A solid write-up of doings in PA-12 via the Financial Times.

Burns rhetoric sets Democrats on edge

Tim Burns does not try to hide his disdain for Washington DC and its ways. This has always been a potent vote-gathering pitch for would-be politicians. But this year with Congress’s popularity around historic lows, more than most it has particular resonance.

But don’t just take their word for it, even NPR sees the warning signs. Washington bought Critz with help from Pelosi, so we know he’s Nancy’s boy and he doesn’t worry the DC establishment at all. But it is now a Tim Burns fact: Washington fears Tim Burns!

After Decades, The GOP Has A Shot At Murtha’s Seat

People in the district tend to be conservative — not just the Republicans, but the Democrats, too. Many work in the coal mining and steel industries. They are pro-gun and anti-abortion rights.

Murtha routinely won in landslides. In fact, it’s not hard to find Republicans who voted for him time and time again.

“I am a Republican,” said 72-year-old Janet Hagerich. “He’s probably the only Democrat that I ever voted for, because he has a lot of pull in our district.”

But now Hagerich says she likes what she hears from Tim Burns, 42, a wealthy Republican businessman.

“I got into this race about a year ago,” Burns said at a campaign stop, “simply because I was concerned about what I saw happening to the country. I’ve never been in politics before. I think this country is in a fight for its life. We’ve got a great opportunity here.”

Burns had stopped by a combination restaurant/sports bar in the town of Nanty Glo. He had to make his pitch quickly. The Pittsburgh Penguins game was about to start, and competing with the Stanley Cup playoffs is a loser for any politician. Burns finished before the puck was dropped.

Retired coal miner Tony Sharon, 79, said he’s thrilled to see a Republican with a chance to win.

“He can be one of a majority that goes to Washington that can put our country back together again,” Sharon said.

I watched the PA-12 debate between Tim Burns and Mark Critz tonight. Of the two men, only one has ever actually created a job for a Pennsylvania worker – Republican Tim Burns.

So, what does arrogant Democrat machine politician Mark Critz think about that? Not much, apparently. At one point he joked that he wanted to go to Washington so he could raise Burn’s taxes. That’s right. If you dare create opportunity in Pennsylvania beyond the reach of Critz’s plans for more political-machine crony-ism, you will be punished for it. How long will it take for Pennsylvania workers to wake up?

Read More →

h/t Instapundit. Not even Jodie Foster in a track suit is going to be able to save Democrats this year. But there’s more to the story than just low Democrat turnout. First, this via Hot Line:

Turnout among Dem voters dropped precipitously in 3 statewide primaries on Tuesday, giving the party more evidence that their voters lack enthusiasm ahead of midterm elections.

In primaries in NC, IN and OH, Dems turned out at far lower rates than they have in previous comparable elections.

Meanwhile, ponder David Obey’s decision. Obey got so caught up in Obama’s statism, he cued up the dark music and did a provocative fan dance as the presiding officer in the House during final passage of Obamacare. But voters were watching. Now, he can’t shed his skin for something akin to the small government, low tax number so in fashion with voters this year.

Updated: Representative David Obey of Wisconsin, chairman of the Appropriations Committee and one of the most powerful and longest-serving Democrats in Congress, announced today that he will not seek re-election and will step down after 41 years.

While it may have taken them a while to get through the case file, the better positioned GOP did manage to mostly break the Tea Party code. That’s why a closer look inside the numbers via the RNC’s Doug Heye shows GOP turnout numbers are surging, providing an important part of the plot. Irony, one of Lecter’s early quotes to Clarice mentioned “First principles.” And while it was a census taker, not necessarily a Democrat, Lecter enjoyed with “some favabeans and a nice chianti,” as things stand today, Conservatives and Republicans may want to have a bottle of sometime special handy come November to celebrate the devouring of big government liberal Democrats in the House and Senate in November. Cue 13 seconds of Sir Anthony Hopkins ff-ff-ff-ff-ff. heh!

