Political Wire

Suggests that Meehan is out. Joe II in?

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by: conspiracy @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 18:32:42 PM UTC

Link

http://politicsmagazine.com/bl...

Lynch is probably in whatever but Capuano is likely out if Kennedy is in. Vicki running in the Special even though she doesn't want appointment is also mentioned.

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by: conspiracy @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 18:35:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Vicky said

yesterday that she wasn't interested in either the appointment or running in the special. (See yesterday's digest... although I guess she could have changed her mind in the last day. People sometimes do that.)

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by: Crisitunity @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 18:50:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Anybody but Lynch

I'm increasingly concerned that multiple candidates will split the progressive and pro-choice vote, allowing the conservative, anti-choice Lynch to win the nomination with just a fraction of the vote.

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by: D_user1 @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 19:42:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

But:

What's wrong with Steve Lynch? He isn't that bad.

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by: jsrosa @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 20:50:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Vote for Lynch, "He Isn't That Bad"

Shouldn't we shoot for better than "he isn't that bad"? I'd say that among the House members who've been discussed as candidates he's both less impressive and less progressive than Reps. Markey, Capuano and Tierney. And of course a lot of Democrats aren't going to be thrilled with Lynch's position on women's health care/abortion rights.

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by: armand @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 23:16:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

hard to believe

Then why has Meehan been hoarding a $5M campaign chest for all these years since he left?

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by: homerun @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 18:58:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Update

Says he is still considering it.

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by: conspiracy @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 19:03:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

more reporting:

This makes sense: Meehan is waiting for Joe to make his decision.
Meehan May Run For Kennedy's Seat

Former congressman Marty Meehan told WBZ's Karen Anderson Tuesday that he is considering a run for Ted Kennedy's vacant U.S. Senate seat.

Meehan said he'll take the next couple of days to make his decision.

He's weighing how a race would affect his family. He's also concerned about his current job as the chancellor of UMass-Lowell.

Meehan also noted that if either Joe or Vicki Kennedy decided to run, he would bow out of the race.

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by: homerun @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 19:09:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Two.

NY-Sen-B: Spitzer shouldn't run for Senate, but he should - eventually - run for something. The guy still has a lot to contribute, though one would hope he's learned a few lessons in common sense in the last few years. Statewide voters aren't going to forgive him for a while, but there are plenty of large cities he could probably become mayor of that need his caliber of leadership skills. Or he could pull a Weld and run for Governor of Massachusetts (j/k).

WI-05: I have no desire to see Sensenbrenner dead and wish him the best for his recovery, but I sincerely hope this forces him into retirement. After his draconian abuses of power as chairman of the House Judiciary committee and author of the PATRIOT Act and REAL ID act, guys like him have no business being anywhere near Congress. Even a Republican backbencher would be an improvement.  

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by: notanothersonofabush @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 19:40:10 PM UTC

I would love to see Spitzer

as Chairman of the SEC. He'd be superb at that, and I think it makes more sense than elective office.

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by: davybaby @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 22:39:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good point.

I hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it, Spitzer at the SEC - or, really any Wall St. regulatory position, would be a good use of his abilities.

Comptroller or possibly even AG again would work, too. If AG, he'll probably never rise any higher again, so maybe, like Ted Kennedy, he can grow into the job and really start fighting for the little guy. I'd love to see a Spitzer risen from his ashes and reopening cases like the United Healthcare racketeering suit that Cuomo brought - then immediately settled. If a state the size of NY officially ruled health insurance companies to be criminal enterprises in a court of law, think of the precedent it would set.  

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by: notanothersonofabush @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 00:55:44 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Was I push-polled?

Yesterday, I got a call from some research organization I had never heard of. The woman asked me a series of questions about New York politics, and then read a series of endorsement statements about David Yassky for New York City Comptroller and asked me whether they were more likely to make me vote for him. I accused her of push-polling, and she claimed that they randomly test respondents on different candidates and that other people are read endorsement statements on the other candidates, but I should have asked her who paid the organization to do the poll. Later in the call, she read a statement by Yassky and asked whether it was more or less likely to make me vote for him. Do you think Yassky is doing push-polling, and if so, why? And did any of the rest of you receive such a call?

