I will be doing the bare minimum from here on out. Sorry.
"Tea Party favorite wins nod in Neb. primary for Senate" Associated press May 14, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Tea Party scored a win in Nebraska on Tuesday as university president Ben Sasse captured the Republican nomination for Senate in a bitter race that highlighted the fissures within the GOP. Two women set the stage for history-making in West Virginia.
Sasse, who had the backing of outside conservative groups, Sarah Palin, and Senator Ted Cruz, grabbed 45 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Sid Dinsdale, the president of Pinnacle Bank, and 23 percent for former state treasurer Shane Osborn.
For months, Sasse was locked in an increasingly negative race with Osborn, who had the support of the Washington establishment and allies of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky.
With little to celebrate to date, conservative groups immediately trumpeted Sasse’s win.
**************
Voters in Nebraska and West Virginia were deciding their lineups for the November elections in the latest round of spring primaries. The fall midterms will determine control of Congress for the last two years of President Obama’s second term, with Republicans expected to hold the House and cautiously optimistic about winning control of the Senate, where the GOP needs to net six seats to grab the majority.
I'm feeling pretty confident actually, especially considering the Obummer record, historical trends, and the fact that a Republican Senate will pressure Obama for Israel. My prediction is the Republicans will gain 9 seats.
In West Virginia, Republican Representative Shelley Moore Capito and Democrat Natalie Tennant cruised to primary wins and will square off in a Senate showdown in November that will give the state its first female senator.
Capito, a seven-term congresswoman and daughter of former governor Arch Moore, and Tennant, the state’s secretary of state, will vie to replace Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller, who is not seeking reelection after 30 years in the position.
West Virginia has become increasingly Republican, and Capito enters the general election contest as the heavy favorite. If elected, she would be the first Republican senator from West Virginia since 1959.
In Nebraska, Sasse, who heads Midland University, had the backing of the Tea Party Patriots and FreedomWorks in his bid to replace Republican Senator Mike Johanns, who is retiring after a single six-year term.
Sasse has focused on his conservative credentials, opposition to abortion, and support for gun rights, and the goal of repealing and replacing the health care law.
In one 30-second ad, Sasse’s two young daughters, Alex and Corrie, talk about how much their dad opposes the Affordable Care Act. ‘‘He wants to destroy it,’’ says one daughter. ‘‘He despises it,’’ says the other.
While Sasse won over the Tea Party movement, he stood out from some of its past candidates. He was an assistant secretary in the Health and Human Services Department in President George W. Bush’s administration.
Oh. So he's establi$hment Tea Party.
Outside groups and the candidates have spent millions of dollars on the race in which the GOP winner is widely expected to prevail in November; Obama won just 38 percent of the vote in Nebraska in 2012. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party’s campaign arm, remained neutral.
Trial lawyer Dave Domina defeated Larry Marvin in the Democratic primary.
The Tea Party has struggled this year as candidates have lost to establishment favorites in Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio, and Nebraska stands as the insurgent movement’s best remaining shot. In upcoming primaries, its chances to upset incumbents have been diminishing in Kentucky, Kansas, Idaho, and Mississippi.
I know the machines have been rigged against real Tea Party or change.
Related(?):
French conservatives in turmoil as far right gains
EU leaders call for simpler EU after poll setback
Yeah, protest voters turned out in droves. That's the problem. Truth be told, US electorate headed to the right again because lefti$t globali$m is a mi$erable failure.
England's Election Results
I think so. I've kinda have a hangover on all the hateful name-calling.
The Republican establishment has a love-hate relationship with the movement.
Yeah, the e$tablishment mostly hates us.
The GOP welcomed the energy that led to its control of the House in the 2010 elections, but blames it for less-than-viable candidates in 2010 and 2012 Senate races in Indiana, Colorado, Nevada, and Delaware.
Republicans in the capital remain convinced they could have won control of the Senate if only their establishment candidates had won more primaries, and some have been determined to defeat the movement’s candidates this election.
In Nebraska’s race for governor, Omaha businessman Pete Ricketts held a slight lead over Attorney General Jon Bruning. Term limits prevented Governor Dave Heineman, a Republican, from running again.
In West Virginia, Democratic names like Byrd and Rockefeller dominated politics for decades, but since 2000, the state has voted Republican in presidential elections. The transformation is widely expected to continue this fall
Capito’s planned departure from the House created a messy GOP primary in her Second Congressional District.
