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No, Virginia, Nothing New Is Going On With The GOP And The South
Submitted by Sean Oxendine on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 18:42
“This is how shaky Republican fortunes are in 2008: In one of the most conservative corners of the conservative South, Democrats stand a good chance of winning a congressional seat.”
That is how the latest bit of gloom-and-doom begins about House Republicans’ chances in the Fall. This comes from, of all places, the Wall Street Journal..
According to the WSJ, nowhere can the decline of the GOP’s fortune be more readily found than in AL-02, where Republicans may actually lose a seat that they’ve held since 1964 to a conservative Democrat named Bobby Bright. And in a district where Bush won 64%!
Pretty grim stuff, huh?
And its true, this seat hasn’t been competitive since . . . 1992, the last time it was open!
That’s the dirty little secret about the recent spate of bad news about the GOP’s fortune’s in the South. The media is slowly waking up to an inconvenient truth about the South – conservative Democrats can still win there. This has been the case for the last decade, and not just in districts with high percentages of African Americans.
Let’s take a look at the district formerly represented by Mr. Everett. 
As you can see, the Second Congressional District is largely made up of small towns such as Dothan (pop. 64K), Troy (pop. 13K), and Andalusia (pop 9,000); the burgeoning metropolis of the district is Montgomery (pop. 200K) – and that was split with the third district, as part of a Democratic gerrymander. In other words, it is in many ways a doppelganger for MS-01. The parallels run deeper. I have earlier explained that MS-01 is actually a fairly Democratic district at the local level. The same is true for this district. Check out AL-02, and the state Senate districts that it encompasses.
As you can see, only three state senate districts that are in the district in whole or in part are held by Republicans. The district has six state senate districts that are held by Democrats. Now, some of these districts overlap with other Congressional districts, but the bottom line is that much of the district is still open to the right kind of Democrat.
The story with the state House is much the same:+
Ten state house districts are owned in whole or in part by Republicans. Ten are Democratic. Moreover, we see that a similar number of state House districts occupied by Democrats are totally within the district as is the case with Republicans. In other words, at the local level, this is still a district where Democrats can compete. Moreover, this is nothing unique to this district, or even this year. Or even 2006 for that matter.
The fact is, Democrats have been winning in the South – regularly – even since 1994, by running people just like Bobby Bright.
Consider the following chart, which gives all incumbents defeated in the South from 1996 until 2006. Note that for purposes of this analysis, I exclude South Florida, South Texas, and majority minority districts from the analysis, since these districts have distinctly different politics than, say, AL-02. I also include Kentucky (save for Louisville) and Oklahoma, since they tend to be culturally similar to the South:
| Year | District | Old Party | New Party | Win % | PVI |
| 1996 | NC-02 | R | D | 7% | R+11 |
| 1996 | NC-04 | R | D | 10% | R+4 |
| 1996 | TX-09 | R | D | 6% | R+3 |
| 2000 | AR-04 | R | D | 2% | |
| 2002 | FL-05 | D | R | 2% | R+4 |
| 2004 | GA-12 | R | D | 4% | D+5 |
