but I guess that politics ): It is amateur hour ALL over the Country but that is what you get when the people running are NOT the Political Class and really that is OK as long as they remember to not succumb to the kool-aid in DC!

“I’d rather see the Democrat get elected than see Mike Castle get elected. Seriously, I know many of you disagree with me, but if the majority depends on Mike Castle, to hell with the majority.”

Would you really rather have Coons as the 50th vote for majority leader than Castle as the 51st vote for majority leader if it came to that? It’s one thing to say that her campaign is self-destructing so it’s better to focus elsewhere, but what you’re saying in effect is that if/when she loses, you’d just as soon O’Donnell pull a Dede and endorse the D over the R.

I hope you’re just using hyperbole to express frustration, not how you really feel about this race.

For all her apparent flaws (and I have no response to the “Mike Castle is gay” video) I’d rather die in the general behind O’Donnell than win with Specter clones like Mike Castle.

There’s no indication that he’d be any better than Chris Coons if he were to be seated, other than a possible majority leader vote for McConnell, who I won’t be backing for the top job either way.

What we have here is a bad situation. I wish, Erick, that we waited until after the primary to abandon Delaware, but I suppose it’s a small thing.

O’Donnell is still the best candidate, and it’s not close. Unfortunately, if we activists don’t help her, we’re resigning ourselves to a Senator Mike Castle for the foreseeable future.

Erick I wish you’d reconsider. I completely understand your point of view, but I’m having a hard time surrendering a Senate seat to Mike Castle so soon after the Brown victory in Massachusetts.

She is the only true conservative vote here. She is basically a rookie here, which we should all want to elect if we really want to change things in DC. The fact that the left is worried about Florida is good enough for me. When they attack, it is because they are afraid of what the candidate will bring in stopping their agenda.
She gets my vote here in Fl, period. I hate the whole game of politics today. This is a great example of that game. I think Erick woulkd be better served to put in here the facts about the smear tactics about non-issues that have been levied against her, like the foreclosure and college loans crud. She paid her loans off, period. She sold that house, period. I think it is quite ironic when folks start blasting her for these 2 non-issues, while Gov’t workers owe billions in unpaid taxes today.

The route to saving the nation from the political class and their playbills loaded with dishonesty, deceit and a host of other ill tides does not depend on Delawares best. It depends on each individuals best across this nation. Just as a single representative may affect or afflict as the case may be, the rest of the nation so too may the individual who is tireless and vigilant. Let that be your torch or your cross to bear. That is honorable.

Erick what evidence is there that this come from the O’Donnell camp. Erick your expanation was very convoluded. This may be something that came from the Castle camp. I beleive that we should support Christine. This Castle Guy is a disaster. We did it in Alaska and I donated for that cause. Look what happened. We need to vote in strong conservatives. Erick I have lost a little respect for you in the way you handled this. If Christine know about the vidio and aproved of it that is another story. I going to do my research to see if this is factual. A ambitious Staffer may have done this without Christines knowledge. I would really like to know.

So, what about all that stuff of “vote conservative in the primary, republican in the general “? Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing, even harder when you need to practice what you preach. I am still stunned that this was written by EE.
Please step to the side, i have a breach to fill.

So, what about all that stuff of “vote conservative in the primary, republican in the general “? Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing, even harder when you need to practice what you preach. I am still stunned that this was written by EE.
Please step to the side, i have a breach to fill.

MikeCastle2010 YouTube page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnQPS2Qhzi4

I have a gag reflex just seeing castle’s name, but I have to agree. If this had been a d-kos group, the tame media would either ignore the story or dutifully report it as someone floating a rumor, all the better to keep it in the public eye. But as is all too obvious and the JournoList matter proved, we face the despicable leftists not only in politics, but their eager allies / enablers in the even more extreme traditional media. They will be all over this as it represents the first real opportunity they’ve had to make their mud pie slurs about the Tea Party stick to a wall. Better to cut off a potentially gangrenous finger tip than risk the body entire to systemic poisoning.

With all due respect I am tired of folks comparing Christine O’Donnell to Joe Miller, Sharron Angle or any of the other candidates this cycle.