Alex Mooney, the former chairman of the Maryland GOP who moved to West Virginia, captured the nomination in a seven-candidate race and will face Democrat Nick Casey, the former state party chairman of West Virginia, in the fall.
--more--"
"Tea Party losing races but tugging GOP to right" by Charles Babington | Associated Press May 20, 2014
WASHINGTON — Tuesday’s high-profile primary elections could extend a streak of sorts for Tea Party Republicans: losing individual races but winning the larger ideological war by tugging the GOP rightward.
Strange how we don't actually win elections, here or across the pond, with broad-based support because the other parties have loaded enclaves. If the support is broad-based it has to have won somewhere, yet never seems to.
Several Tea Party-endorsed candidates are struggling in Tuesday’s Republican congressional primaries in Georgia, Kentucky, and Idaho. In each state, however, the ‘‘establishment’’ Republican candidates have emphasized their conservative credentials, which narrows the party’s philosophical differences.
Citing similar dynamics in other states, Democrats say the GOP candidates who are trying to give Republicans control of the Senate will prove to be too far right for centrist voters in November.
Delusional when it has been too much Obummer.
Republicans need to gain six Senate seats to control the chamber. Holding Kentucky and Georgia against well-funded Democrats, both women, is crucial to their hopes.
Six states hold primaries Tuesday. Georgia, Kentucky, and Oregon have closely watched Republican contests for Senate. Pennsylvania and Arkansas have feisty gubernatorial primaries. In Idaho, Tea Party-backed lawyer Bryan Smith is trying to oust Republican Representative Mike Simpson, who is seeking a ninth House term. In most states, the turnout is projected to be low.
In Kentucky, Tea Party supporters seek to knock off Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, a 30-year senator they see as too accommodating to Democrats. But challenger Matt Bevin has struggled under a barrage of attacks from McConnell and his allies.
McConnell, caught off guard by the Tea Party movement in 2010, has scrambled to win support from conservatives who dislike compromise. He quickly allied himself with his colleague from Kentucky, Senator Rand Paul, who defeated McConnell’s hand-picked candidate in the 2010 primary.
And in February, McConnell voted against raising the debt ceiling, a never-pleasant vote that past party leaders often swallowed to avert a government default.
See: Kentucky Cockfight
In Georgia, the Republican primary to succeed retiring Senator Saxby Chambliss drew a crowded field, including three US House members. All are battling for the top two spots, with a runoff virtually certain.
Polls suggest Representatives Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey, who espouse Tea Party principles, may have faded in recent weeks. Georgia’s former secretary of state, Karen Handel, won endorsements from Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express.
Representative Jack Kingston and businessman David Perdue have walked a careful line: showing more openness to establishment support while still catering to hard-core conservatives who dominate Republican primaries. When the US Chamber of Commerce endorsed Kingston, Broun called him ‘‘the king of pork.’’
That tag might have fit a few years ago. Kingston, a longtime Appropriations Committee member, has proudly steered millions of federal dollars to his district. But Tea Party-driven attacks on federal spending have sent Republicans scurrying to tighter-fisted ground. Kingston surprised some in January when he voted against an appropriations bill after working hard to insert funding for Savannah’s port.
In Oregon, Republicans hope to knock off first-term Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley in November. Seeking the GOP nomination Tuesday are pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby and state Representative Jason Conger.
The Arkansas primary holds drama for several state offices, but the US Senate showdown will come this fall. Two-term Democratic Senator Mark Pryor and first-term Republican Representative Tom Cotton will claim their parties’ nominations Tuesday. Cotton cleared the Republican field partly by steering solidly right on key issues.
--more--"
And the results:
"Mitch McConnell wins GOP Kentucky primary; Michelle Nunn for Georgia Democrats" by David Espo | Associated Press May 21, 2014
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell dispatched his Tea Party-backed challenger with ease Tuesday night, and Democrats turned to two women, Alison Lundergan Grimes to oppose him in Kentucky and Michelle Nunn to fight for Georgia, in elections next fall with control of the Senate at stake.
Setting up a third high-profile race, Democratic Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas and his Republican challenger, Representative Tom Cotton, were unopposed for their parties’ nominations.
