Some help needed.

[Julien Sorel]

I need a list of Democratic politicians who:

1) Ran in 2002 in a moderate/conservative state or disctrict

2) Ran as an unabashed liberal or voted against IWR, PATRIOT Act, etc

3) Won.

[SoonerShankle]

1. Dennis Kucinich???

:kick:

[Julien Sorel]

4. His district is pretty heavily Democratic.

It's also dominated by unions, and Kucinich has, as far as I know, done a very good job of representing union interests.

[JI7]

2. can't think of any

i think the 2002 senate election was heavilty in republican favor because many of the states with competitive races tended to lean right and voted for bush in 2000. and of course the whole 9/11 thing benefited them and bush.

there are some ways for democrats to get around it such as they did in south dakota with tim johnson and louisiana with mary landrieu. those two states had some of the most money and time invested by republicans on a national level. the south dakota race was not just johnson v thune as it was bush v daschle.

but daschle is smart and very likable. he is good in grassroots support.h e goes around the state meeting people. many people support him because they like him as a person rather than just policies. he also helped shift the focus from areas where republicans have an advantage to where democrats have an advantage. daschle is a very good politician and i know many on du don't like him. but he is one reason the senate is still as close as it is rather than republicans getting a large majority.

mary landrieu did the same thing. she neutralized the issues where republicans have an advantage and focused on areas with democratic advantage like jobs, economy .

[Julien Sorel]

8. The Johnson-Thune election is very interesting.

The Republicans went after Johnson as "too liberal," despite his generally moderate voting record. He is a little iffy on abortion, for example, and fairly pro-business. He won re-election by about 500 votes, with a lot of help, as you pointed out, from the much-maligned Tom Daschle. One has to wonder if Senator Johnson would still have a job if he had voted against the IWR, or the PATRIOT Act.

In 2000, South Dakota voted for Bush 60-38%.

[JI7]

10. no he would have most likely lost

and one reason daschle is in a close race is because he DID vote for iwr and the patriot act. if he didn't he would be far behind.

and yes, south dakota is a VERY republican state . daschle is also a big reason why stephanie herseth won the congressional race which is the only seat in the house the state has.

daschle will have a tough election fight this year but with hard work he should be able to pull it off as he did for johnson and herseth.

being senate leader helps daschle also because south dakota is a small state and to have their guy be majority leader is a huge thing for them. this was one of the arguments often used in favor of voting for tim johnson. to help keep a democratic majority and as a result to keep their guy(daschle) as senate leader.

[mark414]

3. in 2004

feingold is looking to win another term in the senate, and wisconsin has always been a swing state during his service

[JI7]

5. who is Feingold running against ?

[JI7]

6. also Feingold voted with Republicans on some gun bills

this year since he is up for election this time.

[Julien Sorel]

11. A guy named Bob Welch,

who's a state senator/christmas tree farmer in Wisconsin. Feingold should beat him pretty easily.

[Jackpine Radical]

19. Feingold is also running against Russ Darrow,

who owns a bunch of car dealerships in WI.

[sandnsea]

7. Almost, Pete DeFazio

Sure Eugene is liberal, but the rest of the District isn't and DeFazio won with over 60% of the vote. DeFazio did vote for the forest bill though and stays out of the gun issue altogether. He basically takes care of the couple of things the right wingers care about. And then fights like hell on everything else, but I don't think the righties notice or care. He also introduced his own forest bill, so it isn't like he's just going to let the one that passed stand.

Why do you ask?

[Julien Sorel]

9. I'm trying to see how some of the rhetoric

we see here matches up against political reality. We are constantly seeing how Democrats are assailed for their "wimpiness" and so on, so I want to see if anyone can show a Democrat who wins elections by being "strong" and "standing up to the Repukes" despite a challenging electoral environment. Personally, I'm not aware of a single one. Even relatively conservative Democrats like Max Cleland got pushed out for being insufficiently hawkish and Bush-friendly.

But this is a big country, and there are lots of elections I can't follow. The Cleland thing was eye opening to me though, once I dug in to his situation, and I'd like to see if anyone bucked his trend.

[eridani]

16. Psst! Diebold touch screens!

That election was stolen.

[Julien Sorel]

12. Anybody? Anybody? Buehler? Buehler?

[Julien Sorel]

13. None?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

14. It doesn't make sense that you'd have a liberal

from a moderate/conservative district, so I guess you will find none.

[Julien Sorel]

15. Yet every day here there are who knows

how many posts demanding that Democratic politicians adopt more liberal, in your face stances, and criticizing them for cowardice and the like. Or another one: "If the Democrats 'had a backbone,' people would vote for them just because of that, regardless of the issues."


Surely there is, somewhere in this country, some example of this happening?

[eridani]

17. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi

Voted against the Patriot Act and was reelected.

http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=H2123103

[eridani]

18. Mel Watt of North Carolina

Also voted against the Patriot Act

http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=H2905103

[Julien Sorel]

22. Mel Watt is also in a heavily Democratic district.

However, he is an interesting position. From what I can tell, his district (North Carolina's 12th district) has been at the heart of long running Supreme Court battles over race and redistricting, going from 60% black, to 40% black, and back to 60% black, if I read things correctly. Through it all, Watt has done a masterful job of keeping his black constituents happy, while playing to the interests of the banking industry, which is the core business power in his district. Watt sits on the House Financial Services Committee. Considering the demographics of his district, and Watt's spot on a key committee, his seat is about as safe a one as there is in the House, so he can tell Bush to go to hell and get away with it -- which he frequently does, looking at his voting record.

As an aside, Watt has a law degree from Yale, and looks to be fairly attractive. Were he white, one must wonder what kind of political future he would have.

Thanks for pointing this guy out to me -- I had barely heard of him before. Interesting fellow.

[Julien Sorel]

21. Benny Thompson represents a district

that is 63% black. I'm looking for something that's actually a competitive district.

[Jackpine Radical]

20. Dave Obey, N. WI...

Pretty liberal, been getting elected for years.

[Julien Sorel]

23. I'll have to take a closer look.

He seems to have voted against the PATRIOT Act. But his district looks pretty Democratic (haven't had a chance to look too closely), and he's rated as one of the most powerful congressmen on the Hill, because of his tenure and the committees he's on. Such people rarely draw threatening opponents. But he seems like the best bet so far.