Down the ballot: Poor Charlie Brown

Posted: Thursday, December 04, 2008 9:07 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Democrats, Republicans

CALIFORNIA: The race in the state’s 4th Congressional District has been one of the House contests that had remained in doubt. But the Democrat, Charlie Brown, has conceded and Republicans have held on to the seat.

FLORIDA: CQ offers this primer on potential candidates for that newly open Florida Senate seat.

GEORGIA: The ideological divide continues in the GOP, with Saxby Chambliss, in victory, calling for the party to return to its Reagan roots.

Does Chambliss have his sights aimed higher already? "Chambliss acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday that the runoff has boosted his national stature. That, combined with his rising seniority in the Senate's depleted GOP ranks, will give him a louder voice." He also professed to be "a self-proclaimed firewall against President-elect Barack Obama and his Democratic agenda."

LOUISIANA: "Obama recorded a radio ad to help Democrat Paul Carmouche, while Cheney helped with fundraising and GOP up-and-comer Gov. Bobby Jindal helped with a television ad for Republican candidate John Fleming," the AP writes. "Saturday's election in Louisiana's 4th Congressional District will determine who replaces U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery, a 10-term Republican who's retiring from Congress. The election was pushed back to December after Hurricane Gustav delayed party primaries that had been set for early September."

MINNESOTA: The latest dispute in the Minnesota recount, per the Star Tribune: “An uproar Wednesday over 133 mystery ballots that may or may not have disappeared in Minneapolis became the newest controversy to roil the U.S. Senate recount. At issue was a discrepancy between Election Day and recount totals in one of the city's precincts. DFLer Al Franken's campaign lodged a protest over 133 votes that it said could not be accounted for during the recount, at a possible cost to him of as many as 46 net votes in his race against Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.”

More: “The twist came a day after Franken made a net gain of 37 votes in Ramsey County, when the recount there found that 171 votes from a Maplewood precinct hadn't been tallied on Election Day. Wednesday evening, a Star Tribune tally showed Coleman with a 316-vote lead, with 98 percent of the vote recounted. At the start of the recount, Coleman had a 215-vote lead.”

The AP: "Democrat Al Franken withdrew 633 challenges to ballots Wednesday in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race in what could be a first step toward a quicker conclusion to the recount. Franken's attorney, Marc Elias, said many more withdrawals are likely. An attorney for Republican Norm Coleman said he may follow suit soon. Any reduction in the pile of challenged ballots -- more than 6,000 so far -- will alleviate work for the canvassing board that meets Dec. 16 to begin examining those ballots. Coleman defeated Franken in the election by 215 votes, a margin so small that it triggered an automatic recount."

There isn't a wide pool to pull from of successful Democratic elected officials who survived bruising recounts. But Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is in it, and she has some advice for candidate Al Franken.

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Comments

Despite the lies of the Wicked Wasilla Witch "Coward" Chambliss has always run with the herd of the repugnant ones when they had the majority. We now have ample proof that Ronny Raygunz started this whole national debt mess we're now in with his idiotic Tinkle Down economics of tax cuts for the rich and greedy who don't need or deserve them by financing them by stealing from future generations. The last thing we need is to return to the failed economic policies of the Alzheimer Tinsletown Elitist.

I just hope that the Minnesota recount ends soon and we can all move on. It doesn't look good for Franken unfortunately but one never knows how the challenged ballots could go as ranting Coleman tries to steal the election the way Florida was stolen 8 years ago.

Eric, Salinas, CA (Sent Thursday, December 04, 2008 9:20 AM)

Self proclaimed fire wall against Obama. I guess there are some Republicans who just don't get it. Obama is working for all the people. Why would you proclaim you are the fire wall against him. You should be ashamed of yourself. Go to work for the people that voted you in,don't set your sights on the negatives before your even sworn in. Negativity is why your party lost. That and total incompetence in your leadership.

Mishka Mehrens Anaconda MT (Sent Thursday, December 04, 2008 9:30 AM)

Saxby Chambliss is calling for a return to Reagan Roots.I don;t know how some of the neo-cons missed the last election.People are fed up with there trickle down economics.They have only worked for the chosen few,the rich got really taken care of while the rest just got Taken.This guy is a another example of what the country needs to rid itself of.He's just a good ol boy who's time has past,and his type will go the way as disco did.

jesse St.Paul Minnesota (Sent Thursday, December 04, 2008 9:32 AM)

Nixon said it in the Oval office on tape that he knew was being recorded. "they actually think we're FOR the WORKING MAN." And they then laughed at the stupidity of the populace and how easily they can be fooled into voting against their own economic interests. AND WE STILL CANNOT SEEM TO WRAP OUR BRAINS AROUND THAT OBVIOUS POINT. The Republican party exists to fool the majority into thinking that they are going to get a fair shake of the economic pie.

Paul Independence, Va. (Sent Thursday, December 04, 2008 9:54 AM)

Chambliss, another 'has-been' Republican who thinks he was given a mandate to rule the world. This guy is as clueless as the rest of his endorsers. He may have gained "national stature" (did he really say stature?) but it isn't favorable. As Obama said this summer, it's like these people take pride in being ignorant. Being elected to represent those without a clue, just makes you grand marshall moron - not a 'national' leader.

Just my opinion.

Clara Kansas City, MO (Sent Thursday, December 04, 2008 9:55 AM)

Chambless is the loyal (not) opposition. Fortunately his ilk are dwindeling in Washington and we will finally see progress. It is good to get the opposing point of view. It often, as it did in this last election, make people more focused and more determined than ever to get progressive legislation through Congress and made into law. America is fed up with stagnation and going backwards and want to advance into the 21st Century. We are almost through the first decade of this Century and Millennium and have shown very little progress toward energy independance, peace in the Middle East, improving infrastructure, improving how we pay for healthcare, improving education etc. Business as usual isn't going to cut it in Washington any more. The people have awakened and are starting to take our country back from the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned about. Chambliss is there to help us by putting on the brakes so we don't move too fast into the future. We need to hear his type out and then it makes knowing what to do easier. We do just the opposite of what those guys spout.

eagle1776 (Sent Thursday, December 04, 2008 10:02 AM)

Reagan roots ? Same roots that armed, trained and funded the "jihadist" to fight USSR who then turn their gun on rest of the world ? Osama,Zarqawi, Hikmatyar were encouraged, and trained by CIA and ISI. We all in the world are reaping what was sowed in 1980s. Mumbai attacks seemed to have been under taken groups once on payroll of ISI. Trouble in South America, again can be traced back to outsider help. Trouble in Sri Lanka is due to once help by India when they helped Tamil. I am sure that hizbullah will one day come and bite Iran as that the lesson of the history. I hope world will learn lesson and will stop funding groups to engage in armed conflicts when it suits them

rizvisa1 (Sent Thursday, December 04, 2008 10:08 AM)

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