This is not the way to end your campaign — and a sign of the waning enthusiasm within the president’s party:

The arena where President Obama and Vice President Biden are making their final appeal to Democrats to get out and vote in Tuesday’s midterm elections was far from capacity Sunday afternoon.

The crowd estimate stands at 8,000 in the arena that seats just over 13,000 and a couple thousand empty seats are visible above the stage where Obama and Biden rallied supporters.

Reading about this sparsely-attended rally in the Democratic heartland of Ohio, Doug Powers quips, “The enthusiasm gap’ remains as gappy as ever less than 48 hours before voting begins:”

Frightening.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

So, after weeks of streaming attack ads to voters across the (once-)Golden State, Barbara Boxer is going on the air with a fluffy ad, attempting to tell us what she’s done in the Senate.  And even in that fluffy ad, she doesn’t talk to us.  Seems par for the course for this 28-year veteran of Washington, D.C.

And Mrs. Boxer’s campaign rhetoric just doesn’t square with her Senate record.

The career politician tells us she’s fighting for our jobs.  Yeah, well, her policies haven’t resulted in new jobs coming to her jurisdiction.  She praises the “stimulus” as “very successful[;] it created hundreds of thousands of job”, yet by her own benchmark (approvingly citing the White House prediction that the legislation would “save or create approximately 400,000 jobs in California” in a February 13, 2009 press release), it has failed utterly.  California has lost 592,300 nonfarm payroll jobs since she issued that release.*

She claims she’s creating green jobs that can’t be outsourced.  Yet, in voting for that “very successful” stimulus, the 3-term Senator voted to send our tax dollars (and those of our children and grandchildren) overseas:

Through one stimulus measure — the Section 1603 Grant Program — developers of renewable energy are entitled to a reimbursement of 30 percent of the cost of building a facility. Since last September, that government program has given out $2.3 billion to developers of U.S. wind farms. About 70 percent of the rebates — more than $1.6 billion in U.S. tax dollars — has gone to foreign developers . . .

Then, Mrs. Boxer touts her leadership in promoting “clean energy” reform.  But, her “leadership” meant that the bill stalled in the Senate, with her own Democratic colleagues losing confidence in the Washington veteran.  After the bill cleared her committee, “Rank-and-file members from both parties dismissed the Boxer bill, coal-state senators were unhappy and many said Boxer’s move to approve the bill without any Republicans even in the committee room had poisoned the process.”

Let me repeat that.  On the signature legislation of her Committee On Environment And Public Works in the 111th Congress, Mrs. Boxer’s leadership poisoned the process.

Is this the kind of woman who should be representing California in the United States Senate for the next six years?

On November 2, let’s just say, “No, Ma’am”: (more…)

Over on Facebook, my friend Matthew Berry, who ran a spirited race for the Republican nomination in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District, is predicting that Republicans will pick up 59 seats in the House and 8 in the Senate.  Of course, if that good man and principled conservative had won his party’s nomination, it would be a 60-seat pick up in the House.

My own predictions is that we pick up 63-67 seats (64-68 had Matthew won), but sometimes I wonder if I’m being too conservative.

As I write this, my main source for news on House races, RealClearPolitics, lists 221 House seats as safe, likely or leaning to the GOP.  (218 are needed for a majority; Republicans now control 179.)  Let’s say GOP splits the 43 tossups (but the likelihood is that we’ll take more than half), that’s 21 (giving benefit of the doubt to the Dems for that half-seat).  Now, say the GOP picks up 5 seats from the 26 currently leaning Democratic, but let’s take away 3 that Democrats may take from seats that appear to be going the Republicans’ way.  (I would allocate more, but when you’ve got a CNN poll (which notoriously skews left) giving the GOP a “10 point advantage in the ‘generic ballot’ question“, looks like seats trending Republican will stay that way.)

So, we have 221 + 21 + 5  - 3 and get 244,  That produces a 65-seat gain.  But, recall, that’s splitting the tossups right down the middle.

