Regarding Rhode Island

[Stinky The Clown]

Frank Caprio, the Democrat running for governor, said this on a live radio interview today that Obama can take his endorsement and shove it. Obama did not endorse him. Obama, it is being reported, would be happy with either Caprio or one of his two opponents, former Republican senator, Lincoln Chaffee.


Here is ABC's story on the matter:

Rhode Island Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate: President Obama 'Can Take His Endorsement and Shove It'

This morning on WPRO Radio Providence, Democratic Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio, whom President Obama has not endorsed, lashed out.

“I never asked President Obama for his endorsement and what’s going on here is really Washington insider politics at its worst,” Caprio said. “He can take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I am concerned.”

Deferring to his friendship with former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the former Republican senator currently an independent gubernatorial candidate who endorsed the president in 2008, the president has not endorsed Caprio.

Recent polls indicate that Caprio and Chafee are in a tight race. According to the Providence Journal, Caprio was unaware that the president would not be endorsing him until a reporter told his campaign the news over the weekend.

Please read the two remaining paragraphs at this link: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/10/rhode-island-democratic-gubernatorial-candidate-president-obama-can-take-his-endorsement-and-shove-i.html

If there is more to tbis story, and there could well be, I don't know it.

If, however, the endorsement is simply being withheld (a la mainstream Dems against Ned Lamont, next door in CT a few years ago) it is a sorry performance.

Does anyone know the whole story . . . . or IS this the whole story?


Caprio and Chafee on October 14 (from CBS's site, which has the same story as ABC, above)





Maybe Democrats can just get to it and endorse Crist, too. Maybe Murkowski, while they're at it. I mean, she's gotta be better than that teabagger with the Miami Vice face. <----over the top sarcasm and disgust

[Pirate Smile]

1. Frank Caprio is an idiot. What a dumbass thing to say within 2 weeks of an election.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. He's the Democrat in the race.

Are you familiar with Caprio?

I'm not. To be honest, I knew Chaffee was in the race as an Indie, but didn't even know Caprio's name until today.

What he said could be taken as idiotic, but you called him an idiot. Not what he said. Have you been following this race? Explain why Caprio is an idiot.

(PS, I actually like Chafee and could see him as governor. But it isn't my say.)

[Pirate Smile]

3. I'm not in RI. After that comment, I'd be perfectly fine with Chafee winning.

People like this guy and Manchin in WV need to figure out how to talk about the President and other Dems without making the regular Democratic voter want to tell them to f#$k off. I think Conway in Kentucky does a good job of that. He doesn't have to agree with them on everything but he doesn't sound like a Republican bashing them.

I'd be surprised if that comment doesn't make a certain percentage of Dem voters say - I like Chafee, Chafee supports the President and is practically a Democrat so I'll vote for him.

It seems very counterproductive to actually helping Caprio win votes in RI.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. I suspect the larger question is why Obama chose not to endorse the Democrat

Caprio has been good at his job and has a good record - as an actual DEMOCRAT.

[PassingFair]

10. During the Bush administration, Chaffee acted more like a Dem than many Dems.

If he ran as an independent around here,
I'd think about rewarding him with my vote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Chafee

I was going to cut and paste from his WIKI
entry, but as you can see, the man is more
Progressive than Bart Stupak and many others....

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Dupe, please delete

[Stinky The Clown]

12. No one is arguing that.

Chaffee should have switched parties decades ago.

BUT HE DIDN'T. And that cost him.

Caprio, on the other hand, has been a damned good Democrat, holding elected office AS A DEMOCRAT, since before he graduated college.

But he can't get an endorsement from a sitting Democratic president??????

[PassingFair]

13. You're right, of course. It's pathetic. n/t

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

29. I'll repeat what i said in another thread

To get elected in certain districts in Rhode Island, you have to run as a Democrat(no matter what your politics are). Caprio was a legislator, which in many ways is one strike against him. Most guys in the state house always put themselves over all else.

The Providence Phoenix (the local progressive paper) is endorsing Chafee, BTW.

[Pirate Smile]

20. Here you go - this guy is to the right of Chafee. I don't know if I'd call him an actual Democrat.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=488024&mesg_id=488024

I knew I had heard that this guy was to the right of the Democratic party in RI. This attacking Obama thing will work out great for him as he goes for the center-right vote.

