Thread: Republican Wins Bellwether Election in Florida - thus begins midterm panic of 2014

BREAKING: Republican Wins Bellwether Special Election in Florida

Guy Benson | Mar 11, 2014



And thus begins the midterm panic of '14:

The Associated Press ✔ @AP
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BREAKING: Republican David Jolly wins Fla. congressional special election in test race over health care.
7:48 PM - 11 Mar 2014

This seat was previously held by a long-serving Republican, but Barack Obama carried it twice, the Republican nominee was far from flawless, and the Democratic nominee enjoyed a wide name ID advantage from her gubernatorial run. Many experts saw this race as Alex Sink's to lose. She ran on a "fix, don't repeal, Obamacare" platform. She lost. Break out the tea leaves:

Dave Wasserman @Redistrict
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Looks like Jolly's night. If Dems couldn't win an Obama CD with a solid candidate against a flawed R, expect a rough November.
7:22 PM - 11 Mar 2014


Chuck Todd ✔ @chucktodd
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It's way GOP held FL13 that is so troublesome for Dems. Flawed underfunded cand wins, propped up by outside money aimed at health care
7:50 PM - 11 Mar 2014


Josh Kraushaar @HotlineJosh
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Tale of the tape: Dems outspent Republicans in #FL13, and had clear field for their candidate. O won 50%, Sink 46% http://www.nationaljournal.com/hotline-on-call/republican-wins-bellwether-florida-special-election-20140311 …
8:07 PM - 11 Mar 2014


Josh Kraushaar @HotlineJosh
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Tale of the tape: Dems outspent Republicans in #FL13, and had clear field for their candidate. O won 50%, Sink 46% http://www.nationaljournal.com/hotline-on-call/republican-wins-bellwether-florida-special-election-20140311 …
8:07 PM - 11 Mar 2014

Republican Wins Bellwether Florida Special Election

Lobbyist David Jolly wins a closely-contested race, fueled by his opposition to the president's health care law.


Larry Sabato @LarrySabato
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Yes, FL-13 will be over-interpreted like most specials, but tonite Rs have to feel pretty good about picking UP seats in Nov.
8:01 PM - 11 Mar 2014


ABC News' Rick Klein spelled out the stakes of this races earlier today. Democratsare spinning this loss, but the can't escape certain realities:

Tonight, it’s the Democrats with all the expectations to meet. That’s because they have more questions to answer this year, about their ability to message around Obamacare and Social Security, and make the case against Republicans in a district with divided tendencies. Democrats won’t have candidates as seasoned or well-funded as Alex Sink everywhere. And they know privately at least that they’re looking at a dismal 2014 if they can’t win districts like this one.

Polls showed a tight race with Sinkleading Jolly by two points. Jolly took the race by two points, riding a double-digit election day wave that overcameSink's modest early voting edge. This race was a referendum on Obamacare. In an Obama district. In a swing state. With a well-funded, seasoned Democratic candidate. Political handicapper Stu Rothenberg called it a "must win" for Democrats. And now we have Congressman David Jolly (R-FL). Yes, special elections can be sui generis in nature, and Democrats won a contested special in 2010 before getting swamped a few months later. But for Democrats, this result cannot be ignored. I'll leave you with one of the ads that ran against sink over the last few weeks:



UPDATE - Oh, Debbie:

Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor
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Bless your heart. MT @DWStweets: The GOP underperformed tonight in the #FL13 - a district they've held for decades.
8:46 PM - 11 Mar 2014



http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2014/03/11/boom-republican-wins-bellwether-special-election-in-florida-n1807582?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm _campaign=nl_pm

Your Welcome America

http://www.alipac.us/f9/say-aint-so-...ats-th-298209/

http://www.alipac.us/f9/pollster-sch...1/#post1399663

DAVID JOLLY’S NEXT PROBLEM: BOEHNER AND MCCONNELL

Now let us praise the conservative groups.
By Jeffrey Lord – 3.13.14


UPI


So David Jolly wins the House special election in Florida this week by defeating a Democrat who pledged to fix Obamacare, not repeal it. But there’s more.

Jolly won the GOP congressional nomination in the first place by defeating State Representative Kathleen Peters in the GOP primary.

And what was Peters promising? Said Peters:“I do not think that we should take a stand and say absolutely repeal it. Not unless we have a plan and a proposal to replace it.”

Peters lost, Jolly won. Democrat Alex Sink made the same pledge as Peters. Jolly won again.

And what is John Boehner’s GOP House set to do?

They’re going to fix Obamacare.

Yes, you read that right. Reports Politico’s Jennifer Haberkorn (hat tip Taegan Goddard here), bold print supplied: GOP Now Trying to Fix Obamacare Instead of Repeal

http://spectator.org/articles/58079/...-and-mcconnell

bttt

http://www.alipac.us/f9/gallup-presi...stress-299272/

Tea Party Scores A Win In Nebraska Senate GOP Primary

May 14, 2014 by Personal Liberty News Desk

WASHINGTON (MCT) — The Tea Party scored a victory over the Republican establishment Tuesday, with Nebraska voters choosing conservative Ben Sasse as the party’s U.S. Senate nominee.
As is happening in Republican primaries across the country, however, the difference between Tea Party and establishment has blurred.
The Tea Party-aligned Sasse, the Harvard-educated president of Midland University, is a former George W. Bush Administration official and corporate consultant. The youthful dad of three swept several other candidates after an outpouring of Tea Party support that included campaign stops by Sarah Palin and hard-line GOP Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
The Nebraska seat came open with the retirement of Republican Senator Mike Johanns and is expected to remain in GOP hands, all but ensuring that Sasse will become the State’s Junior Senator.
In Washington, Senate Republican campaign Chairman Jerry Moran welcomed Sasse’s win, emphasizing his record as “problem solver,” rather than as a hard-right conservative.
Shane Osborn, a former Navy pilot who became Nebraska’s State Treasurer, had been a conservative favorite. But he was sidelined as Tea Party groups coalesced around Sasse. Also losing was Sid Dinsdale, a third-generation banker endorsed by the Omaha World Herald as the candidate most Nebraskans would be “comfortable with.”
Outside groups poured $3 million into the Nebraska race, most of it to prop up Sasse and oppose the other two main candidates as Republicans battled Republicans, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
The GOP has a good chance of winning the six seats needed to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats this November, but first it must pick its candidates amid the continued party divide.
A primary was also held Tuesday in West Virginia, where Shelley Moore Capito, a seven-term Republican Congresswoman, easily won the GOP Senate nomination. She is favored in November against Democrat Natalie Tennant, the Secretary of State.
The West Virginia seat came open with the retirement of longtime Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat. But the Mountain State has drifted away from Democrats since Rockefeller’s election 30 years ago; it is expected to tilt to the GOP in November.
–Lisa Mascaro
Tribune Washington Bureau
___
(c)2014 Tribune Co.
Visit Tribune Co. at www.latimes.com.
Distributed by MCT Information Services.


http://personalliberty.com/tea-party...e-gop-primary/