7/19: Less Embarrassing in GA?

The conservative blogosphere had much more to celebrate after 7/18's GA primary. Many on the right were happy to see Ralph Reed's unpleasant ties to Jack Abramoff swept off of GA's radar, especially since state Sen. Casey Cagle's (R) bruising ads would have given Dems a gift they could capitalize on this fall. For the progressive blogging community many hoped that 7/18 would be Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D) last day in the news. Though pleased she did not win, no one on the left is excited about a high-profile runoff either.

Few tears were spilled in the conservative blogger community over Ralph Reed's (R) loss to state Sen. Casey Cagle (R). A Peach Pundit commenter writes: "I can't believe the stomping that Reed just got this is a hard lesson (pill) for him to swallow. ... But, I'm sure most of you are pleased, he'll never run statewide again." Ryan Sager at RCP Blog writes: "The defeat seems fairly stunning in its magnitude, given that polls just a few days ago had the two men tied." Chris Farris and Jason Pye both live-blogged Cagle's election night party.

Washington Times assistant national editor Robert Stacy McCain has a very lengthy post at his blog Donkey Cons on the race that includes this explanation of Reed's defeat: "After reading that [Matt Continetti's article, "Money, Mobsters, Murder" in The Weekly Standard], I felt sure that Reed would have to quit the race. No way, after he had sold his soul to the casino lobby, could Reed count on the support of conservative Christians in Georgia. I remembered how they'd fought all-out against the Georgia lottery, and I felt sure they'd resent Reed's involvement in that wretched scandal. That was the same time when WORLD Magazine came out with an article examining Reed's [Jack] Abramoff connections. People outside the evangelical world don't understand how much impact that had on Reed. WORLD is to the Christian homeschooling community what Newsweek is to the rest of America. I don't know what their circulation is, but they've got a real strong readership among homeschooling leaders, and those people would otherwise have been expected to be strong activists for the Reed campaign."

While most progressive bloggers hoped Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D) would lose her three-way primary battle, some just saw it as another case of the DLC keepin' the progressive community down. DailyKos diarist zumbi50: "Before polls were open two hours, reports began coming in that votes in suburban Atlanta's Diebold black box machines --- purchased and defended by DLC Democratic candidate for governor Cathy Cox with absolutely no paper trail or means of independent verification --- are switching Democratic primary voters votes from McKinney to her opponent Hank Johnson. Election officials in one precinct told a voter who complained her vote had been switched to look out in advance next time."

KCinDC at Dem activist Swing State Project felt the need to address the Diebold rumors: "McKinney supporters have already set up the explanation for any loss: Diebold machines. The problems are (1) the Republican vote manipulators they talk about certainly have no interest in replacing McKinney with a saner Democrat, since she's such a great "evil" Democrat for them to rile people up about, and (2) if you're going to program the machines to steal votes, you don't show the voter that the vote is being switched -- you simply have the machine display one candidate on the screen and record the vote for another, with the voter never being the wiser."

Also at Swing State, Mark hoped a McKinney loss in the 8/8 run off would just be the beginning: "Seriously though, getting rid of McKinney would be second only to purging William Jefferson on the cut-out-the-cancer-o-meter. Although the Dems are unlikely to hail the defeat of McKinney on the grounds that it may alienate African-American voters, but it sure would be a good poke in the eye regarding the way voters in each party treat their bad apples."

Conservative bloggers did not ignore the race and were happy to note who attended McKinney's election night party. Peach Pundit: "Cynthia spent the evening dancing with war protester Cindy Sheehan, doing the electric slide, jamming with her tambourine.

Lefty blog Politics 101 was not impressed with Sec/State Cathy Cox's (D) concession speech to LG Mark Taylor (D): "Sour grapes," quotes one general assembly member. "Many who stood at the Taylor victory party tonight echoed the same sentiment after hearing Cathy's excuse for not endorsing her party's nominee. How unfortunate it is that Cox was unable to except her defeat more gracefully. Tonight Cathy Cox needed to step up, endorse the Democratic Party's candidate and commit herself to Democratic victory in November; by not doing so Cathy has hurt the very party she sought to lead."

Also from the left though, Liberal Lucidity thought Cox was a team player: "Cathy has asked her supporters to put aside our animosity and unite to defeat Perdue. If this is something that she can do, it's something that I can do. And it's just what you would expect from a leader of the standard of Cathy Cox. Now the task is to finish the job that we all started out trying to do as Democrats. And that's to return a Democrat to the governor's mansion."

Senate Maj. Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) unveiled MedicalMatters.org. Frist explains: "Obviously, health care is an important issue for me, and it is issue that I feel needs a meaningful and comprehensive debate. It is also an issue where the Republican view of health care often differs greatly from the Democrats. This blog will also highlight and discuss these differences. My hope is that the MedicalMatters.org blog will help sustain a focus on health care challenges and health care solutions in ways that the occasional news story in your Sunday paper or on the evening TV newscast cannot."

