Archive for August 2010
Murkowski Concedes
Lisa Murkowski has conceded in Alaska.
Murkowski trailed Miller, a Fairbanks attorney, by 1,668 votes after last week’s primary. Election officials began counting absentee and outstanding ballots Tuesday. Murkowski made slight gains, but was never able to get Miller’s lead below 1,200 votes.
I have not been a fan of Lisa Murkowski since she was appointed to her senate seat by her father – icky. As it happens, her voting record also left something to be desired, and so I’m very pleased to see her go down. Joe Miller is almost certainly the next senator from Alaska.
Many will chalk this up to the so-called “anti-incumbent’ fervor of this year, but I think it’s something different. People are tired of politics as usual which generally seems to mean those who become part of Washington rather than remain one of their constituents. One can be an incumbent and avoid this – John McCain leaps to mind, but we’ll need to see what actually happens in the elections. Still, I can’t help but think that the ‘anti-incumbent’ meme is really about ignoring the losses of those politicians who’ve become to much part of the Beltway club. This year, that’s mostly democrats, but not entirely.
However, in the end, there’s going to be a lot of new blood in Congress, much of it part of the Tea Party, and all of it unbeholden to ‘politics as usual.’
Key question: will Murkowski support Miller in the general election or be a spoiler of some sort?
Barney Frank in Trouble?
Barney Frank. The fattest fat cat in the Massachusetts delegation and one of the fattest in congress as a whole. I once saw him walking down my street and without another soul in sight. Since I’m not a violent person, I restrained myself, but the urge to cross the street and flick his ear was huge.
I’ve heard over the past couple of days that he might be in trouble, and this has amazed me. True, we did elect a Republican to replace Ted Kennedy, and that man – Scott Brown – did very well all over Frank’s district. Still, it’s hard to wrap one’s head around the idea that previously unassailable incumbents might be vulnerable. And if it’s hard for me, imagine if you’re Barney Frank. Not that I have any sympathy here. The only member of the House I’d like to see returned to the private sector more than Barney Frank is Nancy Pelosi. I’m not holding my breath on San Francisco voters, but here in MA, a miracle happened only last January.
As it happens, Sissy Willis has an excellent piece on this very subject so go read what she has to say. And when Barney returns to the private sector, let’s hope he has a taste of what it means to be unemployed. After all, he’s put a lot people out of work during his time in congress.
Update: And the website of the man running against Barney – Sean Bielat. I hope he wins. Indeed, any random pick from the phone book would be a better representative for the people of Massachusetts than Barney Frank.
More here from Michelle Malkin. Live the dream! Barney unemployed!
