beware of obamanites in republican clothing
Obama Ties Democrats #39; Election Hopes To His Failed Policies Bill Clinton tries to save Democrats from Barack Obama |
By: Robert Gomez
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beware of obamanites in republican clothing - Video
Sen. Kay Hagan, left, D-North Carolina, and North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis greet prior to a live televised debate at UNC-TV studios in Research Triangle Park, N.C., Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014. AP Photo/Gerry Broome, Pool
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CBS News Battleground Tracker projects that if elections were held today, Republicans would take the Senate, 51 seats to 49. GOP control could de...
With just a month before the midterm elections, Senate candidates in five states sparred about President Obama's policies, the economy, and women's rights on Tuesday night.
The debates were part of races both parties are counting on for victories - in Virginia for Democrats and in West Virginia for Republicans - and in closer races where both parties are hoping to win a seat from the other - Democrats from Republicans in Georgia, and Republicans from Democrats in North Carolina and Colorado.
Each race could ultimately decide whether the GOP will gain the six seats it needs to take control of the Senate in the next Congress.
Here are some highlights from the debates:
In second debate between Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and Republican challenger Thom Tillis in North Carolina, Tillis tried to focus the conversation on the president, while Hagan drew attention to the conservative direction taken by the state's government during Tillis' time as state House speaker.
Tillis said the president's policies - "every single one of them" - are effectively up for a referendum.
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In debates, Republican Senate candidates shift focus to Obama
Gay marriage may be a settled issue in as many as 30 states after Mondays Supreme Court decision, but it still poses an existential threat to many Republican candidates, especially as the calendar turns to the 2016 presidential contest.
As public opinion has sailed toward greater acceptance of same sex unions, Republicans have struggled to finesse the issue, caught between pressure from powerful conservative groups and younger voters who hold more liberal views.
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FOR THE RECORD
An earlier version of this post misspelled the first name of Penny Nance, the chief executive and president of Concerned Women for America.
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The GOP presidential candidates face a particularly delicate dance in early primary states such as Iowa and South Carolina: They must appease theconservative foot soldiers who control those early contests while not alienating middle-of-the-road and younger voters key to their general election hopes.
When the Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for same-sex marriage in 11 states, there was no evidence that conservative groups were backing away from the fight, even if fewcandidates in November's closely contested races and beyond were looking to jump into the middle of it.
Leaders such as Ralph Reed of the Coalition for Faith & Freedom and Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America insisted that the decision would serve as a rallying cry for conservatives in November.
We cannot overemphasize the importance of the upcoming elections, Nance said after the decision. Conservatives must come out to the polls in the upcoming elections in overwhelming numbers and make sure that our elected officials, and the next president of the United States, respect and appreciate the right of the people to define marriage as it has always been throughout our history -- the union between one man and one woman.
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Gay marriage poses a dilemma for many Republican candidates
Ed Gillespie's campaign to defeat Senator Mark Warner has only ever made sense if Virginia voters made three leaps in quick succession. One: Voters who elected Barack Obama to the White House twice had to be sick of him. Two: They had to associate Warner, a popular former governor, not with his own work but with Obama's. Three: They would find an acceptable alternative in a lifetime political operative who joined George W. Bush's White House at its nadir.
Gillespiedid his best to make that happen on Tuesday, insisting in a debate that Warner had gone mindlessly along as Obama policies had ruined Virginia. In his opening answers, Gillespie deployed the phrase "Obama-Warner policies" four times. Warner quickly used a question about Iraq to describe how he differed with the administration.
In that answer, Warner mentioned that Bush and Obama policies had led to the current crisis in the Levant. That was the only reference Warner made to Bush all night a president whose approval rating in Virginia was 27 percent when Warner was elected, according to the 2008 exit polls.The Gillespie campaign, which doesn't really panic Democrats, is nonetheless a reminder of how far they've drifted from the heady days of the first Obama win.
The Republican challenger rarely played defense.
"Governor Warner wouldnt recognize Senator Warner today," said Gillespie.
Warner made no obvious mistakes, and was able to cite Senate votes or possible deals every time he was challenged on his independence. Continuing a trend in this year's races, Warner insisted that he'd stood up to the president on foreign policy, not just in Iraq but "also in terms of being stronger with Putin and Russia." When moderator Chuck Todd asked Warner if he'd back Harry Reid for another round as majority leader, the senator shrugged that his colleagues "could perhaps do better in both parties."
Listening to that, you might forget that Warner led Gillespie in every poll of the race and was vastly outspending him on the air. The Republican challenger rarely played defense. When asked if he could cite a time he broke with his party, he suggested that "we swung too far" in the 1990s in passing mandatory minimums. Gillespie was only caught short when Todd asked him to respond for the first time to the Supreme Court's decision that effectively undid the state's gay marriage ban.
"I accept the ruling," said Gillespie. When Todd pointed out that Gillespie ran the RNC at a time when it strongly supported a Federal Marriage Amendment (a stance that remains in the national Republican platform), Gillespie insisted that he only had to answer for what he would do as a senator.
"I don't believe it's proper for the United States Senate to enact an anti-marriage amendment," said Gillespie.
"There are those who believe it is," said Todd.
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Episode 2
PHOENIX - The Republican candidate running to replace Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, has removed a video clip from her campaign ad that showed journalist James Foley moments before he was beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The ad drew heavy criticism and a spokesman for the candidate, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Wendy Rogers, said Tuesday she decided to remove the footage in order to keep voters focusing on her opponent.
The ad says that Sinema is weak on national security issues.
"Kyrsten Sinema's votes on national security - including her vote to allow terrorists to be transferred to U.S. soil and tried in American courts - are dangerous for national security," the spokesman, James Harris, said in a statement.
The spot, which the campaign released Monday, opened with the footage of a masked member of ISIS holding a knife as Foley kneels. It did not show the moment he was beheaded. Rogers is spending about $124,000 to air the ad in the Phoenix market and on cable.
The new version of the ad uses a more generic shot of masked men in black waving guns walking through the desert as text across the video warns, "terrorist threats are growing."
The Democratic National Congressional Committee said using the Foley footage was "reprehensible."
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Republican candidate removes beheading footage from campaign ad