[Stinky The Clown]

22. Is he to the right of Blanche Lincoln. Or Joe Manchin? or Ben Nelson? Or Charlie Crist?

He is a lifelong Democrat and the incumbent State Financial Officer/Treasurer/Whatever Rhode Island Calls It.

We get to choose NOT to endorse Democrats now?

Am I okay to say I oppose Obama because he's not liberal enough for me???????

Where do you draw the line????? <---REAL question.

[ThomCat]

26. The President, the HEAD OF OUR PARTY

is acting like and idiot for not rallying his own party.

He is refusing to endorse a Democrat in a tight race! :wtf:

[depakid]

5. Ah, the "collegial" Senate club

That would be my guess, as it's motivated Obama's actions (to his detriment) before.

[alsame]

6. Maybe we should just stop

running Democratic candidates in those states with "good" former GOPers.

:sarcasm:

[jonnyblitz]

7. Hell, if Obama isn't loyal to "the party" why should any of us be?

what a FINE example. :sarcasm:

[warrior1]

8. he sounds

like a teabagger

[jonnyblitz]

9. but we are told to vote for the DEMS ALWAYS from party

loyalists! I am not a party loyalist and you must have missed my sarcasm thingy and all the threads screeching at "the gays" if they don't go out and vote for the DEMS! I guess this doesn't apply for the head DEM in the White House.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Kick in hopes of someone providing the back story and reason why Caprio was not endorsed.

Instead, there are unrecs.

Folks, this is a fact. This HAPPENED.

As in the OP, why?

That's the question.

Is there a back story?

Anyone have an answer or is this thread being knocked down because of the content? Apparently, by his own actions, Obama sees it as okay not to endorse the Democrat and even express a desire to have a friend beat the Democrat.

Some PLEASE defend that or disabuse me of the conclusion.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

15. Stinky, I assume you've seen my poll

Last I checked the majority of votes were for the options that involved not supporting Caprio... a man some of the poll voters may well have never heard of before reading the poll.

When the President does something questionable some people rush to defend it and attack the "other side" even when there is no sensible other side.

"Obama should not endorse Caprio because 1) he didn't, and 2) Caprio not properly appreciative of the snub."

I am with you. There may be all kinds of back story. This little flap may actually help Caprio because even in RI Obama isn't as popular as before.

Maybe it's intricate theater of some sort.

But without some explanation it is unfathomable and incorrect.

[Stinky The Clown]

17. No, I didn't see your poll.

The first I heard of this is when someone told me about it and I checked news online.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

18. You mean you don't have your computer set to ring a gong everytme I post something???

Geez... you need to get your priorities straight!

:hi:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9383337

[Stinky The Clown]

19. Thanks! The results in that poll are pretty amazing

I won't say more.

Except that the poll respondents self selected to answer. The fact is, who knows why they answered as they did. There is a great deal of "the inexplicable" on DU of late.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

16. Is there a limit to cynicism?

Caprio has been leading this race for months, IIRC.

Last Friday Rasmussen published th first poll I've seen showing Chafee with a commanding lead. "Republican-turned-independent candidate Lincoln Chafee now holds a seven-point lead over his closest competitor in the race to be Rhode Island’s next governor."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_governor_elections/rhode_island/election_2010_rhode_island_governor

Just CYA / front-running???

Beats me.

[scheming daemons]

35. The fact of the matter is that Chafee, like Sanders, is reliably *DEMOCRATIC* - despite his label

Caprio, like Ben Nelson, is more often a *REPUBLICAN*, despite his party label.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. Kick in hope of real answers

[Stinky The Clown]

23. Another kick

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Kicking this back to page 1

[Stinky The Clown]

25. Another persistence kick

When the horse dies, I'll stop beating it. But he's not dead yet.

[Chemical Bill]

27. As a Ro Dilanda (say it quickly if you don't understand)...

I'll say something.

Caprio has come out in favor of huge cuts in the pensions of state workers, plus the city workers around the state that have a state managed pension fund (that would be me). This would be a unilateral abandonment of signed contracts.

Caprio has come out in favor of keeping the * tax cuts for the very rich.

He's big on charter schools and measuring teachers based on student performance (wait, aren't the good students going into charter schools?).

Our repug governor and our DINO legislature has cut taxes on the rich while cutting funding for cities and towns, forcing the cities to raise property taxes. They even cut taxes when the stimulus money came in! Caprio's bottom line? Taxes will not be raised!

