Tag Archives: US Senate

An exclusive club of misfits

6 May

dysfunctional-congress-sizedHardly anyone wants to be in national politics anymore.

Those that do seem to be limited to the every rich, the very egotistic, the very naïve or a combination of all three.

This squeezes out the average person – the ones the founding father’s had in mind.

The carpenters, the farmers, the office worker, the everyday people who make up our nation.

What is left is the delusional, the out-of-touch, the one striving for something – anything – that would bring meaning to their lives.

The average person is left standing on the sidelines.

And you can’t blame them.

Senators are retiring and hardly any viable candidates are stepping up to run for their seat.

This points to something many have been saying for years – few want to serve in the Senate.

Short of being President, it was once considered one of the most powerful and sought after political positions.

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Everyone knew this was coming

3 May

Shatz-and-Hanabusa-sizedIn our email box flutters a love letter from the Colleen Hanabusa campaign for Senator:

“Colleen will make it official that she is a candidate for the United States Senate, and we need your help, now more than ever…This election will be the first chance the people of Hawaii have to vote for who they wish to succeed Senator Inouye. Join us in saying that Colleen Hanabusa is our choice.”

Brian Schatz, the Lt. Governor, was appointed to the Senate in January by Governor Neil Abercrombie to serve out the term of the late Daniel Inouye.

It was against the dying senator’s last wishes.

The decision caught everyone by surprise because Hanabusa was considered the anointed one, the next in line for the seat.

It’s going to be interesting as Schatz has been raising money, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will support him in the primary.

Hanabusa may not get the national senatorial support, you can bet she’ll have the backing of influential groups like Emily’s List.

But in the end, don’t expect a lot of national support.

The primary is between two Democrats, and having a democrat in the office is all the big-money PACs are interesting in seeing.

What will make a difference is race will play a big part in who wins.

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Another yawner debate

26 Jul

Watching a debate can be a chore at times, especially when you have two wildly mismatched candidates.

Ed Case vs. Mazie Hirono for the seat being vacated by Senator Dan Akaka.

Here’s our take:

Case was well-practiced, at ease, much more concise and articulate.

Hirono started off a bit unsure and heavily depended on her notes and briefing book.

The biggest difference between the two?

Case gave details in his answers and Hirono didn’t.

Hirono ducked a lot of answers and the moderator once asked her pointblank to answer a question yes or no.

A small flash of anger crossed Hirono’s face.

That told us more than anything else through the entire debate.

We tried something for fun where we counted the times each candidate said the word “I”.

We gave up - just too many to count but when we stopped, Hirono was leading by a landslide.

In fact we bailed out early.
It wasn’t going anywhere and the first 30 minutes painted a picture that wasn’t going to change.

Our take is Ed Case was much more prepared, polished and engaging.

We doubt anyone changed their mind.

People’s minds are fairly made up this close to the election.

All and all – two candidates on their best behavior and trying to be careful not to say something that would come back to bite them.

Photo: HawaiiNewsNow

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The begging goes on

28 Jun

One of the toughest things for a politician to do is raise money.

Once you get through the true-blue supporters, you basically have to badger and beg for a few bucks.

Barack Obama does it by flooding email boxes with $3 chances to have dinner with the President.

As we have said before, it really just a way to get your information into a donation database so they can keep those pitches and phone calls coming.

When it’s all added up, the presidential race could cost each side almost a billion dollars.

Scary, isn’t it?

Politicians at the local level have the same problem.

Maybe it’ll top out at $10-million for the US Senate race, but that’s still a lot of money in a state with just over a million people.

So, how do you keep those pitches coming and sound different each time?

Find something to rally the troops with a call to action.

To wit:
Our favorite dart board – Mazie Hirono.

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Obama’s secret brother

30 Nov

One of the joys of election season is the off-the-wall screwy ads some candidates run.

We’ve shared many with you of women and their shotguns, men and their goats and production techniques that would make a 6-year old cringe.

We move forward into the 2012 season with a  bizarre web political ad from Pennsylvania Congressional Senate candidate Steve Welch.

This should help prove many Republicans were dropped on their heads while young.
If there were ever any doubt.

It explores the possibility that Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey and President Obama were “separated at birth.”

The spot’s highlights include a dramatic soundtrack, telegenic host, and fake experts in behavioral science, statistics, and body language.

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