Unlike Joe Miller who is a decorated Gulf War Vet, Ivy league educated former Judge, Christine O’Donnell is a broke, wannabe TV commentator who has trouble with the truth particularly when it comes to her own background.

She got clobbered in 08′ and will be clobbered by Mike Castle on 9/14. Anyone who believes otherwise is delusional

This is the most disappointing article I have read by Erick yet. We can talk of all the problems we have in America, but the basic foundations of America are in trouble. Economy is important, yet, but there is nothing more important the the moral fiber of a nation, which we do not have right now. How can things get better as we are going right now? They cannot. To remember John Adams: “Our Constitution was made ONLY for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Do we really wonder why we have the problems we do today? I adhere to and support the admonition of former LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley who said: “The biggest issue we face today is the breakdown of the traditional family.” Therein lies our problems.

Minority Leader Demint or Majority Leader McConnell?

I see many reasons for the former. The damage a Democrat disguised as a Republican can do is immense. Castle will be constantly trashing the conservatives and the media will be lapping it up. And it was under McConnell’s “don’t rock the boat” leadership that led the GOP into the ideological wilderness and helped deliver us the most dangerous President ever. If he was a run of the mill moderate I would feel differently but his support of cap and trade and ambivalence on healthcare repeal makes him toxic.

If you want to win the battle, support Castle. If you want to win the war, don’t.

The Tea Party started out WAY behind in Alaska, and closed that gap mighty fast. If they’re starting down just 5 in DE, that means we’re poised to win this in a landslide. Already there are reports of Castle about to go negative in a big way, he knows he’s about to lose. I don’t think its the O’Donnell campaign that is imploding, its the Castle campaign.

Do I blame Christine O’Donnell because some former employees, on a website, stated a ‘rumor’? No I don’t, she was asked about it and she criticized it, she made it clear she didn’t agree with it or believe it, what more could she do? She couldn’t fire them, they don’t work for her. She isn’t responsible for her supporters any more than any other candidate is, all she can do is express her disagreement when they do something she doesn’t agree with, and that’s exactly what she did.

No candidate can stop all their supporters from ever saying anything dumb. To blame the candidate is just wrong. If she had sided with the people spreading the rumor, or said anything at all that implied that she thought it was true, you could blame her for that, but she was quite clear in her denouncement of the rumor.

So the bottom line is yes, it sucks that some of her supporters said something stupid. We really should be talking about how Castle is a liberal and O’Donnell is a Conservative, not about how somebody spread a rumor about somebody. But its certainly not her fault, nobody knows better than Christine that any focus on this rumor only serves to help Castle, as it takes the focus off his far-left voting record, and his voting record is the reason he’s sinking like a stone in the polls. I’m sure Castle hopes that this rumor is all that anybody talks about between now and election day, and people don’t pay any attention to the actual issues at all. I for one won’t be fooled into doing that, and I hope that nobody else will either. So long as the focus is on the issues, O’Donnell will win this election handily. So instead of ‘pulling the plug’ on Delware, let’s pull the plug on the stupid rumor, and focus instead on the issues between now and September 14th.

Whatever, sort of a weird write up but okay, you go ahead and move along if you feel you must. As a matter of fact maybe you should move on from all of them from here on out.

…had left the campaign (I assume as not the best of friends)…couldn’t this “Castle is gay” frame up be a back-stab against O’Donnell? I agree her campaign should have come out more vigorously, and maybe that opportunity is lost…oh well.

This is astonishing, Erick:

“I’d rather see the Democrat get elected than see Mike Castle get elected. Seriously, I know many of you disagree with me, but if the majority depends on Mike Castle, to hell with the majority.”

This is larger than Castle. It is about who controls committees and calendars, as bk pointed out.

Christine O has always been his questionable dealings with money.
These charges cannot be denied:

1. She has nearly 20K in debt from her 2008 campaign. Small vendors who got the shaft because she charged services and did not pay them for them. Talk about fiscal conservative. She is already spending other people’s money like its other people’s money.

