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.

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!

Today will be another “Super Tuesday” in eleven states — and this one could be even super-er for one person in particular!

Her name is Nikki Haley, and she’s running in the Republican primary for the governor of South Carolina against three other dudes who all hold powerful spots in the government.

She’s breaking the mold in a few ways… First off, if elected, she’d be just the second Indian-American governor in the United States, a trail blazed first by Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal.

Second, she’d be the first female governor of South Carolina — a “good-ol’-boy” state, as Walter Shapiro at PoliticsDaily.com puts it. She’s got the endorsement of some very high profile ladies to boot, like Sarah Palin and ex-first lady of South Carolina, Jenny Sanford.

But, not to get ahead of ourselves… She’s got to win the primary first, which might not be an easy feat. Breaking the 50% of the vote barrier that would avoid a run-off might be tricky, given the fact that there’s three others in the running.

Also, a couple of conservative talking heads (one a blogger, another a lobbyist) have come forward to claim some salacious relations with state Representative Haley, which she has denied outright.

So, what’s a girl to do when the establishment is trying to bring her down? Marc Ambinder with The Atlantic has a take:

It hasn’t been a very good year for women in American politics. From being cast aside by their own parties, to enduring sexism to wielding lackluster campaigns, a number of women in electoral politics just have watched their chances diminish. [...] But now, one day before the Palmetto Primary, it appears as though Haley will weather the storm…

So, between dealing with a sex scandal or two, running a race against some powerful dudes, and being referred to as a “raghead” by an opponent, Haley is up against a lot. Wrap it up for us, Walter Shapiro:

But if anyone dared to handicap the weirdest South Carolina gubernatorial race in memory, the signs and portents suggest that Nikki Haley is well on her way to becoming the first woman governor of this good-ol’-boy state…

S0, as always, stay tuned to see what’s happening next in this mess of a democrazy Americans call their own! And for a quick and dirty guide to the rest of today’s races, check out Talking Points Memo’s run-down here.

And if you live in any of those states, you better get up off that couch and vote for the candidate that you believe in!!

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.”

So, will these sentiments affect the Republican establishment as much as the Democratic? No, says author Mark Mellman:

To be sure, Republicans are equally unpopular, but the momentum is clearly against the Democrats and, in November, Democrats will surely suffer disproportionate losses.

And there’s still some more harsh words to be said for all incumbents (regardless of party), like from the New York Post’s John Podhoretz:

Yes, voters are expressing dissatisfaction with the status quo. [...] Yes, populists are using their primary votes or special-election votes to stick it to the elites.

None of that gets at the central fact with which all American politicians will be forced to grapple going forward: The era of political stability for incumbents and veteran political players has truly reached its end.

But, it’s not like every incumbent/establishment candidate is going to lose come November, right? Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic notes that

Yes, it stinks to be an incumbent this year, but the truth is 90% of congressional incumbents will probably be reelected.

…mostly because there would probably be a bit of chaos if a bunch of newbie Congresspeople all descended upon Washington at the same time, and voters pretty much get that.

Both the Republican and the Democratic leadership are coming out to say that the election results are telling of the challenges they’ll be facing in the fall, but that they’re confident that their party will hold/take the majority.

The Democrats will be working diligently to push the messages that the economy is on the mend and that the big-spending bills they got through Congress since Obama has taken office (like health care reform and the economic stimulus package) will benefit the country after all. (Should they change their election slogan to “Just you wait and see!”?)

Presenting an interesting analysis of how the results could look good for the Dems, The Daily Beast writer Benjamin Sarlin sounds hopeful when he says,

The left’s showing [in the Kentucky primary] suggests that their organizational strength may be a bigger factor this fall than previously realized. But Tuesday’s vote was just the latest in a series of impressive performances for a movement overshadowed by all the talk of a banner Republican year.

Not everyone agrees that the results favor one party’s prospects over another. Like the New York Times points out, the GOP still has some ammunition for the fall:

As Republicans regrouped, they still had some fundamental forces working in their favor, including a stubbornly high unemployment rate, growing distrust of government and the tendency of the party that controls the White House to lose Congressional seats in midterm elections.

Which is worse? The party incumbents? The Beltway Establishment? The country’s economic woes? Hard to say, but the voters will definitely be bombarded in the upcoming months on all sides as the nation trudges towards what is sure to be a pretty sludgy mid-term election.

Come on! Who’s excited????

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.

First, if you hadn’t heard of this guy until just now, the Washington Post starts it off right – explaining Massa’s appearances on both Glenn Beck’s and Larry King’s shows:

He told Beck that he resigned from the House because he made the mistake of “getting too familiar with my staff” members, but he told King that he left primarily for health reasons.

