Posted on 09/13/2011 7:28:41 AM PDT by markomalley
The White House is girding for a political loss in the heart of New York on Tuesday. They’re also spinning up an explanation that won’t entirely result in the blame landing on the low popularity of the president. As in Massachusetts, where Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley was faulted by the White House and many others for tone-deaf campaigning, Democratic candidate Dave Weprin may see the undercarriage of that new White House campaign bus.
Democratic officials and President Obama’s advisers expect Weprin to lose the election to upstart Republican Bob Turner in the contest to fill the 9th District seat vacated by Democrat Anthony Weiner.
Obama won the district, which spans southern Brooklyn and Queens, by 11 percentage points in 2008. His approval rating there is now 33 percent.
The president’s top political aides concede that if his numbers had been “sturdier,” it might have had a slightly positive effect for Weprin. That means no Obama-voiced robocalls to most Democrats in the district—just text messages targeted at younger voters. More-popular Democrats, like Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Bill Clinton, are lending their voices to the get-out-the-vote effort.
Democratic strategists studying the district say Turner’s strength comes from independents and traditionally Democratic voters in Orthodox Jewish communities, a demographic displaying an enormous amount of interest in voting.
The district has very moderate-to-conservative pockets. Weiner, who resigned after a sexting scandal, did a very good job of appealing to the concerns of the Archie Bunker part of the district while also speaking to the younger transplants. That took a lot of skill and a careful cultivation of Jewish community leaders.
Weprin is an Orthodox Jew and for years represented that constituency in the state Assembly. But his vote in favor of gay marriage last spring drew significant protest. He’s been down among Orthodox Jews by a 2-1 margin since entering the race.
In contrast, secular Democrats in the district, including secular Jews, display the sort of apathy associated with a demoralized political party. Weprin has been hemorrhaging support from all traditional Democratic constituencies.
The Republican Jewish Committee and independent Democratic allies like former New York Mayor Ed Koch have called the race a referendum on President Obama’s policies in general, and specifically his orientation toward Israel. They say a Turner victory would send a message that they don’t want to be the president’s rubber stamp. But Congress, controlled by Republicans, is no more popular in the district than Obama. And when polled, conservative Jews don’t list Israel among their top concerns. But of all voters who do say Israel is at the forefront of their minds, a mega-majority supports Turner.
Still, Obama always has had trouble with Orthodox Jews, and two Obama advisers said they understand that at least some of the frustration may be exercised in the form of a vote against the Democratic candidate. They concede that the election might bring to the fore how difficult it will be for Obama to win back the trust of independents—no matter what their faith. This New York contest would seem to have implications beyond Brooklyn and Queens.
Polling lurched in Turner’s direction late August when Weprin, in an interview with the New York Daily News editorial board, underestimated the size of the national debt by $10 trillion, suggesting he was ignorant about the main issue of the day. Then he dropped out of a debate, citing a hurricane that had already passed through the district.
Can’t wait to see if the Dems. lose this “safe” seat.
If that happens, the White House will say it was NOT a referendum on Obama in any way.
Ditto the special election today in Nevada to fill a vacant congressional seat there. The spin will be that local issues decided these elections. The spin will be that Weiner’s voters were so outraged at the behavior, they voted for the other party.
But the Obamabots will say it has nothing to do with people’s views of Obama or Democrat party policies.
The Dems are going to lose a seat that they have not reliniquished since Prohibition, and the WH is 'spinning' it all to say "See, everyone still LOOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEESSSS the prez, but this in NO WAY reflects on him!!"
These morons are goin 125 MPH to the cliff edge, and there is still no sign of the brakes being applied.
Happy Driving!!!
Explanation? The voters must be racists.
There is no other conclusion.
Obummer is being given a gift from the gods of elections, a peek into the not too distant future.
I will be overjoyed tonight if Mr. Turner wins this race, but......I remain skeptical, knowing the NY Democrat Machine and it’s stealing elections!!! Of course, if victory for Mr. Turner is achieved, it will cement POTUS Barack Hussein Obama in permanent “Lame Duck” status, no matter what the Democrat Obama spinners utter!!! Obama, already is in lame duck status. His jobs bill is going nowhere!!! Actually his campaign swings through “Only” college and high school gyms, etc. are a joke for obvious reasons!!! And...a Turner victory will put great pressure on the Democrat Party to broom Obama before the election of November, 2012!!! Say your prayers that Obama will go down to defeat and that our great nation will be freed from the clutches of this un-American, anti-American, anti-Jew, America destroyer!!! Voters in NY-9 cast your vote against African Muslim, Obama for yourselves, your children, your grandchildren and our nation of greatness, the USA!!!
Ping!!!
This seat hasn’t sent a Republican since the 1922 election. If Turner loses by less than 5% the Dems are going to be in a valium stupor. If he wins they’ll be on suicide watch.
Popcorn, get your popcorn here!
My favorite ‘Rat spin is that they will be happy if Welprin loses this seat, because that will be a wake-up call to shock the White House into taking the 2012 elections seriously...
No, really! That’s what they are saying!
My favorite ‘Rat spin is that they will be happy if Welprin loses this seat, because that will be a wake-up call to shock the White House into taking the 2012 elections seriously...
No, really! That’s what they are saying!
Debbie Downer will be spinning this one wildy.
I’ll wait until the last ACORN vote is counted.
Fine.
So, I’m a racist.
The even bigger story here is that the RATs pumped $500k into this race in the waning weeks of the campaign, and my guess is that they’ve been pumping extra money into the Nevada race too although I don’t think that they ever had a chance there. The aftershock here is the coming realization that they are going to have to spend large sums in districts that they used to “own,” which is going to make funding of races that they wanted to “turn” more difficult. Let’s all hope that there are more Kinde Durkee’s stealing campaign cash from the RATs!
This morning I went to vote for a local E.d. leader election - this is a GOP VOTERS ONLY RACE. Sure enough, a Dumbocrat showed up to vote although this is not WEINER’S ditrict, to try to vote. I told her that she can’t vote in that race and that Crowley was her congressman. The election officials told her the same thing. This is the mentality of the Democratic voters - they can vote anywhere for any one at any time. I think this is called “fraud” and I expect to see a lot of it. She was indignant with me when I told her she could not vote for Weprin!
I hope this is true and Turner takes it. It will be the omen that begins the 2012 election cycle. Keeping my hopes in check but will celebrate wildly if Turner pulls this off against obama and the unions and against a Jew who has sold his soul.
I think we’re all racists the way it is defined now. Oppose Obama and you’re a racist.
The “D” in Democrat stands for dummy. Case in point: Can you imagine any American Jewish voters in NY-9 regardless of political party or belief voting for anti-Jew, POTUS Barack Hussein Obama. I can’t, unless the are insane, high on reefer or drunk with drinking too much kool-aid or alcohol. Yet, I can assure you that thousands of Jews are voting Democrat today in the NY-9 congressional district race!!! Voting to destroy yourselves??? Ain’t that a bright move??? Go figure!!!
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