I keep saying that we have one election left, but the good news is that it looks like we can accomplish a lot with that election
The numbers keep piling up to show that November could be a blood-bath for the Democrats. A new poll shows that more people view the Democrats as too "liberal" than those who believe that Republicans are too conservative. But what I found really interesting was this number:
Among self-identified Democrats the percentage identifying their party as too liberal has not changed significantly since 2008, but the percentage identifying Democrats as too conservative has risen slightly, from 6% to 14%. That suggests that a certain number of left-leaning Democrats may not be motivated to vote in 2010.
Michael Barone also describes how budget-cutting governors are gaining in popularity in state elections.
But what we're really interested in is not the contest between Republicans and Democrats but the contest within the Republican Party, where many candidates have been radicalized by the Tea Party movement. How far has it gone? Some people are even talking about repealing the 17th Amendment, so that senators would once again by chosen by state legislatures, which would supposedly have the effect of reigning in federal overreach. I doubt it would have that big an effect, but this is an example of the establishment being besieged by "peasants with pocket Constitutions."
Meanwhile, a few readers sent in updates on the performance of Tea Party candidates in the Republican primaries. Heike Larson writes:
"Another primary that went the Tea Party Way is John Dennis, who won the Republican primary and will run against Nancy Pelosi this fall.
"John is an amazingly principled free-market advocate. I have supported his campaign as a volunteer, and I encourage you to look at his web site, www.johndennis2010.com. Read his stand on the issues, and I think you'll be impressed. When I talked with John, he mentioned that he discovered Ayn Rand in 1984 ('How appropriate—Orwell's year!') and that he was deeply influenced by her ('I think most people admire Ayn Rand only for her politics—what really impresses me is how she takes everything back to metaphysics and epistemology.') That, from someone who will run against Nancy Pelosi!
"I think John has a real chance to make a run out of the Pelosi race, and in the process draw attention to the stark extreme ideological opposites: a socialist liberal—as against a principled free-market capitalist."
Meanwhile, a Tea Party backed candidate won a party caucus for a special election to replace a disgraced congressman, and declared that the big issue today is the "size and scope" of government.
TIA Daily reader and New Jersey Tea Party organizer Mark Kalinowski forwarded to me a note from Ralph Franzese of the Morristown TEA Party:
"The lead in the Morris County edition of the Star Ledger Wednesday stated that Tuesday's primary turnout was light. Watching the results come in the night before in my district (11) that didn't seem to be the case. My first thought was that in Morris county the fact that we had eleven candidates for three Freeholder positions was the cause of our better than average turnout. With 20 minutes of research I was able to come up with the chart below [which I won't include, but it shows increases in Republican turnout ranging from 8% to 100%]. I say we should congratulate ourselves for the great work that we did across the state. In a non-presidential election year the New Jersey Republican primary vote totals were up over 44% over 2008."
But the big news out of New Jersey is Little—Anna Little, a congressional candidate who relied on the enthusiasm of Tea Party volunteers to win the Republican nomination against an establishment-backed millionaire who outspent her by about 20-to-one.
Little—her campaign slogan is "Little Government Is Good Government"—was one of the candidates at the Tea Party forum in New Jersey that I moderate last month, and her win does not surprise me: she is extremely energetic and charismatic, a real firecracker. See an overview of her winning campaign here.
The effect on New Jersey politics is described in the article below, including some interesting observations about how the current environment has been causing Governor Chris Christie—whose previous record is that of a squishy "moderate"—to move to the right.
"Little's Win Portends Big Change for the Republicans," Paul Mulshine, New Jersey Star-Ledger, June 15
The conservative mayor of the small Monmouth County town of Highlands had no party support and just a tiny amount of money in her race against Rumson gazillionaire Diane Gooch. But as she was standing in the Statehouse halls yesterday waiting to testify at a Senate hearing, Little got a call informing her that the latest results have her leading Gooch by an 84-vote margin in the election held a week ago….
"Everybody is calling it Obamacare, but we're calling it Pallonecare," said Little, who said she intends to campaign on the issue this fall.
That would be US Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat who was a primary sponsor of the national health care bill recently signed into law by the president.
Pallone is unlikely to object. He boasts of his role in crafting the plan. All indications are that he expects to ride it to re-election to what has been a safe Democratic seat for years.
This year isn't like the others, though…. New Jersey Republicans turned out to be much further right than the mainstream party leaders had expected.
In Little's case, the tea partiers and other activists provided her with volunteer labor to do the door-to-door work that neutralized Gooch's big funding advantage….
Christie seems to have discovered what Little already knew: All the energy is on the right these days.
"This is the first time I've seen such an involved constituency and it has given me great enthusiasm," said Little. "The people are awake and I don't think they are going back to sleep."
Who knows? Maybe even the party leaders will wake up.
