I do not live in said district and I’m unaware of how the local politics are run. But as an outside observer who likes to follow these things, I agree with your post. What you say here could be the same for many districts across the nation. Sometimes people just need a reason to vote for ‘the other guy’, and sometimes people really do want to send a message.
The part I bolded is what is most troubling for Dems. You’d think the voters would want a reason to vote for the new Democrat in town. Perhaps they did and couldn’t find it.
While the Democratic candidate was Jewish, I’m going to venture a guess that some constituents thought that he didn’t criticize Obama enough on Israel. It’s like the Dems picked out a token observant Jew or something.
Not exactly a weak candidate, but a possible stronger alternative, plus
a-z: economy - school funding, taxes, bailout bills, job market, college costs, everything
And if you take out just one strong voting bloc - Jews, Latinos, women (groups that seem more likely to be swing voters here) - and find that they’re largely discontent with more than issue and are willing to look at ‘the other guy’ (or just stay home), then I’d say another not-so-perfect-and-just-painfully-obvious storm could happen for next election. Unfortunately.
It could very well be blanket rejection of Obama. If Weprin were more critical of the administration (and he would’ve lost funding for that, but let’s just pretend like it was an option), he may have won. Remember when congressional candidates were telling Bush to NOT come stump for them in 2006? There just hasn’t been a distancing from Obama from Democrats. Not really. Someone makes a fuss when this or that bill is being passed but that’s it. No one wants to be a traitor and there aren’t any Democrats who openly criticize Obama. Worse, they attempt to smooth over everything. No Democrat in office wants to be aligned with the Tea Party or Republicans, but for some of the more progressive bunch, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that no table in the cafeteria looks comfortable right now.
You want to know what did it? I don’t live in the district, but I am a New Yorker, and I heard what did it today. Ed Koch did it. He’s not happy with Obama’s stance on Israel, and he went and campaigned hard for the Republican on that stance.
Especially to people above 40, especially to Jewish people above 40, Mr. Koch is someone you listen to and trust. Sadly for the rest of us, he went a little loopy after 9/11… like Dennis Miller.
For the Republican to get him campaigning for him? That’s five percentage points. Easy.