Utah Democrats make strides in 2006

Despite having about the worst night of any state party (although Idaho Democrats must be sad that Bill Sali got elected rather than their Larry Grant), Utah Democrats did have a ray of hope for the future: early voting.

Check out this graphic by the Salt Lake Tribune:

That's right, Utah Democrats kicked butt in SLCo. early voting.
" 'The Democratic Party clearly outstrategized or outworked us on that early voting,' said House Speaker Greg Curtis.
His Democratic opponent, Jay Seegmiller, enjoyed a 60 percent to 40 percent advantage when the early voting." In the end, Curtis hung on to win by 64 votes.
" Out of 55 congressional, legislative or county races, Democrats held the early voting lead in all but 10, and in five of those races Democrats did not field a candidate. Out of those 45 races where Democrats held an early voting lead, they ended up losing 17. "

Well that is something to hope for. Democrats will always outwork Republicans in Utah...they have to in order to have any hope. Republicans just have to plaster the word "Republican" and or put an elephant on every thing to get ahead.

last ditch "bipartisanship"

Many bloggers have noted how Bush's first "bipartisan" effort was an attempt to ram through Gates and John Bolton and retroactive authorization of wiretapping that is currently illegal under FISA. However, another little noticed Bush effort before he turns into a pumpkin on January 20th, Bush wants to push the bill that would give Utah a 4th seat.

Of course, he pretended he never heard of the bill, but the White House spokeswoman said otherwise.

While in theory the bill would be politically neutral, a newly Democratic House could allow D.C. to vote without adding a seat for Utah.

Bush wants to go back to his Texas model, but the Democrats in the Texas legislature were like the Democrats in the Utah legislature: very conservative and in the minority. The trouble is, while there will be a big Blue Dog block in the House, the liberals will be in charge and opt for popular populist bills first, regardless of what Bush wants.

Get your popcorn ready for January, it will be interesting to see the sparks fly.

the morning after

Needless to say I am very happy. My predictions were fairly accurate, I forgot about TX KS FL AZ and CA...I got too optimistic about CT and believed the hype, but I hope Lieberman learned his lesson from August and won't stray too much from the party line.

Sen. Bob Bennett says he thinks Rumsfeld will resign before the next congress takes over. I am fairly confident that Democrats' leads in VA and MT will hold up under possible recounts. What a night, what a sweep! The biggest surprise to me was Carol Shea-Porter, who had maybe a $100,000 and won her more Republican NH district. She will now have lots of "friends" in the Senate and statehouses. What an incredible grassroots candidate, very impressive. I am sad that Eric Massa looks to have lost in NY-29, but it is close and he is not yet conceding...good for him.


Here in Utah, it looks like the wave never breached the Wasatch mountains. Judge Lewis is probably gone. It looks like Miller won the DA's race (and might have done something ethically and legally questionable). Winder is the new Sheriff in town and Kennard graciously invited him to the high up meeting today.

I am pretty tired, but this makes up my temporary depression after the results of 2000, 2002, and 2004 to some degree. I really need a new hobby; I get too sucked in.

final predictions

Utah:
Hatch 60-37 Ashdown
Matheson 63-36 Christensen

SLCo.:
Winder 55-44 Kennard
Gill 49.7-49.3 Miller (expect a recount)
Bradley 52-48 Auger


US House:
PA- 4 seats
CT- 2 seats
NY- 3 seats
IN- 3 seats (net, Julia Carson loses)
KY- 2 seats
NE- 1 seat
KS- 1 seat
CO- 1 seat
NM- 1 seat (Madrid wins)
WY- 1 seat (Trauner wins)
ID- 1 seat (Grant wins)
CA- 1 seat

Senate:
CT: Lamont 51-40 Lieberman (9 for the R)
VA: Webb 55-45 Allen
MD: Cardin 51-49 Steele
MI: Stebenow 53-47 Boshard
MN: Kloblar 55-45 Kennedy
NJ: Menindez 56-44 Kean Jr.
TN: Corker 50.1-49.9 Ford Jr. (recount)
MO: McCaskill 52-48 Talent
MT: Tester 51-49 Burns
[the rest aren't close]

GOV: (only pick ups mentioned)
MA, NY, OH, CO, AR, IA, AK (recount)

James Evans smears again

On the heals of several polls showing Democratic candidate Jim Winder dramatically surging from far behind to far ahead, SLCo GOP party chair James Evans has tried to create a new "scandal."

...James Evans released a video to local media with several clips of Winder leading training sessions for Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies. In the video, Winder makes several inflammatory remarks "unbecoming to the man who wants to be your sheriff," Evans said.
In one clip, Winder said, "I want to be a hero, so I come in from the south side because I want to get there quicker than anybody else so I can give an a-- kicking or maybe shoot some guy if I'm really lucky. No s---."
In several other clips, Winder makes fun of South Salt Lake and Utah Transit Authority officers, as well as dispatchers and other patrol officers.
The video is nearly four minutes long and features a compilation of embarrassing statements Winder made during two separate training sessions that lasted a total of eight hours. Winder said he couldn't comment on the actual statements made in the video since they were clips that could have been taken out of context.

I saw the clips on KSL-TV, and the journalist there was extremely skeptical of Evans' claims. Out of two 4 hour long training sessions, they came up with 4 minutes of segments. Winder told KSL that he often would do role playing, and the clips showed his examples to new Deputies of what not to do.

This, like Evans' charge against Sim Gill, utter crap. Gill, you will recall, failed to properly fill out his disclosure reports--one of 10 candidates to do so (5 Republicans 5 Democrats)--and later fixed his reports. This is an attempt a moral equalizing where the two are not equal. Golfing during work hours is not the same as saying naughty things during training to get through to recruits. Accepting otherwise illegal straw donations from a company that is seeking to contract with your office is not the same as improperly filling out a disclosure form.

Evans in short has no shame. There is no depth he will not go to in hopes to win. What perfidy will he stoop to next? (Sorry my word of the day)