The dirty little secret is, there is a special election coming up on February 25th for the vacated 10th State Senate seat. I call it a secret because neither party really wants the turn out to be too large. Both are concerned with the other side being able to motivate and get out a larger number of their base.
It seems as though the strategy in a special election, is to contact and encourage only those voters you feel are a sure bet. In other words, the party loyal, the lockstep voters who really don’t care about issues, as much as they do about the letter behind the name of the candidates.
This race has the potential to change the face of Delaware politics for the near future. If the Republican can pull off a victory, then the Republicans would hold a slim majority of one in the Senate, and possibly be able to force change in the standard operating procedure of Delaware government.
This race was made possible thanks in large part, to Republican players who made a risky calculation. They sat around in some room, somewhere, and came up with the idea, that if 10th District Senator, Bethany Hall-Long, who ran for Lt. Governor were successful, then Republicans had a chance to win a special election and wrest control of the Senate from the Democrats.
Of course this calculation required a Republican candidate for Lt. Governor with no chance of winning, and who the Republicans would have no guilt in not supporting. Enter La Mar Gunn. Some Republican operatives actually were seen liking Hall-Long’s Facebook pages, yet were not seen liking or contributing to Gunn’s.
Well so far the calculation is on track. Thanks at least in part to these so-called movers and shakers within the GOP and behind the scenes, Bethany Hall-Long is now safely seated in the number two seat of Delaware state government, and stands a good chance of someday being Governor. Great job GOP!
But hey, that was the easy part, after all, the Delaware GOP has been shooting itself in the foot for many years now, with all that practice, how hard could it be, to do it intentionally?
Now comes the hard part, they have to pull of the win. This means, they have to get the Republican candidate, John Marino elected. And really, one might think he has at least a chance. After all, he has run twice, once for the House, and once for the Senate, with 49% of the vote each time. Though one might call that a plateau?
But he is running in a decidedly Democrat district, against a candidate, Stephanie Hansen, who has the support of the previous holder of the office, Bethany Hall-Long, and who has had the very popular former United States Vice-President, and long time U.S. Senator from the state of Delaware, Joe Biden campaigning for her also.
In comparison, the two candidates admit they share concern on many issues, if they don’t agree on the policies needed to solve the problems.
It seems as though the Marino campaign, and or, the Delaware GOP thought making minimum wage and right to work laws campaign issues, was a good idea. Considering the push back from Democrats following the Presidential election of Donald Trump, one might expect Democrats are more motivated right now, and picking two of their push button issues to campaign on may not pay off. But hey, the Delaware GOP never seems to run out of feet to shoot themselves in.
And just in case there are really Republican voters out there, beyond the few who own businesses, who are concerned about right to work, take into consideration the current Minority Leader in the Senate, Republican Gary Simpson, is already walking right to work laws back, even before the GOP becomes the majority in the Senate. He has made statements that Republicans might be willing to compromise and make only “right to work zones” in certain areas, rather than state-wide. Nice! The Republicans haven’t even won the election, nor have they won the majority in the Senate, and their “leadership” is already telegraphing they would be weak.
Which brings me to my real interest in this special election. Some may read my criticism of how the Delaware GOP has gotten to this point, as my wanting the Democrat to win, and the Democrats to retain control of the Senate, and thus to continue the one party rule which has gotten us to the point in Delaware where we are facing a $350 million deficit.
Not so. I actually find it hilarious that Bethany Hall-Long and Stephanie Hansen and other Democrats are campaigning for Hansen on such issues as creating more jobs, improving the education system, increasing wages in the state. Maybe one or all of them could explain it to me, since I am just an old farm-boy, what the hell have the Democrats been doing for the past decades they have been entirely in control of the state government?
Who got us to the $350 million deficit? Who has been signing on for every federal dollar which ties us to every federal program, which has given us the current educational system we now have?
Who has raided the highway fund time and again to pay for social engineering, while our roads fail and fall behind the growth in areas like eastern Sussex County?
I won’t hold my breath for an honest admission from any Democrat. And let me be clear, the Republicans have their own guilt to bear in this. Yes they have been the minority, but their can be a strong minority, or a weak minority, they have chosen the latter.
