Posted on 01/20/2010 4:19:01 AM PST by Palmetto Patriot
A Brown victory — or even a narrow Coakley win in the mid-single digits — could have significant ramifications. First, it could well produce a flurry of Democratic retirements. If Democrats couldn’t hold Kennedy’s seat rather easily with the state attorney general, some Democratic Members will worry, how the heck can they win in November in competitive districts.
GOP strategists are already compiling a list of possible retirees if Brown wins, including Reps. John Spratt (S.C.), Allen Boyd (Fla.) and Jim Matheson (Utah) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.).
A victory by the Republican in the special election could dissuade some Democratic incumbents from investing 10 months in a re-election bid that suddenly would seem dramatically less likely of success.
(Excerpt) Read more at cqpolitics.com ...
Spratt is dead meat and he now knows it. The powerful underlying message of last night is that there are no safe districts anymore.
As a 14 term Dem. Congressman in an R+7 district, he has proven to be a tough opponent. But after the HCR debacle, very contentious Town Halls, and his highly visible role as Chairman waving Pelosi’s agenda through his committee, this may be the moment to send him home.
BTW, we may be able to get some free polling on his district courtesy of PPP Polling. Go here and vote for SC-5:
http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/01/takeaways-from-massachusetts.html
We can get a view of what his voters think of him.
Maybe so, but Jim Clyburn is more dangerous to the US than Spratt is. Unfortunately with Clyburn’s gerrymandered district there is no chance of him losing his seat.
I agree, Clyburn would be almost impossible to dislodge, but defeating Chairman Spratt would be a repudiation of Pelosi that would not go unnoticed by the rest of her leadership team.
Even if we don’t take over the House, this might trigger a revolt among Dems, and put her on the bench.
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