The Official 2010 Election Thread

[hblask 1]

Senate will be 52(D)-47®-1 (Lieberman) at the end of the day.....that's my prediction. O'Donnell and Angle will cost the GOP the Senate.

This seems like the best guess right now, although if Rand Paul doesn't stop talking, he might lose, too. I still sort of like him as a candidate, but as a politician, he just doesn't get it.There is some question in Washington state, some polls show the Republican ahead there. And Nevada really is a tossup. It will be an interesting election.

[Balloon guy 158]

Whomever has the most balloons at their victory party will win.Happens every year.It's a lock

[hblask 1]

Whomever has the most balloons at their victory party will win.Happens every year.It's a lock

I seem to remember you saying Obama cancelled his balloons at the last minute......

[85suited 0]

heh.Sharron Angle just told a class full of Latino students: "you all look kinda Asian to me" in response to a question about why all her anti-illegal immigration ads featured only Mexican people. Harry Reid should not have a job going forward but Angle is doing her best to help him out.Senate will be 52(D)-47®-1 (Lieberman) at the end of the day.....that's my prediction. O'Donnell and Angle will cost the GOP the Senate.

you realize that is only part of the quote"So that's what we want is a secure and sovereign nation and, you know, I don't know that all of you are Latino," Angle told the Hispanic group. "Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don't know that. What we know, what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country. My grandchildren are evidence of that. I'm evidence of that. I've been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly."

[hblask 1]

you realize that is only part of the quote"So that's what we want is a secure and sovereign nation and, you know, I don't know that all of you are Latino," Angle told the Hispanic group. "Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don't know that. What we know, what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country. My grandchildren are evidence of that. I'm evidence of that. I've been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly."

[CaneBrain 95]

This seems like the best guess right now, although if Rand Paul doesn't stop talking, he might lose, too. I still sort of like him as a candidate, but as a politician, he just doesn't get it.There is some question in Washington state, some polls show the Republican ahead there. And Nevada really is a tossup. It will be an interesting election.

A GOPer winning in Washington would be even crazier to me than Scott Brown winning in Mass. I saw that poll though. Rand has twice the crazy of his dad with half the political savvy.....if he could mitigate one of those, he would win in a walk.My cousin actually came in 2nd in the Dem primary for governor of Kentucky in 2008 (the Dem who beat him Breshear ended up winning) and he basically told me that if Paul loses it's the upset of a lifetime considering the overall political mood in KY. Like you said, he doesn't get the politics part of this at all.

[brvheart 1,752]

"I've lived off of what I made in the private sector. I put my five kids through 100 semesters of school and I paid for every penny of it. So her suggestion that I made money being a senator is simply false, and I really am disappointed that she would suggest that"-Harry Reid

[CaneBrain 95]

"I've lived off of what I made in the private sector. I put my five kids through 100 semesters of school and I paid for every penny of it. So her suggestion that I made money being a senator is simply false, and I really am disappointed that she would suggest that"-Harry Reid

Going out on a limb, I am thinking he meant "I did not make the bulk of my fortune in the public sector." Which is possibly true, he was a very good attorney.

[SAM_Hard8 50]

Going out on a limb, I am thinking he meant "I did not make the bulk of my fortune in the public sector." Which is possibly true, he was a very good attorney.

Care to back up that good attorney part, not that I don't believe you, he is a true snake.But we know he's real good at making millions on sweetheart land deals and forgetting to report it to congress.

[CaneBrain 95]

Care to back up that good attorney part, not that I don't believe you, he is a true snake.But we know he's real good at making millions on sweetheart land deals and forgetting to report it to congress.

Actually, I can only back up that he was a successful attorney............for all I know he was terrible but lucky.

[Balloon guy 158]

Actually, I can only back up that he was a successful attorney............for all I know he was terrible but lucky.

I would say this wasn't luck...this was re-planned

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.In the process, Reid did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company, according to records and interviews.The Nevada Democrat's deal was engineered by Jay Brown, a longtime friend and former casino lawyer whose name surfaced in a major political bribery trial this summer and in other prior organized crime investigations. He's never been charged with wrongdoing—except for a 1981 federal securities complaint that was settled out of court.Land deeds obtained by The Associated Press during a review of Reid's business dealings show:_The deal began in 1998 when Reid bought undeveloped residential property on Las Vegas' booming outskirts for about $400,000. Reid bought one lot outright, and a second parcel jointly with Brown. One of the sellers was a developer who was benefiting from a government land swap that Reid supported. The seller never talked to Reid._In 2001, Reid sold the land for the same price to a limited liability corporation created by Brown. The senator didn't disclose the sale on his annual public ethics report or tell Congress he had any stake in Brown's company. He continued to report to Congress that he personally owned the land._After getting local officials to rezone the property for a shopping center, Brown's company sold the land in 2004 to other developers and Reid took $1.1 million of the proceeds, nearly tripling the senator's investment. Reid reported it to Congress as a personal land sale.The complex dealings allowed Reid to transfer ownership, legal liability and some tax consequences to Brown's company without public knowledge, but still collect a seven-figure payoff nearly three years later.

Reid hung up the phone when questioned about the deal during an AP interview last week.

[SweetDee 0]

Going out on a limb, I am thinking he meant "I did not make the bulk of my fortune in the public sector." Which is possibly true, he was a very good attorney.

He was an attorney for roughly 4 years in the time-line I saw, I would be curious to hear what your reasoning is for your statement.

[CaneBrain 95]

He was an attorney for roughly 4 years in the time-line I saw, I would be curious to hear what your reasoning is for your statement.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/in-profile--caree...-105127749.htmlprivate practice for 18 years. You can make a lot of money in 18 years as an attorney if you are good. No idea what time-line you were looking at.