Read all about him;

http://www.frankcaprio.com/

Bill

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

28. Caprio is running to the right

He is anti-union and anti-teacher.

He took a meeting in DC with the RNC last spring.

He tried to meet with the Republican candidate to drop out.

His father is a judge with his own show on local TV where they broadcast his traffic court. He's also on the State Board of Governors and hands out jobs like party favors.

He went on a talk show hosted by John Depietro, a right wing hack who got tossed off WRKO in Boston for calling a Gubernatorial candidate "a fat lesbo". Depietro speaks to the far right in this state, a disenfranchised group who rail against Democrats all day and love the GOP guv, Don Carceri who is the worst Right-winger we've ever had in high office.

Basically, Caprio ran unopposed in the primary when AG Patrick Lynch dropped out. All the money in this state flowed to Caprio, EXCEPT the union money. Even with no one else on the ballot......I did NOT vote for Caprio in the primary.

NEA Rhode Island and Local 94, the biggest state union endorsed Chafee.

I'm voting for Chafee, I decided that long ago. He is far more progressive than Caprio. Even my father, a "party comes first" guy, won't discuss Caprio with me. He has no faith in him and is holding his nose in "supporting" him. I think he'll vote for Chafee in the end.

[Stinky The Clown]

30. Then you have no problem with anyone not supporting party, right?

Vote against Ben Nelson. That's okay, right?

Vote against Blanche Lincoln. That's okay, right?

Vote against any Blue Dog. That's okay, right?

Is it okay with you if I vote against Obama cuz he didn't give me what I want? Really. Is that okay with you?

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

31. People should vote their conscience, once political expediency is out of the way

In this race, only Chafee or Caprio has a real chance to win. If I thought voting for Chafee was a lost cause, and that not voting for Caprio would help Robitaille (the Republican), I would very reluctantly vote for Caprio. But this is not a Nader vote.

People can vote for whomever they want. I'm pragmatic, but in this case I don't have to be. My heart and my head tells me Chafee will win.

I don't know what candidate you think should be running against Obama that you want to vote for so badly, but let me know when you figure it out. Caprio's slam of him dripped of his true political leanings. I was going to remain quiet here about my support for Chafee, out of respect to the party, but now that his venom has been revealed I'm going to speak freely.

[Stinky The Clown]

32. I'm not proposing any candidate against Obama

I'm challenging people who think its peachy to vote against the legitimate Democrat in races where the legitimate Democrat is facing down a non repubican non Democrat.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

33. Well, you asked for real answers multiple times

I think I gave you some reasons why there are many RI Democrats who are not happy with this guy and that we never got a choice in the primary.

[Stinky The Clown]

36. If it is okay to advocate the defeat of the legit Dem candidate because you don't like him . . . .

. . . . for whatever reason, then you also have to agree it is okay to advocate against ANY candidate because you don't like him. And that *could* - no, the *must* - include it being just as okay to advocate against Obama. As I said in my companion thread: "You can't have it both ways."

[scheming daemons]

34. The point is to vote for the most *viable* candidate on the left

If there is a viable candidate to Ben Nelson's left, then yes... one should vote for that candidate.

If there is a viable candidate to Blanche Lincoln's left, then yes... one should vote for that candidate.



The word "viable" is critically important here. In 2000, Ralph Nader was not a VIABLE candidate.. i.e. with a chance to win... so a vote for Ralph Nader was a *WASTED* vote for a person on the left.


One can flip your argument around on you and ask if you would vote for a Democrat against Bernie Sanders?




Kendrick Meek is not viable. Frankly, neither is Crist. So in that case, a good Democrat should vote for Meek.

In Rhode Island, Chafee is the left-most candidate that is *viable*.



It has nothing to do with "Obama loyalty". Which *viable* candidate is most to the left? Vote for that one.

In Ben Nelson's case, if the only other viable candidate is the Republican to his right... then yes, hold one's nose and vote for Nelson.



If you're a Democrat, and you live in Rhode Island, then Chafee is the most logical vote.



Every election is unique. Examine the candidates... then vote for the left-most one that has a chance to win.

This is why many were supporting Crist when it looked like he was the only viable candidate that could defeat Rubio. Better half-a-loaf than none. Meek is better than Crist is better than Rubio. But Meek *NEVER* had a chance in that race. For a time, it looked like Crist did.