Thread: Tight Massachusetts race alarms California Dems

Boy! LOOK at the lies Pelosi is telling, and Newsom is trying to cover his butt too.


Tight Massachusetts race alarms California Dems
Carla Marinucci,Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Political Writers
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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The possible loss of a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts has Democrats on edge 3,000 miles away in California, where party activists fear a GOP upset today could trigger a conservative wave and swamp health care reform and the 2010 midterm elections.


"Regardless of the outcome ... this should be a gigantic wake-up call to the Democratic Party - that we're not connecting with the needs, the aspirations and the desires of real people right now," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

With Republican Scott Brown poised to defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts race to succeed the late Edward Kennedy, Democrats at the annual Martin Luther King community breakfast in San Francisco were buzzing about the impacts of such an upset: an end to the party's 60-vote supermajority and a possible mortal blow to the health care legislation championed by President Obama.


Ripple effects

But Democrats also considered the ripple effects on coming elections in the nation's most populous state.

"We better get our act together - and quickly," Newsom said. Voters "are so angry. They don't feel that we're paying attention to their needs, in terms of their jobs, and what's going on at the grassroots, in their neighborhoods."

With just 10 months until the 2010 midterm election, the mayor's remarks underscore how the Brown-Coakley race has set off alarms in Democratic-leaning California, which is holding two high-profile elections this cycle.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, a three-term Democrat, faces a re-election challenge - with three Republicans vying to defeat her: former Rep. Tom Campbell, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine.

Boxer polled no more than 46 percent of the vote against any of the three in a Rasmussen Poll released Friday.

And with GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger termed out, former two-term Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown will face one of two wealthy GOP challengers: former eBay CEO Meg Whitman or state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

Worse than a canary

For Boxer, a favorite Republican target, a GOP win in Massachusetts would be a particularly dark sign representing "not just the canary in the coal mine," said Wade Randlett, a leading Silicon Valley fundraiser for Obama. "It's the flock of dead ravens landing on the lawn."

But Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking to reporters Monday, expressed confidence in Boxer - and in Democrats' prospects in California. She insisted that - whatever the outcome - the results today will in no way represent a repudiation of the Obama administration, especially on the matter of health care reform.

"Certainly the dynamics will change depending on what happens in Massachusetts," she said. "But it doesn't mean we won't have a health care bill."

Still, "if Brown wins, then Tea Party supporters will smell blood in California," said Joe Wierzbicki, coordinator of the Tea Party Express, a conservative organization that counts roughly a quarter of its 353,000 supporters in California.

"This would be a sign that the momentum in general is in the direction of the Tea Party movement," he said.


Key differences

There are, however, key differences in party demographics in the two states. While Massachusetts Democrats hold a 3-to-1 registration lead over Republicans, more than half of that state's voters are registered independent.

In California, 45 percent of registered voters are Democrats, 31 percent Republicans, and 20 percent decline to state.

Boxer, unlike Coakley, has run three Senate races - and her office said Monday that she had raised more money than ever in the fundraising period that ended in December. (The figures are to be released today.)

"What happens in Massachusetts in January doesn't predict what is going to happen in California in November," said Boxer campaign manager Rose Kapolczynski. "We're taking nothing for granted."

But "if Brown manages to win, I certainly think that will encourage the supporters" of DeVore, the more conservative GOP Senate candidate, Kapolczynski said. "If the national Tea Party movement engaged ... that could dramatically change the Republican primary."

Going forward, Pelosi said Democrats will continue to pound "Main Street" issues, while Republicans will continue to represent the insurance companies, the wealthy and Wall Street.

American voters will be reminded "the Republicans in Congress ... weren't for Social Security, they weren't for Medicare," she said.

But Newsom said the Republican resurgence in Massachusetts suggests "there's real intensity and fervor out there, as represented by the Tea Party" activists expressing anger at government spending and at job losses.

"This is real," he said. "At our own peril, we dismiss these tea parties as ... some sort of isolated extremism. ... It's not."

State of Union

The White House announced that President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. PST.

The speech to the joint session of Congress is customarily carried by all the major broadcast and cable news networks and will be streamed on the White House Web site: www.whitehouse.gov.

E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com and Joe Garofoli at jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MNU81BJRM1.DTL

But Newsom said the Republican resurgence in Massachusetts suggests "there's real intensity and fervor out there, as represented by the Tea Party" activists expressing anger at government spending and at job losses.

"This is real," he said. "At our own peril, we dismiss these tea parties as ... some sort of isolated extremism. ... It's not."



Newsome might be trying to cover his butt but at least he speaks the truth in this instance.

Pelosi, on the other hand, is just her usual smirking, arrogant self. And it's going to cost her....and her party.....in a big way.

Originally Posted by azwreath

[b]Newsome might be trying to cover his butt but at least he speaks the truth in this instance.

Pelosi, on the other hand, is just her usual smirking, arrogant self. And it's going to cost her....and her party.....in a big way.

Man, I hope so!

The American people are waking up and coming after any and all political machines that ignore our voices!

They sit in the lap of luxury while we lose jobs to economy,the overseas market,and illegal aliens and thousands of work visa holders from overseas.......

AND THEY DO NOTHING ABOUT IT!

This says it all..................

"Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking to reporters Monday, expressed confidence in Boxer - and in Democrats' prospects in California. She insisted that - whatever the outcome - the results today will in no way represent a repudiation of the Obama administration, especially on the matter of health care reform."

This woman does NOT GET IT! She is making me very happy saying this stuff.
It will KILL the Liberals chances to screw the US over ANYMORE!

Originally Posted by uniteasone

They sit in the lap of luxury while we lose jobs to economy,the overseas market,and illegal aliens and thousands of work visa holders from overseas.......

AND THEY DO NOTHING ABOUT IT!

Uniteasone,

That's what they are supposed to do. They are just following the orders of their masters in the CFR, Trilateral Comission, and the Bilderberg Group, and any other elite "club" that is out there. To think about it, from 1992 to 2008, we had nothing but Bush and Clinton presidencies. As if there is nobody else in the country who could run for the office.

What it has boiled down to, is we the people vs. high dollar media and power elites. They have us in the advertisement wealth area, but we in shear numbers we have them.

Hylander_1314
And just to think we now have Chelsea Clinton and Jeb Bush out there and in some cases wonder if they are being groomed for the job.......LORD help us if this comes to past!

I vote third party because we no longer have a two party system in DC....

Pelosi....what can one say about this woman. There are no longer any appropriate words to describe this despicable human being. As much as I dislike Newsome, he at least recognizes the anger in this country. Let's watch the Democrats begin to throw each other under the bus to save what they believe is left of the party. Like Rodney Dangerfield once said "Now I know why tigers eat their young...". It also conjures up images from the first Indiana Jones movie where he says ..."keep your eyes closed, don't look Mariam, whatever you do, don't look..."to save them from sharing the fate of the corrupt and criminal around them.

Uniteasone,

The only way to battle these big money people is to get folks here elected:

http://www.constitutionparty.com/

There sren't any big Wall Street Banks or economic empires backing them. Just us lowly little Americans who have had it with both the Republicrats and Demopublicans.

Regardless of the outcome ... this should be a gigantic wake-up call to the Democratic Party - that we're not connecting with the needs, the aspirations and the desires of real people right now," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Duuuuuhhhhh, ya think so, Newscum?

Maybe all that blood on your IA loving hands helped you grow a BRAIN!