badger
3/6/2012, 02:26 PM
Looks like the keeber elf's reign of terror is about over.
Link (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ohios-kucinich-kaptur-showdown-kicks-off-11-primary-contests-pitting-house-incumbents-in-2012/2012/03/05/gIQAcP3BtR_story.html)
The Republicans have really had some well-timed public anti-Democrat sentiment during the past few redistricting drawings. In 2000, Bill Clinton's sex scandal left voters with such a bitter taste in their mouth that they wouldn't even vote for a two-term incumbent vice president, not even in his home state.
In 2010, unemployment high, gas prices high and a lack of hope and change left voters angry and bitter at the Democrats once again, leading to another political shift in some states.
And this is the end result of controlling state legislatures in the census years: You get to redistrict in your party's favor, and the perennial presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich appears to be a victim of this cut throat process.
In a nutshell, Ohio lost two seats because the rust belt is rusting away at its population (the south welcomes you, northern transplants!), and as a result, incumbent Congress members are being forced to run against each other. The districts are highly competitive on both sides, not just Democrats, in some districts.
There was a legal challenge to the changes (as there inevitably always is), but it won't prevent tonight's primary showdown from ousting either Kucinich or his former Congressional ally. And not just any ally, but a 15-term Congresswoman.
The reason I smile at this is because I remember his campaigning for president as over-the-top silly. My liberal relatives of Oregon loved him, because one of his things was creating a "secretary of peace" and immediate removal of all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, which the more sane candidates on both sides saw at 100 percent unfeasible at the time. Here's a few other things:
- As part of the late night rounds that candidates do, Kucinich's thing was talking to bachelorettes because he was the only candidate for president who was single. After being introduced to the (actresses of course) bachelorettes, an awkward kiss to their hands followed. Awk. Ward.
- He had the unenviable task of being before a then-popular Howard Dean at an Iowa candidate event, so his little voice was practically shouting (and repeating his name constantly so that you would remember it, I guess), even though he was speaking into a microphone. The crowd clearly did not give a sh!t about him, and were chanting "BRING ON DEAN!" after a few minutes.
- When Michigan had its delegates removed for moving up too early in the race primary-wise, guess which candidate ignored the fact that they would not matter... Kucinich.I remember reading an article on how a typical Democratic political event in Michigan in 2008 was basically a big long line of people waiting for food while Kucinich was off in the corner in front of a podium shouting into a microphone.
Link (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ohios-kucinich-kaptur-showdown-kicks-off-11-primary-contests-pitting-house-incumbents-in-2012/2012/03/05/gIQAcP3BtR_story.html)
The Republicans have really had some well-timed public anti-Democrat sentiment during the past few redistricting drawings. In 2000, Bill Clinton's sex scandal left voters with such a bitter taste in their mouth that they wouldn't even vote for a two-term incumbent vice president, not even in his home state.
In 2010, unemployment high, gas prices high and a lack of hope and change left voters angry and bitter at the Democrats once again, leading to another political shift in some states.
And this is the end result of controlling state legislatures in the census years: You get to redistrict in your party's favor, and the perennial presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich appears to be a victim of this cut throat process.
In a nutshell, Ohio lost two seats because the rust belt is rusting away at its population (the south welcomes you, northern transplants!), and as a result, incumbent Congress members are being forced to run against each other. The districts are highly competitive on both sides, not just Democrats, in some districts.
There was a legal challenge to the changes (as there inevitably always is), but it won't prevent tonight's primary showdown from ousting either Kucinich or his former Congressional ally. And not just any ally, but a 15-term Congresswoman.
The reason I smile at this is because I remember his campaigning for president as over-the-top silly. My liberal relatives of Oregon loved him, because one of his things was creating a "secretary of peace" and immediate removal of all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, which the more sane candidates on both sides saw at 100 percent unfeasible at the time. Here's a few other things:
- As part of the late night rounds that candidates do, Kucinich's thing was talking to bachelorettes because he was the only candidate for president who was single. After being introduced to the (actresses of course) bachelorettes, an awkward kiss to their hands followed. Awk. Ward.
- He had the unenviable task of being before a then-popular Howard Dean at an Iowa candidate event, so his little voice was practically shouting (and repeating his name constantly so that you would remember it, I guess), even though he was speaking into a microphone. The crowd clearly did not give a sh!t about him, and were chanting "BRING ON DEAN!" after a few minutes.
- When Michigan had its delegates removed for moving up too early in the race primary-wise, guess which candidate ignored the fact that they would not matter... Kucinich.I remember reading an article on how a typical Democratic political event in Michigan in 2008 was basically a big long line of people waiting for food while Kucinich was off in the corner in front of a podium shouting into a microphone.