Free Republic

Not long after winning a big upset in September in a special election for Congress, Bob Turner flew hundreds of miles away from his New York City district to a federal prison in North Carolina. There, Mr. Turner walked past the guards, through the metal detectors and gates and into a visiting room, where he met Prisoner No. 09185-016 — also known as Jonathan Pollard. To many Americans, Mr. Pollard is a dreadful character, having pleaded guilty in 1986 to spying on behalf of the Israeli government. But back in Mr. Turner’s heavily Jewish district, his life sentence has become...

Democratic party leaders insisted the loss wasn’t a harbinger of things to come. “It’s a very difficult district for Democrats,” said Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, noting its Democratic margins there tend to be the second lowest of all the districts in New York City. House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), dismissed that idea. “This is a very seriously Democrat district,” Mr. Boehner said. “This is not a district that Republicans have any right to believe we could win.” Read the Wall Street Journal article for paid subscribers

This is a survey result that will undoubtedly thrill many Republicans… Republican Bob Turner is poised to pull a huge upset in the race to replace Anthony Weiner as the Congressman from New York’s 9th Congressional District.  He leads Democrat David Weprin 47-41 with Socialist Workers candidate Christopher Hoeppner at 4% and 7% of voters remaining undecided. Turner’s winning in a heavily Democratic district for two reasons: a huge lead with independents and a large amount of crossover support.  He’s ahead by 32 points at 58-26 with voters unaffiliated with either major party.  And he’s winning 29% of the Democratic...