Recruiting Republican-Lite Candidates For Senate-- Good Idea? Bad Idea?

Bredesen is like a moderate Republican; Blackburn is a neo-fascist

Schumer decided to try to win back the Senate by going the Republican-lite route. He hand-picked the single worst Democrat in Congress, Blue Dog chair Kyrsten Sinema, to run for the open Arizona seat, former Tennessee 2-term Governor Phil Bredesen, also a conservative, to run for the open seat there, and in Nevada chose Jacky Rosen, a multimillionaire but unproven right-of-center congresswoman with no accomplishments to her name, whose only chance to win is via a big anti-red wave. Recent polling shows Sinema and Bredesen consistency-- if narrowly-- ahead while Rosen lags incumbent Senator Dean Heller, also narrowly. Still, the FiveThirtyEight forecaster shows her slightly ahead (and Bredesen slightly behind):

One strategy the Democrats seem to have agreed on in Arizona and Tennessee is for Sinema and Bredesen to show their independence by vowing that they won't support Schumer for Senate leader, a silly proposition, but one that makes a point in red states. Neither is going to vote for McConnell and there is no Democratic alternative. Schumer doesn't need their votes. He may have even suggested the ploy-- and he certainly agreed to it.

Tennessee Democrat Phil Bredesen said at a debate Tuesday that if he is elected to the Senate, he would not back Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to continue as Democrats' leader.

Bredesen made the announcement during the opening statements of his first debate with the Republican nominee, Rep. Marsha Blackburn. Bredesen said Washington had become "hyperpartisan" and blamed current leadership in both parties.

"You've heard a lot recently of this campaign about me, about these crazy ideas about if somehow I'm elected and go to Washington, suddenly I'm going to turn my back on a whole lifetime of thinking for myself and being independent and suddenly become some kind of a political lackey," Bredesen said. "That's not going to happen for a bunch of reasons. One of them is that I think a lot of the problem in Washington is with the leadership that we have there now. Whether it be [Speaker Paul] Ryan or [Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi or [Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell or Schumer, they're not doing the job.

"We need to get new leadership. I can tell you right now that if I'm elected, and when I'm elected and go to Washington, I am not going to be voting for Chuck Schumer," Bredesen said.

It's the latest effort Bredesen has made to show independence from national Democrats while running in solid-red Tennessee, which President Donald Trump carried by 26 percentage points in 2016. Bredesen has also played down his party's chances of winning the Senate majority in the fall, to try to keep crossover voters in his camp.

But the former governor's pledge to vote against Schumer is his largest break from the Democratic Party thus far. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is the only other Democratic battleground Senate candidate who has pledged to vote against the party's leader.

The pledge is functionally useless-- unlike in the House, where the speaker is chosen by a majority of the chamber in a floor vote, Senate party leaders are chosen by a majority in a private caucus vote. While there might be enough Democratic House candidates to deny Pelosi the 218 votes she needs to become speaker again, there is virtually no chance of Schumer being dethroned by the Democratic Caucus after the election.

Blackburn brushed off Bredesen's vow to vote against Schumer, repeatedly attacking the Democrat as "bought and paid for" by the Senate minority leader. Majority Forward, a nonprofit organization aligned with Schumer, has spent more than $3.5 million on ads in the Tennessee race so far, according to the Federal Election Commission. The group has even more ads reserved for this fall.

"We know he will vote with Chuck Schumer because his vote is already bought and paid for, his campaign is bought and paid for by Chuck Schumer," Blackburn said.

"I do think we all know that Phil had a choice. He could have run as a Republican or independent. Probably didn't want to do that. He's running as a Democrat so he will be with Chuck Schumer if he were to go to Washington," she continued.

Back in July, Politico first reported that Sinema said she isn't going to vote for Schumer and about how deferential she is towards Trump. "I am not going to vote for him," she said matter of factly when asked about Schumer by a reporter, who reported that "Schumer privately backed her for the seat even before she’d announced, helping clear the field."

Her opposition to Schumer is just one example of how the three-term House member is carving out a center-left [they actually mean center-right but the reporter is too dull-witted to know it] Senate campaign in the Republican state, hoping it’s enough to inoculate herself from the national party’s baggage and land Democrats their first Arizona Senate seat in 30 years.

She is notably more deferential to Trump than most Democrats are. “He has challenges,” she responded when asked whether Trump is a good president. “Transitioning from a CEO position to a presidency is probably a difficult challenge.”

...Sinema is continuing her campaign against national Democrats, which started with her opposing Nancy Pelosi as the House Democratic leader.

“The Democratic leadership has failed Democrats across the country,” Sinema said. “I am unafraid to say what I believe about what I think our party needs to do and I think our party needs to grow and change.”

Sinema aligned herself early on with the centrist wing in the House Democratic Caucus, becoming a close ally of Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Pelosi’s No. 2 and longtime rival. She also forged close relationships with conservatives such as Reps. Tom Graves of Georgia and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina over a shared love of fitness.

...Sinema is a polarizing figure among House Democrats. Some members privately question whether her evolution from flame-throwing liberal to Blue Dog centrist is genuine or self-serving. And there’s no love lost between Sinema and Pelosi allies.

...At times, Sinema sounds more like a Republican than a moderate Democrat, a sharp contrast from Rep. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, another Senate candidate carving a far more liberal path [total Politico nonsense] against GOP incumbent Sen. Dean Heller.

Sinema gushes praise for Trump when it comes to veterans issues. Both of Sinema’s brothers are veterans, and that’s been a primary focus of her congressional career.

“President Trump has signed every single piece of veterans legislation we’ve sent him, including some bills that we couldn’t get to President Obama,” she said.

And Sinema defends her voting record on immigration, including support of controversial Republican proposals that most other House Democrats opposed. She voted for Kate’s Law last year, for example, which increases penalties for undocumented immigrants who are deported and try to re-enter the country.

“My leadership in that area,” Sinema said, “is about holding bad guys accountable and making sure that we have good security on the border.”

You know how worried everyone is now that some of the senators from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party may vote to confirm Kavanaugh-- particularly Manchin, Donnelly and Heitkamp? Sinema, Bredesen and Rosen will be worse for the Senate Democrats to deal with on a wide range of issues-- especially Sinema. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if she eventually jumps the fence and joins the Republican Party. She doesn't believe in anything at all but her own career and I'd say-- after spending far more time with her than I ever should have-- that she's clinically insane.