Althouse: "It's awfully unusual to see how dependent Democrats are in relying on former losing candidates as their standard-bearers in 2016."

May 22, 2015

"It's awfully unusual to see how dependent Democrats are in relying on former losing candidates as their standard-bearers in 2016."

"Wisconsin's Russ Feingold, Pennsylvania's Joe Sestak, Indiana's Baron Hill, and Ohio's Ted Strickland all ran underwhelming campaigns in losing office in 2010—and are looking to return to politics six years later. Party officials are courting former Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina to make a comeback bid, despite mediocre favorability ratings and the fact that she lost a race just months ago that most had expected her to win. All told, more than half of the Democrats' Senate challengers in 2016 are comeback candidates.... [T]he reliance on former failures is a direct result of the party having no one else to turn to.... Without Feingold in Wisconsin, the party's only logical option would be Rep. Ron Kind, who has regularly passed up opportunities for a promotion. Former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett already lost to Gov. Scott Walker twice, and businesswoman Mary Burke disappointed as a first-time gubernatorial candidate last year."

From "Democrats' Vanishing Future/Hillary Clinton is not the only Democratic comeback candidate on the 2016 ticket. Senate Democrats are betting on the past to rebuild their party for the future."

33 comments:

AmPowerBlog said...: The party of old white people to boot, heh.; 5/22/15, 4:11 PM
YoungHegelian said...: You wanna know why the Dems are going with old white warhorses as their standard bearers?

Because that's the only moderates they've got anymore! The youngsters are all "identity politics" loons, and are unelectable to any group outside of their own. That's why Obama won --- he was a "dark horse" candidate outside of "black identity" by birth, upbringing, & political baggage, who did a good job of looking "moderate".; 5/22/15, 4:19 PM
MeatPopscicle1234 said...: The entire government, from top to bottom (both Dems and Repubs), is utterly filled with corrupt regressives, whose ONLY concern is staying in power at all costs.

There are no new ideas because NOTHING will be allowed through that does not further a parties political goals.

All we will ever see from here-on-out, are same sclerotic actors and re-hashes of their same exhausted tropes and meaningless tent-poles.

As it stands now, the entire system is rigged to keep the rubes (us) believing we have the ability to somehow make a difference. But the entire thing is a con. The entire right/left, Dem/Repub schism is a hoax. The Federal Government rules all, decrees all, and crushes all who resist it.

Welcome to our glorious future, Comrades!; 5/22/15, 4:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Thank you Barack Obama, for so completely destroying the Democrat's bench; 5/22/15, 4:23 PM
Michael K said...: OK by me.; 5/22/15, 4:29 PM
MadisonMan said...: Feingold does appear to have shut the door on any rising Democrats' campaigns in WI.

It's like Democrats learned nothing from the non-primary for Governor.

Also: What Joshua Barker said, x10.; 5/22/15, 4:30 PM
Michael K said...: "The entire right/left, Dem/Repub schism is a hoax. The Federal Government rules all, decrees all, and crushes all who resist it."

Not the entire thing but you are close. It is the Country Party versus the Ruling Class. The Tea Party is part of the country party and is therefore hated by all the ruling class of both parties.; 5/22/15, 4:31 PM
chickelit said...: They should run Carter again before it's too late. He did one term and thus is eligible. Or draft Gore, Kerry, and even Edwards. Edwards especially because of female appeal.; 5/22/15, 5:09 PM
chickelit said...: The Dem bench is actually deeper than people think. There's Tony Villagarosa from L.A., that guy from Chicago, the crazy-haired lady from Florida, and the Castro Brothers from down south.; 5/22/15, 5:11 PM
Known Unknown said...: Castro Brothers from down south.

They're not citizens.

Oh, the other Castro brothers. From Texas. My bad.; 5/22/15, 5:17 PM
trumpetdaddy said...: I literally laughed out loud when the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Ted Strickland was the Democrats' best hope for taking on Sen. Rob Portman.

Kraushaar's reporting in this piece shows that they are no better off in any other "swing-state" Senate races.; 5/22/15, 5:18 PM
trumpetdaddy said...: Julian Castro is a joke. He's the great Democrat Hispanic hope after 5 years as mayor of a medium-sized city and one year in Obama's cabinet. He doesn't even speak Spanish.

It's going to be Gov. Walker and either Sen. Rubio or Gov. Martinez as the VP nominee.; 5/22/15, 5:22 PM
Sebastian said...: Fits the party of reaction.

At least the other retreads are younger than grannie Clinton. (They are, aren't they?); 5/22/15, 5:29 PM
The Godfather said...: Republicans: Don't get cocky. They could win. The odds are that enough of them will win to control the Senate. The electorate that gave us 8 years of Obama (say, could that be the title of a Nobel Prize-winning novel?) could give us 4 or 8 years of Hillary! or Granny or old Joe.; 5/22/15, 5:40 PM
furious_a said...: It not just losers who lose -- Dick Thornburgh (PA) and Tommy Thompson (WI), both winning governors who took cabinet jobs, lost Senate bids after returning to politics.

Retreads, win or lose.; 5/22/15, 5:45 PM
viator said...: I think Angelo Codevilla's analysis mentioned by Michael K,
the country party vs. the city party or ruling class is quite prescient. One thing is for sure the Democrat Party is NOT the country party. Meanwhile the cities, the citadel of the Democrat Party, are failing wholesale: crime, debt, dependency, decline, bankruptcy, disintegrating institutions, economic stagnation, and rotting infrastructure.; 5/22/15, 6:10 PM
Patrick Henry was right! said...: Hillary didn't even know Chris Steven's name the night he was killed. See Gateway Pundit for the emails where she calls him Chris Smith.

