With more than three-quarters of the precincts reporting, AP has called the congressional election in upstate New York for Democrat Kathy Hochul. Republican Jane Corwin was trailing by six points. Tea Party candidate Jack Davis, whose support was supposed to break toward Ms. Corwin, was polling below 10 percent.
This was the first federal election since Congressman Paul Ryan proposed a budget that kills Medicare. House Republicans voted for it, and Ms. Corwin said she would have joined them. That unpopular stance appears to have swung this election from a sure bet for Republicans to a loss.
The word on Capitol Hill is that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will call for a vote on the Ryan plan this week, possibly on Thursday. That would force Republicans in the Senate to take the same litmus test as their colleagues in the House, after watching what just happened in New York. Likewise, the 2012 Republican field has to formulate some kind of response to the Ryan plan. Oppose it, as Newt Gingrich did, and the party faithful will give you a drubbing. Support it, and voters will turn against you.
On Wednesday, we plan to bring you an exclusive interview with Senator Reid. Official responses from the parties, after the jump.
From Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Steve Israel: "Today, the Republican plan to end Medicare cost Republicans $3.4 million and a seat in Congress. And this is only the first seat....We served notice to the Republicans that we will fight them anywhere in America when it comes to defending and strengthening Medicare."
From National Republican Congressional Committee chair Pete Sessions: "History shows one important fact: the results of competitive special elections from Hawaii to New York are poor indicators of broader trends or future general election outcomes. If special elections were an early warning system, they sure failed to alert the Democrats of the political tsunami that flooded their ranks in 2010."
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What a great achievement but the work is not done. Democrats need to keep this wave rising all the way through November, 2012!
2012 is a long way away. THIS WIN IS A SIGN THAT AMERICANS WILL NOT AGREE TO VOUCHERS FOR MEDICARE. THAT IS THE ISSUE PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
My mother lives in this district and I have lived in this district.
Here is my letter to Speaker Boehner about it:
Speaker Boehner,
I support your efforts at all times ever since you started your job. I welcome many aspects of your legislation, except I would never agree to make Social Security or Medicare subject to vouchers.
I am a 50 year old independent voter in Los Angeles, California. My mother lives near Buffalo, New York, where they just had an election to replace the outgoing
Republican Chris Lee.
...You know it is a Republican, conservative district.
You know that half the population of New York lives in uber Democratic New York City. The rest of the state are Republicans - mainly conservative Republicans.
THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE LOST BECAUSE SHE SUPPORTED RYAN'S
MEDICARE VOUCHER PLAN.
If there are such issues with the administration of Medicare and Social Security, hire the management from Direct Loans, a wonderfully run federal program. DO NOT leave Medicare up to private companies - no way, no how.
Here is a link to a Buffalo News article on the
DEMOCRATIC WINNER IN A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN DISTRICT:
http://www.buffalonews.com/topics/chris-lee/special-election/article432808.ece
Please take note Speaker Boehner - it's back to the drawing board. You Republicans will not be able to overcome this. We baby boomers feel
the same way. AND WE ALL VOTE.
Signed
An independent voter in Los Angeles
I love it!
Awesome coverage throughout..
[Side Note] thank you for showing the world & I that Michael Steele is actually a pretty likable guy. I Would have never known that if it weren't for your show.
I agree...I do not like his politics..at all..but being able to listen to him with out wanting to punch in the TV is pretty nice. Still..a republican is a republican is a republican..was he booted for not being a frothing at the mouth hollering right winger I wonder?
It's tough for me to 'like' a Republican (other than a family member or friend.)
When he chaired the GOP, I couldn't get past what he was espousing to see the person beneath.
Chalk one up for hating the sin & not the sinner! :)
have to agree on that one!
Thank goodness people are finally starting to listen. It makes a difference when it affects you directly. WTG NY
Congrats Kathy Hochul and the people of district 26.
I hope this serves to silence this talk of a Republican mandate that dictates what the message was in 2010.
I'm waiting to hear any sign of moderating and cease the attacking of the weak people to allow for wealthy to pay low taxes while they state we MUST cut social programs, What a crock!
Don't forget this in 2012, there is a desire by Republicans to cut Medicare and Social Security funding. It is always on their radar, not just today, always.
NEVER LET YOUR GUARD DOWN is RIGHT ON! We progressives are compassionate people and sometimes that is taken advantage of by the rethugs-- they always have a rich only agenda. Take Care and Be Ware!
Delicious.
Here we go! on to 2012 move the repugs back where they belong...
YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!
