The results simply and who cares about corruption anyway?
"Tenn. voters rebuff Tea Party bid to oust senator in primary; Conservatives’ effort to force out justices also fails" by Alan Blinder and Jonathan Weisman | New York Times August 08, 2014
NASHVILLE — Tennessee voters backed Senator Lamar Alexander against a Tea Party challenge and turned down an aggressive bid by conservatives and business interests to oust three members of the state Supreme Court in primaries on Thursday.
I was wondering how they were going to vote down there.
Alexander’s victory in the Republican primary was another win for establishment Republicans against Tea Party challengers. And the decision to retain the justices was also a defeat for conservatives who hoped to gain a majority on Tennessee’s highest court.
Perplexing, and only one thing explains it. Fixed elections.
With 71 percent of the vote counted, Alexander led six other candidates with 51 percent of the vote, the Associated Press said.
Interesting. I'm wondering if a run-off would have been required had he got less than 50.
In addition to Alexander, Republicans, as expected, nominated another incumbent, Governor Bill Haslam, who is running for reelection in November’s general election.
Related: Tennessee Truck Stop
In securing a win, Alexander thwarted the final attempt by Tea Party supporters to oust a Republican senator this year after challenges in Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and South Carolina faltered. The year has proved a marked contrast from 2010 and 2012, when Tea Party candidates toppled Senator Robert Bennett of Utah and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana.
Odd, especially when Congre$$'s approval ratings are in the single digits.
The victories of incumbent lawmakers this year helped deprive Democrats of incendiary candidates they would prefer to face in November and raised the chances of a Republican takeover of the Senate.
And there is NO POTENTIAL BOAT-ROCKING going forward. That's not to say Tea Party is a panacea, but the e$tabli$hment hates them. That has to count for something.
Alexander, a former governor who was elected to the Senate in 2002, knew he would be a target because of his long record of compromise and deal making. And he faced an especially aggressive challenge from Joe Carr, a state representative from Rutherford County, which is southeast of Nashville.
Carr assailed Alexander as too moderate for the state, which has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1996, when Al Gore, a Tennessean, was President Bill Clinton’s running mate.
Gore didn't win his home state in 2000?
Gee, and I was told Ralph Nader cost him the election because of Florida.
But unlike some other Republican lawmakers who did little to prepare for primary challenges, Alexander moved quickly to secure the backing of Tennessee’s political apparatus, which helped to deprive Carr and other rivals of political oxygen.
I'll bet he did. Something gives me the creeps about that guy.
The hopes of Carr, who reported only $1.1 million in fund-raising, were raised in June after a little-known college professor, David Brat, stunned Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, in a primary. Brat had highlighted Cantor’s support for granting some illegal immigrants legal status and enlisted the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham in his cause.
The issues driving Carr were prominent in the last month and he still lost?
See: Cantoring Through Politics
If all these incumbent victories have been legitimate then the people of Virginia deserve even louder applause for their selfless sacrifice.
Tennessee voters also rejected an effort to force three state Supreme Court justices from the bench after conservatives sought to define them as too liberal for the state.
This is a shocking surprise to me and welcome news!
Of course, I had to laugh knowing there are no liberals in Tennessee! They are all up h're.
Chief Justice Gary R. Wade and Justices Cornelia A. Clark and Sharon G. Lee all survived to win new eight-year terms on the state’s highest court, maintaining a margin of about 56 percent to 44 percent, the AP said.
The justices were all appointed by the governor at the time, Phil Bredesen, a Democrat. Conservative groups targeted the justices for defeat in this summer’s retention elections, which are normally pro forma votes.
Their critics, including the Republican State Leadership Committee and Americans for Prosperity, affiliated with Charles G. and David H. Koch, mounted a high-profile campaign claiming the justices had been “soft on crime” and hostile to business interests.
:-)
The justices were also criticized for obliquely supporting the Affordable Care Act because the court in 2006 appointed a Democrat, Robert E. Cooper Jr., as state attorney general; Cooper later refused to join a lawsuit challenging the measure. (The court, itself, never ruled on a case concerning the health law.)
Yeah, well, no one is perfect and Tennessee knows what they are doing when it comes to health matters.
Please tell me that link was not from five years ago.
The justices, joined by many members of the state’s legal community, said the attacks were baseless and raised more than $1 million, a formidable sum in a state of modest television markets.
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"Plagiarism allegations against Senator John Walsh end bid for seat" by Lisa Baumann and Matthew Brown | Associated Press August 08, 2014
HELENA, Mont. — Senator John Walsh dropped his election campaign Thursday amid allegations he plagiarized large portions of a 2007 research project, leaving fellow Democrats to scramble for a replacement with the election less than three months away.
See: Plagiarism From Montana
Nationally, the development only improves the odds for Republicans, who need a net gain of six seats in November to take Senate control. Even before Walsh’s exit, strategists in both parties considered his Senate race against Representative Steve Daines an opportunity to tip one more seat in Republicans’ favor.
See: Plagiarism From Montana
Nationally, the development only improves the odds for Republicans, who need a net gain of six seats in November to take Senate control. Even before Walsh’s exit, strategists in both parties considered his Senate race against Representative Steve Daines an opportunity to tip one more seat in Republicans’ favor.