2. She has been using her current campaign funds to help pay her house rent-food bills-utility bills-gas bills. If you can’t get your life in order to take three months off to campaign then don’t do it. She is basically a paid professional candidate. We moan and groan when others use campaign or office funds for personal expenses–here she is doing right now.

this is electoral poison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yriu2OFhxgU

And not enough time following the game?

one of the things that constantly frustrates me about this site, is that there often doesn’t seem to be any understanding that not all anti-establishment candidates are created equal. Mike Castle may be not much better than Charlie Crist, but Christine O’Donnell is no Marco Rubio. Ovide Lamongtagne in NH is no Marco Rubio, and I know you’ll all hate this, but Sharon Angle is no Marco Rubio either – she is a bad candidate that may just allow the awful Harry Reid getting reelected. So we would rather push through a bad candidate like O’Connnell, see her lose to the Democrats and then miss the chance to control the committees and stop Obama’s appointments to the all important appeals courts?

Does anyone ever wonder what damage a Christine O’Donnell does to the party with all her problems – like Dan Maes in Colorado?

I am all for electing strong conservatives, but we should have standards and insist on smart, articulate, capable, incorruptable conservatives like Rubio, Buck, Miller, Toomey and Haley. that help the party, not hurt it.

http://www.redstate.com/jenniferkuznicki/2010/09/03/wide-awake-and-fired-up-for-christine-o%E2%80%99donnell-like-never-before/

I’m new to redstate, this may not be protocol, but I’m out of time, and this fight is worth fighting. The campaign is in many ways amateur hour as you say, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let these elitist pieces of crap tell one of us that we don’t rate. I say, up theirs, where is Sarah Palin, and bahoe their country.

Welcome to Christine2010 unplugged. It is once again up to the volunteers to win and get through this.

Erick wrote: “I’d rather see the Democrat get elected than see Mike Castle get elected. Seriously, I know many of you disagree with me, but if the majority depends on Mike Castle, to hell with the majority.”

I know Castle is awful. That much is a given, a non-debatable point. But beyond that, there are two factors worth considering. First, a Republican majority is a Republican majority, and with that we can accomplish much. Second, Castle (or any other liberal Republican) would have to move even farther left to be worse than anyone the Democrats are putting up these days.

Lesser of evils. Yes, that’s a distasteful scenario, but it is reality.

We have compromised and elected RHINOS enough. If we cannot cleanse the Republcan Party of these officals,having a majority means nothing. Once the GOP understands under no circumstances we will accept a RHINO maybe they will get the point. Otherwise we will keep going down this road that every time there is a close vote on legistation we loose. The RHINOS always decide if bad laws such as “Cap and Trade” is pased. Gov. Chris Christie Endorses Mike Castle for U.S. Senate. This is an example of a RHINO endorsing another RHINO which will effect the entire Nation for many years. Christine O’Donnell would not vote for this type legislation which will devastate America.

before pulling the plug.

If you are going to pull the plug every time an amateur candidate who knows nothing about running a campaign (which is what we want?) stumbles, I only have one thing to say; you are going to need a lot of hands.

By the way- I smell a rat. This whole anti-O’Donnell effort was very well coordinated and went viral all at once.It almost smells a bit like that decaying, crusty old, your deceased grandfathers closet NRSC smell….. At a minimum, my money says they are somehow involved.

First of all, I do not have a dog in this fight. At all. If Castle or O’Donnell served me coffee today, I would not know it.

We must remember that we cannot expect people to act like seasoned political professionals when we despise seasoned political professionals.

I was involved in two congressional campaigns when I was very young, and even then I vowed never to run for political office. It is mean, and dirty, and personal beyond description. The natural, gut level response is eye for an eye, and the participants easily forget that they represent people locally as well as nationally. But do you know what? They don’t give a crap.

They do not have to pass me on the street. I have not given them any money. I am not making any demands of the campaign for promises of more of the mother’s milk of politics. I am not the one who has been smeared, either in public or in private.

That’s why I have been thinking a lot about how upset Art is over the Murkowski thing. He may be right, in more ways than even he knows. I think the theme of the new Congress, as written by our opponents, is going to be amateur hour. I get the sick feeling that unless the leadership shows more than they have shown in the past and we preempt the charge, in 2014 voters are going to prefer dirty pros to clean amateurs.