HEY GREAT GOING 26th! Congrats to Kathy Hochul and your NEW NY HISTORY MAKING CONSTITUENTS!
This is sweet. And hopefully a sign of things to come. I hope people are paying attention, and continue to do so as we get into the real campaign season.
In the meantime, a reminder: Paul Ryan has good reason for wanting to kill Medicare. Actually, he has nearly 270 thousand of them.
Well if course those voters don't live in the "real America," so they don't count. This means nothing. YOU HEAR ME!? NOTHING.
Americans hate Medicare, don'tcha know?
Countdown to GOP whining about voter fraud...
I wanted to say that! *angry, petulant glare*
No countdown on that needed.
Ms. Corwin filed for a recount before the polls even opened.
I would love to be a bug on the wall in the next House Republican caucus----lots of screaming and yelling, recriminations, anger toward Boehner, Cantor and Ryan. The Republicans have their Waterloo (Thanks Mr. DeMint) instead of Obama. Life is good for the Dems.
The other big losers in this fiasco are the Tea Party and Grover Norquist. This seals the fate of budget talks about tax hikes. There is no way Republicans can avoid the hikes.
They are the ones that started ranting about the debt as soon as the Dem won the WH, they made a critical error to rail on Health Care reform (a gift to corps) and decide they HAD TO CUT Medicare.
Frank Luntz is going to be working overtime for the next elections. But that won't help if you voted for the Ryan budget. You can't explain it away with any amount of sugarcoating.
I wonder how many GOP will change their position on the Ryan plan now that NY-26 favored a Democrat or will they see flip-flopping as the greater risk?
I don't see how Republicans can avoid flip flopping. They will need to make painful decisions on how to dump the TP and raise taxes without angering their rich benefactors. It can't be done. A prolonged budget fight with the Dems will only keep the Ryan budget on the minds of voters for a longer period of time. And that budget is something the Republicans want to put as much distance as they can before the elections. Even Paul Ryan, the new Republican pariah, is going to have to do a song and dance.
That's easy. Go with the rate of taxation of a previous Republican Administration. The Eisenhower Administration. Tell the rich they can go lump it, the needs of the nation must come first. Even groups like those being spawned by Karl Rove, Dick Armey, and the Koch bros are getting increasingly less bang for the megabuck. The higher dams their dollars build, the more of a flood they create when the dams break.
Is it OK to laugh at this wonderful turn of events? In the reddest of red areas, the R guy that won there with 74% gets caught whoring himself shirtless on Craigslist. Special election. Tea Party splitter gets called the cause for concern, gets shown shoving a cameraman.... it couldn't possibly be the Medicare cutting plan?
hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Thanks to those that are sane in NY 26! You are getting the true agenda of the R's.
couldn't agree more Mike.
Sandy,
I pounded the spot next to me and laughed w/glee! Birthers my a**!
No they don't -- It's far better than the alternative . .
I feel as if I, personally, won tonight. I can imagine how the people in that district must feel!!!
Let's hope that, unlike the Wisconsin election, all the votes were counted! I was holding my breath on this one. As a long-time Democrat, I fully expected my party would find a way to blow this opportunity. I'm thrilled they didn't. CONGRATULATIONS to Kathy Hochul and my party!
Wonderful outcome for Ms. Corwin. Note that Fox is not reporting anything on this! It's pathetic, really.
So begins the tiny breeze that presages the sea change.
Hey DQ, stay safe and uninjured tonight...it was way too close for comfort down here; had to go to my hidey-hole closet with the dogs not once, but twice!! Nasty business in Cashion, Piedmont, etc. lots of major destruction.
On the national news front....maybe, just maybe the Dems can keep the momentum going, but................
Stay safe Kelly, pet the dogs up for me. I'm not too worried, we've got concrete walls.
Democrat Wins G.O.P. Seat; Rebuke Seen to Medicare Plan:
http://nyti.ms/mgNy6O
From the article:
“I have almost always voted the party line,” said Gloria Bolender, a Republican from Clarence who is caring for her 80-year-old mother. “This is the second time in my life I’ve voted against my party.”
Pat Gillick, a Republican from East Amherst, who also cast a ballot for Ms. Hochul, said, “The privatization of Medicare scares me.”
A great win, but it's one race: and the Dems can no longer simply be the "Un-Republicans" and expect any change to last. People *do* expect serious solutions to our problems, and while the Republican "solutions" were abhorrent, the Democrats must come up with solutions of their own that resonate with the people.
