The AP reports that former Pres. George W. Bush Deputy White House spokesperson and Bush-Cheney ’04 Press Secretary, Scott Stanzel, is mulling over a run against Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA):
Scott Stanzel said Monday he will look at whether to challenge Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell in a race next year. He said he won’t decide until after he gets married in September.
One shouldn’t take lightly the propagandist who (1) helped sell George and Dick’s Excellent Military Adventure, (2) got Bush and Cheney reelected, and (3) managed to keep Bush and Cheney from being impeached or arrested for war crimes. Those are remarkable accomplishments.
On the other hand, many of the PR disasters that made George Bush the most unpopular President ever occurred on his watch.
As a former Bush-Cheney ’04 propagandist, Stanzel leaves behind a trail of statements that, quite frankly, won’t win over the hearts Washington voters. A search of the InnerTubes will reveal appearances of Stanzel attacking Sen. John Kerry that, outside the context of a heated presidential campaign, come off as petty. Likewise, his statements in his role as White House propagandist for Bush/Cheney administration will likely come back to haunt him. Finally, Stanzel has had some participation in the media campaign by ex-Bush administration people against Pres. Obama. That, too, will provide some fodder that will be used against him.
If you recognize the name Scott Stanzel at all, it is probably because he was the campaign manager for Defeat 1098, the group credited with defeating the Washington state high earner’s income tax initiative (I-1098). The up-side for Stanzel is that he has a track record on a “populist” issue in Washington state.
The down side of Defeat 1098 for Stanzel’s potential senatorial bid? In a post Citizens United world, I am imagining the kind of independent campaign that William Gates, Sr. might decide to fund against Stanzel.
Payback’s a bitch!
If I ever run for anything they’ll try to nail me for using the word “fuck” in my public postings. What the fuck can I say? Oh, fuck …
Speaking of media persons and campaign advertising:
I heard an ad being played in selected Congressional districts. It has a housewife & mother saying she has a hard time sleeping at night because of the bad economy, etc., and how it’s so much worse under Pres. Obama.
The ad was paid for by Karl Rove’s group, which would make the whole thing rather hillarious, if it weren’t so dispicable. The whole idea of Karl Rove trying to claim the economy was better under Bush than Obama is offensive.
There’s no point in the Reps fielding a candidate against any Democrat at the state level. The Dems will win no matter what. Stanzell is wasteing his time. Reps can only win in certain small areas in this state.
But I have my doubts over whether or not this guy is really serious. If he is really waiting until after he gets married in Sept. to make up his mind, then he might as well not run. Cantwell’s already got a huge war chest and he would have a hard time catching up, unless he got BIG funding from private GOP sources. Also, what wife in her right mind would say, “Sure, honey, we just got married, and I’m ready to put my life on hold for the next 14 months while you go tilt at windmills”.
My guess is he is floating his name out for consideration because, well, he wants his name to be more publically known, perhaps for another run for office in 2014.
I doubt he runs. Someone that’s never held public office, that no one has ever heard of, and has the Bush Stain all over him? The guy doesn’t have a chance. Especially against someone like Cantwell who wont pull her punches.
Bill Gates Sr’s money amounts to pocket change compared to what the Kochs and their ALEC pals will pour into this state if they decide they really want Cantwell gone. As far as Bill the Younger and his wallet are concerned, now that’s another matter–but he and his wife appear far more interested in helping women and children with AIDS in Africa.
I wish I could be a fly on the wall as the GOP movers and shakers try to find someone to run against Cantwell.
“We’ve got to find SOMEBODY!”
“But who? Nobody in their right mind would take on Cantwell in Washington State!”
“Surely we can find a patsy somewhere – otherwise they are going to get a free pass, and their campaign money will go to other candidates!”
“How about McGavick? He was willing the last time around?” “Nope, he’s not interested. Besides, he got trounced last time, and it’s not going to be any better this time around”.
“Well, of COURSE he’s going to get trounced – that’s not the issue. We need SOMEBODY to go in there and take a beating for the team.”
“What about that Dino guy? He came pretty close to being governor once”.
“Nope, he’s lost two times now, the last time worse than before. He’s dead, politically, and he wouldn’t do it unless we offer him something else here in D.C. after he loses, and we simply don’t have anything to give him that he would accept.”
“What about some Tea Party guy? He’d make a lot of noise, keep them busy!”
“You mean like Didlier? He couldn’t even win the primary, then he refused the endorse the GOP candidate who won. We need loyal pawns, not wild cards”.
“Okay, let’s table the Washington senate race again until the August meeting. Maybe something will come to us later.”
“Now, what’s happening in Pennsylvania?”
I read the Wikipedia page on him and have an unanswered question. Does this guy even live in Washington State?
Mr. Stanzel does live in Washington State.
#1: Roger Rodent: Your egotistical rants aren’t all about you. You sure you aren’t a closet republican?
Per Wikipedia: “Stanzel currently lives in Seattle, Washington, where he founded Stanzel Communications, a firm providing public relations strategy, and media training services to corporate clients, government leaders and political candidates.”
“Stanzel served as campaign manager for Defeat 1098. Ballot initiative 1098 would have established a state income tax in Washington for the first time. Defeat 1098 was successful in stopping the proposed tax.”
“Washington state will remain one of seven states with no state income tax
“In 2005 Stanzel moved to the private sector to work for Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington, as a Senior Public Relations Manager.”
Sacraficial lambs must be trading at a premium these days. :-)
I’d like to be the first to nomimate Helmet Hair Hamlet for his fourth statewide loss. The R-s shall not find a better loser, or at least not find one with the experience of losing like Flintstone’s pet.