Laws and sausages. Laws and sausages.

almost more than anything right now. The political realities dictate that while reducing the RINO count is crucial, and having as few RINOs as possible polluting DC is desireable, RINOs will nonetheless be instrumental in wresting the majority from the Socialists. That calculation has GOT to be a part of any sane strategy that has a hope of saving this country from the fate the Socialists seek.

Whether taking a long shot on a head-to-head matchup in the general election with O’Donnell, or settling for the RINO and increasing the odds of general election victory with Castle, preferring a Democrat who brings majority status one vote closer for the Socialists is not sane.

I think that you think you have more to do with all of this than you really do, Erick. Obviously you are entitled and encouraged to state loud and clear opinions. But this kingmaker crap is really, really tiresome, though.

Pulling the plug? You? Fascinating.

You’ll be just as surprised two or four or six years from now as Kos is today.

As Erick pointed out, the Repubs having “majority status” but with Graham, McCain, the Maine Twins, and Castle, there’s an automatic core for gang-of-14 style actions, and worse, there’s enough of ‘em with enough time before they have to face the music (McCain and Castle, specifically) that they may be unusually bold.

The question, though, is whether Castle would be competent as a RINO – that is, whether he would just blindly slap at his more conservative colleagues, or whether he’d be able (like the McCain of old) to cut deals in private… If Castle isn’t competent, then it’s just going to be a tortuous six years of trying to figure out how to keep him on track.

I still find that I disagree with Erick on this. The main issue is leadership. Yes, we’d still get bad decisions out of a RINO-dominated Repub senate, but .. fewer ones than we’d get out of a Harry Reid-led (or worse, Dick Durbin-led) Dem dominated one.

Mew

“I’d rather see the Democrat get elected than see Mike Castle get elected. Seriously, I know many of you disagree with me, but if the majority depends on Mike Castle, to hell with the majority.”

UGH. This is just stupid.

Really? Just like in Alaska where the Democrat touted RedState’s endorsement (before it was retracted)? That worked out well, stuck with a Democrat in the Senate for 6 years. Castle isn’t great, but then again, it’s Delaware….

If Mike Castle means Minority Leader Schumer instead of Majority, that is a GOOD THING. McConnell or DeMint can maneuver the schedule. It may mean the difference in who is Chairman and who is ranking member in committees.

Mike Castle moves the Senate to the right over a Democrat, he’ll never be confused for a conservative, but blocking a Dem for 4 years or 10 years is a GOOD THING. Who knows maybe we can bide our time in DE until the state electorate has been shown the light and we can primary Castle in 2020 with a conservative….

They both voted for Cap and Trade. Kirk’s lifetime ACU rating is only 5 points higher than Castle’s (57 vs 52), but I’d darn well rather have someone in that spot who’s going to vote with me 50% of the time (or hell, even 40!) than someone who will vote *against* me 100%.. As far as Kirk is concerned, I suspect his ACU rating has only ticked up recently as he’s had to pivot to the right because he is running for statewide office and has to pander. The rest of the state isn’t nearly as liberal as Chicago and the ‘burbs, particularly the North Shore district he currently represents. So do we walk away from race as well? Hell no. Sorry Erick, but let’s play internal hardball *after* we have control of the committees and calendars, and can stop the statist’s agenda.

Last night, Mark Levin spent the opening segment of his show ranting about all the attacks on Christine O’Donnell.

http://marklevinfan.com/2010/09/03/mark-levin-says-there-should-be-a-backlash-against-mike-castle/

I wouldn’t touch the Delaware Republican Senate primary with a 10 foot pole, given the recent Illinois poo-flinging, however:

Unless you feel Castle is unfit for office, I completely disagree with your paragraph, ‘I’d rather see the Democrat get elected than see Mike Castle get elected…if the majority depends on Mike Castle, to hell with the majority.’

I’ve seen no evidence Castle’s unfit for office.

RINO, yes.

Not the most electable conservative primary candidate, OK, vigorously campaign against him.

But, if he goes on to win the primary, ‘then we stand together united under the banner of the party of Lincoln and Reagan and kick Democrat butt.’

I know, it’s the primary, and folks get excited. But let’s stick to our guns when the dust settles. None of this take-my-ball-and-go-home stuff, but instead, sing along with me now, “Kirk for Illinois Senator”! Get my drift?

