Something interesting from television.

When incumbent GOP Representative Wayne Gilchrest lost his primary to a "Club for Growth" backed extremist, Maryland's First Congressional District became competitive -- and with help, could actually favor the Democratic candidate, Frank Kratovil.  When Blue Catapult PAC held an event for Frank, we learned that not only is he a great candidate, but that the dynamics of the district make it ripe for a Democratic pickup.

Why can MD-01 turn Blue?

Frank is a Great Candidate. He is the current State's Attorney for Queen Anne's County, and he is in court in the morning and campaigns later in the day.  Unlike his opponent, he is a native of Maryland's Eastern Shore, which comprises about half the voters and are very protective of their congressional representation.  Frank is a lifelong Democrat and was President of Maryland Young Democrats when he was younger.  He is outspoken against the War and supports a sane fiscal policy.

Congratulations to Congressman-elect Don Cazayoux, new Representative of Louisiana's 6th District, and to all who had a hand in his election. The Sixth District, which voted for Bush 55-43 in 2000 and 59-40 in 2004, will be represented by a Democrat for the first time since the Dixiecrat era.

This was a terrific win for the party, for a number of reasons. First, it is always exciting and inspiring to win an election in such strongly Republican territory. Only 15 Democratic Representatives out of 235 hail from more GOP-friendly districts than Louisiana's 6th, and taking another seat on such red turf is yet another indicator that Democrats are in the catbird seat heading into November. This is the second special-election victory in a former Republican stronghold within the span of three months, and it was nearly accompanied by another victory in the crimson First District of Mississippi (and may yet be, come the May 13 runoff).

We had no real business winning this district, but we managed to do so anyway, by running a candidate who was a good fit for the district, by wisely allocating national party resources to help that candidate compete, and by simply being lucky enough to face a genuine nutcase on the Republican side.

Needless to say, this is a major feather in the cap of the DCCC, and a terrific blow to our Republican counterparts. NRCC chairman Tom Cole must be losing his breakfast, especially on the heels of the loss in IL-14, and facing another possible loss in an even redder district (MS-01). On our side, the DCCC did a fine job; they fended off the combined forces of the NRCC, Freedom's Watch, and the Club for Growth, and came out on top.

The Club for Growth has been backing losing candidates for some time-they're far more interested, it seems, in having doctrinaire nutters on the Republican ticket than in actually winning a majority-but this is a particularly bad black eye for Freedom's Watch, a group which has already taken a lot of hits. Having targeted LA-06 as their first big experiment-apparently, backing Woody Jenkins was the first thing their leadership could agree on as a priority for this cycle-Freedom's Watch looks positively impotent. They were supposed to be the scary new kid on the block, the shadowy Republican hit squad doing all the GOP's dirty work this election cycle. But if they can't swing a special election in an R+6.5 district, they're going to have the devil's own time swinging the presidential election.

As reported, the GOP's strategy in this election was to tie Cazayoux to national Democrats like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. I should think that the results speak for themselves, and that they indicate that this strategy has failed. From the Wall Street Journal:

Don Cazayoux's victory against Woody Jenkins to represent Louisiana's Sixth District, a seat held by Republicans for decades, has further boosted Democrats' optimism heading in to the fall elections.

Not only were Democrats able to increase their majority in the House, but Mr. Cazayoux emerged the winner despite a multimillion-dollar national and local effort to nationalize the race by defining him as a liberal Democrat in lockstep with Mr. Obama.

At the very least, their efforts to demonize Cazayoux by linking him to Obama proved a double-edged sword. Although Woody Jenkins did outperform expectations in several areas of the district, and it's possible that that was due to the NRCC's attempts to link Cazayoux to Obama, it was certainly negated by increased black turnout in East Baton Rouge, which appears to have ultimately provided Cazayoux with his margin of victory. In other words, the GOP lost at least as much by alienating black voters as they may or may not have gained with these attacks.

DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen had a nice comment on these tired old Republican tactics:

"For the second time this cycle, Republicans were reminded that ‘all politics is local,’" said Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen , the DCCC chairman. Saying that "House Republicans tried to nationalize this election," Van Hollen stated that the GOP "used false and deceptive special interest smears and funneled nearly a million dollars into a district that Republicans held for more than three decades."

Van Hollen claimed that Cazayoux "won by focusing on the concerns of LA-06 voters — good paying jobs, affordable health care, and better education."

