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New York, 1:09 AM
Sun Dec 20
11 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/01/09
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12/01/09
/lazy
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11/04/09
I'm not really clear on why the news media is conveniently ignoring this fact. #barackobama
11/04/09
11/04/09
Things, particularly politics, can be complicated, and it's not helpful to understanding an election to reduce it to a single narrative.
It's definitely true that both dem candidates in NJ and VA sucked.
And that (ergo / e.g.) in VA Deeds pretty much failed to turn out the Obama coalition, specifically young people and African Americans.
And it's definitely true that both elections (particularly NJ) focused on local issues.
However -- and I can speak with more specific knowledge to VA than NJ -- "national" issues like big government, tea bagging, etc also came into play.
Obama has definitely lost ground with indp voters. (Rightly or wrongly. I personally think wrongly / unfairly but it's still a problem.)
My bottom line is that while it would have been nice to win NJ and VA gov, we're talking about shitty candidates who deserved to lose. I have more sympathy for Deeds than for Corzine (former Goldman CEO who was on ok senator but a craptastic gov), but they both ran terrible campaigns.
And my hope is that these losses will serve as a wake-up call for 2010, both for the DNC/DCCC/DSCC and (more importantly) for we "grass roots" and the "Obama coalition" overall. #barackobama
11/04/09
11/04/09
One note about the independent voters: the number of people identifying as independent has boomed in part because of disaffected GOPers joining their ranks. It seems like at least some of the independent shift to the right is coming from these voters, many of whom were still identifying as Republican prior to the '08 election.
It's difficult to compare the level of independent voter support from then to now when the population of independent voters is increasing and the ID of "independent" is not affiliated with any specific political viewpoint. The strategists are going to have to get to work on the problem, since there are now more independents than either Democrats or Republicans. #barackobama
11/04/09
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11/04/09
More like buffalo-winger with tangy blue cheese on top. Yummie. #barackobama
11/04/09
[www.cbsnews.com] #barackobama
11/04/09
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11/04/09
Earlier, I tried to find Bush's reaction to the 2001 election, but after 15 minutes, I had to give up.
11/04/09
I'll add that if there was any time that VA and NJ were going to break their pattern of choosing the opposite party, one month after 9/11 would have been that time. But they didn't. #barackobama
11/04/09
11/04/09
The Newark Star Ledger had a picture of a Hoboken Condo (where the Gov lives???) with a banner draping virtually the entire building with the tag line of "Column A All the Way"
Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Camden, etc. counties traditionally vote for democrats. They did so last night. Essex and Hudson were 68% Corzine.
Union shocked most people when it went 51% Corzine and 43% Christie. Union was expected to have a 30 point gap. Similarly, Bergen, the most populous county, was about 50/50.
Yes property tax was the main issue. However, many voters saw Gov Corzine's progressive policies as the source of the skyrocketing rates. [I got it, most ppty tax is municipal, not state]. For example, the NJ legislative budget office put a $20,000,0000,000 price tag on his COAH initiative.
His inability / unwillingness to address the key issues of his 2004 election also sealed his fate. 1) Did not bring transparency. He actually went to the NJ Supreme Court to shield his email to his ex-girlfriend labor leader. 2) He failed to rein in corruption. Instead, he (and his foundations) contributed to organizations and/or campaigns managed by many of the indicted. 3) He did nothing for property tax. Hew was seen as the person who piled on more programs. Before responding, I am not judging the merits of his programs -- many I support.
It was his arrogance that alienated many democratic voters. #barackobama
11/04/09
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