On the busiest primary night of the year to date, Democrats eyeing a return to power in the Pennsylvania state Capitol nominated businessman Tom Wolf to oppose Republican Governor Tom Corbett’s bid for a second term.
Republican primary struggles between establishment-backed conservatives and Tea Party-favored rivals were a dominant feature of the evening, as they had been earlier in North Carolina and will be later in Mississippi, Kansas and Alaska. Republicans must gain six seats to win a Senate majority, and party leaders have made it a priority to avoid the presence of candidates on the ballot this fall who are seen as too conservative or unsteady — or both — to prevail in winnable races.
McConnell, a five-term lawmaker and the embodiment of the GOP establishment, won 60 percent of the vote in Kentucky. Challenger Matt Bevin pulled 36 percent.
For Democrats, Tuesday night was a chance to showcase challengers — both of them women — in the rare states where the party has hopes of picking up GOP-held seats.
Grimes, a prize Democratic recruit, piled up 76 percent in a four-way race, winning her Kentucky primary with ease.
She and McConnell wasted no time turning their attention to the fall campaign.
‘‘Make me the majority leader and Kentucky will lead America,’’ McConnell said in an appeal to home state pride, adding that he would use his power to check President Obama’s agenda.
Grimes said Obama was not on the ballot and responded forcefully to some of the campaign barbs that have already come her way. ‘‘'I am not an empty dress. I am not a rubber stamp. And I am not a cheerleader. I am a strong Kentucky woman,’’ she told cheering supporters in Lexington.
In Georgia, Nunn, whose father was a four-term Democratic senator from the state, easily outpaced her Democratic rivals and awaited the outcome of the GOP primary to learn her opponent for the fall.
Republicans set up a July 22 runoff between businessman David Perdue and Representative Jack Kingston — survivors of a seven-way primary — to select an opponent for Nunn.
Along with Perdue, Kingston, and Secretary of State Karen Handel, Representatives Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun also were on the Georgia Republican ballot. The presence of three incumbent lawmakers in the Senate race assured a large turnover in the state’s House delegation come January.
Bevin was backed by Tea Party groups in the state where they made their mark four years ago by sweeping Rand Paul into the Senate.
Outmaneuvered in 2010 when his preferred contender was defeated, McConnell responded this time by running ads featuring testimonials from Paul and by hiring a top aide to Paul to run his own campaign.
For his part, Bevin stumbled through a campaign that included an appearance at a rally of cock-fighting supporters.
Plagued by low approval ratings, McConnell spent more than $9 million through the end of April on his primary campaign, according to Federal Election Commission figures. Bevin spent $3 million, and outside groups poured in $5 million more — a three-way deluge of television advertisements expected to continue through the fall.
The Georgia Senate race was also fiercely expensive — $10 million had been spent on television commercials through the end of last week — and highlighted the divisions within the Republican Party. Perdue relied on his background as a businessman, while Broun and Gingrey ran farther to the right. Handel sought to capitalize on the backing of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and Kingston had the support of the US Chamber of Commerce.
In Oregon, Monica Wehby, a physician, won the Republican nomination to oppose Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley in a race that GOP strategists hope can become more competitive as the year unfolds.
There were gubernatorial primaries in five states, including Idaho, where two-term Republican incumbent C.L. (Butch) Otter led for renomination.
In Georgia, Republican Governor Nathan Deal defeated two primary challengers. State Senator Jason Carter, grandson of the 39th president, was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Republican Corbett’s poor ratings in Pennsylvania drew a crowd in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Wolf outpaced a Democratic field that included Representative Allyson Schwartz, who began the campaign as the front-runner.
Arkansas primary voters set up a race between Republican Asa Hutchinson, a former congressman who also served in the Bush organization, and former Democratic representative Mike Ross.
Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon won nomination to a fourth term. State Representative Dennis Richardson beat five rivals handily for the Republican spot on the ballot.
A smattering of Republican House members faced primary foes, notably Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho, who won handily despite a challenge from a Tea Party-backed candidate.
Challenger Bryan Smith said the incumbent wasn’t conservative enough, and he drew early support from the Club for Growth in a bid to oust Simpson.
Establishment groups rallied behind Simpson, and the Club for Growth quit running television ads for Smith weeks ago.