Note that since 1994, the GOP has knocked off all of one (1) incumbent in the South, while Dems have knocked off five GOP incumbents. That win occurred in 2002, when the Republicans essentially gerrymandered Karen Thurman out of her district. Part of this is probably that to win in the South as a Democrat, you have to be a strong candidate who will likely win outside of wave years. But part of it shows that the South has not been the bloodbath for Dems in the past decade that many make is out to be. Now let’s look at open seat districts the Dems have retained:
| Year | District | Old Party | New Party | Win % | PVI |
| 1996 | AR-01 | D | D | 9% | |
| 1996 | AR-02 | D | D | 4% | |
| 1996 | FL-02 | D | D | 18% | D+0 |
| 1996 | LA-07 | D | D | 30% | D+3 |
| 1996 | NC-07 | D | D | 7% | R+8 |
| 1996 | TX-01 | D | D | 5% | R+5 |
| 1996 | TX-02 | D | D | 6% | R+4 |
| 1996 | VA-05 | D | D | 25% | R+7 |
| 2004 | OK-02 | D | D | 32% | R+5 |
| 2004 | NC-13 | D | 13% | R+0 |
Note that Democrats have been perfectly capable of winning and retaining their open seats in this time period. This is true even in districts that are fairly heavily Republican, like VA-05 and NC-07. Now let’s look at open seats Republicans have held since 1996. Note that, with a few exceptions, the districts have tended to produce relatively moderate Republican wins. In other words, the Dems weren’t out of these:
| District | Old Party | New Party | Win % | PVI | |
| 1996 | |||||
| 1996 | AL-03 | D | R | 4% | R+8 |
| 1996 | AL-04 | D | R | 2% | R+7 |
| 1996 | KY-03 | D | R | .5% | D+4 |
| 1996 | MS-03 | D | R | 25% | R+17 |
| 1996 | TX-05 | D | R | 6% | R+4 |
| 1996 | TX-12 | D | R | 17% | R+4 |
| 1998 | KY-06 | D | R | 7% | R+4 |
| 1998 | NC-08 | D | R | 2% | R+5 |
| 2000 | VA-02 | D | R | 4% | R+3 |
| 2000 | VA-04 | D | R | 4% | R+5 |
| 2004 | KY-04 | D | R | 10% | R+12 |
| 2004 | LA-07 | D | R | 10% | R+7 |
Finally, let’s look at the not-insignificant number of open seats the Dems have picked up from the GOP since 1994. Note that most involve overwhelming GOP partisan edges. Note also that when they do note, Democrats have tended to perform well, even if they are pretty strongly GOP:
| Year | District | Old Party | New Party | Win % | PVI |
| 1996 | TX-08 | R | R | 60% | R+26 |
| 1996 | TN-01 | R | R | 31% | R+24 |
| 1998 | GA-06 | R | R | 90% | R+20 |
| 1998 | SC-04 | R | R | 17% | R+15 |
| 2000 | FL-04 | R | R | 34% | R+22 |
| 2000 | FL-08 | R | R | 1% | R+1 |
| 2000 | LA-01 | R | R | 90% | R+17% |
| 2000 | TX-07 | R | R | 50% | |
| 2002 | AL-03 | R | R | 2% | R+3 |
| 2002 | FL-01 | R | R | 38% | R+19 |
| 2002 | GA-11 | R | R | 4% | R+4 |
| 2002 | GA-12 | R | R | 10% | D+4 |
| 2002 | SC-02 | R | R | 48% | R+10 |
| 2002 | SC-03 | R | R | 34% | R+15 |
| 2002 | TN-07 | R | R | 45% | R+12 |
| 2004 | NC-05 | R | R | 18% | R+15 |
| 2004 | NC-10 | R | R | 28% | R+15 |
| 2004 | SC-04 | R | R | 41% | R+15 |
| 2004 | VA-02 | R | R | 10% | R+6 |
Now, lets look at open seats Republicans have picked up from Democrats. As you can see, the win percentage has generally been pretty hefty, even in some very Republican districts. In all cases, it is because a solid, good-ol-boy Democrat ran in a Southern district.
| Year | District | Old Party | New Party | Win % | PVI |
| 1998 | KY-04 | R | D | 7% | R+9 |
| 1998 | MS-04 | R | D | 7% | R+10 |
| 2000 | OK-02 | R | D | 13% | R+4 |
| 2002 | GA-03 | R | D | 2% | R+3 |
| 2002 | LA-05 | R | D | .5% | R+9 |
| 2002 | TN-04 | R | D | 6% | R+1 |
| 2004 | KY-06 | R | D | 19% | R+7 |
| 2004 | LA-03 | R | D | .5% | R+5 |
The bottom line is that, for the past decade in the South, the GOP has lost some, and it has won some. It has even lost some in reliably Republican districts. The only difference is that, now that there is a meme that the “GOP is doomed,” people are starting to take notice.