Cheers!

There’s just one thing holding me back, though. Chairman Leahy v. Chairman Sessions.

Erich says he’s pulling the plug, but why was the plug ever in? Castle is about the only R we could ever get elected in Delaware. O’Donnell could never be elected there…never. And after reading her interview over at the Weekly Standard, I’m shocked anyone here would still want to see her in the Senate. She came off as, to put it mildly, a little weird.

For all his obvious flaws, Castle could make the difference in the Senate. And while is is true that the filibuster lessens the importance of having a Senate majority, after seeing what the Democrats did by using reconciliation (which only requires a simple majority) to pass the health care bill, it borders on campaign malpractice to say, as Erich does, that “if it depends on Mike Castle, to helll with the majority.”

Respectfully, Erick, I wish you would just realize what you are doing. You are ensuring that the people you are trying to help (those that haven’t been paid) are not going to get their money. This is a cause and effect. issue. You can have your opinions about people… fine… but I really don’t think you thought this through. Some REALLY good people, that have all the best conservative intentions in the world, are caught up in this without having known about such issues. I am CERTAIN that you know some. Some of them are still holding out hope that things will go well and they will get paid, but another article does not help this one bit. I personally think it is a matter of lack of organization on someones part and I’m not convinced that this person had deviant intentions.

I am truly sorry for all of the people who didn’t get what they are owed, including someone close to me, but if it isn’t already too late, I wish you would drop it now.

“Stunned by tea partier Joe Miller’s upset of Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republicans are taking no chances in Delaware, which holds its primary Sept. 14. The party sees Castle, the state’s lone congressman since 1993, as the best candidate for the seat long held by Vice President Joe Biden.

Republicans circulated audio of a testy, 22-minute interview that O’Donnell had with radio station WGMD on Thursday. Party officials also have said she inflated her resume and made flat-out untrue statements while being dogged by questions about tax liens and foreclosures. Castle says she has misrepresented his record.

“She’s not a viable candidate for any office in the state of Delaware,” state party chairman Tom Ross, who is backing Castle, said in a telephone interview. “She could not be elected dog catcher.”

Republicans said Castle’s campaign is preparing negative television ads against O’Donnell. The commercials would air in the week leading up to the primary. The campaign The campaign also has created a website, RealChristine.com, a clearinghouse of negative O’Donnell stories.”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iZaC_s19dWrLVffA3Ucntv9dWp4QD9I01PP80

This group has turned every campaign they are near radioactive . As it appears in this case , these folks torpedoed their own candidate . The real amateurs here are these sucker general consultants who continue to sink campaigns .

ALA to Liberty.com to new name next week . When folks get near these people they should run away like they stole something .

I hate this whining. If you can’t exactly what you want you whine and pout. Guess what, Delaware is NOT Utah, Alaska, Nevada, or Florida. Do I like Mike Castle, no. Would I vote for him over the Democrat, YES! Unless someone can show me he is totally unfit for office (cough… O’Donnell…) then he would have my vote. Nevermind majority vs minority even though that would be nice and he would be one more closer to 60 to repeal Obamacare (I’m sure if enough pressure was applied he would vote for repeal), imagine the media story come November if we take Obama’s old seat (I like Kirk even less than Castle), Biden’s old seat, and knock off half the Dem leadership in the Senate (Reid and Murray). They would be apoplectic and it would be a massive repudiation of this administration. That is what I want. Ace of Spades had a nice post on this race (I’m sorry I don’t have the link). For blue states, get purple Senators (like Castle), for purple states, get red Senators (like Rubio), and for red states get deep red Senators (like Lee). That’s a coalition I could live with and I hope some people here grow up and learn to live with it too.

Einstein said that “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

So elect Jim Jeffords to get a majority.
Elect Lincoln Chaffee to get a majority.
Elect Arlen Specter to get a majority.
Elect Mike Castle to get a majority.

Does any Castle supporter want to explain why the the “Gang of Deals” stopped once the Dems got a majority?

Wishing a Democrat – who will caucus with Democrats, and vote for Democrat leadership – to be elected over any Republican is the kind of thinking that brought us to the point that the Democrats (briefly) held super-majorities in both chambers.