By contrast, GOP turnout was up almost across the board. 373K people voted in Burr’s uncompetitive primary, nearly 9% higher than the 343K who voted in the equally non-competitive primary in ’04.

Being from North Carolina (full disclosure: I worked for Senator Burr from 2004-2006), I take a keen interest in my home state’s voting patterns and turnout models. What is stunning is the anecdotal evidence of a disenchanted Democratic base.  At one point last week, Pasquotank County, a county of approximately 42,000 residents in the northeast corner of the state, represented 4% of statewide early voters.

I first posted on Alabama’s re-election seeking Attorney General, Troy King, due to an ongoing grand jury investigation. I’ll return to that, as I’d rather not dwell too long on what’s below. But it needs to be addressed.

The special grand jury met Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Montgomery. King’s chief of staff, Chris Bence, emerged from the grand jury room shortly before 4 p.m. with his attorney, Joe Espy. Bence confirmed his appearance before the panel.

Unfortunately, as both Stacy McCain and I discovered va Google, a rather ugly scandal involving Troy King emerges. It can now be confirmed that individuals with knowledge of said scandal well beyond the Internet rumors we’ve seen are talking. On top of that, they are also talking to elements within the mainstream media. That was confirmed during a phone call with Stacy last night. He may have more to say on that when he returns from Alabama.

If there truly is no there there, which looks increasingly unlikely at this point, that needs to get on the record and settled, now – before a King primary win could set up a GOP loss in November. King is running against primary challenger Luther Strange, who has the support of the state’s two Republican Senators – Sessions and Shelby.

Via The Other McCain:

Jimmie mentions the Troy King story and it so happens that, during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast, Alabama CBS affiliates aired an ad from King’s GOP primary opponent Luther Strange’’s “campaign to restore honesty, integrity & trust to the office of Alabama Attorney General.”

As if the above isn’t enough, King has used his influence in an attempt to unseat a judge, simply for ruling against him. Note, while the media has been somewhat focused on other aspects of the gambling story playing out in Alabama, Troy King has been feted by gambling interests which appear to have directly benefited from his rulings as AG. And it’s King’s connections to gambling interests that seem to be part of the grand jury probe.

BIRMINGHAM — A sworn statement from a state investigator says he was pressured by Attorney General Troy King to find anything that could be used to force the removal of a Jefferson County circuit judge who had ruled against King in a case involving video gambling machines. The investigator, Anthony Castaldo, said in the affidavit that three investigations of Circuit Judge Dan King produced no evidence of wrongdoing, but King ordered him to “find something.” The fourth probe revealed that the judge appeared to have placed campaign contributions into personal accounts, Castaldo said. Dan King was indicted on campaign finance charges in April.

One of King’s allies looks to be Luther Stancel ‘Stan’ Pate IV, another individual with gambling interests. It looks as though both Democrats and the media are just sitting on Troy King, waiting for the general election for the dam to break. If he doesn’t withdraw now, it could easily prove to be a disaster for Republicans come fall.

When Tuscaloosa Council President Jerry Plott and Councilman Kip Tyner refused in 2005 to appropriate $16 million in public funds for Pate’s proposed shopping center, Pate launched a campaign to discredit both men. He filed ethics charges against them and even set up a website which asked readers to submit accounts of corruption on Plott’s part.

“He never could get the ethics commission to give me any trouble. So then he decided to take it to his friend Troy King in the AG’s office,” Plott told the Lagniappe Mobile reporters. “All of a sudden, I’d get inquiries from investigators from the AG’s office.”

Plott wrote to King’s office on June 28, 2005, saying, “Your office also recently investigated a complaint against me filed by Mr. Pate. I am concerned that Mr. Pate is attempting to use the Attorney General’s office, as he has used the Ethics Commission, to continue his personal vendetta against several members of the Tuscaloosa City Council.”

Plott eventually decided to stop serving on the City Council, a decision which he bitterly blames on Pate’s harrassment. King’s investigation of Tyner apparently ceased following Plott’s letter, but it resumed after King had won re-election in 2006, in a campaign to which Pate and the numerous state PACs with which he is connected contributed generously.

