It's nice to get away from it all, to a house on a lake out here in the Pennsylvania country. It's actually a blessed sort of relief to get away from Ned Lamont, Joe Lieberman and the whole knotted mess that's going to be dominating our fall.
I was sitting on the lake shore today when it hit me that I hadn't thought about Connecticut politics in more than a day. I haven't even checked my email (much). I could go on for hours about Lieberman, Lamont, DeStefano, Rell, Johnson, Murphy and all the rest, but to the folks here it just doesn't matter.
It's nice. I sit around, read, go for walks with my wife and generally relax. (I also caught a bat that was flying around the inside of the house with a net. Rustic!)
I did read an article about politics in the local paper this morning that I thought was kind of interesting, though. So I'll share it with you:
he four suburban counties ringing Philadelphia have been a Republican stronghold for decades — with the GOP claiming seven of every 10 voters there in the past — but continue to lose ground to rival parties.
As of Friday, registered GOP voters now number just slightly above 49 percent in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery, home to one-fifth of the state's registered voters.
...
In the meantime, President Bush lost the suburbs in both 2000 and 2004, helping Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry carry the state.
U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, who is up for re-election in November, won the suburbs in 1994 and 2000.
But now?
A Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed his challenger, Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey, leading 49 percent to 39 percent in those four counties. (AP)
It's a very interesting trend, one perhaps reflected in the changing makeup of Fairfield County. It's also neat that Quinnipiac, which we sort of take for granted as a local pollster, gets cited out here as a major source of polling information.
Casey's well liked and acceptably moderate (he is, for example, anti-abortion), and Santorum seems to have drifted too far into right field for a lot of Pennsylvania voters.
Other than that, I don't know too much about the race.
And that's nice.
Source
"Philly's suburbs turning from GOP." Associated Press 20 August, 2006.
12 comments:
Genghis, you mean in the rest of the country you can be a good Democrat without favoring turning Baghdad into a 21st century Dunkirk...
Based on what they are saying about Lieberman could someone explain why Kerry and Dean have endorsed someone like Casey, who might resemble Alan Schlesinger as much as the other CT candidates
Really? Because he can win here. And they need this seat.
so Joe's sin is the Democrat establishment thinks a blue state is obligated to elect a dove...that's a pretty sad explanation
I suppose when Red State Republicans give Lindsay Graham and Chuck Hagel pink slips in 2008 the news media and the DNC will be screaming from the rafters
Genghis--
Can we toggle the switch over to required registration?
I'm just curious how many anonymous idiots there actually are...
so Joe's sin is the Democrat establishment thinks a blue state is obligated to elect a dove
I believe Joe's sin was getting less votes than the other guy in the primary...
Anon10:11,
This is a political gossip site.If you want serious there are links to the right you can click on.
Our Grand Poobah Genghis thinks Quinnipiac is a local polling firm? Sigh.
"so Joe's sin is the Democrat establishment thinks a blue state is obligated to elect a dove?
I believe Joe's sin was getting less votes than the other guy in the primary"
I know Joe is an observant Jew, but in this case his penance is having to run as an independent.
Perhaps he will go to confession about hiring that inept surfer to run his primary race
Is Joe running as an Independent? I don't think so. The independent party is one of the many third parties in Connecticut. Perhaps, what people meant to say is that he is running as a petitioning candidate, which is a candidate running independent of any party affliation. Yet this isn't the case either.
Sen. Lieberman has created his own third party, the CT for Lieberman party, a party of one.
We need to be clear about his third party status. We should also pay attention to whether or not this third party is a valid third party.
Even President Bush is distancing himself from the comments of VP Dick Cheney regarding the CT Senate race. Read below taken from an AP article:
"What all of us in this administration have been saying is that leaving Iraq before the mission is complete will send the wrong message to the enemy and create a more dangerous world," Bush said. "That's what we're saying, and it's an honest debate for Americans to listen to and be engaged in."
He said he understood how "some didn't think we ought to go in there in the first place. But defeat -- if you think it's bad now, imagine what Iraq would look like if the United States leaves before this government can defend itself and sustain itself."
Bush said he did not mean to criticize the motives of Lamont or other critics. "I will never question the patriotism of somebody who disagrees with me," the president said. "This has nothing to do with patriotism. It has everything to do with understanding the world in which we live."
From my vantage point out West this past week, it was amazing how many people thought Lamont was a slam dunk to win. Until they heard how many voters were unaffiliated. Until they heard about the two most recent polls.
Interesting, because through the national media, an expectation of destiny has been created for Ned. Which will make it all devastating when the campaign fails.
"It has everything to do with understanding the world in which we live."
Ned understands the world members of the Round Hill Club live in. Not the same world. By a long shot
Post a Comment