Hey Democrats, this is who you want to be President? She is a horrid human being. Please find someone else. She needs to leave public life now. Ashamed that she could ever hold high office in my country.; 5/22/15, 7:26 PM
Michael said...: Don't count out Sestak. He has all the right credentials and in any other year would have cruised to victory in PA. In 2010 he was sunk by the deadweight of Obama. He may drown once again as Hillary drags the party to the abyss, but on his own he'd make a pretty moderate Senator.; 5/22/15, 8:19 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: The Democrat party (as opposed to many of its humble voters) is a parasitic organism. It has no clue on how to create wealth or raise healthy happy future citizens.

It's leaders simply want to redistribute wealth to its favored groups and rearrange tried and true social values--- which results in chaos and confusion.

Of course, they have no political bench.; 5/22/15, 8:42 PM
clint said...: A lot of this is cyclical.

Remember the amazing GOP field in 2008? (If so, check your meds.) It wasn't just the presidential field, either. We lost eight senate seats and a governor's mansion that year.

The Dems will look a lot better in 2018. And they will probably field a much stronger Presidential candidate in 2020.; 5/22/15, 9:15 PM
David said...: They ran a recent loser in Massachusetts and it worked out fine.

We may be seeing her again soon.; 5/22/15, 10:31 PM
RecChief said...: Bay Area Guy said...
The Democrat party (as opposed to many of its humble voters) is a parasitic organism. It has no clue on how to create wealth or raise healthy happy future citizens.

The same could be said of the Republican Party. that's why I favor limiting the power (and mischief making ability with respect to domestic affairs) of the federal government, since we seem to have a two horse race in this country.

Binary choice, but they're all zeros.; 5/22/15, 10:43 PM
RecChief said...: It IS funny to remember Democrats claiming the GOP is the party of old people, and the GOP wants to take us back in time.; 5/22/15, 10:44 PM
Paul said...: I only hope that if the Republicans win the White House, get a veto proof Senate and House, that the PAY BACK THE DEMOCRATS for all their years of abuse.

The Democrats can go to the back of the bus with their slurrpies. Zero them out of any committees to.; 5/22/15, 11:20 PM
richard mcenroe said...: McConnell is already either bought and paid for or blackmailed into cooperation.

Clint. Like who?; 5/23/15, 12:00 AM
Beldar said...: Y'all non-Texans are welcome to Wendy Davis.; 5/23/15, 12:09 AM
Katrina said...: "Julian Castro is a joke. He's the great Democrat Hispanic hope after 5 years as mayor of a medium-sized city and one year in Obama's cabinet. He doesn't even speak Spanish."

A friend who lives in San Antonio tells me the Castro twins are quite petite. He nearly barreled over both of them on the street 10 years ago because he was looking over their heads. He's 6'0" - hardly a giant. It's superficial, but then so is the American public. Tiny is fine if you're going to spend your career with lips glued to Clinton butt, but a great disadvantage if you are running for President.

Obama is 6'2" I believe, which gave him a built-in advantage. Of course, the media would be so eager for the Dem candidate to win that the networks would employ the same tricks Hollywood directors use to keep the public from realizing that Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson are short little dudes.; 5/23/15, 12:18 AM
Katrina said...: Joshua Baker nails it.

America. It was nice while it lasted.

It sure is quaint to go to ballgames and hear people sing about "the land of the free and the home of the brave." I wonder: do the people singing actually believe they live in such a place? That country doesn't exist any more.; 5/23/15, 12:24 AM
George M. Spencer said...: Funny how all those rappers are suddenly supporting Hillary, saying how cool she is.

Wonder how much it cost to buy them off?; 5/23/15, 6:35 AM
Brando said...: I wouldn't scoff--as known quantities these people can raise money easily, and I don't recall Feingold or Sestak being scandal-plagued or deeply unpopular. I'd say the Dems have about a 50/50 shot of winning enough seats to take control of the senate.

Their bigger long term problem will be if the GOP maintains control of most state legislatures and the House for some time--it may frustrate a lot I'd Dem veterans into retiring, and discourage talented candidates from jumping in (it sucks being in the minority, especially these days with the parties so divided). That'd make it much harder to win back those bodies in the future.; 5/23/15, 11:12 AM
hamiyam said...: Most voters don't vote a name, just the D. How else to explain blue state politics?; 5/23/15, 11:38 AM
wildswan said...: The crisis of big cities is just going to deepen because the Democrats can't rein in unions and so can't take the steps that would balance the budget and save the pensions. Big cities are the center of Democratic party power. So the mess there will ultimately drag the Democrats under.

But ISIS and nuclear weapons and other disregarded realities - what reality do Democrats not disregard? - anyhow, these other realities can do us in.

We don't have to give up just because Obama is tyrant and no one is doing anything about it. Read descriptions of the time just before the Civil War - all the regiments of the Army were sent West, many arsenals were put in the South so that weapons could be and were seized to arm the South, southern militias were drilling in Washington DC for a takeover, the Knights of the Golden Circle were working to be in a position to seize the California gold fields, Buchanan the President said he had no right to oppose secession.

But all along in the country the men who became Union soldiers and fought the war were also there.; 5/23/15, 7:20 PM
Mitch H. said...: Sestak brings absolutely nothing to the campaign, bad or good. He's basically an arm to hold up the banner of the Democracy. At this point it's the incumbent's race to lose. Pennsylvania is in some ways the mirror opposite of the Wisconsin situation, with a 2010 governor who crapped the bed and accomplished nothing in particular, and a senator who avoided pissing off his constituency, despite not really accomplishing much of anything either. Not that senators tend to do much of anything one way or the other, they really are some of the most useless appendages in political life.; 5/25/15, 10:42 AM