Psssst...We can beat Santorum and Chafee...

[WilliamPitt]

The resistance suggests that Bush's second term could turn out far rockier and more contentious than his first. One indicator many Republicans are watching to gauge whether Bush is becoming a liability for the party is in Pennsylvania, where Rick Santorum, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, is trailing state treasurer Bob Casey Jr. by double digits.

"My caucus would do anything for Senator Santorum," Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.) said of his colleague. Chafee, who himself faces a tough reelection battle next year, predicted Republicans will increasingly be faced with the choice of propping up Bush or protecting their own. "I think they're going to collide," Chafee said of the two options.

Asked whether Bush's problems were a factor in his slump, Santorum responded, "That may be."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/20/AR2005092001704.html?sub=AR

[Marnieworld]

1. Silly Republicans

Don't they know that all of our elections are bought and paid for farces? They'll be fine. :eyes:

[Pirate Smile]

2. I swear Chafee must have gone insane. He is tying himself to

BushCo and the Republicans. Bye Bye, Linc!

Will NARAL take back their idiotic endorsement?

[Demoiselle]

10. Let's get 'em then.

Linc Chafee, in better times, is a Republican I could accept. But hey, if he's vulnerable, let's get him out. (As a Philadelphian, I can predict that Ricky the Rat Faced Boy is toast.)

[Zynx]

3. Jim Talent is also in serious trouble.

[Pirate Smile]

4. Lord, I hope Lott and Snowe decide to retire.

[DemocracyInaction]

23. Snowe has now the biggest warchest in her history as of a

few months ago. She isn't going anywhere. And remember, if wasn't for her and the twit, Bill Clinton would have had to move out of the White House prematurely. Their moderates don't bother me like those other inbred lunatics they have spawned.

[Pirate Smile]

36. Her vote for Frist and Santorum for the Leadership of the Senate should

get her thrown out on her ear.

Any good she does as a "moderate" is incredibly minor compared to the damage she does by voting to have the lunatics in control of the Senate.

The Republican "moderates" are a joke. They have bowed to Karl Rove's scary tactics for 5 years. They may be emboldened somewhat with Bush's weakened position but their loyalty has been shown to be to the Republican Party more then anything else.

[SteppingRazor]

35. Unfortunately, both have announced their intentions to run...

And both will win handily.

[WinkyDink]

5. Santorum is toast here.

Completely.
Take it to the proverbial bank.

[6000eliot]

6. But do we have any trouble spots?

[SteppingRazor]

12. Sure -- Here's our weak spots

Minnesota -- Dayton retiring, Wetterling or Khobluchar take on Mark Kennedy. Kennedy could win, as Minnesota has been trending GOP in the last few elections (look what happened to state hero Walter Mondale in the last election)

New Jersey -- with Sen. Corzine becoming governor, it'll be between a new Dem. replacement (probably Frank Pallone?) and Rep. Tom Kean. And it'll be tight.

Those are the most obvious, along with maybe Maryland. But we don't have any HUGE risks, the way the GOP does in Pennsylvania and R.I.

[6000eliot]

24. I'm in NJ, and we aren't trending republican.

Kean's name doesn't mean that much. We're onto the neocon agenda around here. At least I think so.

[SteppingRazor]

28. Oh, I don't think NJ is trending Rep. I think Minnesota is...

and that's easily demonstrated by the last few elections (governor, senator, etc.).

But, while I agree that Tom Kean's name doesn't exactly have that "magic touch," neither does Pallone's.

Still, I'm actually giving New Jersey a Democratic nod here, by saying that Corzine will win the gubernatorial race. I think he definitely will. He then announces his replacement for Senator, which will almost (very BIG almost) certainly be Frank Pallone.

Pallone then has one year to convince people he should stay in office. Kean, meanwhile, is already gunning for 2006. I think it'll come down to who brands who.
Pallone should stay close to Corzine (assuming Corzine manages to keep people happy in the quicksilver world of Jersey politics) and ride on coattails -- at least for 2006. After that, it's up to him to make his own mark for 2012.

In any case, simply because there's no incumbent and two men with little name recognition, New Jersey is certainly a soft spot in 2006 for us. No where near Santorum in PA, of course, but still, a place we need to protect. The Dem. Party should make sure Pallone's campaign coffers are plenty thick.

[6000eliot]

31. True.

Fortunately and unfortunately, we really don't have big names in either party capable of carrying an election. It should be interesting. And, I can't wait to see Santorum get handed his ass.

[joanski0]

7. I got polled last night in PA.

Among the questions I was asked was whether I would vote for Santorum or Casey. Whether I would vote for Rendell over Bill Scranton. Whether I would vote for Rendell over Lynn Swann. And what I thought of the Conservative Youth of PA's advertising. (The Conservative Youth are trying to blame Democrat, Bill DeWeese, for the PA pay raise for Congressmen). I told them that I thought the Conservative Youth should sign up for Iraq.

[annabanana]

ha!

:spray:

[ComerPerro]

8. Something will come up

a war, a terror attack, something, to bring the sheep back to Bush.

[NNadir]

9. Is Rick playing the "blame game" for his unpopularity?

Gee Rick, and maybe the fact that you're a mindless ideologue too could have something to do with it.

I don't know. I'm just guessing, and I certainly don't want to play the "blame game."

Man it's hard to get Repukes to accept responsibility for their own actions, and even then, they do so only with lots of hemming and hawing.

