Tuesday is election day in Ohio. Yes, this Tuesday. And one of the most important races for progressives is in the extreme northeast corner of the state between Cleveland and the Pennsylvania border, CD-14. The Blue America candidate there is Michael Wager and he's up against two Republicans. Republican David Joyce is the incumbent. He's a mainstream conservative fighting for survival against a bizarre far right extremist, state Rep. Matt Lynch.
You may have already read that the Nevada state Republican Party is turning over a new leaf-- at least in terms of the party-sanctioned gay-bashing and anti-Choice mania. I'm not sure how extremists like Sharron Angle are taking this, but over the weekend, Nevada Republicans drastically changed their official party platform.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz fancies herself the female Rahm Emanuel in several, mostly dysfunctional, ways. But one has been her determination to be "the first Jewish Speaker of the House." A deal among Democratic caucus members last year seemed to have left that path open for the controversial Wasserman Schultz. But that didn't take a very different possibility into account. No, not progressive fellow Floridians Alan Grayson… Eric Cantor.
It's no secret that Blue America is as excited about the Shenna Bellows race in Maine this cycle, as we were about the Elizabeth Warren race in Massachusetts last cycle. The two women are different in many ways, of course, but both are strong, independent-minded, brilliant and focused on breaking through the same-ole/same-ole that has made Washington so utterly dysfunctional.
If you go over Ohio state Rep. Matt Lynch's record, you might be moved to ask, "how the hell did an extremist and fanatic like that get elected to office anywhere. Well, that would be a good question, since Lynch was appointed to his seat, a seat that Richard Hollington, Matt Dolan, Tim Grendell all resigned from in the last couple of years, Hollington twice. And now Lynch wants to abandon the Geauga County legislative seat as well, to run against Republican Congressman David Joyce in the May 6 primary. Geauga is, by far, the reddest county in OH-14.
Everybody likes inoffensive, friendly, old Tom Petri, right? He's the 4th most senior Republican in the House-- having beaten Tommy Thompson for an open GOP seat back in 1979. His central Wisconsin district is a swing district that leans red. Obama eked out the narrowest of victories there in 2008 and lost to Romney in 2012.
The DSCC preview of the electoral cycle that they hand out to big contributors is as upbeat as they can make it. In the section on South Dakota, where Democrat Tim Johnson is retiring, the DSCC asserts that "Democrats and the DSCC are committed to holding Senator Johnson's seat next year and will devote all the resources necessary to elect a new Democratic senator in South Dakota.
Last night, in her brilliant essay on the political dilemma facing the Republican Party over immigration reform (above), Rachel Maddow never mentioned California GOP congressman Jeff Denham, who represents the 10th congressional district, part for the Central Valley, including Modesto, Manteca and Tracy. The backward-looking Cook Report still claims the district has a PVI of R+1, even though President Obama's 50-48% win over McCain in 2008 grew to a 51-47% win over Romney in 2012.
Yesterday, consistent with his principles of non-interference in other countries, embattled North Carolina Republican Walter Jones was one of only 34 congressmen-- 32 Republicans + Alan Grayson of Orlando and Beto O'Rourke of El Paso-- to vote against the rush by the Establishment to spend a BILLION dollars in taxpayer money to prop up a Ukrainian government of dubious legitimacy.