[SweetDee 0]

http://www.lvrj.com/news/in-profile--caree...-105127749.htmlprivate practice for 18 years. You can make a lot of money in 18 years as an attorney if you are good. No idea what time-line you were looking at.

Check his wikepedia page, he was/has been a licensed attorney but I don't think he has ever worked all that much as one. Which one in hear is the lawyer, maybe they can figure this out?

[CaneBrain 95]

Check his wikepedia page, he was/has been a licensed attorney but I don't think he has ever worked all that much as one. Which one in hear is the lawyer, maybe they can figure this out?

That would be me, sir. If I get some time today, maybe I will look at it. From what I understand, Reid is not even all that rich (for a Senator of course...for a regular human he is rich).

[SweetDee 0]

That would be me, sir. If I get some time today, maybe I will look at it. From what I understand, Reid is not even all that rich (for a Senator of course...for a regular human he is rich).

Thank you.

[timwakefield 68]

Just a bit of entertainment from the New York gubernatorial debate earlier in the week. It's a fairly heated race between Mario Cuomo and Carl Paladino, but this debate included 5 lesser candidates too. There was the (surprisingly well-spoken) former high-class prostitute, the former Black Panther running for the Freedom Party, and there were candidates from the Green Party and Libertarian party as well. But the star of the show, as far as crazy, was Jimmy McMillan for the Rent Is Too Damn High Party. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4o-TeMHys0The line about marrying a shoe was his answer to whether or not he supports gay marriage. As entertaining as the debate promised to be, it was actually a letdown on that front. The two major candidates totally shied away from the angry campaigns they've been running, and none of the crazies got too crazy. I found the following thought fairly interesting:

As it turns out, having fringe candidates in a debate can actually help keep the mainstream politicians honest. For instance, when the two front-runners—Paladino and Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo—both started muttering platitudes about rooting out corruption in the MTA by bringing it under control of the governor's office, the Libertarian candidate, Warren Redlich, pointed out that State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wasn't ever going to let that happen. When the debate veered into a discussion about capping the state's sky-high property taxes, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins wasn't afraid to point out that Proposition 13 has straitjacketed California's budget.

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/7847...-cuomo-paladinoIncidentally, Paladino (Tea Party candidate) was objectively pretty bad. Just fidgety and nervous and having difficulty getting his ideas out cogently. They're debating again tomorrow, with apparently at least a couple less candidates on the stage.And yes, Jimmy McMillan wore gloves to the debate. I didn't wanna give away anything about his appearance, just let the amazing-ridiculousness hit you naturally. And his mention about being a karate expert made no more sense in context either.Here's the whole debate if you wanna see more, it's easy to skip around too. http://www.ny1.com/content/127353/ny1-onli...ftra-university

[CaneBrain 95]

Thank you.

Can't find much yet about Reid's legal career.Did see this: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/...th/#more-130065Angle is attacking Reid for being worth 6 million. In real life, that's pretty good but for a Senator he is a pauper, imo. Does not take much of a stretch to think Reid could have amassed 5 million or so as a decent attorney in 18 years of practice.

[Balloon guy 158]

Can't find much yet about Reid's legal career.Did see this: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/...th/#more-130065Angle is attacking Reid for being worth 6 million. In real life, that's pretty good but for a Senator he is a pauper, imo. Does not take much of a stretch to think Reid could have amassed 5 million or so as a decent attorney in 18 years of practice.

Coming from Searchlight?You've obviously never been to Searchlight.$6,000 would be enough to get elected mayor for life there.

[SweetDee 0]

Can't find much yet about Reid's legal career.Did see this: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/...th/#more-130065Angle is attacking Reid for being worth 6 million. In real life, that's pretty good but for a Senator he is a pauper, imo. Does not take much of a stretch to think Reid could have amassed 5 million or so as a decent attorney in 18 years of practice.

Yeah, I have spent some time as well and I can find very little, which is a little weird in my view. I don't much care for Angle but you could replace Reid with a boxing kangaroo and get about the same skillset, so either way voters aren't exactly getting cream of the crop. Which in my view is really what some of these races may come down to in peoples minds, it's not like Cleveland trying replace LeBron here, almost anyone will do compared to some of these shmucks.

[SAM_Hard8 50]

Very interesting pole about the state of partisanship in America.Republicans, Democrats Shift on Whether Gov't Is a ThreatPRINCETON, NJ -- Overall, 46% of Americans believe the federal government "poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens," little changed from the prior reading in 2006. However, during that time, Republicans' and Democrats' views of the government as a threat have shifted dramatically.

[hblask 1]

Very interesting pole about the state of partisanship in America.Republicans, Democrats Shift on Whether Gov't Is a ThreatPRINCETON, NJ -- Overall, 46% of Americans believe the federal government "poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens," little changed from the prior reading in 2006. However, during that time, Republicans' and Democrats' views of the government as a threat have shifted dramatically.

I saw this, and if ever there was a poll that summed up the need for Constitutional limited government, that is it.Seriously folks, think about it. It isn't rocket science. Why would we want a government that is a threat to political opponents?

[mk 11]

Very interesting pole about the state of partisanship in America.Republicans, Democrats Shift on Whether Gov't Is a ThreatPRINCETON, NJ -- Overall, 46% of Americans believe the federal government "poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens," little changed from the prior reading in 2006. However, during that time, Republicans' and Democrats' views of the government as a threat have shifted dramatically.

This might as well be a poll asking "Do you root for your own team?"

[CaneBrain 95]

This might as well be a poll asking "Do you root for your own team?"

In other news, Democrats and Republicans have differing views on the proper role of the Federal Government!

[mk 11]

Can't believe Rand Paul is really gonna be a U.S. Senator.