Posts Tagged ‘2010 election’
New Year Eve is a time for reflection… and Parties!
When reflecting back on 2011 there was one party that got every one’s attention:
The Tea Party.
Despite their sometimes silly costumes and signs, the ultraconservative Tea Party proved they were serious in 2010.
From Florida to Alaska, Tea Partiers bucked the GOP establishment by making sure their candidates were on the ballots of many of the year’s most watched electoral races. Their new-found political clout garnered media attention all over the country.
The attention wasn’t always positive. In Delaware, Tea-Party-favorite Christine O’Donnell was repeatedly mocked after being forced to announce she wasn’t a witch.
Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul received bad press of his own when he made provocative comments about civil rights. Eyebrows were raised when some of his supporters physically attacked a liberal activist.
In the end, the group had highs and lows like any political movement. While they might be credited with putting Republicans into the leadership of the US House of Representatives, they failed to help them take control of the Senate.
So, the question is: Who will be invited to the Party next year?
Last week, USDemocrazy kicked off its seminal 2010 election for BEST CAMPAIGN AD (of the year) EVER. This week, we’ve got entry number two for you, brought to our attention thanks to The Washington Post.
In the ad you see above, things get a little theatrical, with Nancy Pelosi portrayed not so kindly as the Wicked Witch of the West from a beloved film, “The Wizard of Oz.”
Spolier alert: John Dennis, challenging Madame Speaker Pelosi for her California congressional seat (who’s got as much of a chance in this race as the lion has courage… pre-Wizard visit). He defeats Pelosi in the ad by throwing on her a nice cold bucket of water that’s labeled “Freedom.”
Do you get it?
Did you like it? Did you think it was silly? It was probably meant to be silly.
Such are the words spoken by the first contender in USDemocrazy’s seminal 2010 election for BEST CAMPAIGN AD (of the year) EVER.
This week’s ad comes to us from a contender against Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont in the Democratic primary. Daniel Freilich makes a couple promises in this ad, but forgot to promise that if he got enough votes, TV viewers in Vermont would get more campaign gems like these. Check it out:
If the premise of the commercial seems familiar, it might be because you’ve seen those Old Spice ads that were such a hit on the Internet this summer. Nothing like basing your campaign strategy on deodorant marketing!
Now, we need your help in gauging public opinion on the greatness of the ads you’ll be seeing as the election season progresses. Comment away! (And don’t let the fact that Freilich only gained 11% of the vote in the August 24 primary sway you.)
All right, y’all… time for another installment of the politicraziness that is the 2010 election: “I Am Woman” edition!
My awesome fist pump is just one more thing that makes me relatable to the public. (Rand Paul after his primary victory in Kentucky.) (Courtesy of the NYT.)
“Ugh… Why is it always an election year??” Yeah, we hear your groaning. We’ve been groaning a lot too, but that might be all the caffeine talking.
Now come on, you know you’re interested: What happened in the “2010 Super Tuesday” election?… the one that involved voting in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Arkansas that other day? Kind of a lot, so you should probably keep reading.
The attention-worthy outcomes in these three primaries include:
- Rand Paul, son of Ron, a Tea Party kind of dude, won a Republican nomination for Senate in Kentucky
- Mark Critz won an important district handily in Pennsylvania against a Tea Party kind of dude, stepping into the late Rep. John Murtha’s shoes
- Blanche Lincoln, a Democratic Senator from Arkansas, was forced into a party run-off
- Joe Sestak beat out incumbent Democratic (and former Republican) Senator Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania
OK, that might just sound like a bunch of names. But it gets simpler from here on out.
The Hill (not to be confused with “The Hills“) breaks down the election results into four “anti-” categories to help decode them: “anti-politics, anti-incumbent, anti-establishment, anti-Democratic.” …read more.
When you thought you’d heard it all when it came to politicians and their favorite pastimes (getting involved in scandals), along came Eric Massa and his tickle fights.
While we at USDemocrazy have explored the Democrats’ problems before and have an understanding of scandals (blogging about them, not participating), the big one that broke this week about former New York Democratic Representative Eric Massa has so many facets, we just couldn’t resist dissecting it today. …read more.
Courtesy SCOTUS website.
Unsurprisingly, some people (like Democrat Alan Grayson) don’t like the Supreme Court’s recent finance decision. Raise your hand if you can guess why!
Too big to fail? Not the Dems. Another retirement for the party is at hand!
The divisive bill gets, well, more divisive. The House of Representatives doesn’t trust its mates!
Haitian Coat of Arms- Courtesy of WikiCommons
Boots on the Ground (earthquake-ravaged ground)… US troops arrive at Haiti National Palace to provide aid.
Political Junkies Rejoice… The Massachusetts election is a nail-biter.
This stuff happens in real life!?
A driver whose SUV plunged into a Northern California creek … escaped the sinking vehicle by blasting out the window with a handgun.
Scott Brown (left) annd Martha Coakley
This coming Tuesday is an important day for USDemocrazy. We’re going to see Avatar for the sixteenth time!
But apparently it’s also a big day for blue people that have nothing to do with James Cameron: the Democrats.
Tuesday there will be an election for a Massachusetts Senate seat occupied by the late Ted Kennedy. This election is tightly tied to health care reform, an issue Mr. Kennedy was very passionate about.
Here’s the contenders: Democrat Martha Coakley vs. Republican Scott Brown. And it’s going to be a close one, folks.
Why is this a big election for health care reform? Says the Wall Street Journal:
If Brown wins, ObamaCare dies. He would be the 41st vote to prevent any compromise legislation from coming to the floor of the Senate.
And if ObamaCare dies, then Mr. Obama himself won’t look so great. Hence why he has been right there with Coakley, campaigning hard for a Democrat to keep the seat. (check out above video that doesn’t include hecklers) …read more.
Now that you’ve grown to appreciate USDemocrazy’s thoughtful and insightful predictions for 2010 (what, you don’t agree?!), we hope you’re looking forward to the elections coming up this year.
All of the recent banter over health care and President Obama’s performance in office is raising a question… which party will be victorious in 2010?
Some such people spoke out on The McLaughlin Group on Sunday. ’Political oblivion’ is discussed in no uncertain terms in the video above.
You can find what the panelists thought on other topics of yearly importance, including the most original thinker and the worst politician of 2009, here.
The McLaughlin Group, for those of you not always tuned into PBS (we saw it while waiting for Sesame Street to come on this week) is a public affairs round-table show with big-mouthed panelists and some fun debates. Not everyone is enthralled with their styling of arguing debating, as shown in this video below:
11
‘Game Change’: A game-changer?
by ForeverPlaid
News
From Politico
We here at USDemocrazy know what it’s like to say stupid things. Fortunately for us, we can always rely on our elected representatives in Washington to outshine us in the “stupid” department.
This week’s foot-in-mouth champion is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.(Thanks for helping us out, Harry!)
Reid’s blatantly bad blooper comes from a book set to come out this week, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.
Here’s his quote, provided by the Atlantic,:
This isn’t even the first “oh darnit” moment Reid has had, but the GOP’s Michael Steele is taking advantage of the situation to call upon Reid to resign. …read more.