Fox: Republicans Seek to Capture House Seat in Obama's Backyard - Polidicks

[quote=fox]Republicans may have struck out in their bid to pick up a House seat in Tuesday's special election in southwestern Pennsylvania, which they had hoped would signal they were headed toward wiping out Democrats in November. But Republicans will get another shot Saturday, in a special election in President Obama's native Hawaii. And their chances are looking good, as Democrats remain divided on who to support. If Charles Djou wins Saturday against two Democrats who seem to be splitting their party's vote, he will be Hawaii's first Republican congressman in decades. Obama, who was born in Hawaii, carried the state with 72 percent of the vote in the presidential election just two years ago. But prominent Democrats acknowledge the possibility of losing the seat on Saturday. "Yeah," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said simply when asked this week if his organization is writing off the special election. The party is split on whether to support state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa or former U.S. Rep. Ed Case. And the infighting among Democrats locally and nationally has left the door open for Djou. "I think the people of Hawaii are learning, just as the American people are learning, that we do not have to follow the marching orders of the old boy network and the establishment," Djou said this week in a TV interview. "This congressional campaign is an opportunity for the voters of Hawaii to say, we own this seat, not the Democratic Party." Hanabusa, Djou and Case are the most well-known among 14 candidates seeking the seat from which longtime Democratic Rep. Neal Abercrombie resigned in late February to run for governor. Abercrombie has remained neutral in the congressional contest. Voters who received ballots in the all-mail election almost three weeks ago have until Saturday to return them. While trailing in the polls, Hanabusa and Case and their supporters remain hopeful. The two Democrats are splitting their party's votes in a district where Abercrombie has won 10 general elections since 1990 with an average tally of 62 percent. Case, a moderate Democrat who represented the 2nd Congressional District from late 2002 through 2006, remains scorned by Hawaii's senior Sen. Daniel Inouye and much of the state's Democratic establishment for unsuccessfully challenging the 2006 re-election of the state's junior senator, Daniel Akaka. "This election is a referendum on change for a stagnant political culture right here at home," Case, in a veiled reference to party regulars, said in a final debate last week. Those leaders are backing the more liberal Hanabusa. Despite universal support from Hawaii's powerful labor unions, she has struggled in voter polls. That led the DCCC, the national party and the White House to not-so-subtly favor Case -- infuriating Inouye and prodding his preferred candidate, Hanabusa, to refuse a graceful exit. "I'm in this race until the end, and I'm in this race to win," Hanabusa told supporters earlier this month. Djou has run a disciplined campaign focused on taxes and government spending at a time when Hawaii's tourism-driven economy remains troubled. He bashes Obama's health care and economic stimulus policies, and in a radio interview last month said he is running to take the "exact opposite" positions from Obama. At other times, Djou has proclaimed respect for a president who is hugely popular in the state. "When the president is right, I'll stand with him. And when he's wrong, I'll say so," Djou said. A now-suspended DCCC ad effort costing more than $300,000 castigated Djou but failed to identify either Case or Hanabusa as an alternative. Obama recorded automated "robocalls" and had his name on DNC e-mails that went out to thousands of voters. But the president's message -- a vague request to select "a Democrat" -- seemed similarly muddled. If nothing else, the contest has generated strong voter interest. An estimated 46 percent of the ballots have been returned as of Wednesday -- far higher than the 13.3 percent who voted at traditional polling places during the last special congressional election here in 2002 when Case won easily with 51 percent of the vote. A Djou victory could very well be reversed in November's balloting for a full congressional term, when he will be matched up against only one Democrat -- most likely Case or Hanabusa -- in what will still be a strongly Democratic district representing urban Honolulu.[/quote] [url]http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/21/republicans-seek-capture-house-seat-obamas-backyard/[/url]

the GOP is going to pick up a seat in Kenya? Splendid!

You know as well as I do he was born in Hawaii. Or are you referring to where he was raised?

I was poking fun at birthers. And I thought he was raised in Indonesia

Any more opinion pieces Glaber?

regardless, this can be interesting to see the outcome of

Note to self: start posting fluff pieces as news.

[QUOTE=Carbon Knight;22101881]Any more opinion pieces Glaber?[/QUOTE] This isn't an opinion piece.

[QUOTE=Glaber;22104167]This isn't an opinion piece.[/QUOTE] uh, yeah it basically is. did you read the article

What a surprise, Glaber is posting another Fox opinion piece about how much ass the Republicans are going to kick in the midterms. :rolleyes:

[img]http://www.dailyventure.com/400x300/dc_whiteHouse.jpg[/img] His backyard looks pretty seatless.

Glaber, it's an opinion piece when phrases like "wiping out Democrats" appear in it [B]not[/B] in quotes.

I thought his back yard would be Illinois.

[QUOTE=lulzbocks;22104622]I thought his back yard would be Illinois.[/QUOTE] Same here, especially considering he hasn't lived in Hawaii for decades.

You don't have to be a journalist to realise this is an opinion piece, Glaber. [editline]05:57PM[/editline] I'm curious, but i remember sombrero opinion pieces in the news section were bannable. right?

Do the midterms matter?

[QUOTE=Thom12255;22104901]Do the midterms matter?[/QUOTE] Yes. Remember the 2006 midterms?