Publicola has a tip about a robopoll concerning the 2012 election for the seat currently held by Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA-8):
Two-time Reichert challenger, onetime Microsoft exec, and now lefty leader at ProgressiveCongress.org, Darcy Burner, is looking at getting in.
I hope so. Darcy is smart and energetic.
Oh…and she’s right on the issues.
Reichert? Yeah…not so much.
I’m not saying he’s brain damaged, or anything silly like that. Plainly put, Reichert is a third-tier Congressman who hasn’t show much of anything resembling initiative or influence.
And he is wrong on the issues. Sure, he occasionally casts pro-environment votes…that’s nice. As it turns out, he does so for self-confessed cynical reasons. That he got caught, unforced, fessing-up doesn’t speak well to his intelligence or his understanding of his job.
Washington’s congressional delegation is weakened by having among their members this listless, ineffective, and uncommunicative third-rate congressman. Let’s hope that the voters in Reichert’s 8th (possibly reshaped) district realize in 2012 that they’ve outgrown him.
I mean, they shouldn’t have to wait 20 years for Reichert to figure out how to do his job….
The first president elected after women got the vote was the terminally good-looking Warren Gamaliel Harding. I’m all in favor of every citizen voting, but let’s get serious: many people (and this includes women)vote for a candidate with no more information about the candidate than how they look.
Given this, I don’t think that Burner can beat Sheriff Dave, because Sheriff Dave’s looks appeals to women voters.
While I too like Darcy, I think anyone that’s ran and lost twice for the same seat in congress should stay out. The mere fact that she’s already lost twice will keep people from getting behind her or voting for her.
If you want to beat the she-riff you probably need to do it with a centrist male.
Given that the she-riff really doesn’t do much and anyone that could replace him wouldn’t be an uber progressive, progressives might be better off focusing their efforts else where. Why knock yourselves out over one of the least effective members of congress?
I like Darcy and all but I doubt the third time will be the charm – too many right wing fools in that part of the state.
I’d like to know what will be going down with Jay Inslee’s seat.
Sharruf Dave, where are the jobs?
All he has is another stinking Free Trade Agreement to run on.
Those have really worked swell for us in the past, haven’t they?
Oh, and the occasional tree-hugger vote.
@3
http://www.opensecrets.org/rac.....cycle=2012
The words ‘free’ ‘trade’ and ‘agreement’ all poll well with focus groups. Based upon that, the majority of voters in Reichert’s district will more likely than not think that he is a ‘Jim Dandy’ of a candidate.
The phrase ‘Jim Dandy’ also polled well with the majority of potential Republican voters — which many Republican strategists felt was rteally ‘swell’ — a word that did not poll well with most Viagra dosed Republicans.
if the constituency has change enough, Darcy could win. But that neck of the woods (I went to school with Reichert’s kid) is mostly libertarian–“leave me alone” type. (again, unless it’s changed enough)
@2, @3 Agreed. Even media folks trying to write positive pieces about her will have to be careful not to come across as referring to her as a “two-time loser” for this particular office. I suspect she knows that–far better for her to go off and do other things for a while and then run for some other office with a vulnerable incumbent.
5 – Says it all. Just follow the money.
Thanks.
Maybe the third time’s the charm for Darcy??
Speaking of political losers, I noticed that Richard Pope was running for some office or another. I voted for him. Why not?
Howie thought it would be from the 1st.
“Darcy is smart and energetic. Oh…and she’s right on the issues.”
AND SHE HUGS RABBITS!!! =:-D<
“Darcy is smart and energetic. Oh…and she’s right on the issues.”
And is too liberal for the area, has no real policy making experience, with a proven record of failure.
Get someone with either some real business or legislative experience, please.
And Sheriff Goodhair has loads… Every seen a debate between musclehead and Darcy.. Who fumbles like a stumblebum over his own words?
Sorry, he has that job because the right wing glibertarian tribe in 8th gets the warm, fuzzies from the dope.