BTW, I will point out that the WSJ article I reference refers itself to eight competitive races. One is the AL-02 district (which was a nailbiter last time it was open). It also references LA-04, where a GOB like Bobby Bright (who could really be a Republican if he chose) is running. FL-21 and 24 are heavily Cuban districts; what is going on there is independent of the rest of the South. FL-08, VA-02, and NC-08 have been competitive for years to anyone who has paid attention, and have generally been held only narrowly by the Republicans that occupy the seat. And finally WV-02 is MUCH more solidly Democrat than Shelley Moore Capito’s winning percentages would imply. Again, the only people surprised by this are those who aren’t paying attention.
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Comments
That's true!
In California, Dems have been beating their chest about their increase in voter registration, and taking some counties away from the GOP column. But as recently as 2000, Dems had majority registration in 29 out of 58 counties, and 43 out of 58 in 1992!! The GOP is still ahead in a majority of counties even today. At worst, this election will take the GOP/Dem equation back to 1992.
But of course, this isn't good news for the GOP, just validating your assertion that this is old news for those who are paying attention. Dems have always outnumbered Republicans and that's why they do much better in state and local politics.
That's true!
In California, Dems have been beating their chest about their increase in voter registration, and taking some counties away from the GOP column. But as recently as 2000, Dems had majority registration in 29 out of 58 counties, and 43 out of 58 in 1992!! The GOP is still ahead in a majority of counties even today. At worst, this election will take the GOP/Dem equation back to 1992.
But of course, this isn't good news for the GOP, just validating your assertion that this is old news for those who are paying attention. Dems have always outnumbered Republicans and that's why they do much better in state and local politics.
The real meme of Republican Collapse
The real story of the Republican collapse is that many groups who have been open to voting for Republicans are not longer open to open for Republicans. The Democrats have managed to make many district more competative while the Repubicans seem incapable of making any Democratic candidate have to worry about his seat. The Republicans have not forcing any sitting Democratic Seantor to worry about re-election.
Of course what would anyone expect from a political party who does ont realize that amnesty for illegal immigratns would produce millions of additional Democratic voters. What else should be expect from a political party that seems incapalbe of articulating any policy positions and seem incapable of implementing any of their campaign promises.
In DuPage County IL...
...where Repubs have held an iron grip for decades - calling it the reddest county in the nation - voters took almost 133,000 Dem ballots to 109,000 Repub on Super Tuesday. That's never happened before as far as I know. Granted a lot of folks crossed over to vote for Hillary or Obama but it was months before Operation Chaos and it's not like Repubs had nothing to vote for. There were a lot of contentious primary races for county board and one local house race. It was also the last chance to pick anyone but McCain, Romney dropped out two days later.
10 year incumbent, 71 year old pro abortion Judy Biggert and her pro-life primary challenger combined for 25,000 fewer votes in IL-13 than the Dem candidate nobody's ever heard of before. She did a poll in June claiming she leads 59-30 but with only 400 respondents it looks like wishful thinking writ large to bolster her donors who aren't giving like they used to and discourage the upstart Harper who outraised her in the second quarter if you factor in the $50 grand he lent his campaign. I understand he has lots more to lend himself but even without it he's raised more than her last 4 Dem challengers combined for their whole races. Biggert's trying to run on alternative energy but after voting straight down the line for Bush's energy policies for the last 8 years. calling high gas prices "tough love" and her stint the other day in the darkened well of the House it's kind of a schizophrenic message she's sending.
All the Chicago burbs are changing. There's been a huge influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe and South Asia over the last dozen years who are now citizens registered to vote.Yet Biggert's teletownhall confernce calls are rife with petty immigrant bashing from retirees who seem to be the only callers who get thru.
