Pat Toomey never should have been elected to the U.S. Senate in the first place. He was extraordinarily lucky to run in a great year for the Republicans against Joe Sestak, who had the bad fortune to have to beat Arlen Specter in a primary before getting the right to take on Toomey. In beating Specter, he divided a Democratic establishment that didn’t really care about Specter per se but wanted to demonstrate the power to protect defectors from the Republican Party.
These odd features of the 2010 Senate race in Pennsylvania will not be repeated, and Toomey is as close to a dead man walking as any politician not named Ron Johnson.
I sure the hell hope so. A Democratic Senate and President would be nice.
Just another example of the Iron Law of institutions. Specter would have lost in the general election a lot worse than Sestak did.
I disagree. Toomey is going to eat McGinty alive. She has all the charisma of yesterday’s oatmeal, and a record of losing.
Pat’s gonna get another term, easily.
Haven’t seen any McGinty appearances and therefore, am in no position to comment on her charisma, but she’s not going up against Mr. Charming.
IMO her problem isn’t a record of losing but no record in elective office.
Find me the Clinton-Toomey ticket splitters. You’ll need to squint.
As if ticket splitting never happens.
2000:
Gore 50.6%
GWB 46.4%
Santorum 52.4%
Klink 45.4%
2004:
Kerry 50.9%
GWB 48.2%
Hoeffel 41.9%
Specter 52.6%
Both Klink and Hoeffel had several elections and terms in office of their resumes.
yeah it happens. It won’t happen nearly as much this time around.
I’d put a lot of Senators higher up on the “should never have been elected” list than Toomey. And he isn’t a “dead man walking” like Johnson. I never discount those that have won several elections and are running as an incumbent. Even a total jerk like Santorum didn’t go down quickly.
Agreed.
OT:
`This can’t happen by accident.’
For generations, African Americans have faced unique barriers to owning a home — and enjoying the wealth it brings. In Atlanta, where predominantly black neighborhoods are still waiting for the recovery, the link between race and real estate fortune is stark.
SoUTH DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — When the new subdivisions were rising everywhere here in the 1990s and early 2000s, with hundreds and hundreds of fine homes on one-acre lots carved out of the Georgia forest, the price divide between this part of DeKalb County and the northern part wasn’t so vast.
Now, a house that looks otherwise identical in South DeKalb, on the edge of Atlanta, might sell for half what it would in North DeKalb. The difference has widened over the years of the housing boom, bust and recovery, and Wayne Early can’t explain it.
The people here make good money, he says. They have good jobs. Their homes are built of the same sturdy brick. Early, an economic development consultant and real estate agent, can identify only one obvious difference that makes property here worth so much less.
“This can’t happen by accident,” he says. “It’s too tightly correlated with race for it to be based on something else.”
……………………………………
Even well-off African Americans, like the ones in some South DeKalb subdivisions, were more likely to be given subprime loans when they should have qualified for better ones. Nationwide, black families earning around $230,000 a year, according to research by sociologist Jacob Faber, were more likely at the height of the bubble in 2006 to be given a subprime loan than white families making about $32,000. The problem, Faber argued, wasn’t that professional blacks didn’t understand that they qualified for better loans; they were targeted for bad loans. Subprime lenders viewed them, Faber argued, as particularly profitable targets.
OT:
`This can’t happen by accident.’
For generations, African Americans have faced unique barriers to owning a home — and enjoying the wealth it brings. In Atlanta, where predominantly black neighborhoods are still waiting for the recovery, the link between race and real estate fortune is stark.
SoUTH DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — When the new subdivisions were rising everywhere here in the 1990s and early 2000s, with hundreds and hundreds of fine homes on one-acre lots carved out of the Georgia forest, the price divide between this part of DeKalb County and the northern part wasn’t so vast.
Now, a house that looks otherwise identical in South DeKalb, on the edge of Atlanta, might sell for half what it would in North DeKalb. The difference has widened over the years of the housing boom, bust and recovery, and Wayne Early can’t explain it.
The people here make good money, he says. They have good jobs. Their homes are built of the same sturdy brick. Early, an economic development consultant and real estate agent, can identify only one obvious difference that makes property here worth so much less.
“This can’t happen by accident,” he says. “It’s too tightly correlated with race for it to be based on something else.”
……………………………………
Even well-off African Americans, like the ones in some South DeKalb subdivisions, were more likely to be given subprime loans when they should have qualified for better ones. Nationwide, black families earning around $230,000 a year, according to research by sociologist Jacob Faber, were more likely at the height of the bubble in 2006 to be given a subprime loan than white families making about $32,000. The problem, Faber argued, wasn’t that professional blacks didn’t understand that they qualified for better loans; they were targeted for bad loans. Subprime lenders viewed them, Faber argued, as particularly profitable targets.
add Senator Kirk to that list, Congresswoman Duckworth is going to crush him