It’s looking more and more like both parties are heading toward a test-case showdown in November that neither side particularly wants. Begin with the near-universally conceded premise that November is going to be a very bad month for Dems — dispirit and poor motivation on the Democratic side, matched with intense motivation on the Republican side. And, even if the motivation factor is removed from the equation, public opinion is just in a very different place than it was in the Fall of 2008. Republicans seem intent in every case on putting to the test just how good an environment this is going to be. Is it going to be so good that candidates who in virtually any other cycle would be unelectable can still get elected this year?
We all know about the Nevada Senate race, where the scrappy but now-deeply unpopular Harry Reid has managed to slip back into a super narrow lead against Sharron Angle, the totally whacked-out right-wing candidate who managed to win the GOP primary after the party-groomed candidate Sue Lowden magnificiently self-destructed after digging in on her off-hand endorsement of bartering livestock for health care.
Last night provided more of the same.
A few weeks ago in Colorado, the party favorite, former Rep. Scott McInnis, imploded over plagiarism allegations. Then former Rep. Tom Tancredo got into the race as a third-party hard-right candidate, all but assuring the Dems the election of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. If that wasn’t enough, last night McInnis didn’t even win the nomination of the GOP. He was beat in an upset or late surge by Dan Maes, who is in the argot of the moment, the Sharron Angle in the race.
To give you a taste, he’s mostly been in the news over the last week for saying that the Democrats’ plan to create more bike paths is part of a UN plot.
On the Senate side in Colorado, pretty much the same story. Party-backed Jane Norton lost to the Tea Partyish Ken Buck, who again, is more or less the Angle in the race, though not quite as far out there perhaps as Angle or Maes.
In the other races around the country, the results were more expected. The only thing Democrats were concerned about in Connecticut was that they wanted to be sure Linda McMahon didn’t get tripped up at the last minute by Rob Simmons coming back into the race. Not a problem. She won. She’ll face off against Richard Blumenthal.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like the Democrats are sitting pretty. Far from it. Even if Republican gooses are cooked in the Colorado governor’s race most of these others remain real contests. And remember, even with all her craziness, Sharron Angle is still only a couple points behind Harry Reid, a longtime incumbent who’s struggled in get much over 40% in any public poll. But again and again, the collective wisdom of Republican voters, has been to put the pro-Republican climate to the test. Just how good a climate for Republicans is it?
