For instance, AR 3 is an open Republican seat, but it's almost impossible to imagine a Dem winning it. The other two Arkansas seats, currently held by Democrats are at best toss ups at this point.

TenuredVulture wrote:We can debate the merits of the 5 point v. the 4 point Likert scale if you like.

Now why the hell would I want to do that? I am not a genius but I am smart enough to know when I am entering a battle short-handed.

Clinton had some stents put in or something. He seems to be doing fine.

TenuredVulture wrote:

drsmooth wrote:not that I'm prone to denigrating the intelligence of the averaqe poll respondent, but I would guess they seldom strongly favor words of 5 syllables or more, and tend to get nervous when 'sexual' has anything to do with anything.

That is, they might as likely disfavor 'heterosexuals' as 'homosexuals' in the military, vis a vis 'gay men & lesbians'.

Now that would be an interesting split sample to run. Write it up and get a grant!

Might also be the prefix, so it'll be interesting (and increase the chance of getting that sweet funding) to run a coinciding one using "Homosapiens" (I know it's two words, but we'll phrase it as one word to see if people stop reading at the prefix). Although, I'd have to admit I myself would probably lean somewhere on the disapprove side of this one because, well, the mere prospect of battle trained lizards outfitted with assault weaponry is just so kewl.

Christie is froze all state spending, locking out schools and mass transit. Gonna get interesting here in the NJ.

It is going to be really interesting to see what happens with all of this.

Patrick Kennedy is retiring. So no Kennedys in Congress next year.

jerseyhoya wrote:It is going to be really interesting to see what happens with all of this.

What it means is I can forget about getting a job at the AG's office.

Just let them know you are acquainted with jerseyhoya, Internet GOP warrior on BackSheGoes.com. I'm sure that'll open doors for you.

Doesn't julio work for NJ state government? Maybe he could write you a rec.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEbouh86DwY[/youtube]

Someone needs to take away Patches' shoelaces for the next couple of weeks. Yikes.

Thus ends a career that started out with so much promise when he (Patrick Kennedy, I mean) flirted with my girlfriend in our junior year polisci class almost two decades ago.

It's time to get over the Kennedy mystique. Other than Ted, the family really hasn't done much for liberals or the country. So much promise, pissed away.

jerseyhoya wrote:It is going to be really interesting to see what happens with all of this.

Well the first thing that is going to happen is that many school districts in the state are going to have to start laying off teachers and staff. Our super has made no secret at all that any freeze of state funding was going to lead to layoffs and Christie seems to be going even further than that. I picked an interesting time to run for school board, huh?

I can't imagine this is going to be worth it. Ugh.

jerseyhoya wrote:Just let them know you are acquainted with jerseyhoya, Internet GOP warrior on BackSheGoes.com. I'm sure that'll open doors for you.

Except the new AG is a Dem and went to the same college as me (20 years apart but I digress). Don't loan me the Lacoste just yet...

I haven't been following the cabinet fill in all that closely, and am surprised he picked a Democrat to be AG. The comments on nj.com are unsurprisingly racist.

TenuredVulture wrote:Feel free to bump this or quote this when I'm proven wrong, but I predict Crist will crush Rubio in the FL Rep primary, winning by more than 15 points.

Why was I reading through the politics thread last night? I think I was looking to see if I was right about Rubio from the start. Answer: inconclusive, although I did get all indignant over a piece dajafi posted from someone lumping Rubio's challenge in with no name people running against Rob Simmons and Mark Kirk. In any case, preemptive bumping here.

Bakestar wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:Just let them know you are acquainted with jerseyhoya, Internet GOP warrior on BackSheGoes.com. I'm sure that'll open doors for you.

Except the new AG is a Dem and went to the same college as me (20 years apart but I digress). Don't loan me the Lacoste just yet...

If Christie intends to do some serious anti-corruption stuff, a Dem AG can insulate from charges of partisanship. Just guessing, but I suspect about 2/3 of the corruption come out of Dem machine counties, and 1/3 from Rep ones.

jerseyhoya wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Feel free to bump this or quote this when I'm proven wrong, but I predict Crist will crush Rubio in the FL Rep primary, winning by more than 15 points.

Why was I reading through the politics thread last night? I think I was looking to see if I was right about Rubio from the start. Answer: inconclusive, although I did get all indignant over a piece dajafi posted from someone lumping Rubio's challenge in with no name people running against Rob Simmons and Mark Kirk. In any case, preemptive bumping here.

And rightly so, I might add (re indignant).

As I was wrong then, here's hoping I'm equally wrong in my fear that Rubio turns out to be "Palin with a brain"--just as demagogic and irresponsible, but intellectually and tactically ready for prime time.

Normally, books by former politicians are dreadful. This one, by former Senator David Boren however, looks like it might be worth a read.

http://www.alettertoamerica.org/book.html

I can't imagine Boren has a huge political ax to grind at this point. It might be refreshingly sensible.

Well I think Christie at least deserves an atta boy for having the stones to tell it like it is and for saying what everybody is probably thinking anyway. And he did it knowing full well how incredibly unpopular it would be and will be.

Obviously it is wayyyyyy too early to start discussing such things but his reward for setting the state back on the right track could be one term and done because he would have rubbed too many people the wrong way to do it.