SoonerBlue

It should've been a piece of cake for Tea Party candidate Doug Hoffman to win NY-23...but he lost in a district that has voted GOP for 138 years. What happened?

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh were pushing hard for Hoffman...who also had Sarah Palin's mavericky support. How did the Tea Partiers turn an otherwise easy victory into defeat? What happened?

You say that the loss of two Dem governorships is a 'stinging rebuke' to the White House.

But you say nothing about how your hero Hoffman's loss is NOT a 'stinging rebuke' to extremist wingnut politics?

So much for the anti-Democratic Congress/White House Teabagger movement -- because Democrats GAINED seats in the House. Seats that can vote.

So, was Tuesday's election a wake-up call for Dems...or reality check for Repubs?

Righties are saying that President Obama has lost his mojo because NJ and VA elected GOP governors.

Let me get this straight -- two state elections losses by Democrats are a 'stinging rebuke' to the Democrats in the federal government...while two Democratic victories in federal elections don’t mean a thing?

The GOP lost both Congressional races the other night, including one in a district they'd held since the days of the Civil War. A 'stinging rebuke' to Obama, no doubt...

Lefties are saying that the state election results don't have as much national significance as the Congressional results, because state elections focus mostly on local issues and state issues.

Let's talk about the significance of state races. How about in November '01, when GWBush's approval ratings were in the 80s, and Democrats went on to win gubernatorial races in NJ and VA? That was certainly no portent of things to come -- the 2002 mid-terms didn't go very well for Dems.

Governorships have NEVER been a reliable barometer of national politics.

Incumbents also usually get kicked out in the mid-terms....and an especially bad time to be an incumbent is during an economic catastrophe.

A lot of people are saying that there's not much of a lesson to be learned from a bunch of low turn-out races in an odd year...except for, um, it's the economy stupid.

Yes, yes, I know -- the Democrats will probably lose gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia tomorrow, and 'they' think the results will serve as clues to how everyone will vote in 2010 and 2012. This Democrat is not thrilled, but not all that worried...a lot can happen in even six months...not to mention two years. 

The special congressional election in New York is the one that really fascinates most political junkies. Frank Rich of the NYTimes says:

"BARACK OBAMA’S most devilish political move since the 2008 campaign was to appoint a Republican congressman from upstate New York as secretary of the Army. This week’s election to fill that vacant seat has set off nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war. No matter what the results in that race on Tuesday, the Republicans are the sure losers. This could be a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats through 2010, and perhaps beyond.[...]"

The teabaggers already ran off the moderate Republican, Dede Scozzafava. She withdrew from "NY 23" this weekend (and then endorsed the Democrat) The teabaggers also raised enough money and noise to push their Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman to the brink of victory in a district he doesn’t even live in.

If the teabagger candidate wins in NY tomorrow, look for radical righties to be emboldened to go hunting for 'moderate' GOP scalps in other districts. Their angry, energized base will take on more party establishment-approved candidates who don't toe their ideological line.

This surely won't go over well with the majority of Republicans...or with the rest of the country either. Thank goodness the teabaggers and birthers are a small minority of our 300 million citizens.

And, you know something is seriously wrong within the GOP when the wingnuts turn on Newt Gingrich - long thought to have great conservative ideas. Seems the teabaggers think Newt is too moderate...they don't like how he's trying to pull the Republican Party from the radical right to the more mainstream center.

A week ago Newt appeared on several Sunday talk shows flirting with the idea of running for president in 2012. Radical rightie pundits quickly shot ol' Newt down.

Yeah, the guy who led the GOP to a 1994 revival is now being dissed as a RINO -- Republican In Name Only -- just like they did the very conservative, Sen. Lindsey Graham.

The teabaggers were also pissed because Newt endorsed moderate Dede Scozzafava, and urged Republicans not to support the more conservative third-party candidate Doug Hoffman. And they probably still remember when Newt eased out Sarah Palin as speaker at a big GOP do...he didn't want her there out-shining everybody.

Like I said, we Democrats are not all that worried. The Republican Party has lost several recent elections, and has seen its 'brand' sink to 17 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Republicans, so it doesn't bode well for the GOP if they continue to divide the party and toss centrists out of the tent. The party needs to run moderate contenders if it wants to survive and maybe win a  national election or two.

Looks like they'll have to let this little Surge of the Teabaggers play out...and learn the hard way. There's just not enough of them.

Or. maybe we'll split into a 3 party system -- Democrats, the crazed wingnut teabaggers Conservative Party, and moderate to semi-crazed Republicans. Blue Dog Democrats should switch to the moderate/semi-crazed Republican party...it's where they belong, and I hope they don't forget to take Lieberman and Specter.

Anyway...more popcorn and on with the show!