So, I am hoping with all my heart, that John Marino pulls off the win, and gives the Delaware GOP even the slimmest of a majority in the Senate. Why? Because I want to see if they can reach down the front of their pants and find their balls. Or will they continue to be a go along to get along rubber stamp on the growth of big government we have endured in this state for so long. Will they continue to make the same kind of deals across the aisle we have seen so often, not for the betterment of the entire state, but to bring some pork to their district to win elections?
I know what I expect, but only time will tell.
And just incase they have forgotten what they look like.
Maybe choosing Gunn was a back room arrangement, maybe not. But there’s no way to know that any GOP candidate- a more “qualified” candidate- would have won the Lt. Gov. race.
Since the Senate majority rides on this race, it is obviously important. As you mentioned, I think that anti-Trump sentiments will drive the Dems to vote in large numbers.
And as you also mentioned, “the lockstep voters who really don’t care about issues, as much as they do about the letter behind the name of the candidates,” will vote for the (D), despite the fact that their party has given us the “$350 million debt,” “the current education system we now have,” and “failing roads.” They don’t care about policy or results, only power.
If I were a GOP voter in that district, I’d stay home. With all of the anti-Trump vitriol being perpetuated daily by the mass media and our own Delaware representatives, I say give them what they want and let the Dems continue to run the state into the ground. I guess only when Delaware hits rock-bottom and taxes soar will the apathetic citizens of this state face reality. After years of stupor it will require harsh medicine to awaken the patient.
I know Delaware Liberal is calling everyone, to make sure the State stays the same old Demo.
Short for Demolish and that is what the Dems are doing to this State!!!
Rick, do you really believe there are only lockstep Democrats? Do you not recognize there are also lockstep Republicans?
Rick, do you really believe there are only lockstep Democrats?
Where in my post did I say that?
What I did say was that Democrats remain in “lockstep” even when results under years of Democrat control are not particularly positive- $350M debt, poor schools and roads, etc.
At least a “lockstep” GOP vote is a vote against proven incompetence.
The district is below the canal, so that’s a plus, but the Dems have been whipped up into a frenzy lately, and they will definitely turn out.
They have been whipped up into a frenzy, and when Obama makes his triumphant return (it will be triumphant and well timed ), the left will begin to mobilize even further.
The media will be doing backflips as they swoon and yearn. The leader will return and take his new seat as the official Community Organizer- in- Chief, and boast that he no longer has to be held to the constraints of his old office….in other words, he won’t have to be nice… “the gloves will be off”
It can be argued that the “main stream media” is it’s own branch of government, and when Obama officially unites with them as figurehead, they will essentially be a very powerful fourth branch of government with a mobilized army of crazed protesting minions (and some in the judiciary) to back them up.
It can be argued that the “main stream media” is it’s own branch of government…
Agreed, which makes Trump’s “enemy of the people” quip quite succinct.
The press is supposed to be adversarial to the government, not adversarial to one party. Incessant, fawning obseiecence is fealty, not journalism.
“Who Wins?”
I guess that’s what people who watched the Oscars were wondering.
Is opening an envelope and reading the title of a movie that hard to do? Apparently so.
Hollywood was all on the same page with their childish Trump bashing (no, I didn’t watch, but I saw the “highlights”). They all followed the script with lockstep conformity.
Then came the “best picture” debacle, and they all looked like the confused fools that they are.
It’s no wonder so many of them, cloistered among the dysfunctional multitudes, overdose on heroin, drown in their own vomit in a drunken stupor. Anyone who admires the Hollywood ship of fools needs to have their head examined.
Hollywood idiots on display.
BREAKING NEWS:
(AP) Schenectady NY:
Rena al Doububi-O’Conner became the first Muslim woman in the United States to be cited for jaywalking, being ticketed after rushing across the busy Lake Avenue/Second Street intersection.
“I have mixed feelings,” said Doububi-O’Conner, waving her $50 summons. “I feel a sense of inclusion” she said, “but I do believe that I was a victim of discrimination.” She added “in my country, we cross the street anywhere. On a more somber note, she continued “of course, in my county people who jaywalk have their feet amputated, so I guess I’m happy it happened here.”
Doububi-O’Conner, a court translator who works with Urdu-speaking criminal defendants, plans to have a neighbor start a GoFundMe account so she can “pay my fine and buy a new car and washing machine.”