The Montana Democratic Party must hold a nominating convention before Aug. 20 to choose a replacement candidate.
Former governor Brian Schweitzer’s name circulated as a potential contender even before Walsh’s announcement. But Schweitzer rejected a run earlier this year, when he said he wasn’t interested in the seat that opened when Max Baucus, a six-term senator, was named US ambassador to China.
Walsh, a former National Guard commander, said in a statement to supporters that he was leaving the race but will keep the seat he was appointed to until his term ends in January 2015.
He said the controversy surrounding his US Army War College research paper had become a ‘‘distraction from the debate you expect and deserve.’’
‘‘I am ending my campaign so that I can focus on fulfilling the responsibility entrusted to me as your US senator,’’ Walsh said.
"GOP presidential hopefuls look toward Iowa" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff August 08, 2014
WASHINGTON — Across Iowa this week, a casual observer could be forgiven for believing a presidential election is just around the corner.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky just wrapped up a three-day, 10-stop tour of the state, a media throng in tow. Governor Rick Perry of Texas is about to embark on a four-day swing of the state, and four other would-be candidates are heading to a summit with Christian conservatives this weekend.
In New Hampshire? Cue the crickets.
Possible 2016 Republican candidates have spent nearly twice as much time in Iowa — the first GOP caucus state — as they have in New Hampshire, the first primary state and home of a more moderate Republican electorate.
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The rivalry between Iowa and New Hampshire, increasingly marked by a divide between moderates and conservatives, stretches back decades. The two states have not selected the same Republican candidate in a contested GOP nomination since 1976. Since then, Iowa picked the eventual party nomination winner three times, while New Hampshire elevated the eventual nominee five times.
During the 2012 campaign, 83 percent of Iowa caucus-goers identified themselves as “conservative,” compared with 17 percent who said “moderate” or “liberal,” according to polling of caucus-goers. The New Hampshire electorate was almost evenly split, according to exit polls, with 53 percent saying they were conservative and 47 percent saying they were moderate or liberal.
Iowa caucus-goers were also more likely to support the Tea Party, and almost 6 in 10 said they considered themselves evangelical Christians, which places more of an emphasis on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
Perry and four other potential presidential candidates — Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and former governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas — planned to attend a summit of Christian conservatives on Saturday.
“Everyone knows it’s going to be a social conservative crowd and these candidates are going to have to address those issues early on — in a way it forces these candidates to address these issues,” said Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party who now runs the influential website the Iowa Republican.
“The biggest problem for mainstream Republicans is, what kind of event can you create to have candidates stay and discuss these things?” he added. “If you said, ‘We’re going to have a debt conference,’ I don’t know how many people would turn out for that.”
:-(
The most obvious reason for the early emphasis on Iowa is that the current crop of candidates is more conservative. More moderate candidates — such as former governor Jeb Bush of Florida, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, or Senator Rob Portman of Ohio — have been far less active in testing the presidential waters.
“The candidates who are most out front at the moment tend to be candidates on the right side of the ideological divide,” said Tom Rath, a veteran New Hampshire Republican strategist. “And they would tend to find a more regular audience in Iowa.”
There are perils to some of the early activity, such as a made-for-YouTube moment this week that highlighted the Republican Party’s difficulty in talking about immigration — an issue that also plagued Mitt Romney’s campaign.
Related: Romney's Retreat
Actually, he is again advancing.... Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!
During a campaign event in rural Iowa, an illegal immigrant confronted Representative Steve King, an ardent opponent of immigration reform, who was sitting down for dinner with Paul.
Seconds into the exchange, Paul got up from his seat, grabbed his drink, and left, his half-eaten hamburger still on the table.
King hung around, questioning the young woman on whether she knew English and telling her repeatedly that she and her mother had broken the law. Someone in the background yelled “Go home!”
Iowans must be racist.
Another potential trouble spot for the Iowa field: the party may once again hold its straw poll in about a year, which is an early test of strength and requires a strong campaign organization. Among Iowa Republicans, there is still debate about whether they will hold the straw poll next year, after it was criticized as a political sideshow.
In 2011, Representative Michele Bachmann, a Tea Party favorite, won the straw poll and former governor Tim Pawlenty, a more moderate politician who prided himself on his blue-collar roots, came in a disappointing third and immediately dropped out of the race.
The more conservative tilt of Iowa has caused some candidates in the past to skip it altogether. Senator John McCain avoided the state almost completely in 2008, focusing all of his energy on winning the New Hampshire primary. Although Iowa breathed life into Huckabee’s campaign that year, McCain won the nomination.
Romney placed a big bet on the state in 2008 — spending $10 million, hiring a team of advisers, and catering to the conservative base — only to come in a disappointing second. During his 2012 campaign he held the state at arm’s length until just before the caucuses. He came in a narrow second, and then handily won the New Hampshire primary.
Activists in New Hampshire insist they do not feel neglected — yet.
“We’ll be on everybody’s dance cards as of the 15th of November,” Rath said. “In the end, we’ll get plenty of attention.”
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