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Earlier this morning Lee asked why Palin-backed tea partier Clint Didier couldn’t even come close to achieving in Washington state the same sort of stunning primary election upset as even nuttier Christine O’Donnell won last night in Delaware, and perhaps the short answer is: been there, done that.

One of the consequences of the Republican wave of 1994 is that it swept far-right-wing Evangelical Christians into control of the party in many regions of the state, a movement that prompted far-right-wing, Evangelical Christian Ellen Craswell to seek the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 1996. Riding this renewed surge of right-wing energy, and employing a grassroots strategy reminiscent of today’s Tea Party, Craswell edged out the relatively moderate, Republican establishment candidate Dale Forman in the primary, only to move on to a crushing 16-point defeat against Gary Locke in the general.

I guess blunt campaign rhetoric like describing gay rights as “special rights for sodomites” didn’t go over too well with Washington’s more moderate electorate.

During the next few years Washington’s Christian right continued to fight for control of state and local Republican Party organizations, leading to the whittling away of GOP majorities, and culminating in 2000’s disastrous gubernatorial nomination of ultra-conservative John Carlson, and his near 20-point blowout loss to Gov. Locke despite a less than impressive first term. This ultimately led to the hollowing out of the state party over the past decade, despite the efforts of former chairman Chris Vance to impose party discipline and nominate more mainstream-ish candidates.

Indeed, the once solidly red suburban districts swung blue, not because the electorate became dramatically more liberal, but because the former “Dan Evans Republicans” were now running as Democrats.

The point is, while there were many factors that led to a string of Democratic victories in statewide elections and an almost unbroken series of legislative pickups over the past seven cycles, the roots of the Democrats’ recent resurgence can be traced back to their devastating defeat in 1994, and the seeds of self-destruction planted by the overconfident far-right-wing of their Republican rivals.

The Ellen Craswellization of the WSRP proved a total bust, and the party has been paying the price ever since. That’s a lesson Delaware Republicans are about to learn, but which even many of the more radical elements of our own GOP seem to now pragmatically, if reluctantly acknowledge. Indeed, perhaps the only thing worse in the long term for national Republicans than failing to gain control of Congress due to Tea Party hubris, might be for them to win, and be forced, like Washington state Republicans before them, to learn this lesson the hard way.

The new SkyRider seat and its saddle-like design would allow airlines to space rows 23-inches apart, instead of the current 28-inch minimum.  Of course, the airlines could pack even more passengers onto a plane if they just mulched us at the gate and injected our collected contents into the cabin like sausage inside a casing.

With the election results last night showing Republican voters in the northeast rallying behind their more extreme candidates, I’m left wondering what was so different about our own primary. On the surface, it seems like all of the same parts of the equation were at play. Clint Didier was endorsed by Sarah Palin, had enthusiastic support from the most motivated Republicans, and was certifiably nuts. In Delaware and New York yesterday, that trifecta was a recipe for success. But here, it only translated into 12% of the vote in the primary. What was different about Washington? Was Didier not as sophisticated a campaigner? Was the Washington GOP more effective in making electability the focus? I’m not really sure what the answers are, so I’m posting this as an open-ended question. I’m very curious why Didier couldn’t catch the same wave that Paladino and O’Donnell did.

Two quick observations on tonight’s hot Republican on Republican action.

First, when the Democrats retain control of the U.S. Senate in November, they’ll have Sen. John McCain to thank for at least part of their good fortune. It was he who catapulted Sarah Palin onto the national stage in a desperate reach for a game changer, and it is she who has once again helped Republicans snatch defeat from the jaws of almost certain victory with a Tea Party primary victory.

Second… could Mike Castle’s loss be Dino Rossi’s gain? In the wake of anti-masturbation activist Christine O’Donnell’s upset victory, the NRSC has already announced that it won’t be spending any money in Delaware, a state which up until tonight had been widely considered a likely Republican pickup. That leaves more NRSC money to spend elsewhere… and I guess Washington is as elsewhere as anywhere.

It’s primary night tonight…well, it is in DE, MA, MD, NH, NY, RI & WI (oh yeah…in DC, too). So please join us tonight for an evening of electoral politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning at about 8:00 pm. Stop by even earlier and enjoy some dinner.

Not in Seattle? There is a good chance you live near one of the 246 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

Still no word from Rob McKenna regarding his endorsement of Girl-Scout-bashing, Baptist/Episcopalian-dissing, Islam-vilifying Hans Zeiger, so one can only assume that McKenna must agree with Zeiger when he, say, urges Republicans to unite in opposition to “the problem of Islam.”

I guess one can also assume that McKenna endorses Zeiger’s characterization of the immigration of brown-skinned people into Western nations as a “jihad.”

