Kathllen Hochul Beats GOP in New York 26th

OMG! Kathleen C. Hochul (pictured at right) - initially the Democrat underdog in the special election for New York State's 26th Congressional district - has beat the GOP candidate by a 6% margin of victory. The shock waves throughout the GOP will be delicious to watch. The usual talking heads will no doubt be in overdrive as well. Hubris and fantasies of having a mandate are the GOP's undoing time after time. As a native of Central New York - about 150 miles from Buffalo - Upstate New Yorkers tend to be often much more conservative than those down state, but they are typically not freaking crazy. What plays well in the Bible Belt will not necessarily play well in upstate New York. Here are highlights from the Buffalo News:
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Kathleen Courtney Hochul, the Erie County clerk and longtime Democratic figure who defied political experts who had given her little chance of success, ground out a stunning and surprisingly comfortable victory Tuesday in the special election for the House seat in the predominantly Republican 26th Congressional District.
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Hochul was leading Republican Jane L. Corwin, a Clarence assemblywoman, 48 to 42 percent, with 87 percent of election districts reporting, while the Tea Party's Jack Davis mustered only 9 percent in his fourth try for the seat. Ian L. Murphy of the Green Party recorded 1 percent. In the 10 p.m. hour, Corwin conceded the race in a speech to supporters.
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[T]he race seemed to always boil down to two factors -- the strong Davis candidacy and a brouhaha over the "Ryan budget" and its Medicare implications.
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The New York Times also has coverage. Here are some highlights and a bit more analysis:
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Democrats scored an upset in one of New York’s most conservative Congressional districts on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the national Republican Party in a race that largely turned on the party’s plan to overhaul Medicare.
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The results set off elation among Democrats and soul-searching among Republicans, who questioned whether the party should rethink its commitment to the Medicare plan, which appears to have become a liability as 2012 elections loom. Two months ago, the Democrat, Kathy Hochul, was considered an all-but-certain loser in the race.
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Voters, who turned out in strikingly large numbers for a special election, said they trusted Ms. Hochul, the county clerk of Erie County, to protect Medicare. “I have almost always voted the party line,” said Gloria Bolender, a Republican from Clarence who is caring for her 80-year-old mother. “This is the second time in my life I’ve voted against my party.” Pat Gillick, a Republican from East Amherst, who also cast a ballot for Ms. Hochul, said, “The privatization of Medicare scares me.”
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The district, which stretches from Buffalo to Rochester, has been in Republican hands for four decades . . . Top Republicans, including House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and the majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, traveled to the district to provide support to Ms. Corwin. At the same time, the national party and its allies, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a group tied to the Republican strategist Karl Rove, jumped in, spending at least $1.1 million on radio and television ads supporting Ms. Corwin.
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One Buffalo News reader seems to have summed up the race:
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It appears that the Republican plan to rob the poor, the elderly, and the middle-class of hope is imploding the GOP. Republicans held this seat almost exclusively since 1857 until now... Congratulations Kathy Hochul.

Republicans Face Crisis

I cannot help but laugh at the hand wringing going on amongst the Republicans in the aftermath of a third consecutive Congressional special election loss in what was considered a "safe" district. What is amazing is that these folks refuse to see that they have created their own problem and have driven moderates and anyone believing in the separation of church and state out of the Party. It's not a need to "re-brand" the Party that will change things, but rather a need to remake the party from the top to bottom, starting with the expulsion of the Christianists. Anyone who isn't blind or drinking doctored Kool-Aid ought to be able to figure this out. In fact, Northern Virginia Congressman Tom Davis has figured it out, but he seems to be a lone voice crying in the wilderness but is retiring because he sense the coming disaster.

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Contributing to the GOP's current near radioactive status with voters are (1) blind allegiance - it's a wonder they haven't suffocated with their noses so far up the Chimperator's ass - to a president who (a) took the party to war based on known, deliberate lies, (b) has an approval rating worse than Richard Nixon just before his resignation, and (c) has been rated by historians as the worse president in the nation's history, (2) surrender of control of the Party to those who are basically mentally unstable religious fanatics, (3) the utter abondonment of any kind of responsible fiscal policy, and (4) the incredible erosion of civil liberties under the fascist regime of Bush/Cheney. But this lunatics cannot see these obvious factors. Here are highlights from the Washington Post:

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House Republicans turned on themselves yesterday after a third straight loss of a GOP-held House seat in special elections this year left both parties contemplating widespread Democratic gains in November. In huddles, closed-door meetings and hastily arranged conference calls, some Republicans demanded the head of their political chief, while others decried their leadership as out of touch with the political catastrophe they face.

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Tuesday's loss in northern Mississippi was devastating. The district had given President Bush 62 percent of its vote in 2004. To reverse its losing streak, the NRCC pumped $1.3 million from its depleted coffers into the race. Freedom's Watch, a conservative independent group, pitched in. Vice President Cheney appeared at a last-minute rally. Bush and Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, lent their voices to automated phone calls imploring Republicans to vote for Southaven Mayor Charles G. "Greg" Davis. Davis lost the contest by eight percentage points, a wider margin than in either of the two previous special-election defeats.

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Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, has been badly damaged by scandals besetting his family and his party in Alaska, creating an unexpected opportunity for Democrats. Sen. John E. Sununu (N.H.) is defending a seat in a state where Democratic fortunes are on the rise, and other Republican senators -- including Susan Collins (Maine), Norm Coleman (Minn.) and Gordon Smith (Ore.) -- are seeking reelection in states leaning Democratic in a presidential election year. In total, 23 Republican-held Senate seats will be on the ballot this fall compared with 12 for Democrats.

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Rep. Tom Davis (Va.) fretted in a 20-page memorandum given to House Republican leaders yesterday and provided to The Washington Post. "Members and pundits, waiting for Democrats to fumble the ball so that soft Republicans and Independents will snap back to the GOP, fail to understand the deep seeded antipathy toward the President, the war, gas prices, the economy, foreclosures and, in some areas, the underlying cultural differences that continue to brand our party."