With Obama's coattails we could lose 4 more House seats this fall in Chicagoland along with Hastert's in IL-14 we already lost in March. It's not like the NRCC can come to the rescue with the former treasurer under indictment for embezzlement. The state party is in a shambles after Patrick Fitgerald sent George Ryan the deposed Repub governor to federal prison last year.
It doesn't look good.
Isn't Blago about to be indicted?
I wouldn't book a van line if I were a D house candidate in IL just about now.
Yeah everybody hates Blogo too
He's sitting on a campaign finance law he says he wants to "make better" while he's filling his campaign warchest. If that law gets passed it'll not only strip Blago of his fundraising but any Repub hoping to run statewide.
Everybody hates his main nemesis Mike Madigan too, the Dem state house majority leader. Everybody but the state house members - both Repub and Dem - he has in his back pocket. It's said Madigan wants to bring down Blagojevich because he wants to make his daughter Lisa, the IL AG, governor. A lot of people surmise Blago will annoint her senator if Obama wins getting her out of Springfield. Don't know how that will play out but everybody seems to like her, especially women.
As for Blago being indicted I wouldn't count on it. Fitzgerald has a habit of letting the topdog go free unless he has an ironclad case. Daley lost some minions in a hiring scandal but they never touched him. We all saw Rove get to go back to the grand jury and revise his testimony 3 times in the Plame case.
Fitzgerald's main witness in the Retzko trial is a drug addled homsexual, registered Repub longtime political fixer for both parties, they call it the "combine" in Chicago papers. Rezko isn't talking even though he's already been convicted and impoverished. The crux of the case is that Blago allegedly steered big investment houses looking to get or hang onto IL state pension funds to Rezko and his coke snorting pal for shakedowns to his campaign fund first. The problem with the case is there are only so many big banks that can handle that biz and they got the contracts anyway even after these guys were indicted. Unless Fitzgerald gets NY bankers to admit they were paying off these weasels to land contracts managing big pension funds for the new regime and gets them to directly implicate Blago he's not likely to go after him.
Either way Blago's done plenty to tarnish his own image besides that case. But the generally dysfunctional IL government headed completely by Dems doesn't seem to be helping Repubs any.
Chicago Burbs
The problem in Illinois and the rest of the country is that the party is stuck in 1968. Illinois is ripe for a Republican resurgance right now, as the Democrats have done just about all they can to screw up the state and people have had it with them.
Yet, because the establishment Republicans i.e. moderates are so brain and bodydead-that means you Mark Kirk (rather than fighting for dead trees let's fight for real people) and you Judy Biggert (either get energized or let a young gun do the job), and the far right is so brainwashed-gay bashing is not a domestic agenda, we are up shit creek without a paddle.
What Republicans in Illinois don't get like their peers nationally is that it's time to get off the high horse and start facing up to the problems facing the country. Too much of the party is engaged in ideological and idol worship-pun intended and too little.
Even if we keep the White House this fall, and limit Senate losses that doesn't change the fact that what's needed right now is an overhaul of the party. We need to get rid of the Ralph Reeds, Tom DeLays, Grover Norquists, Mitch McConnell's, Roy Blunts, and others who have put us on the brink of the wilderness.
Here, Here!
It's definitely time for the Young Guns and the Old Guns who are able to learn new tricks and have the energy and values of the Young Guns to overtake the brain-dead deaf-leading-the-blind not-so-grand OLD party. There's nothing wrong with experience. There's plenty wrong with unethical cronyism. There's nothing wrong with aging. There's plenty wrong with being frozen in amber - like Don Young, who also belongs on your list.
