Biggest Surprises From Tuesday's Primary Elections

Tuesday night the first state to start reporting was Florida, where polls close earliest. Almost immediately, returns started looking dicey for longtime GOP hypocrite Cliff Stearns, the disliked backbencher best known for claiming America doesn't have what it takes to compete with China and that we should sell off the national parks. A wealthy friend from Florida who has a particular hatred for Stearns called me moaning that if he knew Stearns would have been in so much trouble, he would have thrown in $100,000 for an independent expenditure against him. But that was early in the count. As it turned out, my friend's $100,000 wasn't needed and a little known teabagger with no money, Ted Yoho, defeated him by less than 1,000 votes in 4-man race. Ted Yoho spent $169,475 and Stearns, who was sitting on a couple million, spent $739,406. I guess he thought all those Solyndra lies he's been telling all year would work fine in a GOP primary. But... no:

Ted Yoho- 21,896 (34%)
Cliff Stearns- 21,067 (33%)
Steve Oelrich- 12,017 (19%)
James Jett- 8,710 (14%)

Earlier in the year, Stearns was accused of trying to bribe Jett into dropping out of the race. That was a bad move. Stearns wasn't the first person to try to bribe Jett-- and Jett has made a point of building a reputation as a non-bribable kind of guy. He reported Stearns to the FBI and allowed them to wiretap his phone where they recorded a Stearns agent offering him bribes. That's illegal. Stearns a dirtbag and today no one is crying about his impending departure from Capitol Hill-- not on either side of the aisle.

But that wasn't the only shocker from Florida Tuesday night. In one of the panhandle districts (FL-02), DCCC fave, Blue Dog Leonard Bembry, got wiped out by former Democratic Senate leader Al Lawson. In a 4-man race, Lawson got 46,968 votes (55%) and Bembry got 22,451 votes (26%). Lawson is pretty conservative so don't get your hopes up. Still, nice to know that it was another nail in the Blue Dog coffin and that the DCCC's shilling for Bembry-- which is against party rules-- did him no good at all.

It came as no surprise that Establishment Republican John Mica beat teabagger Sandy Adams in the new 7th CD-- but it was a big margin (61-39%). What was more of a shocker there is that the Blue America-backed progressive, Nick Ruiz, lost to a little known teabagger disguised as a Democrat-- but with an Anglo name that seems to have appealed to the lo-info elderly-- despite the fact that he's running on a platform that includes abolishing the minimum wage.

Across town in one of the other Orlando area districts (FL-09), Alan Grayson was able to throw a wrench into Republican hopes for a viable opponent for him. Grayson designed a brilliant ad campaign that devastated GOP Establishment choice John Quiñones and helped in the nomination of a walking freak show, Todd Long, who even mainstream Republicans will balk at supporting in November. In the 4-man race Long-- who had virtually no money to spend-- wound up with 12,573 votes to Quiñones' 7,507.

The 19th CD, where Senate candidate Connie Mack IV is being replaced, did see a bit of a surprise. Establishment fave-- even Paul Ryan endorsed him-- Chauncey "Porter" Goss-- was defeated by Hate Talk Radio host Henry "Trey" Radel in a 6-man race. Henry got 22,284 (30%) votes and Chauncey took 15,994 (22%). The Hate Talk host will now face Democrat Jim Roach.

Although the outcome wasn't really a surprise, there was a hard-fought race in FL-26 to see which Democrat would face crooked Republican David Rivera. EMILY's List heavily backed an anti-union corporate hack, Gloria Romero Roses, and did a lot of damage to Democrat Joe Garcia but Garcia prevailed with 53% of the votes in a 4 man race. The EMILY's List candidate, who campaigned by flying to the district from her home across the state in a private jet, got 31%.

EMILY's List got slapped down by voters in most of their high profile destructive endeavors and most of their candidates lost-- and lost badly. Unfortunately, in the 3-way race, for the congressional nomination for Connecticut's open 5th CD, the huge sums of money EMILY's List poured into the race won it for ConservaDem 1%-er Elizabeth Esty (with 45%) of the vote. Chris Donovan, one of the best progressive leaders in the whole country was defeated, EMILY's List one accomplishment last night. They also lost the high profile races in Wisconsin and Minnesota for, respectively, Kelda Roys (WI-01) and for the nomination to go up against Chip Cravaack (MN-08), where Richard Nolan beat Tarryl Clark 38-32%.

Next up: Arizona (August 28), where we have to help Raul Grijalva against a fake Democrat and Matt Heinz who has an incredible tough challenge against sleazy ConservaDem, Ron Barber.

