As The Media Obsesses Over New York Special Election, It Ignores Leftward Lurch In California Specia

[HipChick]

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/03/cali-special-election/


In the past few weeks, conservatives and their allies in the press have obsessed over the special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district. Pundits have claimed that the rise of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman as the likely winner in that race is a “referendum on the Obama-Biden spending agenda” and evidence of a rightward shift in the nation’s politics, despite the fact that this particular district in New York hasn’t elected a Democrat in a century.

While pundits have obsessed over the special election in New York, they’ve completely ignored another race that evidences a progressive resurgence. Today, voters in California’s 10th congressional district will go to the polls to elect a member of congress to replace former Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), who was brought into the Obama Administration to serve as the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security.

As The Nation’s John Nichols notes, CA-10 is a far more competitive district than NY-23:

If elects a Republican Tuesday – and, though Hoffman is running on the Conservative Party line, he is now backed by local, state and national GOP leaders and organizations – the district will hold to the pattern it has been on since Ulysses Grant was president. On the other hand, California 10 was represented by a Republican until Tauscher beat him in 1996 – and in the past century, Republicans have represented the core counties of the district more frequently than Democrats. In other words, California 10 is the more historically competitive turf.

Despite the competitiveness of his district, Democrat John Garamendi leads Republican David Harmer by ten points in the latest polling.

What makes Garamendi’s lead all the more impressive is his progressive stances. While CA-10 was previously held by a Democrat, Tauscher legislated as a centrist. A member of the business-friendly “New Democrat Coalition,” Tauscher was a supporter of rolling back the estate tax, tightening bankruptcy rules, and expanding free trade agreements. Following the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives in 2006, she famously warned her colleagues to not run “over the left cliff” by passing too much progressive legislation.

Garamendi, on the other hand, is an unabashed liberal. He is a strong supporter not only of a public option, but of a single-payer Medicare-for-all health care system, supports the creation of an exit strategy from Afghanistan, and actually defeated the hand-picked candidate for the Democratic endorsement.

If he is elected, and he likely will be, it will mark a dramatic leftward shift in CA-10. But with all the media coverage of

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/03/cali-special-election/

---

Why is the media ignoring this election?

[Windy]

1. That election doesn't play to the meme that "obama has lost his mojo"

he is a failed president, etc...

Turn off the corporate slime. I personally can't stomach any of it anymore, whether on TV or in print.

[phasma ex machina]

4. +1 nt

[Patchuli]

32. We ain't lost no mojo and yes we can!

I'm sick of the negative shit. YES WE CAN AND YES WE WILL!

Republican party is so passe...

[Cha]

2. Well, aren't you the bearer of good news! Thanks~

The corporatemedia does everything it can to bring down Dems. Manufacture and Manipulate.

[jmondine]

3. Why is the media ignoring this? No crazy Alaskan endorsements

[BumRushDaShow]

5. The RW lunatic-fringe M$M wants Obama to fail

so they gloss over anything not supportive of their meme and will report any obscure nonsense that will allow them to pontificate loudly without saying anything.

[Doctor_J]

6. Big Media popping champaign over "Here Come The Teabaggers"

story line. If Corzine wins & Hoffman loses, all they'll have is VA. Here's hoping they engage in mass suicide on the air tomorrow.

[EFerrari]

7. Isn't CA 10 the one that got stolen the last midterms?

Am I remembering that right? Because if it's the district I'm rememberig, there may not be a leftward lurch but pissed off voters determined not to get ripped off again.

[KamaAina]

16. Couldn't have been.

Tauscher (D-Sort Of) has been in there since 1996.

[EFerrari]

27. That's right. I looked it up -- it was CA 50.

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/content/busby-bilbray/busby-bilbray.php

[robinlynne]

33. Bilbray-Busby

[bridgit]

8. ^

:kick:

[GoCubsGo]

9. I didn't even know there was a race there.

And, I thought I was pretty up to date on things. I hadn't heard a peep from the media about this race until Keith brought it up tonight. Our media is so pathetic.

[wisteria]

10. It seems the media wants to control the agenda of the White House.

They picked three races to follow, 2 where Republicans usually always win and then 1 Democratic race where the incumbent, who is a Democrat, is not well liked at all and just barely got elected the last time he ran. Throw in some talk about all the spending and some Republican talk about how Obama's policies affect seniors negatively,and do all this in a sleepy election period where the only people who actually go out to vote are older folks and there you have it,the media's made up referendum on President Obama's less than a year in office. And, this is suppose to indicate that Obama's policies are being rejected?
Sorry, but I am not going to lose any sleep over any of the results tonight. Obama needs to stay on the course he is on, and the Teabaggers and the media be damned.

