Posted on 05/19/2013 7:50:10 AM PDT by george76
Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love has declared she wants another shot at the congressional seat occupied by Democrat Jim Matheson.
The announcement that she wanted a rematch came during an afternoon speech Saturday to several thousand delegates at the Utah Republican Party’s annual organizing convention.
“You and I have some unfinished business with Jim Matheson,” Love said during her speech, which was met with loud cheers and resounding applause.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.hjnews.com ...
They lost the 1st District by 47 points, the 2nd District by 29 points and the 3rd District by 53 points. I'm not really sure just how much worse they could have done.
Fact is, Mia Love was THE best performing candidate against Matheson in his Congressional career.
She lost. She lost in a state where Romney beat Obama by almost 50 percentage points. How any Republican could lose in Utah in a presidential election year where the GOP candidate trounced his opponent so overwhelmingly and where every other Republican candidate racked up huge margins is beyond me. The only explanation is she's not the candidate for the job. So find one who is.
This is Utah. I cannot imagine what Obama could do that could possibly make the electorate there hate him more. So off year election isn't an advantage for her. She had every advantage possible and she lost. If she was incapable of beating him last year then what makes you think she'll beat him next year?
I should’ve said that Democrats have won Republican CDs in Utah with some frequency in the past 50 years. However, none have recently been serious candidates with UT Dems focusing their energies to retaining Matheson.
To wit: Democrat Bill Orton won in a landslide in UT-3 in 1990 in what was ostensibly considered THE most Republican-leaning district in the nation. He held it even in 1994. He lost it in 1996 not due to his own actions, but due to the massive unpopularity of Clinton’s deciding to lock up the coal-mining region and make it a national monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante. Even at that, he still barely lost.
Matheson lucked out by taking advantage of a GOP split when the flaky and damaged Republican incumbent lost in the primary. He has managed to do remarkably well being a Democrat, as I cited. Most of the time, he has been seriously targeted. 2012 was his most serious challenge to date, and I already outlined the dynamics of the race.
“How any Republican could lose” demonstrates that Matheson has had personal popularity over the past dozen years. It was the same with Bill Orton. I guarantee if the White Republican that lost to Mayor Love in the primary had won, the outcome would’ve been no different (and probably would’ve lost by a wider margin). Mayor Love is a popular figure, especially at the grassroots. To casually dismiss her as you have is unwarranted, unfair, naive and highly shortsighted.
Same here... we LOVE Mia Love!
She lost in 2012 because some stupid third-party candidate siphoned votes from her, and the incumbent 'RAT (in Utah, no less!) won the election. We have to make sure that doesn't happen in 2014...
And how are you going to do that?
What is it going to take to convince you? This is a state that Romney took by almost 50 points. A state where Republicans out number Democrats in both houses of the legislature by almost 5 to 1 margins. It is a state where every other Congressional candidate won by almost 30 points or more. Paint it any color you want to, there is absolutely no reason why a competent, conservative Republican candidate should not have taken this seat by double digits, especially in a presidential election year in a state where Obama is about as popular as the plague. I’m sorry but having squandered one chance I don’t see the logic in giving the same weak candidate a second shot at failure. Surely there is a better candidate out there?
You name me this magic candidate who can beat Matheson by these double-digits you speak of. You’re employing two-dimensional thinking and pat conclusions applied to an inexact science. How can this happen ? How can a pampered elitist Socialist who drowned a woman in his car and failed to report it for a day, a despicable crime by any logical standards, not only get reelected to the Senate, but remain there for the next 40 years — revered as a statesman ? But this infamous Democrat Senator, in that same 1970 election, saw a Republican win the Governorship ? Logically, how could one or the other win ? It happened.
How could Jim Matheson’s father, Scott, a Democrat, possibly win election as UT Governor in 1976 and 1980 as Ford won with 62% and Reagan with 73% and yet Matheson got 55% in the latter year and would’ve won in 1984 had he chose to run for a 3rd term ? It happened.
By your reckoning, if a candidate ever loses, he or she should slink away, never to be heard from again. I guess Reagan should never have tried again after he lost to Jerry Ford. I mean, he LOST, right ? Dis-MISSED !
Now, I’ll grant you that there are some candidates who are so lousy that they shouldn’t run again. Most of us here are discerning enough and armed with enough facts to be able to figure who those bad candidates are. Some candidates, however, run valiant campaigns and even though they’ve fallen short, they show enough promise that it would be wrong not to heartily back them again. Mia Love is one of those latter examples.
What is it going to take to convince you that elections are a bit more complicated, often illogical, and involve many factors beyond simplistic reasoning ?
Matheson has beat 6 Republicans in 7 elections, they weren’t all “weak”. He unfortunately is strong.
With Romney on the ticket you knew the district would go for him huge but it didn’t matter, those idiots have been happy to split their tickets for Matheson for years.
Can anyone explain that?
Your basic premise is fatally flawed.
Mathison is an entrenched DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMAN IN UTAH. According to your basic premise, such a thing shouldn’t be possible in Utah.
(BTW, don’t know if it’s still true today, but the mayor of Salt Lake City for years was (is?) not only a Democrat but a Liberal Democrat.)
I don’t think you know what you’re talking about, as it appears you’re lacking a fundamental, factual understanding.
I know a situation just like it. Well after Texas turned Republican, an entrenched Dem named Charlie Stenholm represented a WT district for many, many years. His total time in that office was 36 years. It was the devil getting Stenholm out, but it finally happened. (Now he’s a happy, rich lobbyist in DC, however.)
Based on the results of the last few elections, and the vote totals for Romney in the counties comprising the 4th District, no it shouldn't.
I don’t think you know what you’re talking about, as it appears you’re lacking a fundamental, factual understanding.
Here are some facts. Romney took Utah by close to 50 points. The other three Republican congressmen won their elections by almost 30 points or more. A decent candidate should have taken this one as well. Why reward failure by letting her lose the seat again?
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