Month: October 2010

Voters Have to Hunt for Charlie Crist’s Name on Florida Ballots

Trish
Ballot
In the words of John Lennon: Number Nine. Number Nine. Number Nine...

With polls showing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist at about 30 percent in his race for U.S. Senate against Tea Party Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek, the newly independent candidate is already swimming upstream.

I just got my sample ballot, and not only is Crist not listed third, he’s at number nine, ahead only of one other guy and the space to write someone in.

Blame it, along with many of his other campaign woes, on Charlie’s decision to go no party affiliation (NPA) rather than face Rubio in a Republican primary.

Here’s how ballot order works in Florida.

Florida Statutes, 101.151(2)(b):

The last time ten names were listed for one office on a Florida ballot was in 2000. And you know how that turned out.

“The names of the candidates of the party that received the highest number of votes for Governor in the last election in which a Governor was elected shall be placed first under the heading for each office on the general election ballot, together with an appropriate abbreviation of party name; the names of the candidates of the party that received the second highest vote for Governor shall be second under the heading for each office, together with an appropriate abbreviation of the party name.”

So that explains why Rubio jumped to first and Meek is second, but why is Charlie second from last?

[…]

Verbatim

Buck Banks

I was in the middle of eating a kosher pastrami sandwich. While I was eating it, they come running and they say, ‘Paladino became gay!’ I said, ‘What?’ And then they showed me the statement. I almost choked on the kosher salami.

— Rabbi Yehuda Levin, quoted by the New York Times, when told New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino (R) apologized for his attack on gays.

AK Sen: Why Is the National Media Ignoring Scandal Roiling Tea Bagger Joe Miller’s Campaign?

Jon Ponder

The campaign for the Alaska U.S. Senate seat has taken a dramatic turn in the past days. Joe Miller, the candidate chosen by Sarah Palin to take out her enemy, GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, has been accused of ethical violations that may have led to his forced resignation as a part-time local government lawyer last fall.

He has also been accused of using other people’s computers without their permission to vote for himself by proxy when he ran (unsuccessfully) for chairman of the Alaska Republican Party in 2008. A job he sought, he said, in order to weed out corruption in the party.

Miller, a rookie in major league politics, has reacted to the controversy by stonewalling the media, a move that has had the predictable effect of bringing the local media’s interest in the story to a rolling boil.

Alaska Dispatch, which took an early lead in the investigation, recently sued Miller’s former employer, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, in an attempt to discover whether Miller was forced to resign or was fired outright. Over the weekend, the Dispatch framed its pursuit of information this way:

[…]

OH-08: Speaker Wanna-Be Boehner Donated $5,000 to Infamous Nazi Drag Dressing Republican Candidate Rich Iott

Jon Ponder

$5,000

Amount boozing, schmoozing Speaker Wanna-Be John Boehner donated to the campaign of Nazi-in-drag GOP-tea bagger candidate Rich Iott, who is running against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in Ohio’s 9th District. Boehner is the only politician who has donated money to Iott, however Iott has received donations from National Tank Truck Carriers, the National Federation of Independent Business, the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List and the Council of Insurance Agents and Broker. Update Oct. 25: A new report shows that Boehner gave an additional $2,000 to Iott in October.

Beck: If You’re Parading Around in a Nazi with Your Son, It ‘Might Be Fun’

Jon Ponder

If you were doing this with your son, I could see how this might be fun. If you happen to have a Nazi uniform in your closet and you’re wearing it and you’re like, yes, i’m wearing my Nazi uniform around, you might question someone. But if you are part of an reenactment group and you are war gaming, I could see that as, again, not something I necessarily would participate in, but nothing wrong with it.

– GOP-Fox’s Mormon televangelist Glenn Beck.

House GOPTers Boehner, Cantor, Pence, Sessions, Bachmann Voted with Pelosi over 50% of the Time

Jon Ponder
Top GOP Pelosi Votes
Leader Boehner 52%
Whip Cantor 57%
Chairman Sessions 57%
Chairman Pence 52%
Michele Bachmann 58%

The House Republicans’ “Party of No” strategy to obstruct legislation and drive up negatives for the Democratic leadership and the president certainly appears to have been successful. Every pollster out there is predicting that the GOP’s lazy, boozing, schmoozing leader, John Boehner, is set to become Speaker of the House in January.

On every issue that made news, the top GOPTers have hurtled themselves in front of any available camera to bellow, “NO, no, no and HELL no!” But, according to a new metric compiled by the Democrats, when it came time to register their vote, some of the most vociferous Republicans voted with the House Democratic leadership more than half of the time:

[…]

FL Sen: Crist Gets an Endorsement That Would Be the Kiss of Death to a California Candidate

Jon Ponder

The last thing candidates of either party running for high offices in California would want these days is the endorsement of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In fact, among the four candidates for governor and senator, the one who would want his endorsement the least is Meg Whitman, the candidate running for his job in his own party.

“When it comes to inflicting ‘Collateral Damage’ on the economy, Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzenegger are definitely ‘Twins.’ Charlie’s flip-flops have made him a master at telling ‘True Lies.’”
– Rubio campaign

The political stank around Schwarzenegger apparently has not drifted 3,000 miles southeast to Florida, however:

Gov. Charlie Crist lost endorsements from prominent Republicans when he bolted the party for an independent Senate run, but one is sticking by him: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Schwarzenegger made his announcement over Twitter on Tuesday. He summed up his thoughts on Crist in 136 characters: “I endorse Gov (at)charliecristfl for Senate. Great leader, works with both parties, and our country needs someone like him in DC right now.”

The campaign of Crist’s GOP tea bagger opponent, Marco Rubio — which is apparently run by third-graders — shot back by cleverly incorporating titles from Schwarzenegger’s film oeuvre into their news alert:

“When it comes to inflicting ‘Collateral Damage’ on the economy, Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzenegger are definitely ‘Twins.’ Charlie’s flip-flops have made him a master at telling ‘True Lies.'”

If that was so funny you forgot to laugh, it’s probably because you don’t have “Total Recall.”

But seriously Rubio campaign, poking fun of Arnold using titles of his films is ssoooo 2003.

Trish and Buck unwittingly contributed to this article.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

I tell you what, there’s real trust, that’s why he’s asked me to run again. Look, he said, ‘We’re going to run together, are you going to run?’ I said, ‘Of course, you want me to run with you, I’m happy to run with you.’

— Vice President Joe Biden, to the New York Times, asserting that he will be on the ticket with President Obama in 2012.