Suspected ethical violations pile up By 2007, Alabama bloggers were starting to compile long lists of ethical questions concerning King. One blog, the Daily Dixie, even had an entire webpage devoted to them, titled Troy King’s Greatest Hits — a page which is now available only through the Internet Archive.

The charges included King’s alleged use of his office both to attack his Democratic opponent in the 2006 election and to get back at a district attorney who had supported his opponent, his vendetta against a judge whose ruling on gambling machines he disliked, and his failure to report a gift of luxury box seats from Alabama Power. However, none of the allegations appeared to attract official interest.

Last July, however, even more scandalous rumors began circulating, claiming that the religiously conservative and overtly homophobic King had been caught by his wife in bed with a male aide. These rumors were fueled in part by a Birmingham News article, headed “AG King boosts top aides salaries,” which reported:

Aw, this is kinda sad. Yeah, uh, who dat? Uh, dat be Melancon and, …, and …. Nevermind!

Jim Ryan, whose finance director was convicted as part of the Tony Rezko kerfuffle, is targeting Andy McKenna with bogus attacks because he knows McKenna’s the guy to beat for a run-off. Redstate seems to appreciate the wisdom in supporting McKenna.

I know folks in the McKenna camp. He’s a rather establishment fella, but not bad and would be much more acceptable than Dillard.

While I appreciate some emotional support for Andrzejewski, perhaps due to a Lech Walesa endorsement, the problem is, Andrzejewski is bringing up the rear in a five candidate race. And it’s likely to only open up the door for an O-bot to slip through without a run-off.

Dillard endorsed Barack Obama. He even shot a commercial for Obama. When McCain became the nominee for the GOP, Dillard shut up, but the record is still there.

That would be terrible news for Illinois, the GOP and conservatives as a whole. The smart play is to get behind Andy McKenna. Time is running out with the election slated for Tuesday and early voting having already begun.

You can view his site and support him here.

My introduction to the less superficial elements of the race to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat in the Senate came via the blogging efforts of Sissy Willis. The notion that we can strike a blow against ObamaCare with this race was interesting. Today, I came upon this. What’s the deal? Sign on to the party of Kennedy in the right state, keep your mouth shut and you’ll be a Senator? Is that what our politics should be about right now? The debates taking place in Washington today are too important for more of the same old thing.

While Coakley has been reticent to talk to the media (she declined repeated interview requests from the Worcester Business Journal and submitted only a written statement), both Brown and Kennedy are making their case to the media.

Of course, it doesn’t thrill me to see a third party Libertarian candidate involved. I’m assuming that’ll make it that much more difficult for a Republican to win. But if Coakley is willing to just take a pass and not engage on the issues, what’s she going to do in DC? Who will she be taking orders from then? She certainly doesn’t seem to feel responsible to the people in any way given her ducking the media now. That would be reason enough for me to not vote for her all by itself.

Now, McCain has endorsed Brown. And Romney has said it would be history making if Brown were to win.

I don’t care what wing of the GOP they’re from. If we are going to get America on the right track via Tea Parties and grassroots activism of all stripes, so the people, not the usual politicians are running things, then we have to make history in 2010.

Have you checked your calender lately? That’s the year we’re in, folks. If we’re going to make history when we need to, now seems as good a time as any to try and make a start.

You can support Scott Brown here via the web.

Don’t laugh, it’s true. Obama and Reindeer-dung jewelry both call Illinois home. That’s not the only dot worth connecting, though.

Courtesy of an Illinois zoo. No wonder Obama got his start in Illinois, those damned people will buy anything!

The $15 pendant necklaces contain dried, sterilized reindeer droppings — sprayed with glitter — on a beaded chain. They’ll be available at the zoo’s gift shop, or by mail for $20. The ornaments are back, and 450 have already sold this season. About 1,500 are still available for $7.50, or $10 by mail.

Unfortunately, they aren’t able to buy a whole lot these days because the largely corrupt and liberal state is bankrupt. That’s the other dot, bankrupt, just like Obama is currently making us and the US.

