My congressman has no gonads. He agreed to debate Manan Trivedi yesterday. Sort of.
Before the debate, there was a dust-up over press coverage. The League of Women Voters, which held the event, did not allow video or audio of the event at the request of the Gerlach campaign, said Barbara Dewilde, a director of the League of Women Voters in Chester County. The Trivedi campaign said it had no problem with recording of the event.
During the debate, a Gerlach campaign spokesman asked a WHYY reporter to turn off an audio recorder.
When asked why the campaign did not allow recording, the spokesman, Gregory Francis, said: “We didn’t see a benefit for us.”
Later, another Gerlach spokesman said the campaign never intended to prevent coverage of the event, but had asked that neither campaign record it. He called it a mix-up.
So, Gerlach is willing to debate as long as there is no video or audio recording of the event? It doesn’t even make sense. Their second and final debate will be held on Wednesday and broadcast on PCN.
How many times in a row can Dave Reichert skate through to reelection?
I interviewed Suzan DelBene (Reichert’s challenger) at length last spring and came away very impressed with her. A lot of other people have had the same reaction, but she’s a virtual unknown coming into the race. I suspect a number of WA-08 voters are just getting exposed to her.
The crosstabs of the recent polls show not only a surge for DelBene, but that she’s still got a tremendous upside among folks who don’t know her yet. Reichert’s done nothing in six years in Congress. It wouldn’t surprise me if, Republican wave notwithstanding, WA-08 bucks the trend. Any other year and it wouldn’t be close.
Wasn’t there some audio of Reichert telling wingnuts that he casts liberal votes just so he can pretend he’s a moderate. Or was it on video? Y’all should dig it up and make it as viral as you can on the Intertubes.
Don’t forget, Reichert was the sherriff who nailed the Green River killer. Also, he supposedly has health problems and has been absent. It’s just too bad Darcy Burner didn’t take him out(metaphorically of course) in ’06 or ’08.
Reichert did not, repeat did NOT “nail the Green River Killer.” He’s proclaimed so quite loudly for years, and most local media have taken those claims at face value, but in fact they’re bullshit. If anything, his obtuseness as a detective prevented them from capturing Ridgway in the early days of the killings (when he was already a prime suspect, but Reichert sent the task force in another direction), and as Sheriff he had squat to do with the investigation. But he’s played the myth for all it’s worth, and it’s gotten him three terms (so far) in Congress.
For a great examination of this, read here. Local blogs have done a good job of debunking this BS, but they’ve gotten precious little to show for it. The myth remains pervasive, because a Congressman wouldn’t lie about his own past, would he?
Would he?
Here’s the audio. It was originally leaked to local blogger David Goldstein (Horse’s Ass), and we’ve done our best to make it viral. After months of ignoring it, our local conservative paper cited it when they pulled their endorsement of Reichert in the primary, so score one for us.
Boo:
Gerlach has always been a fraud, and as a fellow resident of PA-06, you should know what a clusterfuck this district has been for Democrats lately. We finally have a legitimate candidate to beat Gerlach. I didn’t even know about this debate until you posted about it. One last thing. Have you seen Nate Silver’s analysis of this race? His projections say 54-43 for Gerlach, despite the fact that Gerlach has never won with more than 52%, and even that was against an empty paper bag(Bob Roggio in ’08). I looked up Gerlach’s results ever since he’s been running. Nate is good, but his results shouldn’t be taken as The Word.
I haven’t seen Nate’s assessment. But it seems reasonable to me. I want Trivedi to win, but it is an uphill climb. His Berks First strategy could pay off because that’s where Louis Murphy got wiped out in 2006.
But how? This is Gerlach’s 5th race(so both Presidential and non years). He beat Lois Murphy twice 51-49. He beat Wofford 52-48 back in 2002. And he beat previously mentioned empty paper bag 52-48 in ’08. All this in a district that Charlie Cook says is PVI D+4.
Because 2006 and 2008 were Democratic years, and this is not.
2002 wasn’t a Democratic year as it turned out and Gerlach still only got 52%. And this district is getting bluer, if anything, not red.
I guess you don’t remember 2002 very well. We lost every close Senate race in the country that year, despite looking good in the polls. Remember Mondale?
And that disproves my point how(meaning the comment you replied to .. and which I am now replying to)? Why did we lose all those close races? I wasn’t politically active then so I don’t know).
I’m not sure what you’re getting at.
I think you want to talk about Gerlach, not 2002.
But Gerlach basically drew the gerrymandered 6th so that he could run for Congress in it. It’s supposed to carve up just enough liberal territory to make it competitive, but not winnable for our side. The problem was that Bush proved to be incredibly unpopular in the Philly suburbs. This was not yet the case in 2002, but it was in 2004 and thereafter. It turned out that Gerlach had shaved too close when he drew up his district, and he wound up in a dog-fight in three straight elections. Roggio didn’t even make an effort and he made Gerlach sweat. He was lucky, as the 7th and 8th districts were also drawn too close, and they fell to the Democrats (though are preparing to tip back this year).
For the same reason that Patrick Murphy is fighting for his life and Lentz is looking doomed, Trivedi has a much tougher job to do than Murphy or Roggio faced. It isn’t that Gerlach is popular. It’s that our side was motivated as hell to vote against Bush and the Republicans in the last three elections. Now we’re more fired up to fight Rahm Emanuel.
My point was that Gerlach hasn’t been able to put anyone away, no matter the year and competition. Why is Lentz looking doomed? What polls are you seeing? Why are people fired up to fight Emanuel? The same reason people are pissed off at Manchin. The pissing inside the tent. Like why Blue Dogs will joyfully vote for anything Republican but don’t want to vote with their supposed party on anything.
You should get into touch with Tommy Morello.
In construction we have a saying; “Never tell your story first because someone is sure to top it”.
My congressman is Issa.
Top THAT!
nalbar
I can’t top that. I can’t wait for Issa to investigate the First Dog.
You think Bo will have to testify? Or will the WH ignore the subpoena?
Mine is Cantor.
Such a slate of winners.