[joeycola]

11. But Tuesday's Wall Street Journal opened the door for a possible upset in the making:

Lets hope that the ground does not shake in CA as Fox would so love it.



http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/11/03/todays-big-political-earthquake-california/

But Tuesday's Wall Street Journal opened the door for a possible upset in the making:

Mr. Harmer said internal polling showed him behind by only 2 percentage points. A lower turnout could benefit him, because political scientists say larger electorates tend to be more liberal...............


After all, will it really be a shock if a conservative wins in conservative upstate New York? Or if Virginia, which almost always goes opposite whichever party is in the White House, does it again with Bob McDonnell?

And given New Jersey's high unemployment and income tax rates, how surprising will it be if Jon Corzine isn't re-elected?

By contrast, if the underdog Harmer, in a Democratic district in the highly liberal state of California, can pull out this upset, the ground will be shaking from coast to coast.

[FarLeftFist]

12. Bill Owens just did the impossible

Yes, he just won a position held by repubs since 1852.

[neuvocat]

13. Hoffman concedes to Owens per MSNBC

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[neuvocat]

15. This should be saved for the DU hatemail bag.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[neuvocat]

18. Don't worry. I already asked the admin to do so.

I'm sure it will be up there. Nice timing on your post. You got in there right when you lost a GOP stronghold. How long has it been since a Dem was in there? How long? Huh?



Huh?

[katkat]

23. bwah bwah ha ha ha

equal misery is posting the same brainless dump in a bunch of threads. Life as a freeper must really suck :-)

[neuvocat]

26. Yep. And now he's booted.

That sure does ruin the fun they had with the great referendum.

[JDPriestly]

19. Actually, what Americans want is someone who shows conviction

and strongly takes a position in a direction that improves their lives. Americans will say they are conservative, but they are really liberal. They vote conservative out of frustration with liberals who do not have the courage to take strong stances. As long as liberals are weak, as long as they try to reach out to Republicans, as long as they deny who they really are, they will fail to inspire voters.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. They're voting against the yuppie liberals, the vaguely nice people

who can't take a firm stand on anything unless it violates a yuppie social norm. (I'm talking to YOU, Amy Klobuchar, D-for-disappointment, MN)

[gristy]

20. Hard left socialists? Name one.

Do you even know what a socialist is?

[katkat]

24. socialists

Do we actually have any Socialists in the administration? If so, we should find them and give them an award of some sort.

[Beaverhausen]

22. You do have your right wing talking points down. Too bad none of them are true

first off, how about a link to that 'recent poll?"

Here's something proving that in fact, only 20% of voters call themselves republican.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/oct/16/democratic-national-committee/democrats-claim-only-20-percent-americans-call-the/

and saying half of us have Marx and Chavez as our avatar is quite a ibt of an exaggeration, don't you think?

[gristy]

25. He was comparing "conservative" to "liberal". Not party affiliation.

Gallup has some interesting data on that. http://www.gallup.com/poll/120857/Conservatives-Single-Largest-Ideological-Group.aspx

[MrModerate]

31. It is interesting. Especially since I think of myself as "moderate" . . .

And typically answer as such on polls, while the wingnutariat would call me a far-far-far-left liberal.

I wonder how many people in that survey are like me?

[truedelphi]

28. Methinks you need to re-read the OP. n/t

[dana_b]

29. my district!!

Garamendi is leading by 15 points with 50% of the precincts in.

Why didn't they cover it? Maybe the East Bay area isn't as exciting as NY's 23rd?

[Guilded Lilly]

30. The media obsesses over

the media.

The media hasn't been concerned about the genuine, intelligent news for a long. long time.

Peace,
Lilly

[Arugula Latte]

34. I grew up in Contra Costa Co. Parts were hellishly Republican when I was a kid.

Reagan was revered as a god by the rich assholes in my Walnut Creek high school.

I'm so glad that times have changed there!

[fascisthunter]

35. because corporate America is Fascist, which is anti-thetical

to progressive issues. They want us all to be good tax paying consumers who will do as we are told by the rich.

We need a massive uprising... it will be the only way. Our political system has been comprimised by those who do not believe in Taxation with Representation, nor do they even give a damn about us. I will go as far as saying, they'd rather see us on the left die.