Is The DCCC Sacrificing Tarryl Clark's Chance To Oust Bachmann On The Altar Of Anti-Progressive Blue Dog Worship?

As we explained before, this year the DCCC isn't giving any substantive help to Democratic challengers against incumbent Republicans. Thanks to Debbie Wasserman Schultz's battle plan-- a craven and suicidal defensive crouch that sinks millions of dollars into indefensible worthless loser Blue Dogs like Bobby Bright-- at least a dozen viable progressives don't have the money they need to compete against corporately financed Republicans.

Even the challengers officially endorsed and part of this year's unfunded Red to Blue Program aren't getting anything of substance from the DCCC. Other than in the case of some open seats, and almost totally only those financially connected to DCCC decision-makers Jon Vogel and John Lapp, Red to Blue candidates have been ineligible for meaningful I.E. money. Manan Trivedi must have been so excited to imagine that the DCCC would help him oust Jim Gerlach; ashes. Nor has Steve Pougnet gotten anything but a pat on the head in his attempt to defeat the ultra-vulnerable Mary Bono Mack. Same story in Rob Miller's battle against Joe "You Lie" Wilson in South Carolina, Suzan DelBene's against Dave Reichert in Washington, John Callahan's against Charlie Dent in Pennsylvania, Ami Bera's against Dan Lungren in California and Tarryl Clark's against the execrable Michele Bachmann in Minnesota. [And this doesn't even address the most promising progressives-- both on and off the Red to Blue list-- who are being totally ignored by the DCCC, from Joyce Elliott (AR), who's on the list, to Bill Hedrick (CA), Billy Kennedy (NC), Justin Coussoule (OH), Fred Johnson (MI), Beth Krom (CA) and Ed Potosnak (NJ), who aren't.]

Let's look for a moment at Tarryl Clark's race against Bachmann. Tarryl is a popular state senator, running against an embarrassing lunatic who only managed reelection in 2008-- against a terrible Democratic opponent-- with a scant 46-44% margin. Bachmann has raised over $10 million from the corporate interests she serves and from the delusional teabagger fanatics who eagerly embrace their own economic demise. Tarryl has managed to bring in, almost entirely from the grassroots, almost $4 million. Her cash on hand at last count was far less than Bachmann's (not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars in overt promotion Bachmann has been getting from Fox "News" and Hate Talk Radio). This is a time when some help from the DCCC could even things out. So far, though, all we've heard from them... crickets.

Yesterday the very conservative St. Cloud Times, previously Bachmann supporters, tossed her overboard and came out swinging for Tarryl Clark in a blistering editorial entitled Bachmann Isn't Serving Our District's Best Interests.

[T]he district needs a U.S. House member who puts constituent service first. Sadly, after four years in office, Michele Bachmann has proved with unabashed consistency that serving 6th District constituents is essentially her last priority.

Come Nov. 2, voters should replace her with Tarryl Clark.

Regular Our View readers shouldn’t be surprised by this endorsement. This board in April of 2009 wrote off Bachmann’s desire to serve the voters who elect her.

We cited then three years worth of her rash, ridiculous, unsubstantiated, misleading and fear-mongering statements about national issues. We also noted-- and this is important-- her lack of any realistic solutions. In the 19 months since then, Bachmann has only refined an age-old political recipe: mix equal parts of fear and blame that raise your personal profile yet yield only sound bites, not solutions.

She does it so effectively (and relentlessly) that she’s become a grass-roots tea party heroine even while supporting a public policy agenda that helps entities that are anything but grass roots. Best example: In the wake of America’s financial collapse, do you really think Bachmann’s push to leave Wall Street alone was in the best interests of 6th District voters?

Also, look districtwide and we challenge you to find something-- anything-- that Bachmann has helped achieve or a cause she has helped advance. Much like her legislative ideas, we see nothing of substance.
In fact, these past four years renew our appreciation for House representation that provided this area with voices like Collin Peterson and Mark Kennedy. Sure, they have their partisan allegiances, but they realized when it was time to set those aside and do what was best for the district, not themselves.

Residents of the 6th District deserve a return to that philosophy. Clark is the person to provide it because in four years, Bachmann has proved she is incapable of such efforts.