It’s ok. It’s all good. It’s a free country.. People get the government they deserve.
re 14: No politician can possibly be too liberal for their area. The problem is always that the voters are too stoopid to vote in their own best interests.
That includes Medina, etc….
Not saying he is a worthwhile candidate either. She’s just a tired option that hasn’t worked in the past… I know the Ds can field someone better than her. The 8th deserves better than either of these two.
re 17: I think that Darcy Burner is probably as good a candidate as can be fielded by the Democrats. The problem lies with the voters. You cannot cajole dullards into being smart. Most of them would probably think that ‘cajole’ was some kind of hard candy — like a Jolly Rancher.
17 – Uhhh.. I notice you don’t say WHO you “know” would have been a better candidate.
She isn’t off to a very good start… Her campaign isn’t organized enough to clarify where the hell she is actually running.
As a Democrat, even I say no, we have enough people from my party in power in the greater Seattle area. We don’t need any more.
@21 Yes, we’ve noticed that 100% of the people in this area say they’re Democrats, because no Republican has the guts to admit it. Can’t say I blame them. If I were a Republican, I’d have to kill myself.
I’d like to see fewer Democrats like Troll and more people that want to help out the working class and fix up The Sound and The Forests regardless of what party they belong to.
Actually, at this point I say fuck the party’s. Please run as independents. You can tell me where you stand on things and how you’ll vote by telling me where you stand on things and how you vote.
Political parties, identifiable by symbol, were a good idea back when half the country couldn’t read.
Confused @ 20,
“She isn’t off to a very good start… Her campaign isn’t organized enough to clarify where the hell she is actually running.”
Ummmm…that’s because she isn’t campaigning. The poll was purely exploratory.
Somehow I suspect you are perpetually confused!
Considering Burner’s knack for sticking her foot in her mouth BOTH TIMES right before the election, why should we expect anything different this time?
Want a viable candidate for the 8th? Go get Chris Hurst from the State 31st to run. Ex-cop & centrist voting record. He’d bury Reichert, especially given the anti-incumbent mood.
I hate ‘Centrists’. Mostly because they always turn out to be conservatives. Centrism is a dumpster for conservatives to hide in.
A “centrist” is a right winger. When the right gets ever more bat guano insane, the “centrist” move to the right with them.
too damn funny…all the libtards refering to the people of the 8th district as being “stupid”
hmmm..last I checked, Bellevue, Medina, Mercer Island, Issaquah, etc…were all in the 8th.
yep, those are some stupid areas…funny how they are the most affluent as well. how that be? by that logic, I guess everyone in the central district are brain surgeons…LFMAO..
keep making excuses, its worked so far hasnt it?
oh, and go ahead and runny ditzy darcy, making her a 3-time loser would be fun.
BTW, does she has a restraining order against goldy yet? how many times did her jerk off to her campaign pics?
oh, and lets review for a second:
when obama swept everything and the democrats were on a winning streak across the nation, ditzy darcy lost to the sheriff by 15 points.
’nuff said.
26 & 27: Do you want someone who will vote with you 50% of the time, or 0%? That’s your choice. You guys sound like the the whiners over at SP who complain Reichert is a “RINO”.
There is a reason the saying “The perfect is the enemy of the good” has become a truism.
@28 “refering to the people of the 8th district as being “stupid””
Actually, only slightly more than half of them are stupid.
But nobody in the 8th CD is dumber than Reichert himself. After four terms in Congress, he still hasn’t figured out how to hug a rabbit.
dorky will only be happy when everyone is a member of the progressive(read: communist) party.
fire up the gulags!
@31
winning by more than 15% sure seems like slightly more than half. maybe you should check your maths skillz, old man.
more like they are the smartest and most educated, and arent going for the socialist lefty BS….
Maybe she can use her degree in economics from Harvard to win this time…….oh wait, she doesn’t actually have one.. My bad, carry on the echo chamber..
