didn't win?  The gospel singer from frog jump or whatever it's called easily won?  Cohen creamed his opponent?  

Next thing you're going to tell me is that Arizona's GOP primary is going to be boring as well.  Sure, Hayworth is roadkill, having been run over by $16 million dollars from John "I never said I was a maverick" McCain who has engaged his primary election to keep his Senate seat with far more vigor & excitement than the two times he ran for president, and all of Brewer's opponents seem to have dropped out and endorsed her, but...yeah, okay, that'll be a sleeper too


It seems like viral videos have formed an extremely poor basis for campaigns this cycle.  That one guy who plays dress-up in his basement talking about revolution lost, that crazy guy lost today, etc.  I guess Demon Sheep won, but I don't think that really mattered.

Who's going to elect sneezing panda in 2012 now??

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The eye dropper tool thingy should get any specific values, no?

Using the link above

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think Malloy has the CT party establishment & the momentum.

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think Malloy has the CT party establishment & the momentum.

Didn't Lieberman have that too though (the latter part towards the very end)....

Malloy doesn't have blind hatred towards himself.  I mean, today, hell, Liebers has more Republicans liking him than Independents in 2010, and Liebers voted for health care, financial reform, the stimulus, and is at the front of cap-n-trade.

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If Norton wins, that would be an amazing recovery.

Well, not AMAZING.  It's not like she had anything going for her beforehand, a former Lt. Governor isn't exactly a tier one candidate.  Buck's got a loud mouth, and a tracker finally picked it up on YouTube.

Bennett has a late hit negative story about some spending program he pushed going really bad, but the bulk of the voters have already voted, and he was leading by a bit. If the poll were accurate, will this late hit still sink him?

Gotta watch your T's on Bennet & Bennett if you're only referring to them by last name, because Bennett and Bennet are two entirely different Senators, but yeah, it's a mess of a story occurring at the worst time.  

[Lunar]

Who are people on here rooting for between Bennet and Romanoff?

I'm a Bennet fan, and I still am, but it's such a perplexing general election situation that it's hard to know which would be the best general election candidate at this point.  Pretty much all I care about is the GE here, and I have no clue who would do better.

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The few Dems I know who actually live in CT are all Malloy.

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The results are actually quite surprising in a number of areas (Deal strength in Atlanta suburbs, Handel strength in South Georgia), FYI.

So...your very important "rural, suburban, urban" model for this election might not be holding true?

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A Maes, Buck, Foley, Deal, Emmer win here tonight is best for the national Democrats.  

imo, Deal losing would be best for humanity, but I'm willing to accept that Georgia Republicans don't always act in the interests of humanity [i.e. Gingrich].

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Updated CT-R-Senate map - yeah, it's basically East of the Connecticut River = Simmons, West of the Connecticut River = McMahon - except for the town on the NY/Mass border that voted for Schiff.

Yeah, that's not gonna cut it.   There's not enough Red Sox voters to put him over the top.

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No tears should be lost over Lamont.  Malloy sets up a FANTASTIC contrast with Foley, and Lamont tacked to the center with a lot of his advertising this cycle anyhoo

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lamont

Reading some of the posts earlier in this thread...everyone seemed to be rooting for him because he deserved something, rather than any interest in who runs Connecticut's government.

I said this privately, but didn't post it here, if Malloy pulled this race into the margin of error in the polls, he was always going to win.  It just comes down the whole "who's gonna vote for you on election day" demographic...

[Lunar]

Soo...Simmons won his old CD and that's about it?

I'm not sure there was ever a route of victory for Simmons in this primary.  There wasn't a lot for conservatives to get excited about with his record outside of electability and his military service, and McMahon destroyed the electability argument by indicating her willingness to spend 50 million bucks or whatever it is to win this race.

I'm still a secret fan of Simmon's possum strategy for the underdog candidate...you're underfunded, you can't keep going toe-to-toe 'till election day, you save your $500k or whatevsky it is, and your principle opponent is too afraid of bombarding you with attacks while your campaign is "suspended," and he/she/it'll want your endorsement...it's a hail mary strategy at best, but I'm not sure if it was a bad call by Simmons.  

[Lunar]

Maes' lead is down to 2,400 votes.

Yikes!

If McInnis wins, what are the odds he actually stays in the race?  I know he said he would, but he's not an anti-establishment character, and the CO GOP wants him out an some random millionaire to replace him sooooo badly

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Blumenthal just sent out an email blast announcing his opponent as McMahon.

Damn if that's not the quickest damn email blast in response to a real-time event that I ever saw.

[quote]Dear Friend,

It's official. Tonight, wrestling CEO Linda McMahon won the Republican primary and will be opposing Dick Blumenthal in Connecticut's U.S. Senate race.

There is a real choice in this election. Dick Blumenthal has stood up to the special interests and fought for the people of Connecticut for more than 20 years, making a difference in people's lives.

And while he was serving the people of Connecticut? Linda McMahon was putting her own interests and her own profits first.

In tough times, we need someone in touch with the people of Connecticut -- someone who has been in the trenches and will fight for us and for our future.

[Lunar]

Cinyc, glad you included Schiff  That county has less than 4k residents...which still makes it bigger than the city I spent most of my life in heh

[Lunar]

Blumenthal just sent out an email blast announcing his opponent as McMahon.

Damn if that's not the quickest damn email blast in response to a real-time event that I ever saw.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

hahahahaha, I got Linda McMahon's campaign email blast AFTER Blumenthal's on the subject, awesome.  

[quote]Excitement is in the air -- moments ago, the Associated Press called the primary race for us.

Before I speak to the crowd here at the victory party, I wanted to send you a quick note thanking you for the key role you played in our victory.

We built a grassroots movement made up of extraordinary people just like you, and tonight, we sent a strong message to all the career politicians that we want a different kind of Senator...

... A Senator who knows how to create jobs, a Senator who will put an end to politics as usual, a Senator who won't be beholden to special interests, a Senator who will stop the runway spending, and -- most importantly -- a Senator who will put our state back to work.

Now, it's on to November.

Let's keep the momentum building today so that we can begin changing Washington in 84 days.

Please forward this email to five friends and ask them to join you in supporting our campaign.

This was your victory tonight.

Thanks for all that you do.

On to victory,

Linda McMahon

P.S. We've won the Republican nomination, but our final challenge lies ahead: winning in November. Let's keep the momentum and excitement of our primary victory going. Can I count on you to forward this email to five friends and ask them to join you in supporting our campaign?

P.P.S. Be sure to tune in tomorrow morning to NBC's Today Show, ABC's Good Morning America and CBS's The Early Show. I will be a guest on all three programs.

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Ohrly?  Still.  Cool maps.

[Lunar]

A runoff would not help Simmons, it'd only hurt McMahon

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Apparently there was an error, so Maes is still ahead. However, his lead is down to about 1,300 votes.

If McInnis is lying about his intention to stay in this race, then the future of the CO:Gov race is in the balance.  If he's telling the truth, then it's not.

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The Deal-Handel race looks like just about a tie.

A slight Deal win with a recount would be the best situation possible for Barnes

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Does Ken Buck not have a wikipedia or am I tripping here?

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I expected Handel to pull off a Haley-lite victory here to be honest.  Never expected her to dominate like Haley, but I expected the whole corrupt-DC-congressman vibe to lose to the mamma grizzly thing that Handel was running with.

Whatever, Barnes will have better contrasts to draw against Deal and I think he'll make a better governor anyhow

[Lunar]

Re: Buck

I think everyone wins here.  Democrats win with a less palatable general election candidate, and Republicans win with someone who isn't an establishment puppet.