Demonizing the national Democrats is in no way going to be enough to win them this election. They went hard after Obama and Pelosi, as they have gone after Bill Clinton and Al Gore and Howard Dean and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton in the past. And they have nothing to show for it, except a humiliating loss in a former Republican stronghold.

If running against national Dems in a district where Kerry got 40% of the vote in 2004 isn't enough to save their crappy candidates, it won't be enough to save them anywhere. The GOP had better come up with something new if they want to start turning things around.

Unfortunately, according to Minority Leader John Boehner, they are counting on us to do their jobs for them. Essentially, the GOP is relying on the Democratic presidential battle to drive voters away from the party; they know very well they're cooked in downballot races if it does not. Their last hope for this cycle is that they can use national Democrats to sink the local candidates on the ballot, and the LA-06 results are a strong indicator that that won't work very well.

One final irony from this election is that the GOP loss can, in a sense, be thrown at the feet of one of the party's rising stars, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. For it was Jindal who backed Republican Jim Tucker to serve as Speaker of the Louisiana House, a decision which essentially gave Tucker the speakership despite a 53-50 advantage for Democrats in the House.

The Democratic candidate whom Jindal passed over was Don Cazayoux. It is likely that if Jindal had selected Cazayoux to serve as speaker, he would not have elected to run for the U.S. House, and Republicans might well still hold this seat.

Be careful what you wish for, Governor Jindal.

Race tracker wiki: LA-06

Do you remember this ad used against Howard Dean by paid for by the Club for Growth?

Hi all PA 5th-ers and other interested parties. I've been on vacation and have missed a lot of activity here.

I missed Obama speaking to a record crowd of 22,000 people on the Old Main lawn at PSU. (aarrgghh!! couldn't give up a planned vacation for that!)

I missed the announcement that Democrats now outnumber Republicans in the 3 most populous counties of the district (Centre, Clinton, and Clearfield). Thank you Senator Obama for that gift that will keep on giving for years to come. This is exactly why I support Obama. The Obama campaign now has 5th district offices open in State College, Dubois, and St. Mary's - plus Williamsport, which is just outside the 5th district. This is a massive presence.

I also missed a few candidate forums and big endorsements. More on the flip . .

Cross posted at Calitics

So as we've established by now, Darrell Issa thinks very little of 9/11 rescue workers and would prefer that the federal government not concern itself with their welfare.  Cause according to him, 9/11 is not and presumably was not a national issue.  We've also established that he has no qualms about throwing federal money around on local pork as long as it benefits him directly.  So the next logical question for me is "oh hey, are there any familiar names that don't mind taking Darrell Issa's money?"  As you may or may not know, Darrell Issa is filthy rich.  So he's spread a lot of money around on Republicans and conservative causes.  So as it turns out, there are quite a lot of Republicans currently running around the Capitol funded in part by Darrell Issa (partial list):

Alright, I've had it pretty much up to here with this nonsense.  Much has been made of the total meltdown of Obama surrogate Kirk Watson on MSNBC, and how he really reflected poorly upon the Obama campaign.  As an Obama supporter, I'd be the first to say that is exactly the case.  I'm not deluded into insane apologias for my candidate or his campaign.  Another thing Obama gets criticized for is his use of right wing frames on social security, the separation of church and state and on other issues as well. But as Kagro X so perfectly demonstrated on the front page, the Clinton campaign is going above and beyond, moreso than any instance of Obama adopting "right wing frames."

MSNBC's First Read, on Int'l Assoc. of Machinists President Tom Buffenbarger's introduction of Hillary Clinton last night:

[I]t was Obama supporters for whom Buffenbarger saved his most vitriolic contempt, and he proved that the Democratic Party’s coalition is nothing if not fragile. Channeling Howard Beale from the movie "Network," he yelled into the microphone, "Give me a break! I've got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius- driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won't last a round against the Republican attack machine. He's a poet, not a fighter."

The inspiration? I think it's obvious:

ANNOUNCER: What do you think of Howard Dean's plan to raise taxes on families by $1900 a year?

MAN: What do I think? Well, I think Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading...

WOMAN: ...body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freakshow back to Vermont. Where it belongs.

MAN: Got it?

ANNOUNCER: Club for Growth PAC is responsible for the content of this advertising.

People who are this easy to program might just not be cut out for high-profile politics.