In Pennsylvania, Chelsea Clinton’s mother-in-law, former representative Marjorie Margolies, lost her bid to return to the House — despite fund-raising and other campaign help from Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Related: The Clinton's Political Incest
Former Republican representative Bob Barr of Georgia — who once helped impeach President Clinton — fared somewhat better in his comeback attempt for the House.
Doesn't look good for the health of her presidential prospects.
NEXT DAY UPDATE: Rove draws fire on Clinton comment
Well, she is the front-runner, and it is looking like skipping a Globe purchase today is inevitable because the web preview shows it to be a pos.
He ran second and qualified for a runoff.
--more--"
"Will the Tea Party rally behind GOP establishment?" by Dan Balz | Washington Post May 22, 2014
Not this member.
WASHINGTON — Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is nobody’s example of a Tea Party Republican. Just two months ago, in an interview with the New York Times, he said of the Tea Party candidates challenging establishment Republicans, ‘‘We will crush them everywhere.’’
He knows the vote is rigged.
That’s exactly what McConnell did Tuesday when he raced past Matt Bevin to win the Senate primary in Kentucky. But what was most striking in the aftermath was how quickly the Tea Party — symbolized by the outside conservative groups that once were calling for the senator’s defeat — rushed to embrace this embodiment of the Washington GOP establishment and call for party unity in the fall.
Tuesday’s results — a very good night for the GOP establishment — were no big surprise. Establishment victories in the marquee races were predicted well in advance. But based on the instant and overnight reactions, Democrats should no longer assume that the Republican opposition will be fractured, demoralized, and as consumed by fighting each other as on taking back the Senate.
Republicans now appear ready to mount a united effort this fall with candidates more prepared than some were in the past to wage tough and costly general-election campaigns — and with a map that shows ample opportunities to win back the net of six Senate seats they need to turn the Democrats into the minority party in both houses of Congress.
McConnell’s victory came on a night when the Tea Party suffered other significant setbacks. In Georgia, neither of the two candidates who made the runoff in the Senate primary, businessman David Perdue and Representative Jack Kingston, were Tea Party types. In Oregon, pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby beat a more conservative candidate to win the Senate primary. In Idaho, Representative Mike Simpson easily beat back a Tea Party challenger.
All through the early part of this year, there has been one political narrative above all others: Tea Party vs. Republican establishment, or a Republican Party at war with itself. It is both a real and flawed concept, as the first rounds of primaries have demonstrated.
Real because there are important differences between hard-charging Tea Party conservatives who believe there is still too much business as usual even among Republicans in Washington and the more cautious establishment types. Flawed because the Republican Party of 2014 is still more united by its deep dislike of President Obama and his policies, and by the prospect of taking control of the Senate in the fall, than by those differences.
It's his policies. I could care less which turd occupies the suit.
The early victories by establishment candidates this spring do not mean the Tea Party is a spent force.
The primaries have yet to run their course, and so the final scorecard on Tea Party vs. establishment is incomplete. Most of the establishment candidates still facing Tea Party challengers are favored to prevail, though there is one important race where an incumbent faces a serious challenge. That’s in Mississippi, where Senator Thad Cochran has been challenged by state Senator Chris McDaniel.
The other reason the Tea Party isn’t a spent force is the degree to which it has bent the GOP establishment in its direction. House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday: ‘‘There’s not that big a difference between what you call the Tea Party and your average conservative. We’re against Obamacare, we think taxes are too high, we think government is too big. I wouldn’t continue to sing that same song.’’
People will continue to sing that song of a party divided, no matter what Boehner says. Stylistically there are important differences between the most passionate Tea Party conservatives, who are determined to stop business as usual in Washington, and the party regulars for whom at least occasional compromise isn’t a four-letter word.
But Boehner’s broader point is correct. That’s partly because every establishment figure in the party, with rare exceptions, sees Tea Party activists as an essential part of a winning coalition.
‘‘The Tea Party is a part of the Republican majority coalition at this point,’’ said David Winston, a Republican pollster. ‘‘One of the things the party has to do generally is to make sure the reasons they’re part of that majority coalition are reinforced. . . . Ultimately this is still about content.’’
--more--"
Related:
RNC seeks super PAC parity in lawsuit
91-year-old Rep. Ralph Hall ousted in Texas GOP primary
Immigration advocates targeting Cantor
