Democrats deserve the loss. From the beginning of this Congress (and this Presidential term) they've consistently sought out the most cowardly ways to accomplish the least anyone could possibly hope for given their numerical advantages and electoral mandate going in. They suck. It's tragic that real people suffer because Democrats suck but what can we say? This is the way of things.
David Vitter defeats Charlie Melancon. For some unknown reason, NOLA.com has labeled this a "remarkable comeback". Please, someone remind me when the Vitter campaign was hopelessly down in the polls during this election. At what point did anyone think that Melancon, or anyone like him, had any shot at unseating Vitter? Sure, the soon-to-be-second-term junior Senator has had to endure a prolonged media circus over his colorful and hypocritical escapades in the sex trade. But those "serious sins" never seriously threatened his political career. Not even for a moment. Not even in July 2007, as the Wendy Cortez story was breaking, did Vitter look beatable. Please indulge me as I quote my own observations from this YRHT thread posted on 7/24/2007 (I've combined three separate comments minus a few lines that only make sense in the context of the conversation)
Vitter's not leaving. He's not really all that damaged politically.
I'm not kidding. He doesn't have many friends in state politics.. not even among Republicans. But that just means he's hard-headed enough to resist the pressure to resign. If he hangs on, he'll be strong enough again by 2010 to be reelected.... particularly if a Democrat wins the Presidential race in 2008.
I think David Vitter is very much in line with the current political zeitgeist of stubborn denial of responsibility. Regardless of facts, he won't back down. Like Nagin, like Jefferson, like Bush, like Gonzales and.. you name it, Vitter will continue to lie and lie and blame his "enemies" as long as necessary.
Once reelection time comes around, the issue will be that GOP held seat of his and an opportunity for a more staunchly Republican Louisiana than ever to defy whatever weak-ass Democrat is sitting in the White House.
I know. Uncanny prescience, right? Remember, though, I am not a witch. I am you.
The 2nd Congressional District lived up to its dismal reputation this year presenting voters with yet another election between two despicable phonies and the horrible horrible establishment political types backing their campaigns. This campaign also became a proxy war of sorts between local muckraking blogger Dambala and professional political reporters at the Times Picayune and Gambit who appear to have intentionally misrepresented his allegations against Cedric Richmond in order to discredit them. I know that's a strong statement for me to make without intending to go too far into detail right now. But please read this post where Dambala responds to some of what appeared in the T-P last month. Note the constant focus from the pro reporters on the Rolex question (which they get wrong anyway) instead of on the larger issue of the "Con-Profit" story Dambala was and is still developing. Note also a similar fixation on the Rolex from Clancy Dubos in a Gambit column about this race written shortly afterward. I think these journalists are doing this on purpose partially to snipe at the amateur media and partially because it's just in their nature to protect the political establishment. Both the Gambit and the T-P went out of their way to pair and conflate Dambala's work with the paid political hackery of the Cao campaign's own internet rumor mongering although those two things are clearly not related and easily distinguished from one another.
Richmond's win isn't an easy thing to get excited about but it at least means that voters in the 2nd District know their Representative's vote will be more likely to reflect their actual interests during the next Congress. This stands in contrast to the situation with the outgoing Congressman who repeatedly insulted his constituents by voting against the (admittedly weak) health care reform act and the Lilly Ledbetter Act to name a couple. We know that Stacy Head and Erroll Williams presented a further insult to 2nd District voters by asking them to continue to forfeit their Congressional representation in order to satisfy Ms Head's and Mr. Williams' vanity and/or warped priorities. Cedric Richmond may be an asshole but, if you're a Democrat and you supported Joseph Cao, you're a bigger asshole. And the scene of perpetual feud between assholes and bigger assholes about sums up things in this district.
Jay Dardenne is going to be the Lieutenant Governor. I didn't vote for him, but I'm kind of excited about it anyway because I can't help but feel a little good about seeing a political heiress Junior Leaguer waste of space like Caroline Fayard get crushed. Also Dardenne is among Dambala's next targets which should make for an interesting next few years.
Anyway, it's 2:00 now and I'm packing it in. If you're having trouble sleeping maybe you can try counting (or possibly recounting) the Colorado votes until you nod off.
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