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rulemylife -> Voter Revolution is Taking Hold.........or maybe not (6/9/2010 7:09:51 AM)
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Big surprises from Tuesday's primaries
People are unhappy. They've been unhappy for a while - through Enron and the dotcom bubble bursting, 9/11, two wars, Katrina. They thought Barack Obama would bring change but few have felt the changes he's wrought: Who can imagine how bad the economy could have gotten sans stimulus? It feels bad enough as it is. Then came the Gulf oil spill.
If 2008 was a change election, 2010 promised to be even more so. Incumbents are even more unpopular than they were in 1994, the Washington Post told us. Voters favor newcomers 60% to 32%, Gallup reported. Indeed, voters took out their anger at the polls, electing virtually any yokel who promised change or who railed at the Washington establishment, and sending home four congressional incumbents.
The narrative thus far? Throw the bums out.
That is until Super Primary Tuesday. Somewhere along the way, voters on both sides of the aisle re-found their pragmatism. They remembered that viability, not just purity, was also important.
In Arkansas, pundits were predicting the demise of two-term conservative Democrat Blanche Lincoln in a run off but voters proved them wrong and Lincoln wrangled a surprise comeback.
In Iowa, Republicans bucked the Tea Party trend and gave former four-term governor Terry Branstad another shot at his old job.
Likewise, in Virginia's Fifth Congressional District, six Tea Party candidates went home disappointed last night as the establishment Republican, State Senator Robert Hurt, ran away with the nomination beating his closest opponent by more than 20 points.
In fact, a surprising number of establishment candidates survived challenges in a season where Washington's blessing of felt more like a curse. South Carolina State Rep. Nikki Haley prevailed in an ugly primary, which included not one but two accusations of adultery, to win 49% of vote for the GOP nomination for governor (though she still faces a run off she looks likely to win).
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman handily won the GOP gubernatorial nomination (after spending $80 million on the primary, it would've been an incredibly expensive loss).
Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina beat out a moderate and a Tea Party challenger in the Golden State's GOP primary to take on Senator Barbara Boxer. And Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat, looks likely to survive the toughest primary the eight-term incumbent has seen in a decade.
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