Here in the United States, immigration from Mexico and Latin America poses questions, beyond the immediate questions of illegal immigration, about the nature of American cultural identity and whether assimilation is still possible. Far more appalling than the crisis at the American Southern border is the jihad of the Muslim world on the continent of Europe. Facing a negative birthrate among native Europeans, immigrant Muslims from the Middle East are reproducing quickly and opening the very real specter of a culture clash more violent far than the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been.

I mean, how many times can Zeiger proclaim his bigoted, anti-Islamic xenophobia before it’s obvious to folks that Zeiger is a xenophobic, anti-Islamic bigot?

So unless and until McKenna — our state’s highest ranking and most prominent elected Republican — either denies, withdraws or qualifies his so-far unqualified endorsement of Zeiger, we can only assume that his coveted endorsement is based on young Zeiger’s claim to fame: his immense portfolio of batshit-crazy political commentary. And we can only assume that this is the kind of new leadership that McKenna wants to bring into the Republican party.

When there are much publicized problems in our state’s K-12 public education system, the Seattle Times is quick to blame teachers and their unions. But when Washington students lead the nation in average SAT scores — for the eighth year in a row — the Times gives “Kudos to Washington students who put the state No. 1 for SAT results.”

Washington state’s continued high SAT scores are evidence of a growing number of students working hard, and successfully, toward college.

No doubt. But what about the teachers? Don’t they deserve mention too? Or are teachers only held responsible when they fail to educate, and never when they succeed?

You gotta hand it to those teabaggers… they certainly know how to raise the level of political discourse:

Criticism has arisen over a float in the annual Naches Sportsman’s Days parade that some are calling offensive and in bad taste.

Sponsored by a local group that’s part of the tea party movement, the float resembled an oversized red wagon. Riding on it was a man wearing a President Obama mask, cracking a whip over a youth pulling the wagon.

Several people on the float carried signs critical of federal spending, Wall Street bailouts, tax increases and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, who is locked in a re-election battle with Republican Dino Rossi.

Well, at least this float was in better taste than the group’s original idea, which featured Obama praying to Mecca while raping a white woman.

Progressives have a lot of reasons to feel disappointed with President Obama and the Democratic Congress. This ain’t one of them.

UPDATE:
Oops. I trust TPM. But they apparently trusted FOX News, which has now retracted the report. It’s not that Warren won’t be appointed, it’s just that she hasn’t been. At least not yet.

As has already been widely reported, the latest Elway Poll has Sen. Patty Murray leading real estate speculator Dino Rossi by 50-41%, which is pretty damn consistent with internal Democratic polling, including a recently released DSCC poll that showed Murray up 50-45%.

Curiously, and unlike previous campaigns, not a single Rossi/Republican internal poll has been leaked, suggesting that their numbers don’t diverge much from the Democrats. Of course, recent SurveyUSA and Rasmussen polls showed Rossi in the lead,but the crosstabs suggest SurveyUSA’s sample is totally whacked, while Rasmussen generally leans Republican until the final weeks of the campaign. So both my brain and my gut still tell me that the edge goes to Murray.

That said, the only the poll that matters is the one that closes 8PM, November 2. So Dems better get their shit together and vote, or else.

Update [Darryl]: Elsewhere I do a little number crunching with this poll and other recent polls in this race.

No word yet from Attorney General Rob McKenna on whether he might reconsider his endorsement of Hans Zeiger and his call to reunite conservatives in opposition to Islam (and radical feminist, lesbian, cookie peddling Girl Scouts), but there’s at least one Republican willing to put principle — and, well, sanity — above party loyalty: Zeiger’s GOP primary opponent, Steve Vermillion.

The TNT’s editorial blog has posted a condensed version of an email sent to supporters by Vermillion today, in which he endorses Democratic incumbent Rep. Dawn Morrell in the 25th LD race, and pretty much trashes Herr Zeiger as unqualified and dishonorable. It’s a great read:

In hopes that a “mystery box” of missing ballots would appear with sufficient votes to move me into second place, my hopes were extinguished with my wife’s reminder that we lived in Pierce not King County and the likelihood of missing votes appearing was slim to none.

Zeiger asked for my endorsement, which I declined to give him. Early on, I told the folks in the Pierce County GOP that I had no intention of supporting him should be win in the primary as I do not think he is remotely qualified to be in the Legislature.

I have been asked to at least remain neutral, which were my plans until Zeiger recently moved into his cover-up mode by working to delete many of his controversial writings. I expect that he is working on his “dishonorable” scout badge for the next level of his scouting adventures.

My plans are now to endorse Dawn Morrell for Position 2. I’ve known Dawn for several years – she is the only legislator that has served our district that is willing to respond to email questions. I’ve disagreed with some of her votes but I am sure she would have disagreed with some of mine if the situation had been reversed.

