if you think people in this district will listen to you and vote Jefferson out? He has been crooked for a real long time and yet keeps getting re-elected.

having a 40 year US Senator hounded from office and facing jail as the result of a show trial in DC, watched three present or former members of our legislature hauled off to jail, watched one of the largest companies in our state effectively dissolved by the Public Integrity Section sure wonder why he’s still in office.

I hope Jefferson loses. By default that means I hope that this Republican wins. I don’t live anywhere near that district, nor do I know anyone who does. As such, I won’t do much more than I’ve done.

I ain’t contributing to his campaign, nor would I even consider phonebanking. I can’t imagine you guys doing those things for Begich (nor would I have expected it).

Jefferson is entitled to his day in court and a chance to clear his name. He is not entitled to my support because we are of the same party. There are limits, however, to my lack of support.

that Dems will vote their scumbags and/or felons out of office. I hope I’m wrong this time.

Although I don’t live anywhere near Mr. Jefferson’s district, I did contribute to Mr. Cao’s campaign. He looks like the type of candidate that we should be backing in every election.

not in but right next to Jefferson’s district (I’ve had the grace to have been represented by David Vitter, Bobby Jindal, and Steve Scalise back to back).

While y’all are right in saying just because something seems impossible doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and eventually cracks will appear in the wall, the Dec. 6th election is not that time.

The best chance to beat Jefferson this year was from his main Democratic rival Helena Moreno, a former newscaster in New Orleans (who would have been much better and more moderate than Jefferson) and she went down to him a few weeks ago. At some point Jefferson’s trial will come back to bite him. But in his district, one in which race is by far the overriding factor, he will continue to get elected until another decently known black man challenges him or his trial finally gets concluded and he gets thrown in jail.

It’s simply the unique nature of the district and his connection with it. A better bet to get him ousted is to save up your contributions until a challenger looks like he may win and then all donate to him. I’m as conservative as they come and I’m not typically defeatist but in this situation just trying to be a realist.

At least those in the 2nd District have a Republican to vote for on Dec. 6th. My Dec. 6th vote for my LA state senator is between two Democrats…figures

http://www.spectator.org/archives/2008/11/20/should-congress-have-a-cao

Our kind of guy.

Wonder how much the RNC will dump into his campaign?

I just contributed to Mr. Cao with the hope that the residents of LA-02 will do the right thing and replace Rep. Jefferson. However, I am losing faith in the ability of those who vote to pay attention to what their elected officials do and hold them accountable for their actions. I am still deeply troubled by the re-election of Murtha in PA. When you can call your constituents racists and rednecks and still win re-election I am not sure what would cause someone to lose their seat in Congress. Surely not stashing some $$ in the freezer.

Yes, it does bother me. I’d like to see Jefferson thrown out. But I don’t live in that district and I don’t feel strongly enough to send money to his opponent. I didn’t send money to Begich, either.

Does it bother me compared to sending Federal Agents after Tommy Chong in the months following 9/11?

Does it bother me compared to PATRIOT and PATRIOT II?

Does it bother me compared to Delay saying that there was no fat in the budget to cut?

Does it bother me compared to the TSA throwing out my potential binary explosives into a 55 gallon drum full of other potential binary explosives?

Does it bother me compared to the prescription drug benefit?

Does it bother me compared to sending Federal Agents to bust up Medical Marijuana co-ops in California (that exist in accordance with California State Law)?

Does it bother me compared to the $700 Billion bailout?

Or is the general assumption that, all other things being equal, and not talking about anything else, and not thinking about anything else, indeed, in a veritable vacuum, this particular crook remaining in office is something that ticks me off?

It happens all over the country and it bugs me. But I also know that there are enough people in that district who probably think that “the Man” is out to get Jefferson and are going to vote for him no matter what, some probably even more enthusiasticly than before.

n/t

I’m definitely a fan of asking Dems to contribute to Republicans, and if this post gets any of them to do so, great.

For those of us Republicans with a limited money supply (and those who don’t fall into this category may well soon), we’ve got to pick our battles. The Democrats don’t actually fight in every district, as much as they’d like to believe otherwise. They’ve been picking and choosing, and they have chosen wisely. They’ve cast a wide, but not infinite, net and they’ve brought in more seats than anyone expected in the process. They’d have failed to win many of those, though, if they also wasted money in districts in which they had *no *chance. We’re facing an incredibly difficult cycle in the Senate in 2010, made no easier by the fact that we still have Senators who think that the reason we lost is because we didn’t spend enough when we were in power.

What’s more is that “safe Republican” and “safe Democrat” districts are totally different animals. In most of our safe districts, we’re expecting 55-65% of the vote. In the Democrats’ safe districts, they often garner upwards of 90%. It’s a helluva lot tougher to swing an extra 5-10% of voters than it is to convert over 40%, many of whom probably don’t even know any Republicans. Now, if you want to change the redistricting to make Republican seats less safe and Democrat seats more competitive, then I would suggest you shift your focus to state legislative races, which don’t get nearly the attention they deserve. (Please don’t take this as a slight on you or the site, as the blame is evenly distributed to all, including me, for not giving them that attention.)

Finally, I think that this would have had more strength had the Directors stuck with their original endorsement of Mark Begich rather than just offering a non-endorsement of Sen. Stevens. To be sure, I don’t know on which side of that issue you fell, and I can certainly respect the views of those who did not feel comfortable endorsing someone who supports abortion, but if we’re going to ask Democrats to actively oppose their own on account of corruption, it’s only fair that we should do the same.

I’m a Kossack and can vouch for the fact that there are more negative diaries over there concerning Jefferson than positive. I don’t think it’s fair to say that we don’t care if we don’t donate to Cao. It’s not like most of us have extra money sitting around earmarked for out-of-state Congressional donations.

All the same, if anyone can produce a stub or screencap of a confirmation that they donated to the Begich or Martin campaigns, then I’ll gladly donate to Cao.

Sorry for being untimely, but I had to go through the wait period.