So, Massa already seems conflicted on why exactly he left his post. But, what he did know was that there was an ethics investigation into some alleged actions from back in the day when he served in the Navy about twenty years ago as well as allegations from some of his more recent staffers about inappropriate conduct.

BUT… What he hadn’t mentioned yet was that there’s yet another reason why he resigned.

Apparently, he claims, the investigation into his activities was just a part of a clever ruse.

From one of the Washington Post’s politics blogs,

Saying that he refused to go “quietly into the evening,” Massa told radio listeners in southern New York on Sunday that he was the victim of a “set-up.” The freshman Democrat has long opposed the health-care bill that his party’s leaders want to see passed — on the basis of it being not liberal enough — and he said Sunday that his ouster would lower the number of “yes” votes that Democrats need.

He went to talk to Glenn Beck at FOX news and cited a situation in which White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel confronted the representative in a gym shower and tried to intimidate him into voting for health care in this video.

Saying that “Rahm Emanuel hates me,” Mr. Massa seemed upset that there could be such a person who would bully another into voting a certain way. (Really?)

Fivethirtyeight.com indicated in this post that

…it’s not unreasonable to conclude that House Democrats and the White House (a) realized Massa could present a political problem for them later; and thus (b) wanted him out as soon as possible.

You can see more video of Massa trying to explain his side of the story from the Associated Press here.

Now, the  investigation has been closed because Massa’s resignation puts him outside the jurisdiction of the House ethics committee.

So, whom is this situation most damaging to? The GOP would like to focus on

Massa’s allegations of being strong-armed by Democratic leaders on health-care reform…

because, well, it looks bad for the Dems.

Politico reports that some Republicans would like to see the investigation continue, but with more emphasis on what House leaders like Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) knew before the story broke.

That same Politico article indicates that Pelosi knew about concerns with Massa’s actions amongst his staffers in October, and that Hoyer had reported the issue to Pelosi in early February.

So — is your head spinning in partisan circles right now? Leave a question, comment, or snide remark and help us sort all of this out!!

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)

Quoted in a TPM article, Obama says:

“Understand what’s at stake here Massachusetts. It’s whether we’re going forward or going backwards,” Obama said during a rally for Coakley as he tried to energize his dispirited base in this Democratic stronghold. “If you were fired up in the last election, I need you more fired up in this election.”

So, what do the polls say? Will Coakley save the agenda? Or will Brown upset 59 senators and countless other health care champions?

Well, a poll reported in the Boston Herald indicates that Brown is leading Coakley 50% to 46%. (Mr. Brown does have a former Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling, on his side.)

Coakley shot back at some of Schilling’s remarks with the ultimate insult, calling him a Yankees fan. Either way, the folks over at poll-heaven FiveThirtyEight.com are still calling it a toss-up.

Some say Martha Coakley is destined to lose. New York Magazine posted a blog entitled “Who’s to Blame for a Candidate Like Coakley?” in which they write,

Even if Martha Coakley manages to win Tuesday’s Massachusetts special election, she’ll come out of the race a loser.

Mother Jones considers what happens if Coakley loses, which would definitely be an unwelcome wake-up call to the Democrats. Losing a blue seat in a blue state on the eve of health care reform would not reflect well upon the party.

Stay tuned and tell us what you think!

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,:

He was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama — a “light-skinned” African American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,” as he said privately.

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.

Steele was pretty adamant about his feelings on the situation, remarking on “Meet the Press”:

whether [Reid] steps down today — or I retire him in November, either way, he will not be the leader in 2011.

It should be noted that Reid did apologize to Obama, who promptly accepted, saying:

I accepted Harry’s apology without question because I’ve known him for years, I’ve seen the passionate leadership he’s shown on issues of social justice and I know what’s in his heart. [...] As far as I am concerned, the book is closed.

Though much of the other things in the book are quite scandalous (Clinton in-fighting, details of the Edwards’ relationship pitfalls, and, well, something not as news-worthy about Palin and McCain and stuff), Reid’s comments are the ones hitting the fan the hardest.  (Aside: to read more visit Politico [writing on "the freak show"] andNew York Magazine [which has a juicy excerpt!].

Other commentators are chiming in, like former Vice President Cheney’s daughter Liz Cheney, criticizing racist comments no matter in private or public:

How is Reid holding up? Well, he won’t be resigning any time soon. Instead, he and his staff are adamant about pointing out the GOP’s attack. As his spokesman Jim Manley put it,

Unlike others who advocate moving our nation backwards, and viewing this moment for political gain, he’s working, today, tomorrow and the next day to move our country forward.

Because Reid will face an election this year, many are wondering if Game Change could live up to its name. What do you think?