arlen spector: will "mr single bullet" take one tonight?

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and will anita hill and robert bork join lee harvey from beyond this mortal coil in a great big cosmic laugh?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Is PN an open primary? If so, are Democrats going to turn out in droves to vote for the wackjob?

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:03 (twenty-two years ago)

the only thing is, the wackjob MIGHT BE THE NEXT SENATOR. PA is the state of senator man-on-dog-sex, after all.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

U.S. Senate 66% reporting
Arlen Specter 61%
Pat Toomey 39%

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

game over

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Aww I was hoping that wackjob would win. Anything that potentially alienates more independent/mainstream voters from the Republican party is okay by me.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean the primary obv. I would never want to see wackjob as senator.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:06 (twenty-two years ago)

he'd make mr. man-on-dog-sex seem SANE in comparison!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:06 (twenty-two years ago)

(xpost)
But surely the wackjob puts the seat in play, where Specter has a good shot of keeping it?

Vote for the greater evil to give the lesser evil a fighting chance, but then you might end up with the greater evil. Or vote for the middling evil, eliminate the greater evil and limit the chances of the lesser evil. That's some fucked up election calculus.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Specter won because he's got seniority and he brings home the bacon. Toomey winning would have put the seat in play, yes--and some of the more pragmatic Republicans (Nordquist, Cheney) were afraid of that, which is why Toomey got the cold shoulder from all but the superwacko Right. (W endorsed Spector).

But with Santorum already in and Toomey even getting 40%, my home state freaks me out. Soon they'll be saying of Alabama: Muscle Shoals at one end, Mobile at the other and Pennsylvania in between

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:15 (twenty-two years ago)

"my home state freaks me out"

This whole fucking country freaks me out.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:18 (twenty-two years ago)

It's gotten to the point where I can't even get freaked out, I just have to laugh (to keep from crying, etc.).

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Amen.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:21 (twenty-two years ago)

It's getting harder and harder to laugh as I become more and more terrified.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Some perspective - the turnout today is about 15% of the total vote in the 1998 Pennsylvania general Senatorial election that elected Specter to his current term, and about 25% of the total vote for Specter in that election.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:28 (twenty-two years ago)

the total turnout (well, Specter+Toomey) is also about 100,000 fewer than the turnout in the Republican primary that year (which had 3 candidates, and was won handily by Specter). why is that significant? Because Bush/Cheney 2004 were using Specter's race as a test for their get out the vote efforts in November.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

If Bush/Cheney can reasonably win Pennsylvania humanity has already lost.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:32 (twenty-two years ago)

PA will remain blue ... you can count on it. ed rendell and john street won't let the country down on this one.

i'm more concerned about ohio, personally.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

game over

"258.65% of the statewide voting districts currently reporting"?!?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 02:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"258.65% of the statewide voting districts currently reporting"?!?

Diebold Corp. came through for Bush this time.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 02:59 (twenty-two years ago)

"It's gotten to the point where I can't even get freaked out, I just have to laugh (to keep from crying, etc.)."

i pray to god i can someday reach this state of zen. i think.

i don't even know who arlen spector is and i don't think i'm going to bother finding out precisely because i haven't yet.

― John (jdahlem), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 03:14 (twenty-two years ago)

It veers closer to what DB's talking about than any kind of zen.

As modern Republicans go, Specter isn't nearly as bad as he could be.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 03:18 (twenty-two years ago)

plus for arlen: he gave hell to robert bork (and, for payback, mr. bork stumped for toomey); his record on labor issues and civil rights is respectable; he voted against impeaching clinton; pre-Reagan, was a classic PA/northeast rockefeller republican.

minus for arlen: he gave hell to anita hill (will she stump for joe hoeffel?); likudnik views wr2 the middle east; from reagan onwards, has become MUCH more conservative than he originally was; INFAMOUS for being abusive and crotchedy towards his staff.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 03:25 (twenty-two years ago)

actually, my turnout comments above are totally wrong, because i'm a moron and took the % precincts reporting as % of vote counted. i'm doing really well these days. in fact, the vote today was almost double that in 98, which may be a very good result for the GOTV operation (or it may just be a reflection of the fact that it was a serious contest today, and wasn't last time). for measuring the orientation of the voters, however, Toomey's showing doesn't say much - his share of the vote today is less than 30% of Specter's total in the general in 98 (and less than 25% of Bush's total in 2000).

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 03:41 (twenty-two years ago)

and i think i'll go with the contest over the GOTV operation on turnout - if you're measuring GOTV by Specter's performance alone (which, supposedly, was where they were testing it), they got an extra 30% over the 98 primary, which isn't saying much

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

(Conspiracy Time)

Maybe the White House political operation set up this whole election as a test, a sort of A-Team/B-Team operation in an important Dem-leaning swing state. On one side, they had their wingnuts put up and clamor for a guy who plays to the base in no uncertain terms. On the other side, they pushed a long-term but weak incumbent with the full force of their GOTV operation but little vocal support. Which side won might indicate what to emphasize in the fall.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 03:59 (twenty-two years ago)

clearly the operative word is operation

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 04:01 (twenty-two years ago)

He's described as a moderate Republican. What's a "moderate Republican" these days?

(I guess Eisbar has already explained above.)

Eisbar (Icebar?), I am feeling less certain about PA not voting for Bush. It's a big state, and it's not all Philadelphia.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 28 April 2004 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

the polls have them at parity, given the margin of error. but polls don't measure turnout. and they also usually measure likely as opposed to registered voters, which in recent times undercounts democrats. Bush has a chance of taking PA; I'm not sure that OH is more worrisome. but i still give the edge to Kerry in all likelihood.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

From today's Note...

"In yesterday's Note, we incorrectly wrote that the Republican National Committee was testing part of its turnout operation on behalf of Sen. Arlen Specter. We regret the error."

So maybe I'm wrong about this turnout thing. I wonder. however, if that message would have appeared today if Specter had won handily last night.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I never thought I'd be glad for Arlen Specter winning anything.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

history repeats

― LOLBJ (Eisbaer), Saturday, 7 March 2009 05:33 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

HE'S OUTTA THERE!

― a more happy, spress-free life (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Wednesday, 19 May 2010 05:55 (sixteen years ago)

arLOL spector

― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Wednesday, 19 May 2010 23:04 (sixteen years ago)

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