Any challenger to Cantwell has to take into account the general political climate in 2012. The Republicans assume that the trend of 2010 will continue, with them picking up even more seats in the House and Senate. Of course, that’s an exercise in self-delusion. The opposition party always does better in off-year elections, but it swings back the other way by the next presidential election cycle.
The facts are just becoming painfully obvious, at least for them. Polls released today show that the President has the best approval ratings for handling the budget/debt ceiling issue to date, with Congressional Democrats following behind him. But the Republicans in Congress have the worst of the approval ratings, at about 23% – which is about the same number who would vote Republican if Tricky Dick were brought back to life and made a candidate.
So in the context of the general election, Cantwell will be riding on a ticket which includes President Obama running for re-election. Opposing him will be the face of the Republican Party. Although there is still a lot of time before even the first primary, polling today showed that the two leading candidates are Romeny (30% of Republicans) and Bachman (16% of Republicans). Everyone else falls far behind, with most well in the single digits.
So even with the usual caveats, it looks like Bachman has a good shot at the nomination. I say that not because of her 16% figures now, but because the minions following behind her in the polls are all just as crazy as she is. It should be pretty easier for her to pick up those votes as those minor candidates run out of money and drop out of the race. Collectively, they outpoll Romney by a fair margin.
So when Cantwell runs for re-election, she doesn’t have to even mention her challenger’s name. She just has to run commercials where she shows pictures of Bachman and promises to stand up to “her and her kind” in Washington, D.C.
Cantwell voted for ObamaCare and other massive deficit spending. She voted for the failed Stimulus Bill. She served in the majority when the deficit was run up at a record pace and unemployment is still way too high.
Whoever runs against her will run against her voting record.
Igor @ # 13:
First point: you need a candidate. The ballot doesn’t say “yes” or “no”. It forces you to choose between two people to fill the office. Running against her record only works if someone with a better recrod is running against her. (Historical note: During the Civil War, many urged Lincoln to dump McClellan as commander of what became known as the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln asked who they suggested to replace him. “Anybody”, they replied. “Well,” said Lincoln, “I cant replace him with Anybody. I have to replace him with SOMEBODY”.)
Secondly, nobody voted for “Obamacare”, as the right-wing talking points have mis-named it. They did vote for the several provisions of the Health Insurance Reform Act. And here in Washington, that’s pretty popular. And the “failed” stimulus bill you managed to save the auto industry in the U.S., prevented banks from collapsing, kept the Great Rescession from turning into the Great Depression Part II, and any “failure” can be accounted for by the obstructionism of the Republicans in preventing it from being properly funded or carried out to it’s full extent. Finally, she was in the Senate while the deficit was “run up at a record pace”, but she was in the minority most of those years – that was when Pres. G.W. Bush and both houses of Congress (and the majority of the Supreme Court) were all controlled by Republicans. This is THEIR deficit, THEIR economic collapse. GOP wingnut trolls are like kids throwing insults and stones at the firemen trying to save a house, criticizing them for using too much water.
@3 “Reps can only win in certain small areas in this state.”
E.g., all of eastern Washington, much of western Washington South of Olympia, and parts of the Olympic Peninsula.
@10 You must be new here. #1 was an inside joke. If you’re new here, you wouldn’t get it.
@14 (Historical note: During the Civil War, many urged Lincoln to dump McClellan as commander of what became known as the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln asked who they suggested to replace him. “Anybody”, they replied. “Well,” said Lincoln, “I cant replace him with Anybody. I have to replace him with SOMEBODY”.)
And then along came Grant and the rest, as they say, is history. The GOP’s problem is they don’t have a Grant, or even a McClellan, all they’ve got is the likes of Romney, Bachmann, Palin, Rossi, Didier, ad nauseum.
RR @ 17: Well, before Lincoln found Grant, he had to go through McClellan (got beaten back to his boats on the Peninsula Campaign in 1862), Pope (got whipped at 2nd Mannassas), McClellan again (couldn’t get better than a draw at Antetiam despite almost 2-1 numbers advantage), Burnside (horrendous disaster at Fredericksburg), Hooker (got whipped at Chancellorsville despite MORE than 2-1 advantage), and Meade (unimaginative but not prone to mistakes, held Lee at Gettysburg but didn’t pursue well afterwards).
Actually, Meade remained in charge of the AoP until the end of the war – Grant was given overall command of ALL union armies in March 1864, and he chose to make his headquarters right beside the headquarters of the AoP. That prevented Butler from interfering with Meade (Butler was an incompetent political general, but outranked meade considerably by date of rank, and was uncomfortably close while in charge of the Army of the James which had allowed itself to get bottled up in the Bermuda Hundred).
You could certainly push the Civil War analogy way to far, but comparing Rossi with McClellan has it’s points. But beyond that, the GOP bench in this state is pretty weak for a statewide race – they’ve got a lot of Popes and Burnsides, but no Grants.
@10
Well, how the fuck about that.
@18 According to the most excellent father-son historians, the DuPuys, McClellan could have ended the Civil War in 1862 at Antietam if he had pursued the defeated Confederates. Because he didn’t, Antietam was merely a battle with frightful losses on both sides.
In Meade’s defense, after three days of strenuous fighting at Gettysburg, nobody was in much of any shape to pursue anyone. Both armies were exhausted, and if Meade had pushed his men to pursue Lee’s men, who knows what might have happened.
In retrospect, we should have let the South go. The South has been a virus on American politics since our inception. Can you imagine the progressive nation we might have if we didn’t have the southern states pulling us down?