The Heritage Foundation hosted a Newt Gingrich/conservative blogger meeting 7/18. Right Wing News paraphrases his best Gingrich takes: "Newt suggested blockading Syria and perhaps sending our special forces in with the Lebanese army and kill Hezbollah. He also said, contrary to what you might hear, we're not bogged down in Iraq. We're the most powerful nation on the planet and we're capable of doing more if need be. ... Even though Reagan won the Cold War, he didn't do it with military power. He was very careful about the application of military power. However, he actively supported nascent democratic movements all across the world, which is something the Bush Administration is not doing well enough."

The Right Angle posted Gingrich quotes including:

"The correct answer to Hezbollah today is: Destroy it. Don't negotiate. ... Because the Kerry resolution, and the Murtha statements and the Howard Dean shrill cries of "leave now" -- all of those things are echoed throughout the Arab world. So if you're the current leader in Lebanon, you're a little cautious about how much you trust the Americans to keep their word and do it."

Mary Katharine Ham at Townhall.com also had many quotes including: "There's a Hezbollah training camp in Paraguay, there's a group in North Carolina, we caught a cell crossing the border. They're all funded by the Iranians. ... Reagan was asked his philosophy on the Cold War, and he offered four words - 'We win. They lose.' Reagan didn't win with a radical application of American military power."

At conservative hang-out The Corner, Ramesh Ponnuru forwards some interesting odds from tradesports:

1. Odds of McCain winning if nominated: 60%
2. Odds of a different Republican winning if nominated: 41%
3. Odds of Hillary winning if nominated: 38%
4. Odds of a different Democrat winning if nominated: 57%

Ramesh comments: "One implication is that we are better off w/out McCain than they are w/ Hillary."

Tom Bevan at RCP Blog looks at Boston Phoenixarticle speculating that the Big Dig could be MA Gov. Mitt Romney's (R) Katrina and asks: "I'm interested in knowing what readers in Massachusetts who've been following it closely on the local level think. It seems to me the story could work to Romney's advantage, in that it provides an opportunity for him to demonstrate leadership in the aftermath of a tragedy and a crisis of some magnitude. As I said, I invite readers who live in Massachusetts or have been following this story closely to email me their thoughts on the subject."

Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner does not link to Bevan's item (there is no evidence she even saw it) but does post a reader email including: "By taking over the Big Dig, he's taking a big political risk. What happens to his presidential aspirations if the fix he proposed yesterday doesn't work? As he demonstrated yesterday, clearly (a) Mitt cares more about getting the problem at hand resolved than his own personal advancement (b) Mitt possesses a level of smarts way beyond most of us."

At Political Wire Guest contributor Kevin Rennie of the Hartford Courant reports: "At least two prominent Republicans think that if [Alan] Schlesinger can be nixed from his spot on the ballot, it should be given to Senator Joseph Lieberman if he loses the August 8th primary to challenger Ned Lamont."

Natural Born Killers producer and progressive Jane Hamsher at firedoglake reports from CT: "Some think that the GOP will try to put a strong candidate on, others that they are clearing the way to endorse Holy Joe. I find that when I ask folks familiar with local politics that they seem to be split about 50/50 in their predictions. Nobody would be surprised if one of those was Chris Shays, who has already endorsed Lieberman. Shays had been forcing his Democratic anti-war opponent, Dianne Farrell, into silence over the issue in the past by forcing her to run against Lieberman if she tries to speak out against the war." At TPM Cafe, Greg Sargent found the idea "extremely implausible, to say the least," and asks: "Who the heck knows who the "two prominent Republicans" are and why they're leaking this? Nonetheless, I'm curious: Has anyone asked Lieberman if he'd rule it out?"

Picking up on a Hotline On Call (go team!) item reporting Lieberman's hiring of Tom Lindenfeld "to put together an organization to call, identify and inspire Lieberman primary voters" DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas describes the effort as "Lieberman's army for hire." Chris Bowers at MyDD adds: "Scared Lieberman has no volunteer ground game, moles in his camp and will damage other Connecticut Democrats in order to save himself."

The Political Punch has gone through Lamont;s FEC filing and found some noteworthy contributors including: "George Soros donated $1,000. ... Singer/director/actress/diva Barbara Streisand has also given Mr. Lamont $1,000. ... Jackson Browne, making sure Lamont won't be "running on empty," gave $500. ... A whopping $250 came from Alexandra Paul who you may know as Lt. Stephanie Holden on the TV show "Baywatch." ...and then there's Maude!! Which is to say legendary 1970s TV producer Norman Lear also gave $1,000."

The Official Ned Lamont for U.S. Senate Campaign Blog posted three new "Man on the Street" ads. Titles include: "The Issue" [ed. note: It's Iraq]; "Who's Joe?;" and "Where's Joe?." And in celebration of "Blogosphere Day" The Official Ned Lamont for U.S. Senate Campaign Blog (see Thought of The Day) announced that "Ned will match all contributions made online dollar for dollar between today and primary day."

Over at liberal hang out The Huffington PostAri Melber notes that conservative pundits are not only attacking Lamont, but blog readers everywhere: "Democratic Senators don't usually get this much support from conservative pundits. ... Of course, being propped up by [Dick]Morris and [Sean] Hannity only hurts Lieberman's standing among Connecticut's Democratic primary voters, who have already heard their Senator is too cozy with the Right Wing. Yet the pundits are not simply praising their favorite Senator, they are deriding his critics, deploring bloggers and ridiculing blog readers -- that means you."