Other than the case of hopeless Glenn Beck fans, this is where voters in Benton, Stearns, Wright and Sherburne Counties get their political information. It's a devastating blow to Bachmann's reelection efforts, but the polls still have her running ahead, especially in the white-flight suburbs north of Minneapolis, which could be suburbs around Montgomery or Birmingham. Her campaign has been all about her national celebrity as a teabagger and mouthy extremist while studiously avoiding questions and avoiding issues and avoiding anything beyond Fox News and Chamber of Commerce meetings. I doubt she's seen the local play Michele, but with the DCCC sitting distractedly on the sidelines, she knows she has little to worry about. By all means watch a bit of the musical Bachumanntary-- and then think about tossing in what you can to the Tarryl Clark election fund at our Blue America ActBlue page.

Blue America Welcomes Tarryl Clark

Tarryl and her family-- Doug, Colin and Nate

Hard to say who the worst member of Congress is. But there are few short lists that would exclude narrow-minded and extremist Minnesota religious fanatic Michele Bachmann. However, today isn't about Bachmann. You want Bachmann, you go to DumpBachmann; no one does it better. At the time of the 2008 election, Bachmann was just as odious as she is today. Blue America didn't get involved in that race though because her opponent simply seemed... "better than Bachmann." That standard is too low for us. And today we're going to meet state Senator Tarryl Clark (Crooks and Liars, 11am PT, 1pm in Minnesota), a hard working leader with a proven track record who would be a great candidate whether she were running against Michele Bachmann or just some garden variety Republican.

People say this suburban/exurban district mostly north of the Twin Cities is too red for a Democrat. But that isn't true. Bush won it in 2004 with 57% and 4 years later McCain took 53% but, the district has also voted to elect Amy Klobuchar to the Senate-- and against Mark Kennedy, the kook who represented the district before Bachmann. And in the 15th senatorial district near St Cloud, the part Tarryl represents-- and which was a GOP bastion before she came along-- the vote totals in that 2006 race were very interesting. Because she knows what it means to work hard and work smart, and  with a very committed Wellstone-style of campaigning, Tarryl outpolled everyone on the ballot:

Clark       15581   (56.30%)
Klobuchar   14980   (53.45%)
Pawlenty    14307   (51.1%)
Wetterling  13082   (46.81%)
Bachmann    12542   (44.88%)

MN-06 has the most devastating unemployment rate in Minnesota and the worst foreclosure crisis in the state. But Bachmann has neither understood nor been sympathetic to her constituents finding themselves in a jam because of the vicissitudes of an economy buffeted by disastrous conservative ideological experimentation. She has not only not contributed to finding solutions to these very real problems, she has tried to capitalize of politicizing them. Tarryl's reaction, as a state legislator, has been the exact opposite. Instead of running around the country and ranting and raving at tea parties, she proven herself an effective leader for the people she represents, working to secure the funds to upgrade the facilities at Saint Cloud State University, working to ensure Central Minnesota’s nursing homes are paid fairly, working to establish a special law enforcement unit to fight gang activities in Central Minnesota. Tarryl’s been a champion for issues including early childhood and higher education, health care, serving veterans, protecting Minnesotans from predatory lenders, and investing in the local communities that make America strong. Because of that her colleagues elected her to serve as the Senate’s Assistant Majority Leader. Bachmann's colleagues have recognized her as a clown and have tasked her with going on Fox to stir up divisiveness and animosities.

Tarryl’s record of results on reducing unemployment:

     •     Created 22,000 jobs with last session’s bonding bill

     •     Helped small businesses add new jobs with Angel Investor Tax Credits

     •     Authored the Central Minnesota Bioscience Initiative to bring jobs in the biotech industry into the 6th district

     •     Authored economic development bill that improved workforce development (job training) and expanded  the Small Business Growth Acceleration Program, and entrepreneur and small business development grants.
 
Tarryl’s record of results on reducing foreclosure:

     •     Authored legislation to protect seniors from predatory lenders and reverse mortgages

     •     Helped families in keep their homes with the MN Subprime Borrowers Relief Act

     •     Authored legislation to reduce the burden of property taxes on middle class families

Tarryl is the newest member of the Blue America family. If you can volunteer for her campaign there's a sign up form here and if you can help the campaign financially, she's on the Blue America endorsed candidates list.

Michele Bachmann-- Worse Than Joe Barton?

There are very few members of Congress as widely detested as Michele Bachmann, not just in her own suburban Minnesota district, but across the country. You have to work hard for years-- the way Steve King does-- or get really "lucky"-- the way Joe Barton just did-- to become a national figure of complete opprobrium. Whether it's Rand Paul practically weeping and moaning about how unfair to the property rights of slave holders emancipation was (or, more recently, sticking up for B.P.), Virginia Foxx insulting-- even spitting-- on the memory of Matthew Shepard or Mean Jean Schmidt managing to insult every veteran who ever served our nation, only a few kooks ever rise to national political celebrity as an actual fiend. And no one has worked that field better than Michele Bachmann.

