Races I'm Watching (2013 & 14)

Some Elections I’m watching this year

Cory Booker is up according to a poll by 35 points among likely voters while Democrat Terry McAuliffe has a 7 point lead last I checked. These two Democrats are running for Senator and Governor. Cory Booker is the mayor of Newark, NJ and people were thinking he’s going to run against Chris Christie. He said “I’m going to have to work with my Governor” and I thought that’s all true and that we would have to as a mayor because all levels of government have to work together to get things done. Cory Booker I thought “he’s a rising star here” and sure enough as I live and breathe here is Booker running for the seat that was vacated with the death of the previous Senator, a Democrat. After winning the Democratic nod, he now is facing off against Lonegan, who has a nod from Christie. Lonegan is not helping himself especially when he pulled a John McHenry when he said that if you get sick, you’re on your own. Personally, I feel that while there is a lot wrong with the Obamacare law, there are many things that EVERYONE can agree on and help people understand the truth about it. So now we come to nearly October when it will be up to the people of NJ and I believe that maybe the mayor’s race for Newark will be set some time after that maybe that will be the November Elections of 2014 should Booker win. I’m looking at this election and hoping soon that we would see Senator Booker

Terry McAuliffe is looking good for Governor of Virginia and I like this. All that matters right now is this: Turnout. Most governors’ races will have lower turnout but it also depends on the state and the election law. VA according to Rachel Maddow is a bellwether state that shows us a snapshot of where the country is feeling now for the midterms.  Maddow states that they’ve elected a Governor opposite the President; in 2005 they chose Democrat in 2009 a Republican Bob McDonnell who was able to paint himself as a centrist. Now it looks like VA not only went blue for Election 2012 but also for 2013. Ken Cuccinelli has been giving the state of VA a big headache, let’s look at the case of Michael Mann a climate scientist that said that YES Global Warming is happening and here’s the proof. Cuccinelli decided to go after him (he’s bought and paid for by Big Oil) and subpoena his records to prove that he had been untoward in his research. The University of Virginia had to pay over a half million dollars defending their scientist, and the Virginia Supreme Court decided that he couldn’t subpoena those records and stopped the “investigation” Cuccinelli also has spent taxpayer money trying to bring back sodomy laws that were struck down by the Supreme Court in Lawrence (2003). He was rejected from doing so by the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals on an argument that it will somehow to protect children. He’s been painting himself as a huge Tea Party Darling and it’s not doing him any good among likely voters. Ride that wave all the way to Election Day

Alison Lundgergan Grimes is another race I’m looking at and it all hinges on TURNOUT. I don’t have to tell you about the McConnell because people have had enough of the obstruction and want to see this country’s boat steering in the right direction working in a bipartisan way to handle this country’s problems. But that is often lost because of the Tea infused Republican party that has yet to sour….or at least resonate that way with voters. 2014 I’m kind of leery about but when we get out there and vote, we need to make sure that we mobilize EVERYONE. If we don’t, we can end up with a Republican Senate due to low turnout.

These are 3 races I’m looking at with an eye on Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu being vulnerable in a state that is growing ever hostile to Democrats. Also Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor is the only Democrat of their state delegation and I hope he can hold onto his seat. Other purplish states that have one and one in the Senate will have to be on their guard if we want to keep the majority