Alexander, outgunned and outspent by Republican opponent, takes 5th Congressional District race

thenewsstar ^ | Posted on December 7, 2002 | GREG HILBURN

[KQQL]

Democrat Rodney Alexander pulled off a stunning upset tonight to win Louisiana

[Leclair10]

dan it is 3-1 democrat

[Elkiejg]

Plus most Americans want the right to abortion if the person is raped or in a incest situation

Thank you for making that statement. As a woman I've always felt I should have this right in a terrible situation like this. On the other hand, I do not believe in abortion as a means of birth control. Does this make me pro choice? We need to acknowledge this "grey" area - it's not always black or white in the abortion issue.

[KQQL]

that's why most republicans won...and Terrell LOST...

Most pro-life women want a choice if their health is at risk , are raped or are in a incest situation.....

Yep...Abortion as birth control is 100% wrong...

[niteowl77]

You are both right in your comments. The foamers who rave about a 100% ban do little but repel most people. Such absolutist thinking has carried too high a political cost for some time, and it is idologically too close to "if it saves just ONE child, we must ban all (insert object to be demonized)" tactics for comfort.

[Thane_Banquo]

It's hard to win against vote fraud.

[Kuksool]

"Not much.. but ...He's Pro-Life..PRo-GUn ..Pro-Sugar....
Anti-TAx cut for the rcih..Breaux wanna be.."


With conservatives views such as these, I doubt Alexander will gain much clout in the House. Rabid pro-aborts like Rep. Nancy Pelosi will see to that.

[rightwing2]

The GOP isn't doing so well in the by-elections.

Indeed, this is a curious anomoly. The GOP lost the 2001 election badly losing both important governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, but we lost those races because Bush refused to campaign for the Republican candidates for fear of damaging his sky-high 85% poll ratings. This time we lost the three post November special elections at least the two in Louisiana despite the fact that Bush campaigned heavily for the GOP candidates. I would be tempted to say Terrell lost because she was such an uninspiring candidate from my perspective were it not for Fletcher's surprising defeat in the House race as well.

There is one much overlooked thing that might have made the difference in this race and explain this most unexpected outcome. This was the first test and trial run of the hated infamous Democrat Congressional Majority Insurance (Campaign Finance Reform) bill that I have been predicting will in all likelihood result in the more or less permanent loss of both houses of Congress for the GOP come November 2004. These initial surprising twin GOP defeats in Louisiana where the GOP should have won both at least makes it appear that I may be correct in so predicting and that 2004 will be a RAT sweep of Congress, the much delayed reverse of what happened when the GOP took control of both houses in 1994.

No one wants to hear it, but thanks to Bush's signing of the CFR bill, our beloved GOP congressional majority will be proven to be a very temporary one. Sadly, this did not have to be, but Bush inexplicably broke his campaign promises and capitualted to the RATS on one of the most critical issues of his Presidency. Speaker Hastert was right. Democrat Campaign Finance Reform will be Armageddon for Republican control of Congress. Prepare to say hello to our first Socialist Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi two years from now.

[GraniteStateConservative]

McCain-Feingold wasn't in effect for this run-off. They had an exemption.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

the stock Market would have dived . ( the markets hate O'Neil)

1) The Stock Market IS NOT the economy. The ECONOMY is doing fine. American Corporations, with the whiff of scandal and bankruptcy in the air, are not.

2) O'Neill didn't go and kiss Wall Street's Ass. This is a big plus in most of the country. We will know get a Wall Street butt-boy like Rubin, but Republican in his place.

[Sparta]

"Louisiana's always been the armpit of the United States, and it reconfirmed its status tonight."

Look at it this way, we're the only Third World country in the US. So, Louisiana just shows the diversity of the United States.

[Sparta]

In Arkansas, Hutchinson got what he deserved. He shouldn't have committed adultery. In our party, adultery still has consequences.

[peekaboo]

Both of the GOP candidates lost because of poor turnout among consevative voters. I worked at the national headquaters for Terrell and Fletcher in Alexandria. I was a poll watcher in a conservative precinct. The turnout for registered republicans was very low. When I left the precinct at around 2:25 PM, which was incidently about 35 miles from my home, only 276 people had vote, of those only 61 republicans had voted. Surprisingly, a good number of soldiers in uniform, all republicans cames in to vote. By the way these young men are shipping out for afganistan in 3 weeks, pray for them. They asked us to. God Bless them.

