Views on News, wispundits • April 29th, 2009

Specter switches

by Chris Lato

I know I have been long overdue in writing something….it’s been a busy stretch lately, thankfully. But when Arlen Specter pulled an utterly cynical move to expand his own power base and advance his political career, handing Democrats a filibuster-proof 60 seats in the Senate (assuming an Al Franken win in Minnesota is finalized sometime this decade) and a free pass to do whatever it wants…well, I had to speak up.

I am not typically a fan of party-jumpers, as my comments not too long ago about Libertarian-turned-Republican-turned-whatever State Rep. Jeff Wood will prove. For every party-jumper who claims to be ‘taking a principled stand,’ dig a little deeper and you will typically find opportunistic reasons for the switch. And Specter’s move is particularly craven. It is difficult to pin down the areas where Specter has had political courage to stand on principles. As one Specter staffer anonymously admitted about the switch, “It is all about him.”

So what else is new? Isn’t self-preservation what most politicians care about? Maybe so, but Specter is an exceptionally vivid example of a career politician - a onetime Democrat who jumped over to the GOP in the past when it became clear he couldn’t win as a Dem. He’s now jumping back because polling indicates he can’t win re-election next year as a Republican.

What’s particularly galling is that Specter himself warned against giving one party too much power just a few months ago, in explaining why he was going to stay a Republican. How can Specter’s constituents trust anything that comes out of his mouth? He effectively disillusions Republicans, while Democrats can rightly argue that Specter is not truly one of their own. The middle is left to wonder whether Specter is going to wear his red tie or his blue tie depending on which way the wind is blowing that day.

Specter really wants to hold onto his job and has proven he’s willing to pay any price. And after 29 years in the US Senate, politicians like Arlen Specter are poster boys for a term limits movement.

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Fundraising, Grass Roots Organization, Views on News • November 25th, 2008

The Franken & Coleman show

by Chris Lato

I don’t see a scenario where this ends well – at least, not without a bloody legal battle. The margins are just too small. So unless someone suddenly, legitimately turns up a box of previously uncounted boxes stashed in a town hall basement (kidding!), this threatens to drag on for months and become 2008’s version of Florida – admittedly, with somewhat less at stake.

I have no horse in this race. As regular visitors to this blog know, I have little use for party-flippers, who typically act more in their own interests than anything else, so Sen. Norm Coleman has a black mark next to his name. As for Al Franken, well, he stopped being funny approximately 28 years ago. He has since then become little more than a shrill partisan hack’n’slasher.

It is amazing to consider that out of 2.9 million votes, a race could come down to fewer than 200 ballots. That’s what I call a divided state (and yes, I realize there was a third-party candidate in the mix).

The Dems are positioning this as the last great political battle of the Bush administration – Coleman’s harshest critics paint him as a Bush/Rove puppet.

However, both parties have the opportunity to use this contested result as a rallying point. Feelings tend to harden during such bitterly-contested elections, with both sides seeing fraud and deceit. If nothing else, it’s a great tool to rally the base and raise money.

As someone who has pitched in for a recount or two, I can tell you that tensions can run extraordinarily high in those rooms. No kidding - pushing, shoving and trash-talking happens. It’s akin to fans of opposing football teams getting together in the same stadium. The only thing that’s missing is beer, face paint and giant foam fingers.

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2008 Primaries, Speeches, wispundits • October 30th, 2008

Too much information

by Chris Lato

This is the danger of blogs: throwing your views out there for the world to see and your enemies to save.

Later, those enemies will undoubtedly try to turn those words against you if you decide to run for public office.

Jo Egelhoff, a Republican running for the Assembly in the Fox Valley, is getting a taste of that now.

more »

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2008 Primaries, Messaging, Views on News • May 16th, 2008

Minnesota Smackdown!

by Chris Lato

Our neighbors to the west are gettin’ goofy again. They have Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura to blame.

Yep, he’s back. Ventura is considering re-entering the political ring after his stint as Minnesota governor several years ago. This time he may run for US Senate, a race which already has the once-funny, now-bitter former semi-celebrity Al Franken poised to take on RoboRepublican incumbent Norm Coleman.

Ventura beat Coleman in the race for governor back in the day, which adds a fun little twist on all this. Another mitigating factor: Ventura has what can charitably be described as a rocky relationship with the press. It must come from his wrestling background, but he treats them with open disdain, referring to them as jackals. Call me crazy but I have a feeling the press considers Ventura to be something that rhymes with ‘brick.’

Now it could just be that Ventura is an attention hound and all this chatter about the Senate is just part of a plan to move copies of his new book.

But can the ‘populist’ rhetoric of Jesse Ventura carry the day in a state that has an independent streak of its own? Can he win and shake things up all over again? Or did Mr. Ventura leave a bad taste in the mouths of enough voters who remember his gubernatorial antics? Political spectators can only hope we see a good old-fashioned political cage match in Minnesota.

As an aside: when I worked at the Wisconsin Radio Network, we did a monthly call-in show called ‘Ask the Governor’ with one Tommy G. Thompson. I once dared to ask what he thought of Governor Ventura and his rise to national prominence, what with being a best-selling author, famous politico and all that.

Mr. Thompson, who was known to enjoy a taste of the spotlight every now and again, obviously wasn’t too happy with this interloper Ventura hogging up all the spotlights in the Midwest. I recall Mr. Thompson looking at me like I owed him money. That was the last time I brought up Mr. Ventura.

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