November 05, 2009

11/5: Sorry, Charlie

Bloggers are buzzing about NRSC Chair John Cornyn's announcement that the NRSC won't be spending money in contested GOP primaries such as the one between FL Gov. Charlie Crist and ex-FL House Speaker Marco Rubio. RedState editor Erick Erickson was initially delighted by the news. He called Cornyn's announcement "just one of the very many reasons NY-23 was a victory for conservatives" and declared: "[T]he NRSC is throwing Charlie to [the] wolves." Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan decried the announcement as "a surrender to the base activists." On the other hand, liberal bloggers mostly praised the NRSC's move. Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas wrote: "Democrats should be no different. The D.C. party shouldn't be propping up candidates from afar. Let the voters choose their nominee."

However, things are still tense between the NRSC and conservative bloggers. This morning, Erickson accused the NRSC of "send[ing] out a big memo to NRSC donors and others highlighting all of the up coming opportunities for them to give Charlie Crist money." Erickson mockingly describes the NRSC's position on the FL SEN primary as "we're staying out, so please send money."

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Conservative bloggers (Erickson, Malkin, Hoft, Bandes, Geraghty, Hawkins) are heavily promoting today's rally against health care reform on Capitol Hill, which is begin led by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN).
• Conservative bloggers (Hinderaker, Henke, Mirengoff) are still analyzing Doug Hoffman's (C) loss to Rep.-elect Bill Owens (D) in the NY-23 race. One righty blogger (Spruiell) thinks conservatives ought to support Hoffman if he runs as a GOPer in '10, but others (Hawkins, Ponnuru) disagree. Meanwhile, liberal bloggers (Moulitsas 1, Moulitsas 2, Benen) are urging Dem congressmen to work on motivating their base if they want to avoid heavy losses in '10.
• Liberal bloggers (Moulitsas, Black, Marshall, Benen, Fernholz) are mocking IL SEN candidate Mark Kirk (R) for trying to secure an endorsement from ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R). A conservative blogger predicts that Kirk "[will] have to do a lot more groveling on the cap-and-trade issue" before he receives Palin's endorsement.
• Several liberal bloggers (Sudbay, Chart, Greenwald) are criticizing the anonymous WH official who suggested that Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) "should have manned-up and run against [NYC Mayor] Michael Bloomberg" after Weiner criticized the WH's handling of the race.
• Liberal bloggers (Klein, Dayen, Benen, Singer, Willis) are mocking the House GOP health care reform bill after the CBO determined that the bill "would leave about 52 million people uninsured." In other health care reform news, lefty bloggers (McCarter, Benen, Hamsher) continue to criticize the public option "trigger" proposal.

FL SEN: Is The NRSC Throwing Crist To The Wolves?

After Cornyn announced that the NRSC would not be spending money to help Crist in the FL GOP SEN primary, RedState's Erickson was delighted: "Well, the one Republican in Washington, D.C. today who seems to have had a realistic assessment of what took place yesterday is John Cornyn, the Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. [...] Make no mistake about it, the only reason that endorsement happened was not to help Crist, but to stop donors from giving money to Rubio. Now that this is no longer a reality or possibility, the NRSC is throwing Charlie to [the] wolves. The message from John Cornyn to everyone seems very clear, 'We're not as screwed up as the NRCC and will not be playing in Florida.' See? Just one of the very many reasons NY-23 was a victory for conservatives."

However, Erickson subsequently accused the NRSC of trying to help Crist in other ways: "Funny. The NRSC's Chairman John Cornyn says the NRSC is sitting Florida out and won't spend a nickel there. That's fine. Of course they did just send out a big memo to NRSC donors and others highlighting all of the up coming opportunities for them to give Charlie Crist money."

The Atlantic's Sullivan was disappointed by Cornyn's announcement: "John Cornyn's statement that the NRSC will not fund its own candidates in disputed primaries seems to me to be a surrender to the base activists. What it means is that the same forces that purged Scozzafava will have free rein to purge others. They are already interpreting a Democratic victory in a super-safe red-state seat as a win for ... conservatives. And the threat of third party candidates against the GOP across the country has obviously spooked the national party leadership."

Liberal bloggers, on the other hand, generally support Cornyn's move:

• Moulitsas: "NRSC, spooked by NY-23, is backing away from directly engaging in Senate primaries. Actually, that's not a bad thing. Democrats should be no different. The D.C. party shouldn't be propping up candidates from afar. Let the voters choose their nominee. Of course, I'm confident that our primaries generate electable candidates (like [VA Sen.] Jim Webb and [MT Sen.] Jon Tester), while theirs generate candidates like Doug Hoffman. So for Dems, such a policy is a win-win!"
• Firedoglake's David Dayen: "If this were happening in the Democratic Party, I would praise it, so let me briefly do the same here. People on the ground should decide who they want to be their nominee, not Senators playing favorites from back in Washington. Committees like this should respect their base and allow them to pick the candidates, and primaries are generally healthy events for parties. I certainly wish [ex-DCCC Chair] Rahm Emanuel heeded this."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Governors Matter, Not Elections

TAPPED's Mark Schmitt:

"It's governance, not elections, that will matter. If Republican governors like Chris Christie in New Jersey, Robert McDonnell in Virginia, or others elected in 2008 or earlier are seen as successful governors, that's the path back to power for Republicans. The Republican surge in the 1990s owed far more to big-state Republican governors who were perceived as successful than to the congressional majority. Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin, John Engler in Michigan, George Voinovich in Ohio, Christine Todd Whitman in New Jersey, Tom Ridge in Pennsylvania and others implanted in those swing-state voters a sense that Republicans could be responsible stewards of government, cutting taxes without cutting services. ('Perceived' is the key word; there were often colossal gimmicks involved.) When voters looked at [Geoge W.] Bush in 2000, they quite reasonably saw him as cut from the same cloth, and very different from the deeply unpopular Republicans of Congress. Governors present a face of the party as solving problems, not stirring conflict around social issues or obstructing progress on health care.

I'm not too worried about Christie being perceived as a big success. New Jersey ran out of gimmicks a long time ago, and I think the Christie administration will dissolve quickly in scandal. [...] But McDonnell takes office on a foundation of eight years of responsible government by [Mark] Warner and Tim Kaine. The state has one of the most resilient economies in the country (thanks, big government!), and it won't take much for him to be seen as a good governor who can also cut some taxes. Such success could make McDonnell a presidential candidate someday, or more likely a challenger for one of the two Senate seats, and it will potentially restore Virginians' comfort with the Republican Party. Those are the only national consequences of yesterday's gubernatorial elections."

LEST WE FORGET: Barack Obama Names Alan Moore Official White House Biographer

From The Onion:

"WASHINGTON -- At a press conference Monday, President Obama announced that he had appointed legendary comic book writer Alan Moore as the official biographer of his time in the White House. 'As evidenced by his epic run on Swamp Thing #21–64, Moore's deft hand with both sociopolitical commentary and metaphysical violence makes him an ideal choice to chronicle my time in office,' Obama said of the author of Watchmen and From Hell, whom he reportedly chose over others on a short list of potential biographers that included Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, and Bob Woodward. 'I look forward to seeing the kinds of subplots he will surely weave throughout the main narrative of my presidency, and how he'll tie them all back together at the end in a way that just elevates the thing to a whole other level. God, that guy is the master.' Although Obama has not yet settled on a publisher for his White House biography, he is reportedly leaning toward DC's Vertigo imprint for its creator-friendly ethos, high production values, and willingness to publish content for mature readers."

Posted by Ian Faerstein at November 5, 2009 12:24 PM