Thursday, November 23, 2006

Under the Dome - Full of Crap

The 2006 Senate race should have been a no-brainer for the Republicans. In contrast to 2008, when Senate Republicans make up 21 of the 33 seats up for reelection, in 2006 they made up only 15 of 33. Among those were the red state Senate seats of VA and MT and the deeply purple incumbent seats of OH, PA, and MO. Only RI, a truly Blue state, posed a serious opportunity for pick-up. The Republicans held 55 seats and left the 2004 election talking about how to win the veto-proof majority they would need in 2006. It seemed likely with Democrats in danger in FL, WA, NJ and MI; leaving open seats in MD and MN; and Democrats up for reelection in deep red states like ND and NE. This was the future that Democrats were facing in November 2004. Yet, Republicans self-destructed at every turn.

  • Rick Santorum published a book telling women to stay at home barefoot and pregant.
  • George Allen hurled racial slurs like mini-footballs at homecoming.
  • Conrad Burns showed himself to be an idiot and a lout.
  • Republicans fielded hopeless candidates in WA, MN, FL, and MI and more or less no candidates in the deep red states.
Yet, though they were up against the electoral wall in 2004, Democrats put together a strong strategy that saw the Senate twist from 55-45 to 51-49 in their favor. While it wasn't all Elizabeth Dole's fault, she certainly didn't help the situation. Yet, how does Under the Dome present this schlacking and 180 degree turn and upset and piledriver by the Democrats while Dole was in charge of winning?

U.S. SEN. ELIZABETH DOLE: For the sands of time. The Republicans lost control of the Senate, but at least her two-year reign of "The Election Cycle That Stunk For Republicans" is over. Dole knew the odds were long when she became chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, but few expected the Senate to go Democratic until a few days before the election. Now, Dole can focus on the re-election race that really matters: her own.
Bull. Elizabeth Dole went into this thinking she would be going for a veto-proof majority, instead she saw her party lose the Senate in a blowout. She failed, miserably. Thank God.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Elizabeth Dole knows what she's doing and I think she had really good insight in to the important issues of our economy tonday.

Robert P said...

I would like to know one thing that Elizabeth Dole has done which proves your thesis - that she has good insight into the important economic issues of today. Our economy is in the toilet, unless you are rich already.