So, what are you predictions — and what’s your ballsy prediction?  Mine is that no Democrat wins a gubernatorial contest in New England (recall, I didn’t say Republicans would win them all, only that Democrats would lose them all).  Oh — and that Tancredo wins in Colorado.

A Democratic poll shows the race in Connecticut is trending Republican.

UPDATE FROM BRUCE (GP):  I thought I’d weigh in here.  I think that the Republicans will win 55 seats in the House and 8 seats in the Senate.  If there is a complete Democrat collapse (still possible, but not probable), then I believe there is the chance for 70 seats in the House and 10 seats in the Senate.  I’m officially sticking with my more conservative projection.

My “ballsy” prediction:  Heath Shuler (NC-11) will lose; Christine O’Donnell will win; and like Dan — Tom Tancredo will be CO’s next Governor.

Recall that it was a Democrat who “popularized” the phrase, the “politics of personal destruction”. Yet, it seems he was talking about his own parties’ tactics:

As you watch this year’s ads — and I’ve been watching all too many lately — you’ll notice a striking difference between Democratic and Republican attack ads: Democrats are attacking over personal issues, Republicans are attacking over policy.

And no, my friends, that’s not from a conservative blog.

So, as you watch some on the left whip themselves into a frenzy about the Tea Parties, accusing activists of all manner of evil and animosities, ask yourself this, which side is talking about issues and which is trying to turn the focus to personalities.

Wonder why the Dems are dodging the issues and focusing on personality.

I thought Jerry Brown might have something up his sleeve when I read (in one of  his many mailers) his promise not to enact any “new taxes unless the voters approve them.”  According to his understudy, recently recalled Governor Gray Davis (Brown’s chief of staff for the better part of his gubernatorial tenure), Brown is planning to do just that.

One of LA’s best (and wittiest) reporters, Jill Stewart, has the details:

Gray Davis, is saying that California Governor Jerry Brown, um,probable governor, will immediately set a Special Election to ask Californians to raise taxes. . . .  which is worse? Another special election. Just shoot us all now.

Or another special election to get us to vote for more taxes. . . .   Is Jerry gonna pull this off?  He’s still running those radio ads (on KNX? on KFI? or is it just everywhere?) saying he opposes new taxes “without voter approval.”

Stewart has the details on how Brown flip-flopped on the “fat hikes on the 2009 ballot”.  The Democrat came around to supporting them, even as Californians overwhelming rejected them.  (Read the whole thing–for your edification and amusement.  Jill is a heckuva good writer.)

Let me repeat that for good measure.  Jerry Brown has been promising in his campaign that he won’t hike taxes without voter approval, yet the last time tax hikes were on the statewide ballot, the career politician hemmed and he hawed, but eventually came out for higher taxes.  The voters said no.

California currently has the third highest taxes in the country — and not coincidentally, the third highest unemployment.  Guess Jerry wants us to be Number One.  (And with Nevada and Michigan, the states ahead of us, set to elect pro-business governors, looks like they won’t be in the running for very long.)

We can remove California from the running by not returnig Jerry Brown to the Governor’s office.

Whenever we in California turned on the TV and see an ad from the Boxer campaign, we don’t learn anything about what this career politician has done during her 28-year tenure in Washington.  We don’t see her defend her record in the current Congress — or her most recent Senate term.  She doesn’t mention the “approximately 400,000” jobs she, approvingly citing the White House, said the “stimulus” would create or save in California.  She doesn’t talk about the health care overhaul she so proudly supported

Nor does she mention the climate control bill so near and dear to the hearts of her and so many on her fellow partisans.

All we hear is attacks on her opponent Carly Fiorina.  Barbara Boxer’s been in the Senate 18 years and all she can is what she’s always done, deliver “partisan shots.”  In her TV ads, she refuses to defend her record, choosing instead to attack her opponent.