I’ve studied Zeiger’s writings from 2003 to 2009. Whether I agree or disagree with his position is a moot point. I take deep umbrage with his selection of verbiage and his focus on judging people versus being inclusive of others. The problems with his writings are they are either reflective of the “Zeiger Values” he campaigns on taking to the legislature or formulated via his political courses and religious studies at Hillsdale College.

Had I not read his writings, I wouldn’t have known that, being a Baptist, I was praying to a pagan god all these years. No wonder I haven’t won the lottery yet.

Cordially,

Steve Vermillion

Wow.

Vermillion got only 16% of the vote in August, compared to Zeiger’s 36%, but if Zeiger hopes to win in November he’s gonna need the bulk of Vermillion’s voters to swing his way. Normally, you’d expect that to happen, but you gotta wonder how many voters would have the exact same reaction to Zeiger that Vermillion did if only they had access to the exact same information?

And you gotta wonder how much longer our local media can keep their lips sealed on what is shaping up to be a pretty entertaining story?

Subject: Does Rob McKenna endorse Hans Zeiger?

From: david@horsesass.org

Date: September 13, 2010 1:28:21 PM PDT

To: Janelle Guthrie (ATG)

Cc: Dan Sytman (ATG)

Janelle,

As a long time reader, perhaps you’ve seen my series on 25th LD Republican nominee Hans Zeiger? Over the past couple weeks I’ve reported a lot of startling things about Zeiger’s offensive and disturbing views, but perhaps my most surprising discovery is that Attorney General Rob McKenna headlines the list as Zeiger’s most prominent endorser.

Surely, this must be a mistake. Surely, Mr. McKenna would not endorse a candidate who called the Girl Scouts “a gathering of radical feminists, lesbians, and cookie peddlers,” who described the National Education Association as a “terrorist organization” that “has made greater progress in the tearing down of American institutions and ideals than Iraq or Al Quaeda,” who berates other religions and Christian dominations for “praying to the generic god,” who dismisses Seattle’s St. Mark’s Cathedral as “hardly a Christian church,” and who argues for conservatives to fight against “the problem of Islam” as the organizing principle behind a reunited conservative movement and a resurgent Republican Party.

For surely, wouldn’t the endorsement of Zeiger by Washington state’s most prominent elected Republican appear to some as an endorsement of Zeiger’s hateful and intolerant opinions?

So could you please ask the Attorney General if he has in fact officially endorsed Zeiger, and if so, whether he is prepared to publicly withdraw his endorsement now that he has been made aware of Zeiger’s vast portfolio of disturbing and bigoted commentary? Or, if Mr. McKenna maintains his endorsement, could you please ask him to defend it?

As always, I thank you for your cooperation, and look forward to your reply.

David Goldstein
HorsesAss.org

[cc: my readers]

We get a lot of people with crazy views running for office, but it’s no so often that they’re endorsed by the most prominent Republican elected official in the state. So I just sent this email to the Attorney General’s office to ask whether Rob McKenna really endorsed Hans Zeiger, as Zeiger claims on his website, and if so, whether McKenna would withdraw his endorsement now that he nows how crazy Zeiger is.

I’ll let you know if I get a response, but you might want to contact the AG’s office and ask for yourself.

But there is evil in our world that will destroy souls and nations if conservatives don’t unite against it. Our response to the problem of Judaism cannot mainly be war, though it may include war. We must respond with a renewed culture. We must counter the rise of Judaism with a faith of our own.

That is not to say that conservatives must be Christians, but conservatives must understand that the only defense against Judaism is a vibrant Christian culture. Politics is a contest of opinions about how best to protect a culture; while culture has to do with ideas and relationships, politics has to do with force and order. Our politics need not be immediately religious, but our culture must be.

The cult of Judaism repudiates self-government and all we hold dear. If we are to continue to be a self-governing people, we must be a people of strong character, and strong character is founded in the Christian faith. If conservatives are to be reunited, we must first unite against Judaism. From there we can renew our determination to be a self-governing and Christian nation.

Had any general election candidate written an overtly anti-semitic statement like that, no doubt our local media would be all over the scandal, and you can be damn sure the candidate’s own party wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole. But substitute “Islam” for “Judaism,” and those are all direct quotes from 25th LD Republican nominee Hans Zeiger.

Yet except for a couple bemused blog posts about Zeiger’s labeling of the Girl Scouts as a bunch of “radical feminists, lesbians, and cookie peddlers,” we’ve so far heard crickets from our local media about Zeiger’s intolerant, hateful, and dare I say fascistic political views.

Why? Well, I can only assume that our region’s journalists and editorialists are simply more accepting of anti-Islamic bigotry than they are of anti-Jewish bigotry. I mean, how else to interpret such an extraordinary double standard?

—

(Ironically, should Zeiger defeat Democratic incumbent Rep. Dawn Morrell, the media post mortem will no doubt berate her for failing to get her message out. Imagine that.)