Next weekend, Blue America will officially endorse Tarryl Clark, the progressive state senator running against Bachmann in the sixth district and Tarryl will join us at Crooks and Liars for a live blog session. It should be lots of fun. Why do I think so? Watch Tarryl's brand new ad that makes it clear how Bachmann isn't just supporting Joe Barton-- she's even worse:



Steve Benen, could claim that a bank-bench bomb-throwing charicature like Bachmann is really just the tip of the spear for the systemic reactionary policy agenda of the GOP. In fact, yesterday his Political Animal column at the Washington Monthly made that case... and without ever once mentioning her name!

GOP TO OBAMA: LEAVE BP ALOOOOOONE... As astounding as Rep. Joe Barton's (R-Texas) groveling public apology to BP was yesterday, there's a much larger, more relevant truth to keep in mind: President Obama is getting tough with BP, and the Republican Party wishes he wouldn't.

For weeks, much of the criticism of the White House was centered around the idea that the administration wasn't pushing BP hard enough. But on Wednesday, the president went into a meeting with the company's executives, told them how it was going to be, and BP quickly agreed. The result: a $20 billion pot of money that will bring much-needed help to workers, businesses, and families who've been victimized by a devastating oil spill. This was no small task for Obama, and Americans have every right to be pleased. (One poll this week found 82% of the public supports the creation of the escrow fund.)

And yet, Republicans seem to be outraged. We talked yesterday about GOP officials and candidates sticking up for BP, and today, ThinkProgress put together this compilation video of Republican media figures doing the same thing. It's all quite breathtaking, and the result of a strategy the party really hasn't thought through.

Indeed, the rhetoric is almost comical. Fox News' Brian Kilmeade suggested this morning that Obama is being "too tough" on BP. Talk of a "shakedown" is ubiquitous in conservative media circles. Some Republican media personalities have described the president's securing of funds for the Gulf Coast as "illegal" and "unconstitutional." Even after party leaders said Barton was "wrong," leading party voices, including Rush Limbaugh, continue to insist he was right.

Now, it's possible that Republicans in Congress and in the media are simply offering a knee-jerk response-- Obama secured funding for spill victims, so the funding must be bad-- but there seems to be more to this. Republicans on the Hill and in the media just want BP to be treated with kid gloves. A foreign oil giant is responsible for the worst environmental catastrophe in American history, and the GOP would prefer that Obama go easy on the company. In Rand Paul's words, for the president to even criticize BP is "un-American."

It would be better, Republicans are arguing, if aid to help spill victims didn't exist, and if the president didn't take the lead in getting resources for the region.

Every day, it seems to get a little easier for Democrats to characterize Republicans as "The Party of BP."

And the whole Republican Party really and truly is Michele Bachmann.

Yesterday Was April Fool's Day-- And Michele Bachmann Still Walks Among Us

When I was growing up my dad emulated the Rat Pack and my teenage rebellion against him led to me hating alcohol, cigarettes and... Frank Sinatra. I've still never tried alcohol, other than a few sips of wine years ago, and only one puff of a cigarette 4 or 5 decades ago, but, I wound up as president of Reprise Records, the company Sinatra founded. In fact, he and I were the only presidents of Reprise ever. I even inherited his first row Laker's seats, the two best seats in the house. Before I get into one of my stories about the Mafia bandits who once kidnapped me and how much I've come to love The Way You Look Tonight, this is about the RAT PAC, not the RAT PACK.

The RAT PAC is something that our friends at StopBachmann.com have started in their hope to rid their congressional district of what is arguably the most wasted House seat in American history. They say they want to inform their neighbors "about Bachmann's insanity, lying and bigotry. RAT PAC stands for Residents for Accuracy and Truth PAC." And it only costs one dollar to join!

"There's something symbolic about making this announcement on April 1," said David Day, an Anoka County resident and spokesman for the RAT PAC. "But with Bachmann, everyday really is April Fools' Day. As millions of Americans have seen over the past three years, if there's a camera crew on-hand, Michele is more than willing to provide them with all the bloopers YouTube can handle."

Fortunately, the campaign to get rid of Bachmann this year doesn't force progressives into an untenable position of supporting a Blue Dog-type conservative. Her opponent, state Senator Tarryl Clark, is a worthwhile Democrat who won't just be not-Bachmann; she'll be a positive improvement to the Democratic caucus.