Oh, and while we're at it, there's another thing I'd like to say that I think is wrong. There's nothing wrong with cooperating with Democrats to reach an agreement that benefits the American people. There's plenty wrong with capitulating to Democrats in a way that does nothing to further a real solution for Americans who need all the options we can get in terms of an energy portfolio. Please add our completely disloyal Gang of Ten members (Lindsey Graham, John Thune, Saxby Chambliss, Bob Corker and Johnny Isakson) to the list also. It pains me greatly to see Senator Thune in this group. It pains me even more to see him mentioned in the same breath as Eric Cantor as a potential Vice Presidential candidate. Congressman Cantor has shown courage and leadership for over a week now in the Rebel Congress that is firing up the base and working for real solutions for Americans besieged by the high cost of fuel and the lack of will on the part of Democrats led by Dear Leader Pelosi to continue the debate. I've always liked Thune, but after the Gang of Ten fiasco, I am ready to Just Say No to Republican giveaways regarding the American Energy Act. Those Senators should either get behind the American voters who are demanding Drill Here, Drill Now! and support our Republicans working hard during their staycations on The Hill, or prepare to pack up and get out of Washington.
The one initiative Repubs have in Illinois...
...is a statewide petition to put a recall referendum on the ballot. There currently isn't a provision for recall in IL law and I believe we'd have to amend the state constittution to get this passed.
Now recalling Blago might be popular but as usual IL Repubs have gone overboard. They want an amendment to recall all the statewide constitutional officers, Sec.of State, AG, Treasurer, Lt. Gov, and Gov. who all just happen to be Dems, some of whom like Pat Quinn, Lisa Madigan, and Alexi Giannoulias are pretty popular. The petitioners swear up and down they only want to target Rod but that kind of rings hollow. It may well be impossible politically anyway unless there's another constitutional convention like there was back in the late 60s. Also it was just a year ago Repubs pushed to change the law making it much harder to get referendums on the ballot. We shot ourselves in one foot last year and seem to be trying to blow the other one off at the ankle with this exercise in futility. Illinois isn't California and we have no desire to make an even bigger circus out of our politics than it already is. We desperately need better candidates not cheap stunts like this.
Another gimick I've seen locally in DuPage just plain breaks Illinois state election law. It's illegal to register voters while promoting political campaigns, candidates or causes in Illinois. You can look it up at the DuPage County Election Commission's own website. But at local fests and the county fair in DuPage the Repub booth has had big signs saying "Voter Registration". They hand you the downloadable form to fill out if you want to register. At the county fair they had a red box with a slit in the top underneath the sign which they said was only for show not for collecting registrations to walk across the parking lot to the Election Commission at the end of the day. While Repubs swear up and down it's all legal because of HAVA when local Dems came by to take pictures of them standing near the sign they scurried away. Diminutive Judy Biggert actually hid behind state house rep Patti Bellock and another huge committeeman rather than be photographed in the booth with the sign. It was pathetic.
I have no idea how many voters they were actually able to register but I do know Dems spent that whole weekend telling anyone within earshot they were breaking the law. They even managed to anger the League of Women voters who had a legit registration booth around the corner 30' away.
As someone from Alabama...
Bobby Bright is awefully conservative on most positions, and he is running as an independant minded democrat. Someone that doesn't follow the mainstream of his party. Pro-gun, pro-life, I think he may even be for the war. So I think it would be funny watching the usual democrat use this to show democrats are gonna sweep.
Something That Never Makes Sense To Me
I never have understood these "conservative" Democrats, and am always skeptical of their conservative claims. If you are a politician, and are conservative on most issues, why not change parties, and run as a Republican? Why would you want to run on a party that represents so many ideals that contradict your own? I can understand 30 years ago when the ideological lines were blurry, but it's crystal clear that the Democrat party is the party that represents liberalism.
I think the answer is, usually these "conservative" Democrats are really liberal-leaning and just pretend to be conservative because that's the only way they can get elected in their districts. Once they get to Washington, they vote with the Democrats 90% of the time. They will usually have a symbolic "conservative" vote or two, but they're usually pretty partisan Democrats.
Republicans should make the connection between these "independent" Democrats and the actual Democrat leadership they will be supporting, ie Pelosi and Obama.