And these solutions will--and damn well should--infuriate the wealthy. President Obama needs to stop assuaging the corporate mentality and take it on--head-on. Otherwise, we may make gains in 2012 only to see them fade as people are discouraged. I genuinely think people in 2008 wanted Obama to be a corporate ***-kicker. Entirely too often, he's been an ***-kisser. It's GOT to change.
What do we do?
1. Every Democrat makes it very clear that there will be NO changes--not one dime--of cuts to Medicare or Social Security until the pre-Reagan tax rates are back in place. The deficit (for all practical purposes) didn't exist before Reagan, and we need to get our fiscal house back in order. It starts with restoring the tax rates we had when these deficits were non-existant (or at least, highly manageable).
2. All income--including investment/capital gains incomes--are subject to SS and Medicare taxes.
3. Any company not headquartered in the United States or a nation with a legitimate tax treaty with the US (i.e., most European counties, Japan, etc.) will not be permitted to file patents or any other Intellectual Property protection in the US; nor will they be permitted to use our court systems in any way without payment of user fees for those services equivalent to 1% of their gross sales for the previous calendar year. Again, these companies are "headquartered" in tax havens like the Caymans and Bermuda: why are we letting them use our services and rule of law without paying?
4. Enact a law that states that any corporation that wishes to participate in political speech will no longer receive the protective aegis of limited liability normally given to corporations. If corporations are going to be treated as people (which they aren't, but for now, I'm going to ignore this), then they should be fully accountable for their actions the same way that individuals are.
5. Realize that there is a difference--a HUGE difference--between "productive" industries and "extractive" industries. "Productive" industries manufacture, create, invent, or perform services that add value. "Extractive" industries do not add value; rather, their profits come purely from taking a cut of the money--which isn't theirs--that they have in their possession. Banks, brokerages, and insurance are all "extractive" industries--they have nothing except money that "Productive" people and business have placed into them. It should be made crystal-clear that we are "declaring war" on these extractive industries: their margins will be reduced or they will be socialized. From an efficiency standpoint, Social Security is far more efficient than any Wall Street mutual fund, even a simple Index fund based on the S&P or DJIA. Why? No $10,000,000 paydays to executives and their lackeys. Why is health care so expensive in this country? It starts with 1/3rd of all the health care money being stolen by the "Extractives" in the insurance industry.
Sounds good to me; not much "value-added" in those industries you term "extractive". It seems so obvious to me that insurance companies are basically functioning as protection rackets, and are just leaches on society's bum. There are much cheaper ways to do a cost-spread w/o the profiteering, top-heavy corporate model of executive overload... like, hey, for instance, Medicare! What a great idea!
What do you propose regarding extractive industries?
Very good line of thinking. Obama needs to get some more mojo and kick some corp a** into oblivion or this becomes a battle victory and a war lost. Well done!
Not to be pull Kathy Hochul down, but if the Bush/Gore election is any indication of what happens when the reds lose, I am sure that this is not the last we have heard about the election results. With that said, congratulations Kathy!
Thank you for thinking I could run for President on the Republican ticket. But as a liberal Democrat, I have to decline.
Aunt Dorene (to Will, Maggie and Ellie)
I wonder if Dancin' Queen Newtie is having a last laugh.... they booted him out on his derriere - now how can admit that he was right? They all stuck to the Ryan suicide pact.
The pubes have managed to shoot themselves in both feet....it doesn't get any more delicious than this, does it?
...and a heapin' helpin' of special congrats to Kathy Hochul.
The real test will come in Wisconsin. I haven't really heard or read anything about the recall efforts and where we stand.
Doesn't he get dizzy, spinning like that?
If I recall, this is the third special election in a row, in once-reliable GOP districts, that the Democrats have won... I think that the signs of a broader trend are clear.
Before he goes spouting off about tsunamis, maybe he should look to his own dinghy...
So dizzy I defy a pro dancer to "spot" during that spin.
Most Republicans defense to seniors, and the middle-aged, for the Ryan budget proposal on Medicare:
"Don't worry, we're not going to screw you! We're just going to screw your kids. You know, the ones we keep saying we're saving the country for"
I believe a message was sent to Washington by the repubs, dems and indies today. Get your act together and stay away from our ss, medicare and medicaid. Looks like we are down to eliminating subsidies to companies, cutting the military budget and eliminating the dubya buddies tax cuts.
Besides, have you ever seen one of us old farts going 15 mph down a hallway on a hoveround waving a cane? Pretty scary stuff!
Hoverounds do 15?! I've gotta get me one of those babies! How's the mileage, does it come with a cup holder? Can I get one with a custom paint job?
Wicked sense of humor!