Delaware is a pretty blue state. Obama beat McCain 62-37% and Romney, 59-40%. Hillary did less well but still beat Trump 235,603 (53.1%) to 185,127 (41.7%). The last Republican presidential candidate to take the state was George H.W. Bush in 1988. After that it gave it's electoral votes to Bill Clinton (twice), Al Gore, John Kerry, Obama (twice) and Hillary. Both senators, the state's sole member of the House and the governor are all Democrats.But on Sept 6 Republicans decided to nominate an insane person, Scott Walker, to run against Lisa Blunt Rochester. Walker narrowly won his primary against Lee Murphy 19,572 (53%) to 17,359 (47%) In 2016 Walker ran as a Democrat and was beaten in the primary by Blunt, 233,554 (55.5%) to 172,301 (41.0%) Last Wednesday he had a meltdown on his Facebook page., accusing everyone of being a racist, including his opponent, who is black. Why? Because they support the social safety network.
During the hours-long rant, Walker called incumbent U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester-- his general election opponent and the first black woman Delaware has elected to Congress-- an “Aunt Tom.”He also labeled U.S. Sen. Tom Carper as a “redneck,” referred to feminism as “an assault against people of color,” accused Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of “hating Israel” and challenged former Vice President Joe Biden to a debate, calling him a “racist loser.”Walker on Thursday morning stood by his Facebook posts.“They are all guilty of disparate impact discrimination,” he told The News Journal. “Their policies, their actions and their words have a disproportion effect on minorities, especially black people.”Walker said he specifically was referring to welfare programs, which he argued “infantilizes” the poor until they cannot take care of themselves.When asked if he considered terms such as “Aunt Tom”-- a twist on a slur used to describe a subservient black person-- Walker said “everyone has hard-wired bigotry within them and I’m no different than anyone else.”“I’m the worst Christian and a pathetic sinner,” he said....He also predicted someone would soon try to kill him before stating that he “needs the endorsement of the NAACP.”C. Linwood Jackson, president of the NAACP's Delaware State Conference, said he was "flabbergasted" by Walker's posts."I find those comments to be unfounded and ridiculous," he said. "I have never found the governor or our Congresspeople to be racist. We might not agree all the time but that doesn't make them racist."
The GOP wasn't thrilled either. The state party's executive director, Emily Taylor responded Thursday: "While Scott Walker is a Republican-endorsed candidate, his comments do not reflect how the Republican Party feels." State GOP Chair Mike Harrington said nearly the same thing: "Despite his presence on the ballot, no Republican organization will give any support to his candidacy."As of the August 17 FEC filing deadline, Blunt had raised $999,572 and Walker, who is unemployed, hadn't raised the $5,000 needed to trigger a report. He runs the campaign on his own and has no staff or volunteers and the campaign seems to consist solely of his old 1991 Toyota that doubles as a billboard. When his wife kicked him out of the house this winter, he also used the Toyota as a bedroom. Lee Murphy spent $9,485 in the GOP primary but there was no report at all from Walker. The 538 forecaster gives Walker a less than 1 in 100 chance to win.Walker describes himself as an untreated alcoholic and last February was on Facebook that he was "looking for a sober house because I have a drinking problem and I can’t seem to lick it with medication or any other way. I need help with my addiction right now. I have too much at stake, and the people of Delaware would expect me to be in tip-top shape all the time." He never went into rehab and is still drunk while he drives around campaigning.His platform is ant-obesity and a free-market economy. He's into fat-shaming women and thinks that will help him win their votes. Monday morning Delaware Public Radio reported that the executive committee of the Republican Party had formally voted to renounce him as the party nominee. Walker said he is unfazed by the party's action. He said he works "for the people" and not the Republican Party of Delaware.
