Posted on 03/28/2015 12:43:25 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Congressional races often serve as a leading indicator of what the future holds at the top of the ticket. And already, there are several primaries that would pit the Democratic Party's pragmatic liberal wing against the true-blue progressives. Democrats may not end up with significantly more contested primaries than in the past, but the ideological stakes will be higher. The battles are shaping up to be over core issues splitting the party: entitlements, support for Israel, national security, and others. The intraparty divisions that President Obama has suppressed and Hillary Clinton has avoided will be litigated down the ballot, and the stakes won't be for control of the Senate, but for control of the party's future.
Take the Maryland Senate race. Both Reps. Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen hail from the party's progressive wing. But Edwards is already aggressively pointing to Van Hollen's past openness to a grand budget bargain to draw a contrast with her challenger. "Our approach to Social Security must be absolute and non-negotiable," she warned in a recent fundraising email. That's not the only dividing line between Edwards and Van Hollen: She's one of the more outspoken Democratic critics of Israel, frequently voting with a small minority against symbolic, pro-Israel resolutions and winning enthusiastic support from J Street, a Jewish group that frequently criticizes Israel's policies.
The potential for an ideological food fight is also growing in Florida, where one of the most moderate members of the Democratic caucus could be facing a nasty primary against one of the most pugnacious progressives. Rep. Patrick Murphy is the party favorite and fits the profile of a Democrat who's well-positioned to win a statewide race: centrist, backed by the Chamber of Commerce and, at 31, an up-and-comer.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
An Alan Grayson candidacy would be fun and if he wins the primary, he’d be his own party’s worst nightmare.
Oh for goodness sake.....we just had Senate races 4 months ago. Let us enjoy our newly Republican Senate for awhile before we worry about 2016 which is a century away in politics. Presidential is difference since debate will begin pretty soon.
Political races being what they are these days, you’ve got to get out early to catch the worm in the next cycle. Don’t hate the players and the messengers, hate the game.
The rats are fighting over who they will feed clothe and educate for free on our dime, funny
Bump for endless comedy material
“The intraparty divisions that President Obama has suppressed”
Correction: “The intraparty divisions that President Obama has exacerbated but pretended didn’t exist”
Grayson went to court to determine whether his 24-year marriage was valid in the first place, or if his wife was still legally married to another man when they wed.
**SNIP** Lolita Grayson filed paperwork accusing her husband of failing to pay her credit cards, refusing to provide financial support for their children. She also said, in an interview with WFTV-Channel 9 , that she had been forced to apply for a food-stamp card.(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
LINKED EXCERPT In filing for public assistance, Lolita Grayson said her monthly income consisted of $592 per child.
Alan Graysons’ attorney attributed her actions to politics the week before an election, telling WFTV his client pays about $10,000 a month for the mortgage, utilities and phone bill for the home. “This is abusing the public,” attorney Mark Nejame said. “She’s going out and asking for support because she can’t support herself on $120,000? That’s outrageous.”
Married to the bombastic congressman for 24 years, she filed for divorce early this year and it didn’t take long for things to get messy. There was a physical altercation at their home a short time later — she accused Grayson of battering her and he countered by saying she hit him. He would later charge his wife with bigamy while filing for an annulment of their 24-year marriage.
The Democratic lawmaker, a former trial lawyer, is not paying spousal support because he says the marriage was never valid because of the bigamy charge, WFTV reported.
FL Dem Establishment has made it plain, they’re all in for Patrick Murphy at this point. Grayson could get the hard-core moonbat vote. Frankly, I’d rather see him get the nomination. On the GOP side, I expect it will like be CFO Jeff Atwater as the nominee. He’s won statewide twice and is very popular.
Curiously, Gov. Rick Scott has effectively declared against Nelson for 2018. I’m thinking he may be tired by then and apt to hang it up after over 4 decades in office. My concern about Scott is that he’s rather weak and another statewide officeholder might be stronger to go for it (like Adam Putnam, though he’s probably going to go for Governor instead in ‘18).
As for Maryland, I’m expecting that Senate race to be a bloodbath with the GOP having a decent chance of exploiting it (especially if Donna Edwards wins the primary). I was right in predicting the Dems would lose the Governorship when O’Malley’s Black Lt Gov was the nominee. I think White Dems in the state are leery about elevating a Black that comes from an all-Black constituency (in Anthony Brown’s case, P.G. County, same as Donna Edwards) to a top office. White Dems have disproportionate control in the state because they shift enough Black voters into districts to deny Republican wins, but Black voters and pols are underrepresented. Black voters already make up a majority of the Dem vote in the primary.
All the polls say Democrat supremacy is just around the corner-—when Hillary is coronated Queen of the Hill.
Yet, Boxer, Mikulski, Reid (Democrat retirees to date) are heading for the high ground......
Looks like they don’t wanna stick around to see the “glory days” ahead.
Or do they know something we already know?
If Pat Murphy runs for the Senate, I’d like to see Adam Hasner succeed him in the House.
Never marry a woman named Lolita!
Agreed, if Donna Edwards wins the primary there at least a chance a republican could take the seat
On the otherhand: RINOs are the most confused that think they are republicans when they are really democrats..
They are for democracy or for a democracy MASKED as a republic..
meaning a Banana Republic..
It’s interesting that he admits there are only two wings to the party: “pragmatic liberals” and “true blue progressives”. There are no “moderates” to be seen. We’ve known this all along, but it’s great to see the National Journal admit it.
He knew she was married to someone else but stayed with her for 24 years and had children with her?
Commie pink fags.
This article is pure fantasy. There are no moderate, centrist Democrats in Congress. The only centrists we have are the damn RINOS, and look how spectacular they’re performing.
What's happened to journalism? We used to have blue dog and yellow dog Democrats, where blue was the more conservative strain. Now blue is indicative of true blue progressives!
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