Hard-right heros West, Bachmann and King face a test
Three of the most virulently conservative voices in the House are facing tough re-election campaigns. All three are leading, but not by much, and in two of the races the GOP candidates are attempting to separate themselves from the harsh personas that they themselves had manufactured.
U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla.
In Florida, there’s Allen West, who was up by anywhere from one to nine points in October, depending on which poll you believe. As Politico reports:
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“Rep. Allen West’s GOP primary opponent endorsed the controversial Floridian’s Democratic challenger Wednesday and is slamming West.
“As a Republican for over 30 years, I’m embarrassed by the radical fringe that has taken over the party,” Martin County Sheriff Bob Crowder said in a statement released through Democrat Patrick Murphy’s campaign.
“Sadly, Allen West is their poster child, and the hateful, divisive comments he’s made throughout this campaign make it clear to me he’s the wrong choice for our district. I’m endorsing Patrick because he has the right temperament and respect for others – including people he doesn’t agree with. Unlike his opponent, Patrick will be able to work with both parties to make a difference for our community.”
West defeated Crowder in August with almost 75 percent of the vote.”
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In Minnesota, there’s Michele Bachmann, who’s running in a district redrawn to be safe for a Republican. Even with that advantage and a huge campaign treasury, she’s only up by somewhere between two and six points, depending on which October poll you believe. And as the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports, the previously strident Bachmann has adopted a different strategy for keeping her job, trying to portray herself as moderate, responsible and bipartisan.
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“I’ve worked with Democrats across the aisle to get a lot of things done and it’s important we do that,” Bachmann said (in a Thursday debate). “I’m a very independent person.” She used the debate to tout the times she had bucked her own party, saying “I didn’t believe George Bush … that we were looking at financial Armageddon,” and stressing her work with Democrats on the St. Croix River bridge.”
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And in Iowa, U.S. Rep. Steve King is taking much the same survival tack to hold onto his lead of two to seven percentage points in his newly drawn district:
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“Iowa State University political science professor Steffen Schmidt said the race has proven tighter than expected.
“They’ve both been pretty smart in how they’ve run their campaigns,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said King has “adjusted his campaign rhetoric somewhat,” and tacked away from far right positions that were popular among voters in the former 5th congressional district.
“He hasn’t really run on that pure, true tea party conservative agenda,” Schmidt said. “That is probably smart, because the district is more complicated now. You’re not going to appeal as much with your hard-core positions on things like illegal immigration to a new bunch of voters in parts of the district who are moderate.”
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In the end, all three GOP candidates may win their races, but the narrowness of their apparent margins and — in the case of Bachmann and King — the necessity to tack back toward the center to stay viable says a lot about the mood of the American voter.
– Jay Bookman
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522 comments Add your comment
Welcome to the Occupation
November 2nd, 2012
5:39 pm
Mighty Righty: “There is no evidence of any Republican conspiracy to support your contention that Republicans have stooped to the dishonesty of Democrats”
You don’t seriously mean that, do you, really? Republicans haven’t stooped to the level of dishonesty by Dems? Republicans are the kings, czars, and dukes of dishonesty, and never failing to burn the midnight oil studying ways to perfect it. So that’s a little rich don’t ya think?
GTJohn
November 2nd, 2012
5:43 pm
I would much rather live in an America that supported these Republicans than in the one you would like, Mr. Bookman.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 2nd, 2012
5:49 pm
M. Righty — “Grasping for straws, Joe.”
I’m doing no such thing. I’m simply pointing out your hypocritical demand for proof when you yourself are one of the worst offenders on this blog when it comes to making up outrageous political charges without presenting any sort of supporting proof.
Given your past behavior, why should anyone oblige *you* with proof?
“the charge was Republicans have been co-operating with Al Qaeda I hate to call some one a liar so I nicely ask for proof.”
I shall be watching in the future to how *you* respond when *you* are ‘nicely asked for proof.’
Joe Hussein Mama
November 2nd, 2012
5:52 pm
pete — “If you must know, my doc has not cleared me yet to return. My boss also wants me to wait.”
Really?
What you’re describing sounds like short- or long-term disability, which wouldn’t necessarily come with the ‘government check’ you’re crowing about.
How, exactly, do you merit a *government* check as opposed to a check from a disability insurer or your employer?