You can check that out in a video courtesy of two Republicans running there I’ve posted on before – McKenna and Murphy. Thanks to Blago, we may have a shot at making some gains in Illinois. Along with the video, if you want to help them out, that’s the place.

Sure would be nice to notch some wins in Obama’s home state. The Reindeer-dung jewelry costs extra, of course. It kind of reminds me of Democrats in a few ways, now that I think about it!

Eric at RedState is a blog friend and fellow conservative I like and respect, so I emailed him before engaging this debate regarding his post on targeting Bennett in Utah.

While we’re all focusing on picking Charlie Crist off in the Florida Senate Primary, I think if conservatives really want to send the GOP establishment a message, target number one a high priority should actually be Bob Bennett of Utah. Just to clarify for those of you freaking out that I said target number one should be Bennett: the Bennett race happens before the Florida race. That said, we should be targeting more than just Florida. Bennett is worth picking off because he is an incumbent troublemaker. Granted, it was a poor choice of words on my part, but I hope you get the drift — picking off an incumbent has added value.

Let’s briefly consider some facts that can help in making this decision. As regards ”we should be targeting more than just Florida,” I thought we were. Was NY – 23 merely a bad dream caused by the terrible candidate Scozzafava was for us? For starters, we have to fight Owens at least to some degree in winning back a previously reliable GOP seat we’ve lost.

Does anyone believe defeating Crist in Florida is going to be a walk? Are we already throwing DeVore in California under the bus because the energy, cash and focus is needed to take out a popular state-level incumbent – never an easy thing in the first place, by the way?

Did Dodd concede to Simmons and does Toomey now have PA locked? Will Harry Reid continue to lead the Senate for the Democrats, or are those votes counted already? When are Portman and Kasich in Ohio sworn in, they both beat liberal Dems? Or haven’t we taken back Ohio, yet? There’s at least the possibility of some low hanging Senate and Governorship fruit in Illinois thanks to Blago. Are we going to wait and see if it falls to the ground so we can just pick it up? And I haven’t even mentioned any Blue Dogs we might want to take out while the timing is good. That’s especially true in parts of the South, where some GOP incumbents we like are going to face serious challenges, too.

The GOP was thrashed in the House in 2008. Was it only due to Obamania and are all those Dem incumbents going to do the right thing and simply step aside without a fight? Sorry, I don’t think so, friends. There’s a heck of a lot more than Rubio on our plates. And there’s an out of control Leftist WH destined to take apart much of traditional America by 2012 without a Republican majority in Congress to stop him. Is now the time to take out a Republican who won with about 70% in 2004 only to gamble on someone who has never run statewide, let alone won, and hasn’t been seriously vetted? Meanwhile, the Dems are looking at a moderate to run that Obama knows and said he would support.

Now, given all that, let’s have a quick look at this scourge of liberalism, Bennett, we need to purge. I’ll bullet point it to make this quick. Frankly, if this guy is such a threat to elements of the base it warrants putting a seat at risk in a year where we absolutely need to gain them, some of us conservative bloggers better get our resumes ready. It won’t be long before we aren’t welcome either. Or, maybe it’s time for people to slow down and think before they go a Bennett too far. Always did like the similarly named war movie, though!

His record is solidly Pro-Life, Pro-Gun and Anti-Tax

Voted against Bush on No Child Left Behind on states rights grounds.

Voted against Obama stimulus bill

Voted against “Auto bailout”

Voted against “Cash for Clunkers”

Voted against the second round of TARP after pushing to break Bush’s extreme emergency $700 billion request into two parts. He felt the $350 billion was enough and wanted to limit it.

Introduced an amendment to the Budget Resolution requiring additional TARP funds to be authorized by Congress and offset with reductions in discretionary spending.

Bennett introduced legislation with Thune to strip the Treasury Secretary’s authority to extend TARP beyond Dec. 31, 2009. The Bennett-Thune bill allows TARP to expire at the end of the year so Dems can’t keep using it as a slush fund.