Ex-Lieberman aide Dan Gerstein at LieberDem checked out Jane Hamsher's latest contribution to The Huffington Post and chose to highlight a commenter questioning the anti-Lieberman campaign: "I don't think Lieberman is the issue. Maybe he deserves a challenge. But if his record really was the issue, there wouldn't be all the juvenile bs: the "joey" and the "holy joe" and all the teenager venom leveled at him. It is all so personal, so hateful. Liberal means open minded. I would like to see a progressive movement that cares about people. And acts like they care about people, not power. These "net root" people aren't liberal. They are simply totalitarians from the other side of the spectrum. And they are truly scary in their viciousness."

RedState takes a look at fundraising numbers in what it calls the 7 most competitive races: AZ, MO, MT, OH, PA, RI and VA. In each, the incumbent GOPer has a significant edge, and overall, the GOP had $40.3M to the Dems' $16.1M. "This is obviously a huge funding gap that the Democrats will have to try and overcome by using resources from their campaign committee. Although I don't know if a 24.2 Million dollar shortfall will be something that they can make up so easily. ... [I]t looks like these Senate Republicans are poised to hold their seats as incumbents this fall."

On the issue front, Kos can't believe "[w]hat a gift Bush will hand us" with the stem-cell research bill veto. "We'll get another vote to override. And even if it fails (I have a hard time seeing four pickups amongst that list of rampant wingnuttery), it will once again force Republicans to publicly oppose policy that is supported by a 2 to 1 margin amongst the American people." He also lists 7 races, the same as RedState's except NV replaces RI, as top pickup opportunities.

Meanwhile, Kos separately notes that Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) was in "the scary Bay Area, home of that liberal Nancy Pelosi" to raise money. And he compares Burns' event to one for his Dem challenger, state Senate Pres. John Tester. "Tester hung out with real people for $35, while Burns played exclusively with the kind of people who could afford $2K a pop. ... Burns was hanging out with the kind of people with which he feels most comfortable, while Tester was showing us why he is a true people-powered hero."

At NRO's Sixers blog, Greg Pollowitz thinks the OH Dems' response to Sen. Mike DeWine's (R-OH) attack ad may backfire. It says: "DeWine failed us on the intelligence committee before 9/11." Pollowitz: "Senator DeWine is responsible for 9/11...this will go over well in Ohio."

DemocraticLuntz compiled a list of Dem candidates with $100K or more, and GOP candidates who outraised their Dem foe. "These numbers are very encouraging, to say the least. What's even better is the overwhelmingly large number of Republican incumbents/candidates for Republican-held open seats who were outraised by their Democratic opponents during the second quarter." The list is 32 candidates long.

MyDD's Jonathan Singer spotlights possible ethics problems facing Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC). According to The Hill, he used earmarks to create an overseas study program for Russian business students coordinated by a friend/ex-business partner, an ex-KGP general's wife. " Rep. Charles Taylor (R-N.C.) used earmarks to create an overseas study program for Russian business students coordinated by his friend and business partner, an ex-KGB general's wife and onetime English teacher. "It is bad enough for Congressmen to stick unneeded earmarks into legislation. But when earmarks go to fund pet projects in another country -- projects controlled by friends of the Congressmen, projects that could potentially benefit the Congressman -- a line has been crossed. ... If Taylor does not address these allegations -- and fast -- this election is going to slip away from him before he even realizes it and the Democrats will be one seat closer to taking back the House."

With help from Salon The Official Ned Lamont for U.S. Senate Campaign Blog explains the birth of Blogosphere Day:

"On Monday afternoon, July 19, Stephen Yellin, a 16-year-old politics junkie and frequent contributor to the lefty blog Daily Kos, noticed an intriguing development in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, an area to the north of Philadelphia. The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call was reporting that Jim Greenwood, the district's popular, moderate Republican congressman, had unexpectedly decided not to seek reelection, meaning that his House seat was now up for grabs. This is the sort of news that sets partisans like Yellin jumping for joy, and so, of course, he blogged about it."

"Did he ever blog about it. Within hours the combined action of dozens of blogs raised over $30,000 for the otherwise anonymous Democratic candidate running in PA-8, Ginny Schrader. Her campaign went from 0 to 60 in the span of a few hours, fueled exclusively by the blogs. The next few days were a roller coaster of speculation. Would the DCCC find a more "suitable" candidate to run against Republican Mike Fitzpatrick? The blogs fought back, they provided Ginny the seed money to launch a credible campaign, a campaign no one had dared to run in a district many thought was a lost cause. At the end of the day, not only did the DCCC relent in finding another candidate, but to their credit, supported Ginny with resource down the stretch."

LEST WE FORGET: Whatever Happened To Better Dead Than Red?

Under the header, "Best Argument for Communism Ever" The Corner's John Podhoretz writes: "Paris Hilton earned $7 million last year, according to Forbes."