Fred ™
November 2nd, 2012
6:00 pm
pete
November 2nd, 2012
5:12 pm
I really don’t know what I am worrying about. I am disabled, and I collect a check every month. My doctor gave me some good advice a couple weeks ago. If Obama wins, I collect my disability check every month, which is more than enough to live on. If Romney wins, I go back to my job. Either way, I win.
Romney/Ryan 2012
+++++++++++++++++++
A self admitted thief, fraudulently collecting disability when he can go back to work is a proud Republican. Who would have thunk………….
Welcome to the Occupation
November 2nd, 2012
6:04 pm
Mighty Righty: “Grasping for straws, Joe. the charge was Republicans have been co-operating with Al Qaeda I hate to call some one a liar so I nicely ask for proof.”
It appears you’ve missed my point.
I was pointing out the fact that cooperation with Al Qaeda, and in the early days proto-Al Qaeda jihadists, runs so deeply in our nation’s foreign policy – mostly covert – that it’s not only next to impossible to differentiate white party is more invested in it, it’s just pointless to try to do so. The whole point is that it’s a BI-PARTISAN thing and illustrates a core of corruption at the heart of our entire foreign policy.
Thulsa Doom
November 2nd, 2012
6:09 pm
The kooks seem unusually angry today. Must have something to do with the expected election results.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 2nd, 2012
6:09 pm
Fred — “A self admitted thief, fraudulently collecting disability when he can go back to work is a proud Republican. Who would have thunk………….”
His story smells funny to me. My wife’s been an HR professional for many, many years, and the only way he could be getting a *government* check that I’m aware of is via workers’ comp — but that’s limited by duration and it’s a state program, not Federal. I’ll ask my wife this weekend, but I don’t think there IS a Federal disability program available to most workers — just to Federal employees.
I think Pete may be yanking our collective chain.
At any rate, I’m out. All be well and drive safely.
Gmare
November 2nd, 2012
6:13 pm
JHMama, as a former flight attendant – way back in the day – had to look up that airline code. Way back in the day, maybe Souix City didn’t even have an airport yet. Or maybe UAL didn’t fly there, but I suspect one of “the guys” would have mentioned it as they enjoyed making us “young things” blush. Thanks for the chuckle.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 2nd, 2012
6:15 pm
Gmare — “JHMama, as a former flight attendant – way back in the day – had to look up that airline code.”
I flew through Fukuoka, Japan once, too. Look that one up.
BTW, best wishes for your surgery, ma’am. Got my fingers crossed for you!
Okay, now I’m really out. (but we will talk air travel once you’re recovered and have returned, okay?)
YouLibs
November 2nd, 2012
6:33 pm
The cons over here in Athens are started to come unhinged; they see the writing on the wall:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
YouLibs
November 2nd, 2012
6:35 pm
Ha. I posted, then read your last, TD.
Billybob
November 2nd, 2012
6:47 pm
jay,
here is a teachable moment for you and all lib ilk here……if your last statement is correct then barrack hussein obama mmmm, mmmm, mmmm will lose in a landslide…….your make it too easy and yet so much fun…..if they all win then i deduce that conservatism is strong and on the ascendancy while you claim their ‘narrow’ victories will be a sign of the country’s mood…..and if they win that mood would be jay?……..conservatism…….again too easy…..this shows that the wind is blowing both ways for jay today and enlightens many to the litmus test of liberals which is ‘everchanging’ even in a single thought process….thanks for 3 minutes of humor lib
Billybob
November 2nd, 2012
6:56 pm
it’s also funny how you brand these three as hard right when in fact they are actually just conservatives…..your ilk and the rest of the country will learn the true meaning of the word conservative over the next few years instead of the lib media definition and that’s why the far left will be in ‘the back seat’(hussein’s words not mine) for at least a decade…..class dismissed jay’lib
Gmare
November 2nd, 2012
7:03 pm
JHMama, thanks for the good wishes. Yeah, would love to swap flying stories. Of course, mine may come from before you were born.
Welcome to the Occupation
November 2nd, 2012
7:04 pm
I know it’s late, but this here is quite essential if you ask me. This should be born in mind in all subsequent discussion of the Benghazi events
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/02/benghazi-media-news-cia-request_n_2066651.html?1351889703
News Outlets Held Back Detail Of Benghazi Attack At CIA’s Request
NEW YORK — U.S. intelligence officials, speaking on a not-for-attribution basis, provided reporters Thursday with the most detailed explanation yet of the CIA’s presence in Benghazi, Libya, and the agency’s response to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, while also identifying the two former Navy SEALs killed that night as being employed by the CIA.