Perhaps, she doesn’t mention that climate bill because she’s the Senator who dropped the ball in moving the legislation through the Senate.  “Although [Boxer] is chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee,” the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle remind us, “it is telling that leadership on the most pressing issue before it – climate change – was shifted to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., because the bill had become so polarized under her wing.” While we Republicans are grateful for her incompetence as the bill would have imposed increased burdens on job-creators, Democrats are flabbergasted that their three-term colleague Barbara Boxer  is incapable of moving legislation  – even in an overwhelmingly Democratic Senate. (more…)

Do hope that if ol’ Harry thinks it’s such a bad thing not to take questions from reporters, he e-mails Mrs. Boxer asking her to start taking questions from reporters:

Friends, this is the kind of ad you run when you’re desperate. Law professor William A. Jacobson who posted on this ad notes that “reporter” Jon Ralston stars in this “Harry Reid’s most outlandish commercial yet“.

“Has any campaign,” Greg Sargent wonders, “ever been quite this direct in claiming that their opponent is, well, a complete whack-job? The Reid team has completely emptied the thesaurus.”

So much for the Democrat wanting a return to civility.

Very cool!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Stay tuned for a special announcement at 3:30PM Eastern. 

I’ll be broadcasting live (er.. recorded live…) for the first time from GayPatriot Broadcast HQ in Charlotte, NC.

LIVE ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE FROM FREEDOMWORKS
Anchored by Tabitha Hale, Melissa Clothier and Bruce Carroll

UPDATE:  Dang it, I forgot to mention the most important thing!  If any of you are planning to be at a campaign HQ on Tuesday night, please email me and let me know and we can try to get you on the show as a contributor (iPhone & Skype would help!).

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

. . . and I, a registered Republican, have received more mailings touting Democratic candidates than I have promoting Republicans.

Is there an active terror operation, or test-of-security, underway now in the USA by Al-Qaeda of Yemen?

FOX NEWS URGENT: U.S. and international authorities investigate whether multiple suspicious packages originating from Yemen found aboard UPS flights landing in Newark, N.J., Philadelphia and England are part of a terror group’s rehearsal for a mail bomb attack.

CBS News reports that the Joint Terrorism Task Force wants to find 10-20 packages sent out of Sanna, Yemen.

Please stay tuned to up to the minute news sources as authorities get a handle on what is going on.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

This morning commenting on anemic economic growth figures for the third quarter of 2010, Carly Fiorina pointed to the problems preventing the Golden State from regaining its luster:

. . . the budget-busting, government-growing policies Barbara Boxer and her fellow career politicians in Washington championed have failed to stimulate the long-term growth our economy needs in order to experience a full, sustainable recovery . . . .  the economic ‘stimulus’ plan was only successful in stimulating growth in the size of government.

Emphasis added.  The problem nationwide, but particularly here in California is the incredible grown in the size of government.

In order to make the Golden State golden once more, elected officials in Sacramento and Washington need do four things:

1. Cut taxes, particularly those on businesses (you know the institutions which create jobs and generate growth)
2. Reduce regulations which increase the cost of running businesses
3. Cut government budgets
4. Reform state public employee pension plans/reduce influence of public employee unions

At the federal level, it may be a good idea to use the FY 2007 budget as a baseline.  In California, we’ll have to go back even further, to the last budget of Governor Pete Wilson.

In her campaign for Governor, Meg Whitman has focused on all four while Carly seeking federal office has focused on the first three, the last being a state issue.  Basically, the Republicans have a plan to fix what ails California.  The Democrats want to keep the status quo.

Support my gal so she can push pro-growth policies in Washington.

When you associate only with your ideological confrères, you believe that all the really, smart people think exactly like you, such that when you see political trends moving against you, your natural assumption is that the people must be crazy.  Or angry.  Or didn’t have their morning cereal.

And now as poll after poll after poll after poll show Americans preferring the Republicans to the Democrats and preferring Tea Party ideas to Obama’s agenda, leading Democrats are casting about, looking for someone to blame or for a means to denigrate the opposition.  And the latest to do so is the former long-term junior Senator from Massachusetts.