The Republican brand...
...is why. What's so conservative about a $10 trillion dollar nat'l debt? What kind of family values have Ted Stevens, Tom Delay, David Vitter, Makr Foley, Newt Gingrich and Larry Craig practiced? Seems like the Bush adminstration is under attack daily with one after another official forced to resign or being subpeanoed.
Frankly how conservative are some of these Repubs anyway? The other day on one of her teletownhall conference calls I was shocked to hear Judy Biggert blurt out aprapos of nothing "We need to bring back the WPA". FDR"S Works Progress Administration from the depression? I was floored! What's up with that? We're going to ethnically cleanse 12 million Mexicans and then have the government hire black kids from the city to come out and mow her lawn? Not with my tax dollars thank you very much.
That Makes No Sense
The Republican Brand is fine in the South, and is held in much higher esteem than the Democrat Party in that part of the region. Of course there are bad Republicans out there that tarnish the name, but there are also bad Democrats, like John Edwards, Bill Clinton, William Jefferson, Jesse Jackson, Eliot Spitzer, etc. Both parties are unfortunately composed of politicians, not the best people to look for moral leadership.
The Republicans need to be better on fiscal issues, specifically spending, but that certainly doesn't make the Democrat Party sound on fiscal policy. Despite a few bad Republicans (many of whom are getting knocked out in the primaries, like Rep. Young) the Democrats are still the party of big government.
Tell it to George W. Bush
The guy has literally spent more than LBJ adjusted in today's dollars even when you deduct the cost of the wars on their watches. And he couldn't have done it without the Republican congress sending him those bills he didn't veto. Don't believe me. Look at this article in the WaTimes in September 2005:
---
The Republican brand may be just fine in the South Jeff but we're never gonna be a majority party again if we only win in the Old Confederacy.
Voting for Democrats because you want less spending
makes as much sense as trying to cure alcoholism by switching to Everclear
And tell that to Denny Hastert...
...who earmarked an offramp on the Prairie State Parkway next to the farmland he and some partners were developing just before he bailed last year midterm. He had to do it before the 12/31/07 deadline otherwise he had to wait two years instead of one to become a lobbyist because of the law Obama and Coburn wrote. I'm surprised I have to point this crap out to you ironclad. Our people let us down. Until we clean house we can expect Dems to run the show and raise taxes like Europeans for everything they spend.
Still Doesn't Make The Case For Democrats
Yes, Republicans have been spending too much, but Democrats are much worse.
McCain, (the Republican) wants to eliminate pork barrel spending and cut taxes. Obama (the Democrat) wants to substantially raise taxes, and create new entitlements, (like Universal Health Care). This is usually how the two parties approach government fiscal policy.
I'm going to pick the lesser of two evils. If you find a perfect solution to this quandry, let us know. All I've been hearing from you is complaining, which solves nothing.
Such A Silly Game Liberals Play
A poster will come on to a conservative website, and state that he's a "real" conservative, and that the Republican Party is a waste of all conservative's time and energy, and that we should abandon the party.
This ploy is so tired, it's obvious it's just a liberal trying to create discontent and disarray among our ranks. A fractured enemy is easier to beat.
markg8 is not giving constructive criticism to help the conservative cause, he's just a liberal that's bashing conservatives on a conservative website because he has way too much time on his hands.
I really feel the editors here should start banning some of these people that just graffiti up the place. I don't buy a copy of the National Review or the Weekly Standard to get liberal commentary, and I don't go on to the Next Right to get childish liberal talking points. There are plenty of other outlets I can seek out to get the other side.
When you go to a conservative website, it's really annoying to have liberal trolls spewing their bile all over the place. It's also a waste of everyone's time, as nobody is going to get converted to the other side.
C'mon...
....McCain tells us he can balance the budget in 4 years, no wait it's 8 years, no it's 4 years depending on what day it is. And he's gonna do it by cutting $22 billion a year out of earmarks? On a half trillion annual deficit? Gimme a break.
