your wife's garter

Election day in the great Garden State. Heading home over lunch to vote for Tom MacArthur against Lonegan. Race has been pretty nasty, as I'm sure people who live locally have seen on TV. MacArthur is the establishment-y rich guy who has the backing of both the Burlington and Ocean County Republican Organizations. Lonegan is the movement conservative fellow who lost to Booker in the special senate election last year, and he's done well raising money nationally from the tea party, small donor crowd. Neither man is from the district, but both have beach houses in it to which they have moved full time recently. I think MacArthur is favored, as this is one part of the country where you don't bet against the machine, and I really hope he wins.

The other marquee event in New Jersey today is the NJ-12 Democratic Primary to replace Rush Holt. The race has been pretty civil for the most part with three liberal Democratic state legislators (Bonnie Watson Coleman - Mercer; Linda Greenstein - Middlesex; Upendra Chivukula - Somerset) from the three biggest counties in the district as the main contenders. It'll come down to Watson Coleman and Greenstein, and whether Greenstein can hold down Coleman's margin in Mercer since she represents part of it in the senate already, while running up the score in Middlesex. Greenstein seemed smart and no nonsense when I met her at Rutgers, so I'm hoping she wins.

The big primary nationally today is Mississippi Senate, where Sen. Thad Cochran (R) is running for his seventh term and being challenged from the right by State Sen. Chris McDaniel. By all accounts the race could go either way. While if McDaniel wins it will rightly be talked up as a big W for the tea party win and a blow against an establishment/bipartisan type, Cochran has run a race worthy of losing. He's old and out of touch either due to not caring enough to ramp up or losing a few miles an hour on his fastball.

There are also some unpredictable House primaries in California today due to their top two system. CA-17 is an interesting one with an up and coming Indian American Democrat taking on an incumbent Japanese American Democrat in the only Asian-American majority district in the country. Mike Honda has represented the Silicon Valley area since 2001, and he's being pushed hard by Ro Khanna, who is an IP lawyer and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the Obama administration. The drama tonight centers on whether both will beat out the top Republican in the field (who has no chance in the general in this district), or if Honda's labor allies who have been boosting the GOP guy will help him into the top two, making his reelection much easier.

I was Republican voter number 27 at the precinct. 9 Democrats had voted. Feel the excitement!

Someone has to explain to me how it is that the guy who got Bin Laden all of a sudden goes as simple as a guy who'd choke on a pretzel in a prisoner trade deal

Because I'm not ready to buy that he did

i got a hunch that the US military really, really, really wanted this guy back for some reason

if only we knew somebody on the joint chiefs

leave no one behind

pacino wrote:leave no one behind

Yeah, I'm not a supporter of the President but I agree with this principle. Even in this case where the facts seem to indicate that the guy deserted. And I kinda like the symbolic statement that one of our guys is worth 5 of yours but I'm sure that won't be a popular opinion. Prisoner exchanges are common in war. Our guy at least was taken in theatre.

I have zero insight into this situation. Just looking at the public evidence, there's enough for an investigation to understand how he was captured and to review any intel about his captivity.

According to Fox, this guy's dad looks like he's a member of the Taliban.

I think he looks like a member of the show Duck Dynasty. Weird that they didn't say that about them too. It's almost like they have some kind of agenda.

The rightwing pivot party on this guy is a sight to behold

MacArthur leads Lonegan 5,906-4,048 with about 80% of Ocean counted and none of Burlington, because Mt. Holly works at its own pace.

Should be safe for MacArthur though

MacArthur winning both counties 60-40. The millionaire and the machine did it.

Cochran-McDaniel race couldn't be much closer. Cochran up 51-48% with 60% of the precincts in. McDaniel seems like he might have a bit more of his stuff out though, and if no one gets 50% the guy getting 1.7% of the vote could cause a runoff between Cochran and McDaniel in three weeks.

McDaniel has edged into the lead, and looks pretty sure that he'll win the most votes tonight, but looks sorta like he won't hit 50%. 50% is a really dumb threshold for a primary. I get like a 35% or 40% so a small minority of the party can't win the nomination, but 50% is weird.

Who are these people and why should I care?

Thad Cochran is the 6 term senator from Mississippi who is being challenged by very conservative State Senator Chris McDaniel in the lukewarm state of Mississippi, as discussed in slightly greater detail earlier today in the second post on this page.

California State Senator and Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Leland Yee has almost 200,000 votes (10.7%) with the early votes and 14.4% of precincts reporting. Pretty good for a guy under indictment for weapons trafficking and corruption and whatnot.

jerseyhoya wrote:McDaniel has edged into the lead, and looks pretty sure that he'll win the most votes tonight, but looks sorta like he won't hit 50%. 50% is a really dumb threshold for a primary. I get like a 35% or 40% so a small minority of the party can't win the nomination, but 50% is weird.

a tie is like kissing your sister - something I hear caps many a hot date in Mississippi

Luzinski's Gut wrote:I have zero insight into this situation. Just looking at the public evidence, there's enough for an investigation to understand how he was captured and to review any intel about his captivity.

That's fine, we can start an investigation. We still should've gotten him, in my view. I mean, he's our soldier and was the last person held in the war. That's what we do. How long does court martialing take, LG?

squire - I agree. Israel's done this for years. It also shows that even if you WERE to desert, we're still getting you. Maybe it leads to fewer desertions or derelictions of duty down the line from someone in uniform? If we start leaving people behind, it sets a terrible precedent.

Yes, you need to get your military personnel out of captivity. It's a strategic leverage point for the adversary, but more importantly, it lets everyone in uniform know that your country has your back. That matters.

The investigation is likely to last months if not a year or longer, then the leadership will decide if a court-martial is necessary. If they found enough evidence to at least question some of his actions, they'll go to a court-martial. And that could take a long time, look at the Bradley Manning episode for an example of how long it can take.