Voted against Hate Crimes legislation

Voted against the closing of Guantanamo Bay

Voted against the Obama budget

Voted against FY 2009 Omnibus bill

Voted against Sotomayor

Voted against Geithner

Voted against  Sebelius

Will be voting against David Hamilton

Blocked David Hayes, deputy secretary of
Interior out of domestic energy concerns.

Passed an amendment to protect the charitable contribution deduction from being used to pay for health care to save American charities $9 billion per year.

Passed the Washington County Land Bill to set the precedent for how Utah and the West manage public lands issues. This was firm push back on extreme environmentalism

Introduced legislation requiring the Census Department to include a question on citizenship  in census forms for purposes of apportionment and worked with Vitter on an amendment to restrict funding to the Census Department until the citizenship question is included.

Voted to prohibit funding to ACORN

Net Neutrality – Opposes efforts to regulate, or impose industry-wide rules based upon speculation about what may occur in the future of the Internet. He believes that government regulation will only threaten the innovation that continues to thrive through the internet.

Opposed the fairness doctrine (voted in 2/09)

Opposed the “Medicare Doc Fix” or Medicare Reimbursement bill proposed by the Democrats this year because there was no offset or plan in place on how to pay for it.

Respecting States Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2009

The Guns in National Parks Legislation (passed on cc bill)

Amendment restoring gun rights to DC

He supports a Federal Marriage Amendment to keep marriage between
a man and a woman.

If someone with the record above can’t fit under the tent, maybe it’s time to learn to enjoy the feeling of fresh rain myself. There’s no way my libertarian streak would make the cut, whether I live in Utah, or not. And it’s a potentially disastrous strategic move no matter how you slice it given the serious challenges we already face. I’m strongly backing Bennett out of nothing more than the principle of the thing at this point. There won’t be that many left in the conservative base if these are the types of standards allowed to be employed.

Illinois is looking like it might be interesting territory as regards the Governor’s race, especially given the Blago fiasco. For now, the smart money looks to be on Andy McKenna for more than a few reasons. Jim Ryan wanted a re-match after ducking into academia for a spell after a loss to, tada, Blago. Will Illinois really want to go Ryan – jail – Blago – jail – Ryan? Yeah, I can see those ads, now.

Blagojevich’s arrest on federal corruption charges and subsequent impeachment spurred a flurry of Republican candidacies. The party is looking to return to relevancy after voters reacted to the scandals that eventually sent one-term Republican Gov. George Ryan to federal prison by electing Blagojevich, a Democrat, over Jim Ryan in 2002.

And unfortunately for Jim Ryan, academia hasn’t exactly kept his political skills sharp. He was forced to make an apology that wasn’t, so it seems. Doh! What’s needed is someone who can win Illinois for the Republicans – not someone who wants another bite at the apple, and yet another, as he’s now lost once and screwed up after resurfacing. The reason I said the smart money seems to be on McKenna is because along with being a former GOP Chair, he’s now got the backing of the Republican establishment. And his resume includes significant business experience. That’s the kind of resume that reads jobs. And jobs is going to be what many coming races are all about, including in Illinois. Professors don’t hire people, or even much know how to. Businessmen do.

The worst apologies are those for which you ought to issue another apology.

Jim Ryan, who now is running for governor, has just issued one of those “apologies.”

“In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, prosecutors, police officers and detectives acted in good faith and still came up with the wrong result,” Ryan said Wednesday. “In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, the system and I failed to achieve a just outcome. And for that I am sorry.”

Ryan was referring to DuPage County’s prosecution of Stephen Buckley, Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez for the 1983 murder of Jeanine Nicarico, 10, of Naperville.

The problem with Ryan’s apology is that law officers did not act in good faith. They concocted statements, encouraged witnesses to lie, withheld and misrepresented evidence, used a phony expert witness, let another expert witness espouse a conclusion he knew wasn’t true and engaged in other shenanigans that could be called a lot of things, but not good faith.