For all of you who think the Republicans are going to win big this fall, this article says maybe not! Probably won’t see much media coverage because it was a Democrat who won.
Ted Deutch Beats GOP Challenger Who Staged Special Election Campaign as Referendum on Obama, Health Care Reform.
(AP) Republican backlash over President Obama’s health care overhaul had little effect in the nation’s first U.S. House race of 2010.
Florida Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch handily won Tuesday’s special election to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler after his underdog GOP opponent attempted to make the contest a referendum on the massive health care bill.
“We’ve heard for months that tonight … is a referendum on health care, it’s a referendum on the (Obama) administration, it’s a referendum on what direction this country is going,” Deutch told supporters. “Let me tell you something, what we learned today is that in Broward County and Palm Beach County, Florida, the Democratic Party is alive and well.”
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Deutch, an attorney, had 62 percent of the vote compared to 35 percent for Republican Ed Lynch. No-party candidate Jim McCormick trailed far behind with just 3 percent.
Lynch, a 44-year-old West Palm Beach contractor, sought to make the race a statement on the health care bill in District 19, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties. About 40 percent of voters are senior citizens. But Lynch had a tough task. Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2-to-1 – 234,000 to about 111,000.
“Obviously, it’s not the results that we wanted,” Lynch said.
Wow, in Florida, no less.
Oh Oh… Repugs better bring back those death panel, communist, birth certificate, grandma killing, Chavez ass-kissing, bowing instead of handshaking posters !!
John Cleese explains Extremism (to Glen Beck). Super funny. It’s also cute to notice how the lists of who the right/left don’t like are a LITTLE different than our own.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNhPMQnWu4
Good going Perkel. Thats how to make a blog entry.
As GHF states, this is a heavily Democrat district. It went for Gore 71%, Kerry 66%, and Obama 65% in the past elections, so the Republican really had no other choice than to try to make it a referendum on healthcare.
You know as well as I that districts like the Florida 19th are not going to switch easily. Politics is like baseball, its a game of 1/3s.
The best teams in baseball lose 1/3 of the time, the worst win 1/3 of the time. The key to the championship is winning the last 1/3.
In politics, maybe 1/3 of the districts are solid Democrat, another 1/3 are dependably Republican and the middle 1/3 decide the makeup of Congress.
Congrats on keeping the seat. The Republicans need to keep at it certainly. I don’t think the November elections are a foregone conclusion.
And to the Tea Bagers…no vague “I’m mad” protest. I want signs that tell me WHAT YOU WOULD DO! We spend too much? Sure!! And you’re mad at your taxes NOW? So I guess you want a tax CUT (again, Obama already gave you one). So that makes our deficit bigger AGAIN…so what do you want cut!?
To balance the budget we need higher taxes, or cuts in military and Medicare/social-security…the only programs big enough to save significant money. You have to pick one. The National Endowment for the Arts and midnight basketball programs aren’t going to make up $700 billion a year…so no “protesting”, tell us what you’d cut or raise?
That’s the problem, why no one can solve this, because we’re children…we all want stuff…we just don’t want to pay for it. We’re mad at our politicians if they tell us we have to give up something (Medicare benefits, social security) but also mad if we have to pay for them fully.
http://digg.com/d31OFxa
Of course he won. Florida is full of old people and they love free stuff from the government.
The leading Republican – that means the one with the mo$t money – for governor in my neck of the prairie is basing his whole campaign on what a great job he did in VietNam.
I expect it will work for him better than it did for Kerry. But, not by much.
So a Democrat was elected to replace a Democrat in a heavily Democratic district in a state senate race, and because the Republican made some hyperbolic remark about a national referendum, their loss proves that the opposite opinion is correct? Am I following you so far?
I need to spend some time on a greasemonkey script to filter out Perkel’s posts. In the mean time, go back to posting your squirrel videos and spare us. I don’t read this blog for partisan cheer-leading.