But some news organizations, including the Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post, already knew that the two former SEALs — Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty — were working for the CIA and had agreed not to publish the information at the government’s request
..
Over the past six weeks, the Benghazi compound has been primarily described as a consulate or diplomatic mission, even though it’s now being reported that just seven of the more than 30 people evacuated from the city were working for the State Department. As The Wall Street Journal wrote Thursday night, “the U.S. effort in Benghazi was at its heart a CIA operation.”
And now it’s clear the former SEALs killed that night were not part of a security detail for U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who also died in the attack, but were working for the CIA — a fact that, if presented earlier, might have helped reframe the murky narrative from an attack on a diplomatic mission to an attack on a location primarily used for intelligence gathering.
HDB
November 2nd, 2012
7:17 pm
This is intriguing…..
Michele Bachmann Outspends Opponent Jim Graves 12-To-1, Still At Risk Of Losing
* Tea Party favorite is divisive, even within her party
* Minnesota Congressional race most expensive in nation
* Opponent says she ignored district for White House run
By David Bailey
ST. CLOUD, Minn., Nov 2 (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, known for controversial comments during her Republican presidential nomination bid, faces a tough congressional election challenge on Tuesday in a Minnesota district that should be friendly to conservatives.
The race in the sprawling Minnesota 6th Congressional District has been the nation’s most expensive in both money raised and spent by Bachmann and Democratic challenger Jim Graves, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The two candidates have raised a total of $22.7 million and spent $20.8, the center reported.
Bachmann, a champion of Tea Party backers of smaller government and conservative social issues such as opposition to abortion and gay rights, has outspent Graves by more than twelve-to-one in seeking election to a fourth term in Congress.
But her remarks, including an insistence on a link between an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Muslim Brotherhood, have been denounced by some in her own party and may be wearing on voters, experts said.
Defeating Bachmann would be a significant victory for Democrats, who are fighting an uphill battle nationally to gain the 25 seats needed to retake the U.S. House majority.
Her opponent lacks name recognition, but has used Bachmann’s presidential campaigning for half of her two-year congressional term to accuse her of pursing personal ambition over the needs of her constituents.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/02/michele-bachmann-jim-graves_n_2067274.html
pete
November 2nd, 2012
7:29 pm
Fred,
I couldn’t let your comment go without responding. Not that is is any of your business…
I had a stroke this past May that effected both my right and left occipital lobe. I have lost my right side peripheral vision, and I have some short term memory issues. In other words, I have no vision on my right side.
I can’t drive, and if I could, I would probably forget where I was going. Do I want to go back to work? Bad…real bad. My life now consists of going to doctors offices and exercising. I want to work, I have been working since I was 12 years old, and I am 48 now. I had a discussion with my occupational therapist a few weeks ago, and she says that I am not ready yet for work. I volunteer at food banks, and have also done some yard work (for free) for some older people in my neighborhood. I am doing my best to stay busy until I get the go-ahead to return to work. As soon as I get cleared by the doc to return to work, I will sleep in the parking lot at the office just so I can be the first one in the office.
I have told my friends, if you hate going to work every day, try not going for a few months.
Gmare
November 2nd, 2012
7:49 pm
Pete, good luck & best wishes to you. Don’t mind Fred as he tends to go off “half cocked.” Yeah, you, Fred. I don’t hate you, but I won’t forget your diatribe re older people.
Thulsa Doom
November 2nd, 2012
8:01 pm
Good luck to both Gmare and Pete. Hang in there Pete and keep doing what the medical pros and rehab specialists tell you to do. Gmare I’m certain your surgery will be fine so don’t be a worry wort over it.
Thulsa Doom
November 2nd, 2012
8:02 pm
Fred had a diatribe on older people? Hell Fred is a middle aged going on old fart himself aint he. And a fat one by his own admission. Just messin with ya Fred.
Gmare
November 2nd, 2012
9:26 pm
Thanks, Doomy. Yeah, Fred went off on older people driving & being one of those older drivers, I took exception. BTW, how is that puppy? I will never agree with you re politics, but anybody who loves puppies or kitties or any baby creatures (okay maybe not rats or roaches) is okay in my book.