Thursday, February 22, 2007

Sometimes You Dont Really Know Where Its Going...

I really expected to get a few comments/insights on my "Willard" post from the 3 regular visitors from Massachusettes, who I assume would know him better than I do.
It was not to be.

I absolutely did not expect my Duncan Hunter post to be 'googled',cut and pasted, and then linked, on the New Republic message boards.
Thanks dude.
Feel free to visit again.

5 comments:

Kal said...

Well, for my part:

Bwaack! Bwack bwack bwack!!!

I'm not ready to post my comments on W. Mitt yet, as I've got friends who are working on his campaign. But as I told someone who asked if I was going to his Massachusetts kick-off, I'd prefer a candidate who actually liked the state he spent four years governing...

Anonymous said...

Can your MA friends answer a question for me: how can your state go over 3 decades of electing Kennedy and Kerry into the senate? Even MN, with all the liberal loons that populate this state, has elected a variety of liberal and conservative candidates over the years. It totally baffles me.

kingdavid

Gino said...

kal,
i understand. i forgot you are just a little too close to the rat pack for total comfort.

KD,
i think MA has had a few GOP governors in recent memory. he was not unusual in that respect.

Kal said...

K David: Kennedy gets a pass because, well, because he's Ted Kennedy. Like him or hate him, he is a force in the Senate and we're going to keep re-electing him until he croaks. He does actually get things done. Unlike the other one.

Kerry is a function of the overwhelming Democratic leanings, plus he's been the recipient of very good luck.

No one truly loves Kerry in Massachusetts, he just keeps winning.

When he ran for Lt. Governor in 1982 (his first win), he ran in a primary against two (much better qualified) women, who split "the women's vote" and got JFK jr. elected.

He ran again in a crowded field for the Senate seat and squeaked out a victory when a bunch of more qualified demmies split the vote. The republican party was a basket case that year (1984) and he took the seat.

In 1990 he was one of the only democrats still standing after the anti-Dukakis backlash got almost anyone with an R next to their name elected in Massachusetts. His opponent that year was a 34 year old real estate developer who was actually doing very well (tied with Kerry at the primaries), but got his @ss handed to him when Kerry went extremely negative in the last three weeks.

(Full disclosure: I worked for Kerry's 1990 opponent.)

In 1996 he actually used Bill Weld's popularity as Governor against him, winning a close race in part because so many people did not want to lose Weld as Governor.

Concentrating instead on the Govenor's race (Romney), the republicans didn't run anyone against him in 2002. (I voted for the Libertarian. An anti-war write-in candidate got 24,000 votes).

So you can look at our history of reelecting Kerry and think that we're just ga-ga over the guy, but remember each election is different, and each turns on different issues.

I think Kerry, should he decide to run in 2008, may face some serious opposition -- possibly even within his own party.

One can only hope we can finally help him to move onto his next career as full-time husband.

Gino said...

kal, sounds like a smaller version of how boxer got/keeps getting elected. and how the whole state of CA is solid democrat
after the drubbing of 92 and 96, there is no more GOP here. the dems managed to make the most of redistricting, favor peddling, sytem changes to guarrantee total one party control for 50 yrs.