“Ah,” opines a witty pajama-clad pundit,

. . . taste the bitter fruit of impending defeat, courtesy of the man living off his second wife’s first husband’s trust fund. And what better time to bust out this photo than Halloween. It might be six years old, but it never gets old. A great way to rally the troops five days out of the impending tsunami–by insulting your own constituents.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry unleashed a broadside Thursday against Republican “obstructionism,” saying the GOP and its talk-show allies have created a “period of know-nothingism” in the country.

“Thurston Heinz III’s swift boat has sprung a leak in the deep end again,” quips Doug Powers. “Strange — just a couple of years ago the country was brilliant, progressive and in a period of mass awakening, and less that 24 months later that same nation is ignorant and blind to the facts.”

It’s not just John Kerry.  Yesterday, commenting on Shelby Steele’s “must-read column in the Wall Street Journal”, Jennifer Rubin observes:

And what is more, it puts the president in the position of assuming that opposition stems from ill motives, nefarious funding sources, racism, Islamaphobia, and ignorance. We don’t appreciate him because we are confused and scared. We are, in this view, recalcitrant children at best and an unhinged mob at worst. (more…)

Just because the company that operates these voting machines has direct connections to corrupt Democrats in the state should be no reason to connect the “auto-Democrat” vote problems to tampering, right?  Nahhh.  (Email below from NC Republican Party)

The North Carolina Republican Party has been diligently investigating problems associated with voting machines, in particular iVotronic touch-screen voting machines in our state. These types of machines are in use in 35 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.  

Reports began to surface last week of voter’s intentions not being properly registered by these machines.   The specific incidents that first came to our attention were those who were attempting to cast a straight-ticket Republican vote but the machine was verifying that a straight-ticket Democratic vote had been registered. Fortunately, these initial voters were diligent in the verification process and after repeated attempts, called the problem to the attention of poll workers who assisted in making sure that the voter’s intentions were properly tallied.

Reports of similar problems began to come in from other parts of the state and at the time of this correspondence, (5pm October 28) we now have complaints from the counties New Hanover, Craven, Cumberland, Rutherford, Lenoir and Mecklenburg.   I want to stress that there may indeed be similar issues in other counties using these same machines. To date, all documented voter issues involve attempts to cast votes for Republicans and at least one voter was a registered Democrat who was attempting to vote a straight-ticket Republican ballot.

Attorneys working on behalf of the NCGOP have been in contact with the State Board of Elections as early as last week in hopes of rectifying this issue and clarifying the causes of these problems. To date, it is our opinion that sufficient effort or progress has not been made by the State Board of Elections to ensure the integrity of the voting process.  

For example, on Wednesday, October 27 the State Board of Elections conducted a informational session to instill voter confidence in Craven County, one of the first to report these problems.   Concerned citizens came to hear information on the documented reports of machines engaging in what is known as “vote flipping”, registering for the opposite party or candidate than the voters intention. Instead they were given a remedial demonstration as to the operation of the touch-screen machine.

When one citizen expressed frustration about the lack of answers to the obvious concerns of the majority in the room, he was told by the State Board of Elections official that she was only there to demonstrate the machine and if he didn’t like that, he could leave.

Just today [Thursday] in Craven County, two Republican poll workers were fired for talking to the media about the voting irregularities and what they claim was elections officials failure to properly address the issue.

Additional skepticism surrounds this situation due to the fact that the company responsible for the sale, distribution and maintenance of these machines has made headlines recently for questionable dealings in obtaining state contracts. Knowing that the ownership of the company in question, Printelect, has strong ties to the North Carolina Democratic Party and that the company itself holds a virtual monopoly on ballot printing and equipment maintenance for the state has only fueled suspicions.  

This morning [Thursday], NCGOP attorneys delivered a letter to the State Board of Elections demanding corrective action be taken immediately.  (a copy of that letter can be viewed here.)

