The secret weapon for Gomez is President Barack Obama coming to Massachusetts to campaign for Ed Markey. You just have to know that Markey and Democrats are worried when they take the calculated risk to bring in President Obama to pump up Markey's campaign in the very midst of a stonewalling White House hunkered down against the onslaught of scandals facing them.
The lead in the Massachusetts Senate race for Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) has dwindled in recent weeks over Republican Gabriel Gomez, and the high-profile scandals plaguing the Obama administration have hurt his popularity in the state he carried in November...
Read the details of the latest Suffolk poling here.
Obama is scheduled to campaign for Markey in Massachusetts Wednesday. As for Gomez, the latest Suffolk poll “shows massive momentum on Gabriel’s side,” said campaign manager Jill Neunaber:
“It is obvious that the Markey campaign is in free-fall, and the D.C. political machine is doing everything they can to prop up Markey’s failing campaign,” Neunaber said in a statement.
Didn't Obama win Massachusetts by something like 61%? And wasn't that Romney's home state?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, do we post ANYTHING you either like or agree with? I'm not looking for gooey sticky unconditional love, but why do you bother reading our blog?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what the ratio is but I'd say I do well to comment to 1 out of 20 threads. With that said, obviously I didn't have a problem with something like 95% or at least not enough of an issue to comment.
ReplyDeleteRealistically, it really isn't a matter of something I like or agree with but rather a question of your argument's validity. Does it hold water? Does it stand up to scrutiny? Had this race been in IN or TX, your argument that an Obama visit would would benefit the GOP candidate would might have merit. But we all know that MA is a predominantly blue state that Obama did well in.
And yes, warm and fuzzy feelings are overrated.
Massachusetts certainly is a very liberal state, if not the most liberal state in America, although California is giving a good go at that title. That said, Scott Brown (R) did defeat Martha Coakley (D) in a special senate election a couple of years ago. I was putting forth the idea that the Obama administration is in such dire political straights with all the swirling scandals that an Obama appearance at this time, might be a negative for Markey. The Suffolk poll, although the latest, may not be definitive, although it has shown Markey losing ground to Gomez. About this time two weeks hence, all doubt will be removed in the Gomez-Markey race. It will be interesting to analyze the outcome.
ReplyDeleteGomez had an opportunity to pounce on the Obama/scandals/visit at last night's debate but declined. Perhaps that's a gambling stratagem, not sure. My guess is that as polls show, scandalmania really hasn't hurt the President as most people really don't care. There's just many more important issues that effects their lives. And interestingly, Gomez did hit on what the constituents wanted to hear, calling himself a “green Republican”, advocating a $10 minimum wage, and promised to fight for equal pay for women. On the other hand, he had a hard time distancing himself from being indebted to the NRA, selling the myth that Keystone was a huge job creator, promising to continue the Bush tax cuts, and referring to Citizens United as “it’s just free speech”.
ReplyDeleteYes, Brown did defeat Coakley and I'll also add that she too had an Obama visit. But in fairness, that's a difficult apples to apples comparison. Aside from Coakley's gaffe calling Boston Red Sox pitcher and New England hero Curt Schilling a "Yankees fan", that campaign was poorly orchestrated and went down hill from there. It was akin to the Rabbit and the Hare race. Obama flew in as an 11th hour Hail Mary pass.
But can Gomez pull it off? Assuming the 7 points down is accurate, it looks tough with or without an Obama endorsement. And even if your argument that an Obama visit would do damage (which I'd argue is actually an asset), it certainly wouldn't pull Markey down by 7 points in MA.
Gomez would have been wrong to attack Obama directly since he, Gomez, is running against Markey and anything other than addressing Markey's record and statements would have been a diversion and to Markey's advantage. Markey is a radical leftist, while Gomez is hardly a right wing conservative. Gomez's argument may have to be that he is closer to the center of the hearts and minds of Massachusetts voters than Markey. Gomez's argument has to be that Markey is part of the past, which is failing and that he, Gomez, is the future for Massachusetts. In any event, it's an interesting matchup and could be an indicator of whether America is in a mood to pull back from a liberal direction.
ReplyDeleteIf a Republican Senatorial win is a "pull back from a liberal direction", would it be fair to say that a Democratic Senate win, in perhaps a red leaning state, be a pull back from the Plutocratic and Social Darwinism direction?
ReplyDeleteI really don't want to get in the weeds of a discussion outside of what we are seeing in the MA senate race.
ReplyDeleteYou've made an assumption that presupposes two conclusions that are purely speculative at best. Social Darwinism is a label applied by liberals to Republicans as a pejorative. The concept has been pushed by liberals for a century. I don't believe it has any validity today since its creation in Victorian England, but it is a recurring and seemingly useful tool of the left with their low information voters, as liberals project the class warfare concept of the rich against the poor, the strong against the weak, etc..
Considering the wealth of liberals in business, finance and government, and their ability to produce huge amounts of campaign funds, I seriously doubt that Republicans can be singularly cast as plutocrats, but it's a political concept that has also been pushed by the Left, seemingly forever, to great success as they demonize the Right as the party of wealth, when in fact the richest of the rich are liberals.
Let's see how the MA senate race plays out. Markey should win considering all the political elements in play. How close the race turns out, may be more indicative of any trend in political direction.
Well Robert, I appreciate your tolerance as obviously, we're polar opposites from a political perspective. I also agree that staying in the parameters of the topic (Gomez vrs Markey and Obama's influence) should be paramount. After all, it is your blog and your discussion. I respect that.
ReplyDeleteBut alas, ideologies always seem to surface don't they? While I don't disagree that "Social Darwinism" may have been an historical pejorative used to bash Republicans, it seems that you have taken the term "liberal" not only quite loosely, but you've somewhat joined your cohorts in redefining the very definition. And with that, there seems to be this mindset that anyone that dares to challenge the GOP or Tea Party on any issue, must be a "Liberal". And ironically in this binary purity test, the Tea Party push (consider the Ryan budget) actually advocates much closer to Social Darwinism than anything I've seen in history.
The MA Senate race is indeed an interesting test. The results will be haggled and both sides will be well armed. But however one wants to read the tea leaves, I wouldn't call it "a mood to pull back from a liberal direction", no more than you'd call a red state Dem win a "mood to pull back from Social Darwinism". The political winds are indeed whirling. Hat tip.