UPDATE: Thankfully, there were people there with their heads screwed on right:

The crowd grew increasingly hostile toward Buffenbarger, so much so that AFSCME president Gerald McEntee took the stage in hopes of moving Buffenbarger along, who at this point was well into his attacks on Obama. It is unclear whether the crowd’s boos were in response to his negative comments toward Obama or the length of his speech.

(h/t to: mspicata and jennifer poole)

The reactionaries have a plan to promote economic growth. So far, it has been a dismal failure, but they haven't given up.
The plan is to cut taxes on corporations and on the rich. The first time it was tried, it led to the Great Depression. The second time, it led to a period of twelve years with slower growth than any twelve-year period between 1940 and 1980. (A slighlty different twelve year period, 1978 - 1990, was slighly lower than the period from 1980 to 1992.)
The third time it was tried led to the present economic mess. One should note that Bush's first term was one of only two presidential terms since 1948 in which the four-year growth rate was below 10%. We don't have the record of Bush's second term yet; but the first three years weren't impressive, and the fourth year looks like it will be worse.
so, a debate on which economic policies will lead to faster growth would be welcome, but it isn't what the reactionaries offer.
That's after the jump

Great news coming out of MD-4 as we watch Al Wynn go down to defeat, but that is not the only incumbent that is going down to defeat in the great state of MD.  Republican Congressman Wayne Gilchrest is losing to State Senator Andrew Harris in MD-1.  

Follow me below the fold to look at this race and the interesting dynamics created by Harris defeating Gilchrest...

Worth mentioning here at Kos- we have ourselves what the press is calling a "heated" campaign in Michigan's 7th district. Wave bye-bye to Bush Republican Tim Walberg, and say hello to a real fighter for the people, Michigan Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer.

This guy rocks. He spent all last year calling out the do-nothing Republican majority in our Michigan Senate - there is no doubt in my mind that he would be a great addition to the United States Congress.

Originally posted at Blogging For Michigan, this comes from the Schauer campaign-

In the wake of his New Hampshire and South Carolina victories, the once-and-future GOP frontrunner John McCain is enjoying a charmed life when it comes to the press.  Just days after John King's puff piece on CNN, the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz offered a glowing review of McCain's accessibility to the press.  But as he conveniently continues his retreat from his past positions on immigration and tax cuts as the Republican race heads to Florida, John McCain should be receiving more media scrutiny - not less.

Now that the New Hampshire primary is old news, the campaign juggernaut rolls on to Michigan for our January 15th primary. Just watching the news tonight, the race is starting to heat up.

The Republican race, that is.

Join me below the flip for a quick roundup of what's going on here in the Wolverine State.

On this day in 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson presented a proposal for "A Great Society."

http://www.nytimes.com/...

My friends, we are witnessing, in slow motion, the crackup of the fragile Republican coalition.  And it's delightful to watch.

The two main groups in conflict are the economic royalists, the conservatives motivated by greed and keeping their dominance over the poor, and the theocrats, motivated by making state-sponsored religion the law of the land, removing gays from the country and banning abortion.  There's always been an uneasy truce between these two camps, but the 2008 election is putting them in conflict.  And the best example of this is Peggy Noonan's column in today's Wall Street Journal.

Ever since the 2004 presidential election my radar has been up for signs of the Club for Growth and the Stephens Group, a family brokerage company that funded the Bushes, Bill Clinton and the Club for Growth.

That's how I came to find the story about Mike Huckabee and how he'd gained some prominence in Iowa because the Club for Growth, still funded by his friend Steve Stephens, had run ads questioning his conservative credentials.  Since we couldn't miss during the Dean campaign that every attack brought out the troops and filled the coffers, it's not unimaginable that's what was happening here.  And, I'm not the only one to be suspicious.

The 2007 Weblog Awards voting is underway.  DailyKos is a contender in the Best Online Community category, where currently Little Green Footballs is winning by 32%.  Are you comfortable with that?  Polls close November 8, 2007.  You can vote once a day.  

Little Green Footballs is beating DailyKos by 32% - VOTE NOW

Read on for more polls and information.

The Washington Post Fact Checker as well as The New York Times today show the extent to which Rudy Giuliani has weaseled around his serial flip-flops on gun control. His Republican opponents are already taking advantage of it, setting off a new brawl within the GOP. Specifically, Mike Huckabee sucker-punches Giuliani on this issue while seeming to butter him up.