Is The Future Of Democracy In The Hands Of Critters Like Claire McCaskill And Ben Nelson?

Ari Berman, was one of the journalists who most effectively pointed out how right-wing takeovers in states-- governorships, legislatures, judiciaries-- like Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Indiana, Alabama, Texas, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee has led to a conspiracy to lock in permanent neo-fascist governance. Disappointment with Democrats allowed the right to grab power on a state level last year and the first thing they did-- powered by Koch money through ALEC and similar front groups-- was disenfranchise millions of traditional Democratic voters: minorities, students, the elderly, poor people...

In the video above, from Monday night, Rachel Maddow introduced many Americans to hereditary multimillionaire Art Pope, a virulent North Carolina fascist, and a kind of mini-Koch. He was up to the same tricks in North Carolina as Koch has been nationwide-- just without the illegal Iranian money-- and he's been very successful at it.

Now if these wealthy domestic fascists could disenfranchise so many millions of likely Democratic voters and do so much to undermine democracy itself in just a few states, what's going to happen when they take over the entire government... next year?

Next year? You bet! Voters are over Obama-- O.V.E.R. Do they dislike him enough to cut off their own noses in spite? We'll see, but it is a really distinct possibility. His polling is in the toilet-- and so is his economy. The House, which looked like it could be won back by the Democrats, is probably out of reach thanks to a clueless Blue Dog, Steve Israel-- oops, sorry, clueless "ex"-Blue Dog, Steve Israel-- being put in charge of the DCCC and already demonstrating he learned not a single lesson from the Great Shellacking. The Democrats are going to the voters with a contingent of Blue Dogs and conservatives again, even after the voters decimated them just one year ago, Democratic voters clearly telling the DCCC they'd rather not vote at all than be forced into voting for a conservative in a blue T-shirt. (As you probably know by now, the Blue America is supporting a slate of progressives for Congress-- all of whom happen to be Democrats. Even if Israel & the DCCC blow the chance to take back the majority, we're determined to have as progressive and activist a House caucus as is humanly possible.)


Now... what about the Senate? Will it be a bulwark against the whole country turning into Scott Walker's fascist mini-state? The billionaire brigade is targeting Senate races around the country, second only to their effort to displace Obama. Yesterday in the Beltway political trade press

The Republican super PAC American Crossroads today is launching a new messaging campaign targeting 2012 Senate races and the Democrats’ tenuous hold on the chamber.

The nonprofit is urging Congressional Republicans and two dozen conservative groups to seize the opportunity to retake the Senate by focusing its rhetorical attacks on what it deems the Democrats’ “feckless, sclerotic, politicized” management of the chamber compared to the “well-managed” GOP House.

American Crossroads outlined its strategy in a memo from President and CEO Steven Law, who told Roll Call that paid media and other political activity could follow if this messaging proves successful.

...Republicans need a net gain of four seats to win control of the Senate in the next Congress. American Crossroads and its affiliated nonprofit 501(c)(4), Crossroads GPS, raised more than $71 million in the 2010 cycle, most of which was invested in advertising to influence Senate races.

And conventional wisdom is that the Democratic majority is a goner. But is it? Elizabeth Warren's entry into the Massachusetts race could be a game changer-- if she can keep from being swamped by gushers of Wall Street/fascist money flooding into Scott Brown's warchest. (Please help Elizabeth here-- and think about tossing in for Bernie and Tammy at the same time.) Roll Call claims that conventional wisdom isn't the whole story and that the Senate majority could go either way. Sounds overly optimistic to me but...

The overall numbers favor Republicans-- Democrats are defending 23 seats to the GOP’s 10-- but controlling at least 50 seats may once again hinge on how some primaries shake out.

Several races still have maturing to do, and the third-quarter reports due Oct. 15 will offer the latest clues about the Republican primaries in states such as Indiana, Missouri and Florida, where the nomination is up for grabs. It will be months before GOP nominees are selected in those states, and in some cases, the primary winner could change the race’s outlook.

Despite that uncertainty, there are more than enough vulnerable Democratic seats to give National Republican Senatorial Committee strategists several paths to the majority. Winning Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota would be enough, and there are plenty of opportunities with varying degrees of likelihood beyond those.

Other certain Senate battlegrounds next year include Wisconsin, Montana, Ohio and Virginia, where fundraising isn’t expected to be an issue for any of the top candidates. All are Democratic-held seats-- as are most of the top races.

It’s highly likely that the GOP will pick up North Dakota’s open seat. But Republicans have a couple of tossup races of their own to defend in Massachusetts and Nevada. Losses there would complicate the math and help the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee hold the Senate, barely, for a second straight cycle. Nomination surprises last cycle helped keep Republicans from winning seats in Nevada, Colorado and Delaware, giving Democrats a 53-47 edge in the 112th Congress.

...Beyond Massachusetts and Nevada, which is a pure tossup, there are only a couple of second-tier pickup opportunities for Democrats. They include Arizona, where a few candidates are emerging but will face a tough opponent in Rep. Jeff Flake, and Indiana. For now, Republicans are favored to hold Indiana, but that could change if Sen. Dick Lugar loses the GOP nomination to state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

The problem for Democrats is that they're determined to nominate conservatives-- like anti-Choice reactionary Blue Dog Joe Donnelly in Indiana-- who will depress Democratic turnout even worse than Obama. And which Democratic incumbents are the in the worst trouble, incoherent conservative boobs like Ben Nelson and Claire McCaskill who can only win reelection if the GOP nominates even bigger imbeciles-- not an unlikely prediction.