The Beltway observers wrote off Michael Bennet in his Senate race. They were wrong.
…in Colorado, Rasmussen has GOP nutcase Ken Buck up by only two points on Michael Bennet. Keep in mind the Rasmussen house effect, which should give Bennet a couple of points, and the most recent (although two week old) PPP poll showing Bennet up by one, and you’ve got a dead heat.
And then keep in mind Buck’s strange equation of gays and alcoholics, and you’ve got an excellent reason to send a little coin Bennet’s way, here. (Bonus: you can also give to Jack Conway in the same place!).
Author: Jonathan Zasloff
Jonathan Zasloff teaches Torts, Land Use, Environmental Law, Comparative Urban Planning Law, Legal History, and Public Policy Clinic - Land Use, the Environment and Local Government. He grew up and still lives in the San Fernando Valley, about which he remains immensely proud (to the mystification of his friends and colleagues). After graduating from Yale Law School, and while clerking for a federal appeals court judge in Boston, he decided to return to Los Angeles shortly after the January 1994 Northridge earthquake, reasoning that he would gladly risk tremors in order to avoid the average New England wind chill temperature of negative 55 degrees.
Professor Zasloff has a keen interest in world politics; he holds a PhD in the history of American foreign policy from Harvard and an M.Phil. in International Relations from Cambridge University. Much of his recent work concerns the influence of lawyers and legalism in US external relations, and has published articles on these subjects in the New York University Law Review and the Yale Law Journal. More generally, his recent interests focus on the response of public institutions to social problems, and the role of ideology in framing policy responses.
Professor Zasloff has long been active in state and local politics and policy. He recently co-authored an article discussing the relationship of Proposition 13 (California's landmark tax limitation initiative) and school finance reform, and served for several years as a senior policy advisor to the Speaker of California Assembly. His practice background reflects these interests: for two years, he represented welfare recipients attempting to obtain child care benefits and microbusinesses in low income areas. He then practiced for two more years at one of Los Angeles' leading public interest environmental and land use firms, challenging poorly planned development and working to expand the network of the city's urban park system. He currently serves as a member of the boards of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (a state agency charged with purchasing and protecting open space), the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice (the leading legal service firm for low-income clients in east Los Angeles), and Friends of Israel's Environment. Professor Zasloff's other major activity consists in explaining the Triangle Offense to his very patient wife, Kathy.
View all posts by Jonathan Zasloff
This is why it's important to keep pointing out each and every one of the nutballs. Even people who don't live in Delaware get a chance to think about what their own nuts are saying when they hear news from that Senate race.
What I wonder, though, is how much luck reality based people will have in pushing back on the Village's declaration of A Mandate should the Republicans gain a 3 or 5 (or whatever) seat majority in the House. The Village will use the M word in every sentence between election day and June 1, 2011, and continually urge the President to stand down, so as not to interfere with the Will of the People. Just like the Republicans did after the 2008 election (and that was no 3-5 seat majority).
Listening to the two of them speak in-depth about the issues and their positions on the issues, one easily, quickly, and readily concludes that smart people will all vote for Bennet. But he needs a majority.