Live and die by this creed: Ideology in the primary. Party in the general..

So the conservative candidate didn’t run a good enough primary campaign to defeat the RINO? That’s unfortunate; but help the RINO hold the seat for the party until we can next take a shot at the RINO – from within our own party, in the next primary.

Come back next time with a better campaign, a better message, a better candidate – whatever is required. But don’t wish upon us the subjection of another term of a Senate with a freaking socialist as the majority leader, just because one candidate is a RINO who won a primary against an opponent who offered none of the three (at least, to a sufficient degree to defeat that RINO).

You don’t provide enough information Eric, regarding the smear to know if she & her campaign intended to smear the opposition. You say:

So she hired these people, but “[a] few weeks ago they left.” (Were they kicked out because she learned of their bad judgment, you don’t say) The campaign defended itself from the smear accusation when it said, no they don’t work for us (“not any more.”). And you admit: “Christine O’Donnell’s campaign did distance her from the video.”

Christine distanced herself “the next day when asked about it on a radio show.” “O’Donnell . . . call[ed] it an “insult” to both Castle and his wife.”

What more do you want? A proclamation? Published in the newspapers? She said it the very next day! But then you say, she repeated the rumor a couple of times in a conversation where she specifically asked about it — big deal, she disavowed it when a radio announcer directed her to the issue, and probably redirected her back to it.

You haven’t provided enough information on this one subject for people to not support her.

O’ Donnell CAN win the general election in November, but ONLY IF her campaign gets a major revamp after this amateurish mishandling of Liberty.com.

Castle’s record is a failure, and his negative campaigning and hiding from debates won’t be enough to win him the primary in the current climate.

Christie (my governor) should have stayed out of this, got enough to deal with in NJ.

I’m NOT pulling the plug just yet. Give O’Donnell a 2nd chance. She’s the only hope for Conservative change in DE.

I am a little surpised and disappointed that NJ Gov Chris Christie has endorsed Mike Castle. Maybe it’s related to Christie attending University of Delaware. Don’t know.

Ya delaware. Vote Castle in for the senate. He voted for the Mao oboma care. He voted for cap and tax. He has stated that he would not vote for the repeal of Mao oboma care. What in the hell are the rep. doing? He is a huge RINO. If I were the Dems. I wouldn’t even run against him. What a piece of #$%t for the republican party.

Ya delaware. Vote Castle in for the senate. He voted for the Mao oboma care. He voted for cap and tax. He has stated that he would not vote for the repeal of Mao oboma care. What in the hell are the rep. doing? He is a huge RINO. If I were the Dems. I wouldn’t even run against him. What a piece of #$%t for the republican party.

Grow up and I’m not sure what you mean about being homophobia, is that like thinking that Homosexuality is a sin? Because IF that is what you mean put me down as having a bad case of homophobia. I agree you should have prove to make that charge because if your are a homo I would rather lose any election than vote for someone like that regardless of what party (he-she)
was running on. If your twisted how can you vote for whats right?

and Mike Castle were gay, would that matter? Tell me that you wouldn’t vote for a pro-defense, pro-life, pro-small government gay man over Obama in a hypothetical matchup. For that matter, give me any matchup where the progressive is straight and the conservative gay, and tell me if you wouldn’t rather see the conservative up there than the progressive.

Moreover, what is the Tea Party in DE doing disseminating this rumor? My impression was that the Tea Party as a broad movement is concerned with spending and ambivalent about lifestyle issues, so would that not make this Tea Party illegitimate and injurious to the brand? Is it an actual, authentic “Tea Party”, or just some socially conservative (or simply anti-Castle) group looking to cash in on the brand name? This move doesn’t seem up the Tea Party’s alley.

O’Donnell just can’t keep the crazy under wraps….so instead of just standing aside to let Castle crush his Dem opponent we get histrionics and drama about anacondas and torn limbs.

Very weak.

Does the “conservative in the primary and GOP in the general” theme only apply when you say it does??

This is about more than one Senate seat. This is about POWER.
Judicial committee power.
Majority rule power.
Repeal the HCR power.

You present yourself as a professional.
This is amateur hour stuff.

Joe Biden’s Delaware. Some things never change, I guess.