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In an interview on Capitol Hill, Castle also acknowledged that several GOP Senators, including John McCain (Ariz.), have been pushing him in recent weeks to make the move to the other side of Capitol Hill. |
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Posted on 04/25/2009 3:55:31 PM PDT by Galactic Overlord-In-Chief
Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) said Thursday that he’s leaning more toward running for Senate rather than another term in the House, if he decides to run for Congress again in 2010.
In an interview on Capitol Hill, Castle also acknowledged that several GOP Senators, including John McCain (Ariz.), have been pushing him in recent weeks to make the move to the other side of Capitol Hill. He said a final decision on his 2010 plans would likely have to come by early summer “at the latest.”
Castle’s comments come a week after former Delaware Lt. Gov. John Carney (D) filed to run for the First State’s lone House seat next year.
Castle said that he met last month with Carney, whom he considers a friend, and knew at that point that the former lieutenant governor was planning on jumping into the House race.
At that meeting Castle told Carney “there’s probably a better chance I’ll run for the Senate than the House. [But] I said there’s a chance I won’t run at all.”
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
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In an interview on Capitol Hill, Castle also acknowledged that several GOP Senators, including John McCain (Ariz.), have been pushing him in recent weeks to make the move to the other side of Capitol Hill. |
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I feel bad for you people in Delaware a true Rockefeller RINO! (CAN’T YOU FIELD ANYONE BETTER!)?..
Castle has a lifetime ACU rating of 52.28, however his rating for 2007 was 20 and 2008 it was 28. Since no Rep in the House voted for the stimulus bill, it is far better to have a Castle than a Dem.
Well, if we could just get Pete duPont to run.....
Then we would have a first-class conservative!
Oh great, just what we need - another RINO in the Senate. He merits the Republican title only because DE is a one party dictatorship and PUBs are looked upon as lost puppies. PUBs do their best to live down to that perception.
I think Senate RINOs are looking for a replacement for Spector.
A RINO, perhaps another Snowe/Collins/Spector or a dem?
I’d cast my vote for the dem, by vote 3rd party or not voting at all.
Right. A lifetime ACU of 52% and Biden’s was 14%. Yep - take the RINO over the dem in that state.
I hate to say it, Mike Castle is our only hope at winning this race. He has far from the ideal voting record. But we only have 41 Senators to restrain Obama, and of all candidates with any chance of winning statewide in Delaware, Castle is the only one who wouldn’t reflexively support the Obama Administration. If he runs, I hope conservatives hold their noses and support him.
“Right. A lifetime ACU of 52% and Biden’s was 14%. Yep - take the RINO over the dem in that state.”
Half a seat better than none ... but down the road he will sell us out and give GOP a bad image.
It’s tough when you have too many liberal twit voters to deal with.
Has DE had a conservative since DuPont and John Williams? People there are waiting for checks from Obama. Will they wait forever? probably
Du Pont was not as Conservative as I thought, he was more mid-range. Bill Roth was pretty good. Tom Evans was OK, but he got caught up in that sex scandal and lost his seat in ‘82. Otherwise he might’ve had a decent shot at beating Biden in ‘84 (when he should’ve been taken out).
Too old and too liberal (forget the lifetime ACU rating, he got a 28 last year - that’s not that much higher than my liberal Democrat Congressman got). We need to be grooming younger candidates. The DE farm team doesn’t even exist, and that’s inexcusable.
Du Pont’s ACU rating from 1972 was missing, but the average for the other 5 years he served (1971-1976) was just a 47. I think he got better when he was a Governor, though.
Castle (worse than Kirk IMO and Arlen Specter, he’s on par with or worse than the Maine girls) also hints he may just retire rather than bother with his first competitive race in some time.
Probably can kiss that house seat goodbye.
The state auditor is a Republican. But I know nothing about him or his future plans.
The Auditor has held that job since 1989 (appointed by then-Gov. Castle ?). He had the second closest race last time out, winning by just 7%. Beau Biden actually won by just 5% over an infinitely more qualified Republican named Ferris Wharton.
http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=110776
I know absolutely nothing about Tom Wagner.
It was as governor that DuPont found his old liberal House votes had been wrong. But he had several chances to run for the Senate and declined, fearing Biden would cream him.
His big chance was in 1984, but the reason he didn’t go for it was because he sincerly believed he could cinch the 1988 GOP Presidential nomination (somewhat misguided in hindsight, including that of my Senator, the then-Majority Leader Howard Baker, who effectively bequeathed the seat to Al Gore when we had a complete dolt of a RINO nominee). It’s often hard for some former Governors to adjust to being Senators and sadly, so many of ours have passed when we badly needed them (like Jeb Bush in FL in ‘06 in what would’ve been the only win for us).