28 – Hmmm. The first usage of the word “stupid” in this thread appears in your comment 28.
How “stupid” are you?
One thing you can depend on stupid people and right wing dopes is to vote for one of their own. And Sheriff Goodhair is exactly that.
@23
I’m related to quite a few folks in NE Pierce and SE King counties and knowing those folks I’d bet that quite a few folks in the 8th are dumber than Reichert.
Reichert gets paid good money to sit on his ass and do nothing. He’s at least smart enough to realize what a good gig he has. He’s also smart enough to know how the pull the wool over the eyes of quite a few King County Greenies.
Naaaah.. Those were either the moderate Dan Evans types who’ve been conservationists all their lives or the nativists who couldn’t bring themselves to look past Darcy’s out of state origins and her idiosyncratic mannerisms…
In the debates between Sheriff Dave and Darcy, the fact that he couldn’t string two sentences together to save his life should have sealed it for most intelligent people.
But Sheriff Goodhair is a native son. That counts for something in most places.
@39
I used to do a lot of work on environmental issues. I’ve met the folks I’m talking about.
40 – Most greenies I’ve met aren’t crazy about Republicans and if they’re halfway smart have learned to see through a showboating phony like Reichert but I’ll defer to your experience in the matter.
If the 8th if full (or just over half full) of idiots, then how did President Obama get a solid majority in the 8th in 2008, but Burner couldn’t win in the Democratic tsunami in 2006?
Perhaps it’s the CANDIDATE?
42 – My guess is that many probably didn’t bother to vote down ballot… People who don’t bother to participate but once every 4 years don’t tend to care about much else.
42 – Another theory is that the 8th has a bunch of ticket splitters.. People who vote their hearts in one spot on the ballot and whatever they perceive as good for their pocketbook elsewhere or for whoever “balances” the government in the way they might like.
@42
When the candidate happens to be an “uppity little woman that I just want to tell to shut up” (that’s a direct quote from one of my female second cousins) it just might be the candidate.
As for Obama, the folks I’m related to might be hicks, but they’re not bigots. There’s lots of mix marriages in my extended family. There’s no issue with voting for a black guy and they were voting Anybody But Bush. My best guess is that, come 2012 most of them will vote Anybody But Obama, unless they have a real strong reason not to.
@29 “when obama swept everything and the democrats were on a winning streak across the nation, ditzy darcy lost to the sheriff by 15 points.”
Really?
2008 General Election
Darcy Burner 171,358 47.22%
Dave Reichert 191,568 52.78%
http://vote.wa.gov/results/200.....rict8.html
You’re off by a factor of 3. It was even closer in 2006:
http://www.vote.wa.gov/Electio.....11d5bd6d16
@46 Why do Republicans lie about everything? Is it a birth defect, or are they just pathological liars?
I like Darcy, but she’s not a great retail politician. She wouldn’t listen to the pros she hired; she didn’t improve after the first run. Those are fatal mistakes in politics.
Very few politicians have come back after two losses. Darcy doesn’t have the political chops that say, a Ronald Reagan, had.
Let someone new take on the good lookin’ weasel.
re 28: “hmmm..last I checked, Bellevue, Medina, Mercer Island, Issaquah, etc…were all in the 8th.”
Thanks for the compliment. You are right. We are smart and rich over here (Issaquah). It’s the part of the 8th that lies in Pierce (Dumbhead) County that puts Dillweeds like Reichert in office and keeps them there.
I guess it doesn’t take much to put you in stitches. Have I said anything to tickle your funny-bone?
@49
nope, nothing funny yet.
but try this on for laughs: Im also in the 8th, and when you fools run ditzy darcy again, and she loses for the 3rd time, it will be me with the last laugh…
run darcy run!!!!
if you want to talk about dillweeds in office, and people keeping them there, perhaps you should go talk to the fools in the 7th district for keeping the crook baghdad jim around,….just sayin..