Appearing that the State Board of Elections has no intentions of taking corrective action, the NCGOP is contemplating proceeding to Federal Court on Friday to seek appropriate action to ensure the validity of the voting process in North Carolina. A total of 65 counties in our state use paper ballots tabulated by optical scanners; universally considered to be highly accurate and efficient. It is not equitable that those voters leave the polling place with a higher level of confidence that the votes have been accurately recorded than those using touch-screen machines.

Make no mistake; the NCGOP will not stand idly by and watch one of the most important rights we hold as Americans become subject to at best, a random game of electronic chance and at worst, an effort to subvert the political process. 

Let’s hope the NCGOP gets on top of this.  This type of alleged tampering corrupts the confidence of those voters who expect the system is beyond reproach.   Why is it always that these machine glitches make automatic votes for the DEMOCRATS?  Funny that, eh?

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

It makes news when the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat from Nevada won’t take questions from the press.  Just yesterday, Michael Calderone reported on Yahoo!, “Sharron Angle has dodged the media through much of her Nevada Senate run—whether by skipping out on her own news conference in July or ditching reporters waiting to speak with her on Monday.”

Yet, when 3-term Senator Barbara Boxer, a 28-year veteran of Washington politics, dodges the media, well, it’s relegated to the blogs of various newspapers.  Yesterday in Sacramento, after pounding “on her campaign themes of job creation and protection of the environment at a campaign stop in Sacramento on Thursday,” she left  “without taking questions from the media that might distract from her message.”

Boxer campaigning on job creation?  Um, Ma’am, the unemployment rate in the state has increased by over 25% during your tenure in Washington  – more than doubling since your party returned to majority status in the Senate.  Your campaigning on jobs is kind of like the pop star Madonna campaigning on sexual restraint.

Even after Boxer said, “if reporters have any political questions, ‘I’m happy to take them at this time’,” she did everything possible to avoid them.  As the Sacramento Bee‘s Dan Morain reported (on his paper’s blog):

Funny thing, though, she didn’t pause or look out into the audience. If she had, she might have seen a hand raised, mine. Instead, she seamlessly introduced the next speaker, Obama Administration Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and skittered off to a waiting vehicle so she could zip to the next stop.

If she had deigned to take a question, some wag might have asked: “Given your stated stand in favor of jobs and economy, why is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spending millions to defeat you.”

He might also asked, if jobs are your theme, where are those “approximately 400,000” jobs you, approvingly citing the White House, said the “stimulus” would create or save in California.

Do hope the media give us a bit more coverage of Mrs. Boxer’s attempts to avoid the media.  After all, shouldn’t they be castigating her for ignoring them?  I mean, if she had an (R) after her name, they’d be wondering what she’s trying to hide.

Help Carly Fiorina who, if elected, will be open with the citizens she seeks to represent.

The mainstream media have long since gone overboard in their coverage of Christine O’Donnell’s campaign for the Senate seat vacated by Joe Biden.  While using buckets of ink to comment on her latest foible, they ignore the gaffes of incumbent Democratic Senators.

And now (via Instapundit), we learn that a Lefty gossip site somehow unites entire blogosphere behind Christine O’Donnell:

It’s not quite the entire blogosphere that’s cringing, but … it’s pretty close, including former Gawker editors, Media Matters fellows, and feminist bloggers. Even Donna Brazile has the dry heaves over it. Not a single word of any of the criticism will make Denton and Gawker think twice before doing it again to someone else, but don’t let that stop you from recognizing the good intentions of their critics. In fact, so disgusting is this story that even NOW has lowered the boom

It may be just jim dandy to call a Republican woman a “whore,” but it’s not right to run “a filthy, paid anonymous hit piece” about, well, the candidate’s private relationships.

Why this fascination with a candidate running significantly behind in all polls?  What purpose does it serve to post this stuff?  Why are the media so obsessed with Christine O’Donnell?

Do they somehow think she’s the smoking gun that proves their pet theories about conservatives?  Maybe they think that by focusing on her, they can make such thoughtful Republican candidates as Kelly Ayotte, Carly Fiorina, John Hoeven, Ron Johnson, Rob Portman, Dino Rossi, Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey go away.  (Not to mention the passel of enterprising men and women running for the U.S. House.)