The thought of another Biden in Congress is terrifying.
“Right. A lifetime ACU of 52% and Biden’s was 14%. Yep - take the RINO over the dem in that state.”
Half a seat better than none ... but down the road he will sell us out and give GOP a bad image.
It’s tough when you have too many liberal twit voters to deal with.
Good points. As to RINOs - or near RINOs - or perhaps we can have a RINO scale based on voting records, as you listed there - thank you - it is better to elect Castle now, than some crazy left Dem. But we hold our noses only for the sake of Deleware (or Seattle) and then we send notice that we conservatives will be watching closely and vigilantly. I think the Rs have counted for decades on us just pulling the R lever. We need to threaten to not do so in strategic ways - especially where true conservatives are up against RINOs in the primaries. That is where the conservative battle should RAGE.
We also need to field MANY more candidates. We need to form a coalition government party - I say call it the Tea Party - heck, why not. Let’s field Tea Party candidates that will side with anyone on:
—Fiscal Responsibility (cut spending and taxes)
—National security (do not compromise in this key fed govt. role)
—Sound immigration policy
Leave all other issues neutral or to be defined as needed. ALL other issues. Then we can build a coalition to stop the socialists. Otherwise, we will be bickering internally and the socialists will win against all of the things we care about for this great nation.
I have to agree. Although I really HATE the idea of a so-called “Republican” who signs onto FOCA.
“We need to threaten to not do so in strategic ways - especially where true conservatives are up against RINOs in the primaries. That is where the conservative battle should RAGE.”
You might be heartened by the Toomey v Specter polling.
in 2004, Specter defeated Toomey by only a few percent.
Not so lucky this time.
I think Toomey will win, not just the primary but the general election. 2010 will look like 1994.
Game Theory applied to the RINO vs “unelectable conservative” dilemma....
The “Value” of a candidate to us conservatives should be “How many conservative votes can we get out of the guy” MINUS “How many liberal votes will he weigh us down with”.
You can use the ACU rating minus ADA rating as a proxy.
In effect, it is saying that any Republican that is with conservatives less than half the time is useless to conservatives. This not only hurts on individual issues by dilutes the ‘brand’.
Then we have to consider the probability of the candidate actually getting elected. Create “Electability Rating” to judge the probability of winning election.
In Toomey v Spectre, you have
Specter = 55% ACU, 40% ADA
Toomey = 90% ACU, 10% ADA
Specter = 80% re-elect
Toomey = 33% elect probability
So the C_SCORE = (ACU Rating - ADA Rating ) * (Electability Rating)
Toomey’s C_Score is .8x.33 = .27
Specter’s C_Score is .15x.8 = .12
So Toomey is the better bet for conservatives even if he is considered less electable.
Will Oblahblah survive like Klinton did in 1996 - I guess that’s the big question. Will Rs take advantage of a conservative shift this time, like in 1980 - 1988? That’s another big question. Will it take a powerful 3rd party - a Tea Party (smiles) - for the Rs and Ds to learn their lessons?
Wow, really cool measure - I like it. Do you think Toomey’s probability is really that low? What if it’s closer to 50%? I guess that just strenthens your case!
You’d have to make a guesstimate, but risk of GIGO if you go with some wishful thinking guess.
I am assuming that since PA is blue state, any open seat would be less than 50/50 for the Republican.
I just dont know how strong the Dem candidate will be.
Notably, this is of general utility for any primary. You can figure out by how much you should weigh ‘electability’ vs ‘close to my beliefs’ in your vote.
“Notably, this is of general utility for any primary. You can figure out by how much you should weigh ‘electability’ vs ‘close to my beliefs’ in your vote.”
I’ve seen this done in business forecasting - that is ‘weighted’ scenarios. It is very useful and much better than closing one’s eyes and pulling a lever by how well known some particular Republican is.
I live here, and your analysis is correct.
He is a former Governor, very well liked.
He has opposed Obama and the Dems on the financial issues, most of the time. I don't agree with his support of embryonic stem cell research. He was very ill in 2006 and recovered from something--I think that's why he supports it.
I have come to the realization that because the Northern half of Delaware is predominantly Democrat, for any Republican to be elected to the Senate will require something that appeals to the libs there.
Castle has a really good record as a public servant, is responsive to his constituents, and would at least help to buffer the steamrolling of legislation by the Dems' majority in the Senate.
The GOP in this state is weak and disengaged, unfortunately.
So, Mike represents the best we can do here, barring the appearance of a really dynamic conservative.
The love of, and loyalty to,of First Staters for their reps is legendary.
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