You guys want to conisder me a troll? Go ahead but I'm trying to save this party from oblivion. These are hard truths I'm posting but they are truths nonetheless. Accept them and figure out where we go from here or let the current leadership take us into the wilderness for the next 30 years.
We're looking at a monumental defeat in November and no amount of grandstanding about drilling the last of our oil is going to change that. Neither are Rove like attempts at mockery. In case yiou haven't looked at the state polls they've haven't budged. IA and WI are about lost and MN would be too if we weren't holding the convention there and the Dems didn't nominate a comedian against Coleman. Hell McCain's gonna have to spend money to defend AZ.
Taking political advice from an Illinois "Republican"
is like using Dr. Kervorkian to run your ER.
Let's see, Pete Fitzgerald is the last statewide candidate there not to embarass himself, and that was by not running for re-election. Yep, George Ryan and Alan Keyes are the ticket out of here.
Peter Fitzgerald was an honorable man...
...who nominated Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation) to be US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. The state party and the combine were so pissed, especially Denny Hastert they yanked their support for his re-election. He had no choice but to step aside. We've all seen how well that worked out. Barack Obama now holds his seat. It wasn't Peter's fault George Ryan sold drivers licenses to unqualified drivers. It wasn't Peter's fault one of those Mexican drivers killed a preacher's whole family when he slammed his semi into their van. It wasn't Peter's fault the other Ryan thought he could cover up his public record divorce papers that showed him trying to get his starlet wife to publicly felate him in sex clubs in an effort to "strengthen his marriage".
Tony Rezko testified that Bob Kjellander the former RNC treasurer and RNC delegate from Illinois told him after he was indicted not to worry. Karl was going to get rid of Patrick Fitzgerald. For awhile there PF was on the AG firing list but after he became Special Prosectuor in the Plame case with Rove in his crosshairs Karl couldn't touch him. Kjellander is now tagged as "Individual K" in the ongoing criminal corruption probe.
So no doubt about it, Illinois needs better Republican candidates. We need a whole new crop of them. But that goes for the rest of the country too.
Just because you guys don't have an independent dogooder like Pat Fitzgerald as your federal attorney doesn't mean you won't next year. If Obama gets in there could be trials like Rezko's and Steven's all over the country. The Republican party has been devastated in Illinois and it can happen in your state too if we don't demand these guys clean up their act or get the hell out.
Think about that and remember this blog is supposed to be about "The Next Right". All I see are a bunch of people defending the old guard and the status quo.
we already had our guy run out for malfeasance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Rowland
but unlike IL, he didn;t do long term damage to the rest of the party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodi_Rell
really, if the IL Republicans had been on Obama's payroll in 2004 they could not have done a better job of getting him elected and making their party look utterly useless
Kentucky is actually in good shape
In my state we actually have two parties and they don't collude. That is why when it comes to corruption, hypocrisy and sanctimonious and self-righteous grand standing, Kentucky Democrats can't be beat and why over the last 20 years the party has lost influence. We have a GOP controlled senate that the KY DEMS can't defeat, we control 4 of the 6 house seats, and both senators.
While Ernie Fletcher went down to defeat due to a trumped up pseudoscandal (from a hack former DEM Attorney General who also happens to a be deadbeat dad) that he badlay mishandled due to piss-poor legal advice that had Flecther acting like Clinton, his successor Steve Beshear is a recycled partisan hack who makes IL politics look honest. This is reflected in his embarrasingly low approval ratings that he as managed to recieve in less than year into his administration.
Our Secretary of State Trey Grayson is good at enforcing our voting laws and putting a stop to the usual Democrat shenigans at the polls.
By the way I diagree about Mitch McConnell, he has proven to be quite an adept leader in the Senate given the situation. I have had problems with him the past due to his porkbarrelling but then again name one Senator in either party who is not a porker.
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