How Come Only 4 of the 62 Fighting Dems Won?

[diva77]

I haven't looked at the data. Just heard this on Amy Goodman (I think in the Renaud doc). Seems that some of the races were extremely close (close enough to swing with a machine). Has anyone looked at this? Maybe I missed an old thread on it? hmmmm:shrug:

[Lexingtonian]

1. A lot of them were in pretty hopeless districts

where there wasn't much money or Democratic organization, and -to be fair- most of those districts would not reelect a proper Democrat even if one were lucky enough to win. Many of them were running as protest candidates and on otherwise pretty Blue Dog-ish political lines- many were Republicans only partially regenerate, and many of them were running a first campaign with all the bungling and inconsistency that entails. They were people who were de-conservatizing a bit ahead of average swing voters, but most of them were only at the politically neutralized i.e. compromise based stage of that shift rather than being able to peg themselves at center-Left proper (which was necessary for success this election).

I thought they were overhyped as a group. Being a former US military person doesn't mean anything virtuous in general or in particular in today's political arena. There's a funny way most Democrats, though supposedly more skeptical of rank and birth in general, are more pious and romantic about the virtue of men in uniform than Republicans are. Republicans know that uniforms and public service have only sentimental connection these days- after all, they've run the show for long enough to be certain of it.

[diva77]

3. I don't think it's possible to draw conclusions without taking into account

election fraud. There were several extremely close races within the margin for machines to be able to manipulate the outcome -

[philb]

2. I started 2 threads on over 20 very close Congresssional districts that Dems lost narrowly when

it looked like many should have won. There were a lot of irregularities and dirty tricks involved in most of these races,
and its looks like several of the Dems actually won, but had their opponent declared the winner due to manipulation, etc.

Some had disappearing votes and high undervotes as much as the Sarasota Florida race. Most of these were reasonably strong candidates, some of whom were somewhat less well funded as their opposition, but given the degree of irregularities its not clear who really would have won a lot of these races in a fair count.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=461171&mesg_id=461171

[diva77]

4. thanks, phil. With a quick glance, I caught at least 2 fighting Dems on

your list:

Jack Davis -- NY
Tammy Duckworth -- IL

Were any of the rest included with your research?


? Woodrow Anderson III, AR-03. Primary winner.
? Ted Ankrum, TX-10. Primary winner.
? Dick Auman, IL-16. Primary winner.
? Phil Avillo, PA-19. Primary winner.
? Lee Ballenger, SC-03 <1>
? Rick Bolanos, TX-23. Primary winner.
? Bob Bowman, FL-15. Primary winner.
? Jim Brandt, CA-46. Primary winner.
? Charles Brown, CA-04. Primary winner.
? Dave Bruderly, FL-06 Primary winner.
? Duane Burghard MO-09. Primary winner.
? Chris Carney, PA-10. Unopposed Primary
? Jack Chagnon, FL-07. <2>. Primary winner.
? John Courage, TX-21. Primary winner. <3><4>
? Dan Dodd, TX-03. Primary winner.
? Andrew Duck, MD-06. Primary winner.
? Bill Durston, CA-03. Primary winner.
? Jay Fawcett, CO-05. Primary winner.
? William Griffith, SC-04. Primary winner.
? David Harris, TX-06. Primary winner.
? Tom Hayhurst, IN-03. Primary winner.
? Doctor Robert J. Johnson, NY-23 Unopposed Primary
? John Laesch, IL-14. Primary winner.
? Jim Marcinkowski, MI-08. Primary winner.
? Eric Massa, NY-29 Unopposed Primary
? Patrick Murphy, PA-08. Primary winner.
? Jim Nelson, GA-01. Primary winner.
? Dave Patlak, FL-18th. <6>. Primary winner.
? John Rinaldi, CA-52. Primary winner.
? Joe Roberts, FL-1 <7>. Primary winner.<8>
? Doctor Arjinderpal Sekhon CA-02. Primary winner.<9>
? Joe Sestak, PA-07. Primary winner.
? Rich Sexton, NJ-03. Primary winner.
? Bob Shamansky, OH-12. Primary winner.
? Richard Siferd, OH-04. Primary winner.
? Dennis Spivack, DE-01. Primary winner.
? Charlie Thompson, TX-05. Primary winner.
? Tim Walz, MN-01 Unopposed Primary
? Steve Waterworth IL-18. Primary winner.
? Roger Waun, TX-13. Primary winner.
? Mike Weaver, KY-02. Primary winner.
? Craig Weber, NC-03. Primary winner.
? George D. Weber (MO-02) website. Primary winner.
? Al Weed, VA-05 See: Virginia U.S. House election, 2006
? Bill Winter, CO-06. Primary winner.

[philb]

5. I'm familiar with some of them.

A lot of the Florida races,even the close ones were undefunded. The Dem party didn't give most of the Florida Dem candidates any support- guess they were short money and did a triage. Concentrated on about 4 of 15, 2 of which they won. Stange since there are as many Dems as Repubs in Florida, and a lot of Independents as well. I think they could have easily done better, with a little more effort. The Dem party in Florida is poorly organized in most parts of the state. Some of the Dems in Florida were in what has been solid Repub areas in past where the Dem party had basically given up and werent' organized there. But some of them like Joe Roberts in Pennsacola and Jack Chagnon on the NE Florida coast ran a strong campaign and did well under the circumstances.

But Robert Bowman was an extremely well qualified candidate as were some of the others who came close in Florida.
They are still doing some audits in the Bowman area I think. They found some irregularities but I'm not sure how much.
I'm surprised Clint Curtis isn't on this list- I'm not sure the criterion for being on this list.

There were also a lot of irregularities in the Woodrow Anderson race in Arkansas. I think I posted about that somewhere. The election was a huge mess in Arkansas. www.flcv.com/arkansa6.html

Likewise in the Brown California race I think I posted something about.
www.flcv.com/califor6.html

[FogerRox]

6. Plus VFWPAC spent money against most VETS.