On Coakley

I'm stil following politics, just slightly less religiously than in the past - so for example I am watching Massachusetts and massively pissed at how Coakley ran her race. You can blame the party for lack of support all that you want but the truth is that voters like to see their candidate out for more than 10 minutes at a time, and they like to see a candidate who doesn't disdain facing the voters.

Coakley may well be a good Senator but just because you think you can rest easy especially in a "change" election, well, there's no voter that likes being taken for granted. You still gotta work like you want it. And she didn't seem like she wanted it. She sniffed at the idea of "standing outside Fenway Park [map], in the cold, shaking hands.” She then said that gladhanding basically wasn't worth her time when she had the support of a small town mayor. Take that plus her dissing Curt Schilling as a Yankees fan. YEah, she dissed the star pitcher who led the Red Sox to an 04 victory against the Yankees. Doesn't play well deep in Red Sox country. Plus her staffer's gaffe in wiping out a conservative columnist in the final days of the campaign. All bad. Bloomberg looks better for having endorsed Alan Karzei, founder of CityYear. Sam Yoon looks better for having endorsed Congressman Mike Capuano.

She's not the most progressive of the primary candidates, and indeed I have a friend who worked in her office who never wanted to work in the AG's office again. But she would have been good on a lot of issues, and she would have been a good Democratic vote in the Senate. But being privileged and being distant doesn't win you votes. Yes, this is Massachusetts, which has had Senator John F. Kerry, who was pilloried for being a windsurfing snob, in office for 20-odd years and Senator Ted Kennedy (may he rest in peace) for more than half his life. But I've seen both work a room and a convention hall, and they can both turn on the charm whether it's a donor, a voter, or an average citizen. And they do it because it's part of their jobs to respond to the public. Coakley lost because she ran as much from the crowds as she did the . You can't only like the idea of being a Senator, you gotta work for it.

Dan Drezner, a professor at Tufts writes, "I don't want to live in a swing state ever again" after being barraged by calls from surrogates and the campaigns, and likely some 527s and PACs urging him to vote for or against a candidate. All I can say is, I've been on the ground in swing states in presidential elections, and that ain't the half of it. Real swing state residents have people knocking on their doors repeatedly at all hours, their mailbox and doorstep gets cluttered with campaign lit, they get leafletted at the grocery store, at school, and at church. Not to mention the state fair and wherever you go to try to escape this stuff. Your tv is full of commercials about the candidates - cable or mainstream channels. You turn on the car radio and it's blanketed with ads.

Anyway, there's not a lot to be hopeful about in this special election.

Closeted Republican Senator Pled Guilty to Bathroom Sex

So the media has finally decided to write on Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) pleading guilty to lewd behavior in the men's bathroom at a Minnesota airport back in June. Roll Call, the insider's paper in DC, finally formally outed Senator Craig recently, although Craig's hometown paper, the Idaho Statesman, has been sitting on the story for months. And this shit has blown up big - his name is all over Google news for having illicit bathroom sex. In an airport, nonetheless! How tawdry of a US Senator. Roll Call via Marc Ambinder:

A spokesman for Craig described the incident as a “he said/he said misunderstanding,” and said the office would release a fuller statement later Monday afternoon.

After he was arrested, Craig, who is married, was taken to the Airport Police Operations Center to be interviewed about the lewd conduct incident, according to the police report. At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” the report states.

So cocky - you would think that if he was truly deeply in the closet, he would try to cover up ANY identifying details and pretend to be a regular Joe instead of rubbing it in the cop's face. But I guess that's typical GOP elected behavior: "Mistakes were made, but I am not responsible, although I wield enormous power."

Meanwhile, Craig's defense was that he should have used a lawyer, and didn't really mean to plead guilty. Yeah, a sitting US Senator didn't know the legal process. The Senate is a process machine! The Mountain Goat Report has the local scoop:

Update 17:11: Craig tried to mitigate his guilty plea with this response to local NBC affiliate, KTVB:

"At the time of the incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct. I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

It should be noted that from the time of the arrest to the guilty plea was two months. For a politician to not seek legal advice during that time on an incident of this magnitude suggests either incompetence or "scared rabbit" syndrome. Either way this is not good for Craig.

I agree that if he didn't seek legal counsel, it might be because he was too scared of anyone in the legal community finding out and it getting out back home, creating the ripples that we now see.

Wonkette has this insightful tidbit on a group of Larry Craig supporters and endorsers who are staunchly anti-gay, bemoaning the use of airport restrooms as the gay hookup joint of choice.

Mcjoan over at dailykos has a good analysis of the contenders to replace Craig, and wonders why the Statesman and their lawyers sat on the story, and how a DC insiders' paper decided to place a call to the Hennepin County Records office.

I suspect that Mike Rogers, who writes over at BlogActive, got sick of his investigative work going to naught and slipped a little note over to Roll Call. Rogers has been doing really great reporting on Sen. Craig's faithlessness to his wife for almost a year, and has been harping on Craig in particular because the Senator from Idaho consistently votes against gay rights.

In terms of the political fallout, Senator Craig is definitely resigning, and the Republican Governor would normally name his Lt Gov as the replacement candidate, except that they hate each other with a soap opera passion. So it looks like one Bill Sali might be chomping at the bit to elevate his hatemongering to the next level. Because only by being a US Senator and having a bigger bullhorn to insult Muslims can he truly protect America from the wrath of God. It's a ying and yang - scratch that (too Asian, and foreign) - a perilous balance thing.

But that's Idaho for ya.

PS: The cherry on top is that Craig had to resign as national co-chair for Mitt Romney's campaign.

PPS: The disturbing thing is that even 25 years back, Craig had to combat rumors of improper dealings with Congressional pages (echoes of Foleygate?)

PPPS: I guess this explains why the WH decided to dump Gonzales on a Monday - in between Vick pleading guilty to dogfighting (engages lowest common denominator that cares about sports and violence), and Senator Bathroom Sex (fulfills American need for sex gossip), who cares that the guy who tried to jam illegal wiretaps down our throat is resigning? Hell, I'd rather write about Republican sexual hypocrisies all day than think about the dark deeds that I am sure Alberto and Karl will some day be held accountable for, preferably at Guantanamo. (They and the rest of Bushco can be the sole prisoners.) Uhm, does that mean that I'm swallowing it? I hope not.

Damn you Ed Gillespie - I didn't get why White House insiders were loving your appointment as the new Communications Director, but this is as smart and evil a ploy as it gets. Maybe it wasn't Mike Rogers but actually Gillespie who deftly nudged Roll Call. Cos you know that Craig was gong down anyway, it was just a matter of when, so why not sacrifice a pawn to save a rook?

Does this make you the new Rove? Shit, maybe he's resigning because there's a suitable replacement . . . *cue the horror screams*