[SteppingRazor]

11. Chafee and Santorum are the beginning...

And the most likely. But we can also beat Burns in Montana, maybe take the open seat in Tennessee if Ford plays his cards right, and maybe beat Talent in Missouri and DeWine in Ohio.

If we manage to do ALL of those, then it's 50 Dems to 49 Reps, with 1 Independent (Sanders in Vermont).

[mod mom]

13. and HACKETT can beat DEWINE in OHIO!!!!

[SteppingRazor]

15. He CAN (can being the opportune word)...

But he needs to declare his candidacy, like, yesterday.

[RandomKoolzip]

14. I think the "fad" for far-rightism is fading.

Asked whether Bush's problems were a factor in his slump, Santorum responded, "That may be."

I think it's across the board; Bush may be its most visible figurehead, but I believe many are turning away from the far right and trending toward the center again. Santorum is just feeling the aftereffects of a miserable and destructive first four years of far right rule.

[Ravenseye]

16. We need to retain all 18 seats, and gain 6 more.

We can't let up on Santorum or Chafee, but there's two. We need 4 more to get a majority.

Frist's seat in Tennessee will be empty. That's definately vulnerable. Who do we have up for that seat?

That would be three. So we need three more from generally conservative states.

Otherwise they have seats up in...
Missouri, Arizona, Montana, Ohio, Indiana, Maine, Missisippi, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.

Tough three to crack.

[SteppingRazor]

17. I answered this above...

If we're gonna get six, it'll be: (a ? means there's a heavily contested primary, and the name below is my pick to win the primary)

Casey beating Santorum in Pennsylvania
Whitehouse (?) beating Chafee in R.I.
Ford beating Bryant (?) in Tennessee
McCaskill beating Talent in Missouri
Morrison (?) beating Burns in Montana
Hackett (?) beating DeWine in Ohio

[Ravenseye]

18. Sorry, see it now

my eyes must have glazed over.

[SteppingRazor]

19. And incidentally, a couple of these aren't as bad as you think...

DeWine is HATED in Ohio these days. His approval rating is in the freaking low 30s.

Montana has been skewing Democratic, with a newly elected Dem. governor and senator.

And Missouri is always a battleground.

I think we can actually do this. The real problem will be covering our asses in placing like Minnesota while we do it.

[Ravenseye]

21. Montana grassroots is strong

They've done some solid work there the past few years getting local democrats in places. A good model, from what I understand, to pursue for the rest of teh country.

[Lugnut]

20. Santorum is going down, Will

[Zinfandel]

22. Yes Republicans won't cheat, distort the vote, keep people waiting in line

Republicans won't use their republican owned electronic voting machines...

Just like in California the democrats think they have it made...they stupidly believe the polls, until after the elections they are shocked the republican won...they scratch their heads, scream fraud...too late election over, they write books about the fraud, too late election over...republicans are in office and you can't do a thing about it!!!

As if Musclehead, and these Bush/Rove supporting republican SENATORS are really going to lose (or should I say win legitimately)!!!

Just keep believing the polls and think we got it made and ignore those republican owned electronic voting machines, oh, they won't do that, we'll be ready for them...Until the media says the next day, they are stunned by the "upsets"!!!


WE NEVER EVER FUCKING LEARN! WE JUST KEEP TAKING THE BAIT!!!

(Does anyone remember what happened in Georgia...Democratic Senator and Governor with double digit leads the night before the election, LOSE, to the republican candidates.... reporters & the media were "shocked" by the upsets!) Oh My!!!

[THUNDER HANDS]

25. I predict 2006 is a wash

and we come back with the exact same congress as we had this term.

Which, for Democrats, would be a good year based on how things have gone recently.

[Zinfandel]

27. I agree 100% and it not hard to see why...People believing the polls

and that's exactly what the republicans want us to do...And the republican owned electronic voting machines....They steal the elections and what can we do? What have we done? But scream after the fact..."conspiracy theorist" is what we are called!!!

Too late, screams don't work after the fact, they will already be in office...The republicans know this very well...If you cheat, YOU "WIN" and no one can remove you after you've been announced the winner!!!

We've all seen this so many times, yet we keep hoping otherwise...HOPE doesn't make it against these lying, cheating, greedt, fascist republicans...

Will we ever learn?

[SteppingRazor]

29. I disagree...

I think we will pick up a couple of seats in the senate, and even more in the House, but neither will lose its GOP majority.

It'd be nice if we achieved a majority in one house or the other, but I don't think it will happen.

[Zynx]

37. I think we'll have a net gain of 3 in the Senate and 15 in the House.

[texpatriot2004]

26. We can't beat anyone with the current vote rigging machines. n/t

[Zinfandel]

30. Has everyone already forgotten Georgia ???????

Does anyone remember what happened in Georgia...Democratic Senator and Governor with double digit leads the night before the election, LOSE, to the republican candidates.... reporters & the media were "shocked" by the upsets! Oh My!!!

(Georgia has 100% republican owned electronic voting machines and dudes, you can't question a machines outcome).

[texpatriot2004]

38. Exactly. n/t

[AnnieBW]

32. Little Ricky's Problems

Began LONG before *'s current troubles. I believe that they started when he shamelessly exploited Terri Schiavo. Or, when his supporters yelled "hey hey, ho ho, Social Security's got to go" at his announcement that he would run again. Or when his kids who are home-schooled in Virginia were taking up slots in the Penn Hills School District computer magnet school, but never showed up.

[iconoclastNYC]

33. This is our Perfect Storm

Everyone pitch in and help and we'll make history.

[Zinfandel]

34. How?