I have been interested to see the spin placed on the Critz victory over Burns in PA -12. While I would have liked to see Burns win, his showing of 45% is extremely good. There is a two to one registration edge in that district and it has not gone Republican since forever. More important, the hotly contested gubernatorial race among Democrats was won by the Allegheny County executive. Since Allegheny County is Pittsburgh and PA-12 is basically the southern suburbs and exurbs of Pittsburgh, there was more interest in voting among Democrats than among Republicans who had no real other races. When you add the Specter - Sestak race to the mix, there were likely many more Democrats drawn to the polls than Republicans. It will be interesting to see what happens in November when Burns and Critz meet again and there is no special draw to bring the Democrats to the polls.
In other words, a Burns victory in the face of the special draw for Democrats would have been a major portent of Republican success in the fall. A Critz victory with only 52% of the vote is a Democrat win, but it tells us little about what the fall will bring.
The spin in the media, however, is just the opposite. Chuck Todd on NBC said that the Republican had "the wind at his back" and still lost. This was typical of the commentary on most media. I wonder if these folks even know that they are wrong. Did they do any research or did they just take the DNC talking points and go from there? No one could ever say that Burns had the wind at his back. While it is true that McCain carried this district by a few hundred votes, that was a vote against Obama's liberalism. Critz ran against nearly all of Obama's policies. He was anti healthcare reform, anti cap and trade, anti bailout, anti stimulus, pro gun and pro life. No one seems to mention this. Oh well, what else can one expect?
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