2014 Election
January 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Senate Judiciary Committee will have three new Republican members this Congress. The three are Joni Ernst (Iowa), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee), and Josh Hawley (Missouri). Sen. Hawley is a fantastic addition. He has served as Missouri’s Attorney General. He also clerked for Chief Justice Roberts (and before that, our friend Michael McConnell). It’s difficult to imagine better credentials for serving on the Judiciary Committee. In addition, Hawley is a strong
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November 9, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
We want to thank all of our readers who contributed to one or more of our Power Line picks. Four of the six won last night, which isn’t bad considering that we picked three underdogs including one, Sen. Johnson, who many thought was a lost cause when we picked him. We didn’t quite match 2014 when five our our six candidates won. I view five as an ideal number. If
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August 12, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Joe Trippi, who managed Howard Dean’s insurgent campaign in 2003-04, compares Bernie Sanders’ campaign to Dean’s in an interview with the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza. Speaking of Trippi, why has Fox News replaced him with Bill Burton as its house leftist on political matters? Trippi is insightful and intellectually honest, plus he has run consequential political campaigns. Burton, a deputy White House press secretary for President Obama, is a hack
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January 1, 2015 — Scott Johnson
Among the year-end lists compiled this year I have yet to see one that captures the quote of the year. Confining consideration to active politicians, I think that President Obama walks away with the honors this year. Against all the odds in the run-up to the midterm elections in November, Obama said something useful and, even more improbably, something true (video below). In his speech at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School
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December 17, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Scott has followed Martha McSally’s race for an Arizona House seat here and here. She’s just been officially declared the winner in the nation’s last remaining undecided House contest, by a margin of 167 votes. From the AP: PHOENIX (AP) — Republicans will have their largest U.S. House majority in 83 years when the new Congress convenes next month after a recount in Arizona gave the final outstanding race to the
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December 11, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Mary Landrieu’s defeat was one of a number of blows that the Democrats suffered in Louisiana this year. They are now just about extinct in the state: Landrieu was the last statewide elected Democrat holding office in Louisiana. Republicans now control both U.S. Senate seats, five of six congressional districts, the Governor’s Office, the state Senate, the state House of Representatives, and all other statewide elected offices. Democrats are in
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December 7, 2014 — Scott Johnson
When they finished counting the votes in Arizona’s Second Congressional District — I believe it’s the redistricted version of the district formerly represented by Gabrielle Giffords — Republican challenger Martha McSally led incumbent Democrat Ron Barber by 161 votes. The final count is subject to a mandatory recount that is underway. The recount is to conclude by December 16. Republicans held two seats in Louisiana’s runoff election yesterday. (In one
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December 7, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu lost by 12 points to Rep. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana’s runoff election yesterday. The Landrieu family business is Democratic politics, Louisiana style. Cassidy is a practicing physician. As she faced imminent defeat, Landrieu charged Cassidy with defrauding whose in the profession Landrieu sought to turn into a scandal as she faced imminent defeat. She charged Cassidy with defrauding LSU in connection with his part-time work
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December 6, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Mary Landrieu hasn’t just lost her runoff race against Bill Cassidy, she has been “crushed” (as Politico puts it). With about 40 percent of precincts reporting, Cassidy leads by 17 points. That’s Mark Pryor territory and approaches the domain of Blanche Lincoln, who lost by 21 points in 2010. Come January, the Senate will consist of 54 Republicans. That’s 2004 territory. The Democrats now hold zero Senate seats in the
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December 6, 2014 — Scott Johnson
At FiveThirtyEight Harry Enten provides the odds that Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy will defeat incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu in the runoff election for her Senate seat today: 99.8 percent, based on “the FiveThirtyEight model.” I know this is science, but where does the 0.2 percent come from, and how can we verify it? Perhaps we will learn another day. Today we can savor FiveThirtyEight’s exploration of the possibility that
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December 5, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Throughout her campaign for reelection Mary Landrieu has faced a major dilemma — what to say about President Obama. Embrace his policies and she loses moderates who understand how immoderate Obama is; distance herself and she alienates the black voters on whom she heavily relies. As Scott has written, Landrieu addressed the dilemma by speaking with two voices. She says one thing when speaking to the public at large and
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December 4, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Noting that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, among many others, has abandoned Mary Landrieu, Sean Sullivan and Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post describe Landrieu’s lonely last days as a Senator this way: So with the odds stacked heavily against her, Ladndrieu soldiers on virtually alone — this year’s political equivalent of those holdout Japanese infantrymen who were discovered waging war on remote Pacific islands decades after World War II
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December 2, 2014 — John Hinderaker
As Scott has noted, Mary Landrieu is desperately trying to hang on to her Senate seat by distancing herself from President Obama, while at the same time catering more quietly to his few remaining admirers. But the reality is that as a Democrat, she can’t hide from Obama’s toxic legacy. We have praised, a couple of times, the terrific work being done by Conservative War Chest. They are currently running
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December 2, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Louisiana’s Obama-loving black citizens represent Mary Landrieu’s best hope for reelection to the Senate seat Landrieu holds. They are Mary’s prayer. But she can’t win only with their votes. She also needs the votes of a substantial percentage of Obama-disapproving white voters. Mary’s prayer must include a message intended for their ears. The two faces of Mary’s prayer are in tension. Indeed, they are unreconcilable. Politico’s James Hohmann catches the
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December 1, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
This weekend I searched for recent polling of the Louisiana Senate runoff race, which will be held this coming Saturday. I hadn’t seen anything since a November 20 Rasmussen poll that had Rep. Cassidy leading Sen. Landrieu by 15 points. Alas, I found nothing more recent. Perhaps the pollsters have concluded that this is no longer a competitive race. Confirmation that the race may well effectively be over came this
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November 17, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
It’s a gloomy, rainy Monday in Washington, D.C. But the rain hasn’t deterred protesters from descending on Mary Landrieu’s stately Capitol Hill townhouse to protest the Louisiana Senator’s support of the Keystone XL oil pipeline (photo below). The protesters reportedly are standing in Landrieu’s yard. They have also deposited an ugly mock black plastic pipeline on her property. The police are on hand, but have done nothing to keep the
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November 15, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Don Surber has an entertaining if wildly overoptimistic take on the midterm elections. Of most interest to me, however, is his contribution to answering the question I left hanging in my 13 notes on the morning after: how many competitive races in which Bill and Hillary Clinton stumped did their candidates win? Surber writes: “Hillary Clinton was about as effective as Pat Nixon on the campaign trail. Her candidates lost
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