There were a number of hunters who had come in, still in gear, who had been out all night to cast their votes.

The in house GOP fighting hurt Suzie and Fletcher real bad. I happen to have first hand information that republican PARTY members in Alexandria, actually went to work for Rodney Alexandria at his campaign office and had his signs in their yards. One of these "nice" ladies just happens to be the local president of the party. Some of them drove to Jonesboro last night to be on hand for Alexander's victory party. SHAMEFUL BEHAVIOR. These ladies took Holloway's loss real hard and acted like a bunch of immature sorority girls. Holloway acted like a first class loser, whining and bawling all the time. He failed to get the goods on Fletcher for negative phone calls. In fact the person behind it all came on the state wide radio show Friday and took responsibility for his actions and said that Fletcher was not in any way involved. This person also holds a seat on the state central committee for the republican party. These party people did not want Holloway as their candidate.

Well, as Barbara Bush says in her book, REPUBLICANS EAT THEIR OWN. If the likes of these activities continue, good-by to the House and the senate in 2004. Also, Bush should really think hard about another run in 2004. The Black caucus was here in La. The buses began to roll in special precints at around 4:00 PM, to get out the vote for Landrieu. Now the conservatives in Louisiana, have no voice in the senate. These so called Louisiana conservatives have only themselves to blame.

As far as Bush using his big guns to help Suzie, he made only one trip to Louisiana, and that was on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd. Cheney made a quick stop in Monroe and Bush 41 made a stop in Monroe. That was it for the BIG guns. Ralph Reed spent the rainist day on Dec 5th riding a bus to very small groups with only campaign volunteers having any advanced notice. I know because, I attended the one here that night. I would have liked to see him come on his own to those outling areas to get out that much needed conservative vote, but I guess time was not on our side. He truly knows how to connect with the people. Rainy bus stops do not help, particularly if no one knows that he is coming. >p>I do give a lot of creidt to the naional campaign workers who were dispatched here to Alexandria, to work in Terrell/Fletcher's headquarters. They worked like trojans, linning up phone banks and organizing poll watchers, young folks came out in large numbers from many other states, to lend their help. It was awesome to observe the work in progress. People from Georgia, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Indiana, and Texas and Washington D.C, were among some of the represented. Many worked for their states republican party and gave up their time to be here. None have done any of their own christmas shopping, only making few calls back home to check on their wives and children. These were the real troopers.

REMINDER TO ALL LOUISIANA CONSERVATIVES, WE HAVE NO REPRESENTATION TO SUPPORT US IN THE SENATE. and Pelosi now has an extra vote in the House.

[Man of the Right]

Ouch.

[Dan from Michigan]

Breaux is not pro-gun

[Diddle E. Squat]

And having two Democrats as Senators still has consequences.

[deport]

Interesting numbers..... The runoff vote was 28% below the primary vote..... The Statewide Senate race had an increase of 319 votes

Total Voters
12-07-02      170,922  -66,687
11-05-02      237,609

12-07-02
Alexander     85,720   +518
Fletcher      85,202 
Total        170,922


11-05-02
Alexander     52,952   -131,705
Others       184,657
Total        237,609

[pabianice]

This just in from the Louisiana "life challenged" vote...

[Diddle E. Squat]

This wasn't a vote fraud loss for the GOP in Louisiana, it was a sit-at-home-and-pout/my-way-or-no-way/feuding-is-better-than-winning/"principled" loss.

Bob Smith disease spreads to the Bayou state.

[Diddle E. Squat]

How does blaming this loss on "the dead vote" explain turnout being down substantially, and apparently lower in GOP precincts?

[dalereed]

"Looks good for Mexican sugar now"

The problem with sugar can't be blamed on Mexico, lay the blame where it belongs.

The gubment dogooders called the Peace Corp have been going around the world since it's inception teaching 3rd worlders how to grow sugar and encouraging them to plant it until they totally destroyed the sugar market. What has been going on in the world sugar market in the last 30 years is obvious to anyone looking at it and I have no sympathy for any farmer here that still wants to grow sugar and hasn't switched to a crop that is viable in the marketplace.