@dumbfounded
While you don’t read this blog for partisan cheer-leading; when this blog partisan cheer-leads I don’t read at all.
#6. Trillions in tax dollars missing and no accountability, no one seems to know where it went, and you want to give them more!
Please, may I be your accountant. Please?
The military option is off the table, Presidents don’t get re-elected for taking money away from the military or the industries that pay for him.
These are the same counties that couldn’t figure out how to use the ballots correctly during the Bush v Gore election.
Must be something in the drinking water or in the voters’ genes. I think it is the latter.
Well if Democrats run 7 points behind their partisan rating in November, that would mean a Republican pickup of 67 seats in the House.
Yes, yes, yes!
As a conservative, I would advise you liberals to view this election as a bell-weather.
You have nothing to fear in November’s elections.
The electorate LOVES Obama.
The electorate LOVES the health care bill.
The electorate LOVES Democrats, and their entire agenda.
Just keep repeating this to yourself for the next 6 months or so.
My bad, 67 seat pickup is if Democrats run even with their PVI, and lose the ties. If they run 7 points behind, it means they lose 123 seats.
“Probably won’t see much media coverage because it was a Democrat who won.”
that’s hilarious but you forgot the sarcasm tag under it!
My bad again. They average Kerry into the numbers, so that means this is 4 points behind average.
#6:
“tell us what you’d cut or raise?”
Well, there’s a huge crossover between the tea party and Ron Paul supporters, so I’m guessing a lot of them want to end the war.
#7 : Maybe old people have a better memory than young ones on drugs. Maybe they remember which party shipped our jobs overseas which caused the economic meltdown that the Extremists like to blame on the sub prime housing market. May, just maybe, there are some people out there that don’t have fried brains.
#7 : Maybe old people have a better memory than young ones on drugs. Maybe they remember which party shipped our jobs overseas which caused the economic meltdown that the Extremists like to blame on the sub prime housing market. Maybe, just maybe, there are some people out there that don’t have fried brains.
“Democrats win first post health care bill election”
Hold that thought.
The look on your face next November will be pricless.
It was a rigged election!
Break out the Fleetwood Mac! !
I don’t think anyone was against Health Care. But it was never handled correctly by the Democrat’s. I think the jury is still out on how much help it will be. It will be a few years before we really know. I think we need the right people in Congress and I do not think we are there. I really do not care if their Democrat, Republican or Independent. But I do want them to get the budget in order and that will mean tax increases unless you plan to accept less in services. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
I’m just wondering if they are going to take away Congress’ health care since that’s what the bill calls for.
Too bad about Republican-ISM. The notion of a political party that stands up for conservative goals, meaning conservation of resources, the environment, power use, health issues from farm to tummy and a whole bunch of other ways that the word suggests, is a worthy point of view for lawmaking and governance.
Jesus Saves, abortion-nyet, non-cooperation, waterlooing, waterboarding and governance by punishment is an abysmal set of attributes.
I hope they wise up, and change to something I can believe in. Right now they’re pumping shotgun blasts into their feet, daily.
In your face, Republicans!!!
Maybe it will bring a sense of reality to both parties. Some local elections are not referendums on the national parties.
Oh who am I kidding???
Let’s get real.
The Scott Brown election said very little about Obama or his agenda — contrary to the crowing and strutting by Fox and their incredibly stupid viewers.
Similarly, this election is about local issues.
>> Bat21 said, on April 14th, 2010 at 7:10 am
>> Of course he won. Florida is full of old people and they love free stuff from the government.
Free stuff from the government? Nobody can beat the GOP millionaires in that department.
The conservatives bitterly complain when some widow or single mom get a couple hundred bucks a month but WILL OVERTHROW THE COUNTRY if you even suggest cutting back on giving our BILLIONS of our tax dollars to Halliburton, Exxon and other uber-rich.
Pro War Democrat beats pro war Republican, health care be darned, as long as you support the wars, you will win, politician.