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  

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by: Pan @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 21:11:47 PM UTC

If Yassky is paying the pollster

then it's not a push-poll, it's an attempt to figure out what might be weak spots in Yassky's record so he can try to fix them.  Actually an opponent might do a similar poll and have it not be a push-poll either, so long as the purpose was to find holes in Yassky's record and then exploit them in ads.

In contrast with these other types of polls, the purpose of a push-poll is not to obtain useful information, but to convince voters to vote against Yassky under the guise of polling them.  It's an extremely high-risk and expensive tactic that is used only by unscrupulous candidates in a situation where they are narrowly trailing a frontrunner.  (Push-polls were famously used against Howard Dean in 2004 in Iowa, for instance, and against John McCain in 2000 in South Carolina.)  In this instance, I can't imagine anyone launching a push-poll effort against Yassky, given that the most recent poll showed him in third place.  I can almost guarantee that this is an authentic poll paid for by Yassky as part of a last-ditch attempt to find a winning ad message.

The Crolian Progressive: as great an adventure as ever I heard of...

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by: Nonpartisan @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 21:43:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

It seemed like they were trying to convince me

to vote for Yassky, in the guise of a poll. She read a series of endorsements, ending with "Vote for Yassky on September 15."

Another peculiar thing is that, while I was guaranteed anonymity, she asked whether I'd be willing to give my email address so they could do further research on me. I declined.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  

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by: Pan @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 23:42:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

If so, that's really stupid of him

In a city with 13 Congressional districts, he really thinks he's going to make up those extra six points by having his volunteers have extremely long conversations with voters under the guise of a legitimate poll?  I tend to think no one's quite that stupid, but if he is, then he deserves to lose.

The Crolian Progressive: as great an adventure as ever I heard of...

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by: Nonpartisan @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 02:21:26 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I was leaning toward him until the call last night

Now, I'm even more highly motivated than before to investigate the other candidates.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  

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by: Pan @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 03:01:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

VA-Gov numbers

New numbers from PPP.

McDonnell - 49
Deeds - 42

This was taken before McDonnell's senior thesis was leaked, so the race may be even closer.

It looks like Deeds is firming up his base. His numbers among African Americans have increased from 64% to 81%, and the 52-41 gap in favor of McCain among those likely to vote in 2009 has dropped to 49-45.

AG numbers still look pretty grim with Kookinelli leading Steve Shannon 48-35.

Bolling's lead has narrowed to 46-40.

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by: corran horn @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 01:11:18 AM UTC

Who's Bolling again?

n/t

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  

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by: Pan @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 01:12:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

VA Lieutenant Governor (eom).

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by: corran horn @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 01:18:20 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good.

Even if we lose Corzine, maybe we can stop 2009 from turning into a total rout.  

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by: notanothersonofabush @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 01:21:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Total shot in the dark

But my gut tells me we win one of them. It ain't saying which though.

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by: conspiracy @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 02:15:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm starting to think we might win both.

And give a big fuck you to the Republicans.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.

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by: TheUnknown285 @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 12:02:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Let it be known

I always thought we'd get both.  Still, I'd not be sitting on my ass if I lived anywhere near these two states.

30, male, Democratic, CO-01

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by: Tiger in BlueDenver @ Thu Sep 03, 2009 at 02:28:50 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Bobby Rush's endorsement

Does it diminish the credibility of a Rush endorsement that he endorsed Blair Hull over Barack Obama?

Or that his personal finances are a disaster and anybody with deep pockets can buy his endorsement? Only, Rush's endorsement is so worthless, nobody with deep pockets bothers.

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by: Carl Nyberg @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 13:50:30 PM UTC