——

*Christine O’Donnell Derangement Syndrome.

All too often all too many gay activists play the victim, whining how we need government action to make things better for us.   They wail and moan about how horrible, no good and very bad things are because we lack our “equality.”  They lash out at others, be they social conservative, Mormons or especially those evil Republicans as if their very existence were the cause of gay people’s woes.

Yet, suddenly, we have media endeavor that’s catching fire in the gay community where the focus is not our woes, but instead on our well-being.  Various individuals and organizations want us to record video messages saying that things get better when we leave home and come of the closet.  By promoting the idea that “it gets better,” gay people around the country are focusing on the positive — and changing the tone.

While I remain dubious how effective these videos can be in helping gay teens, I appreciate how they allow us to look at our own lives and acknowledge how much things have improved since we came out.  With all the social change of the past four decades, particularly the last two, it’s a heckuva lot easier to be openly gay.

I’m glad to see people are saying as much — and in so public a manner.  Let’s hope we see more such endeavors.

Well, those are my words.  Here are his:

House Editor David Wasserman surveys the largest House playing field since 1994 and explains why Democrats’ losses may well exceed the 52 seats they lost that year. Groggy newspaper readers could have easily mistaken headlines written about actual tornadoes and high winds ripping through the Midwest and South for accurate assessments of the House landscape. As the DCCC embarks on a $23 million last-ditch ad campaign in the final week, the chatter in most Democratic circles is no longer about whether there is any hope of holding onto the majority, but just how deep a hole they will have to climb out of in 2012. Even some GOP strategists express shock at the quality of Republican candidates who are competitive at the moment.

On our competitive House race chart, there are now 25 Democratic-held seats in the Lean Republican or Likely Republican columns, and just three GOP-held seats in the Lean Democratic or Likely Democratic columns, which makes for a base of 22 GOP pickups. Apart from those seats, 49 Democratic seats and just one Republican seat sit in the Toss Up column. In the unlikely event Democrats manage to win half of these races, they would still lose 46 seats and control. If, true to history, Republicans win more than half of the Toss Ups and a handful of the 27 races in the Lean Democratic column, GOP gains would approach 60 seats, potentially the largest single-cycle net House shift in 72 years.

That’d be 1938 folks.  If the count goes much above 60 for the GOP — then it is historic gains not seen since 1894. 

But we can’t win if we don’t VOTE!  I have already, so I can be a nudge with no regrets.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

UPDATE:  Via a reader, I learn this ad was just focused grouped on Sean Hannity’s show — and people loved it!!!

Informing us that Charlie Cook has moved the unhappy Barney Frank’s “seat from ‘likely Democratic’ to ‘lean Democratic’“, Allahpundit observes:

Remember, as of just a few weeks ago, this seat wasn’t even on the board. Then, for the first time in decades, MA-4 popped up in the “likely Democratic” column. And now, if you’ll pardon the pun, it’s moved a bit further to the right.

Combined with Bielat’s internal polling (about which the above blogger has expressed skepticism) showing the race within the margin of error, looks like ol’d Barney may have to dip a bit further into his reserves in order to hold onto his seat.  The polls, Robert Snider writes

. . . show that Bielat’s momentum has continued to build and that the momentum has occurred among crucial independents and in the usual Democratic strongholds in the southern part of the district. Frank’s support, which has been consistently below 50% (a crucial indicator of an incumbent’s chances), does not appear to be rising. The curve of Bielat’s support is on a vector to exceed Frank’s support before the date of the election.

Via Instapundit.  Couple that with enthusiasm for Bielet; “Bielat signs are all over the area in MA-4, with very few Frank signs at all”. Looks like ‘ol Barney could be washed away by the wave.

Let’s keep the pressure up on this career politician.  Help GOProud keep the ad on the air.  And help Barney’s opponent Sean Bielat over the finish line.