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Could New England Turn Red?
Maybe. Purple is more likely. Let’s start at the top.
Paul LePage, Maine’s eccentric GOP governor, is in a tight fight for reelection in a three-way race with Democratic congressman Mike Michaud and independent conservative Eliot Cutler. If Cutler drops out, LePage coasts to victory.
In Massachusetts, Republican Charlie Baker leads Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley by 9 points according to the latest poll. That’s a gap that will be pretty hard to close in the final week. Even if he’s a RINO, he’ll be our RINO.
In Connecticut, the rematch between Republican businessman Tom Foley and Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy is as tight as an Old Lyme tick. Again, a third party candidate is sapping some of Foley’s support or this would be a slam dunk. Michelle Obama is due in state this week to try to turn out the vote in heavily Democratic Bridgeport. This could very easily end up backfiring and increasing Republican turnout in the rest of the state. Stay tuned.
In Rhode Island, Democrat Gina Raimondo earned the ire of the Ocean State’s public sector unions when, as state treasurer, she slashed pensions in a bold reform scheme. It’s a long shot, but those unions just might hold their noses and turn out for her Republican opponent, Cranston mayor Allan Fung.
In once-reliable New Hampshire, Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan looks likely to win reelection, but Scott Brown could yet swipe back Jeanne Shaheen’s senate seat for the GOP, giving the Granite State two Republican senators.
And, in Vermont . . . well, never mind about Vermont.
All in all, a wicked good chance that Republicans make significant gains in a region of the country that most had assumed was cursed to remain deep, deep blue, now and forever.
Could the curse be reversed? That kind of thing happens up here.
Published in General
Somewhere, Silent Cal is smiling.
New Hampshire is such a disappointment. The libertarians make the state all nice and hospitable and then a bunch of intellectually lazy and hypocritical liberals move in a ruin all the fun.
A correction for Maine – Eliot Cutler is an independent liberal. His splitting of the lefty vote four years ago gave Paul LePage the victory. There is no indication that the electorate has moved right since then. If he drops out of the race, Mike Michaud is the one who coasts to victory.
Also, don’t look too hard at Kansas, Alaska, North Carolina, Georgia, or Pennsylvania’s various state races or else you might get some blue-tinged heartburn.
You are absolutely right. My bad.
Go Eliot Go!
Yeah, that happens everywhere. Prime example: California.
Not a chance.
Maine is being flooded with immigrants. Some end up voting. Almost all pad out Democrat districts.
Much of Maine is Appalachia. D-friendly dependency culture. Captive to D-controlled media that convinces the rubes of all sorts of nuttiness.
Rural NH is similar. That’s how O won most of the state except the eastern border area of MA. Despite the myth, the MA refugees there are perhaps the best Republicans within a thousand miles. it also suffers from student voting (whether students in NH schools or those bused in from MA). There is a slight chance that in this off-year a lack of student vote fraud combined with an energized base could help Brown. His only problem is his useless RINO principles won’t energize the base.
Too many productive people have been driven out of CT in the last 25 years.
We don’t really need to discuss MA, RI, or VT, do we?
New England voters may vote to elect Republicans but there ain’t no way they’ll elect conservatives. Red? No. Pink? Maybe.
Yep. A little-known fact. :)
Depends what you mean.
Even if (big if) Baker, Foley, and Fung all win, New England won’t have in any real sense turned red. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island will continue to have big Democratic majorities in both houses of all three state legislatures. It’s likely they collectively won’t send a single Republican to the House. Rhode Island and Massachusetts will reelect their Democratic Senators easily. They’ll just have reverted to their usual trend of counterbalancing the Democratic legislature with a squishy Republican governor – the three current Democratic governors of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are the first Democratic governors of those states since the early ’90s.
As for New Hampshire … New Hampshire’s been the odd one out for years. it’s been a purple state, and will probably remain a purple state regardless of what happens. Even if (again, big if) Brown and both Republican congressional candidates win, it’ll probably be by the fairly small margins consistent with a purple state.
And yeah, as Job-locked Poet pointed out, Maine is a race Republicans really only have a chance of winning because of a big split in the Democratic vote. Even if they, win it, it won’t be a particularly meaningful indication of the state turning red.
It wasn’t all that long ago (2010-2012) that both houses of the Maine legislature were Republican-controlled. The difference this time is that the Dems were asleep at the wheel in Maine in 2010, but not this time. Planned Parenthood and other left-wing groups have poured quite a bit of dough into some key races, including the governor’s race. Even so, Le Page has managed to turn the state around and has a good shot at retaining the Blaine House, and there’s a good chance the GOP will make significant gains in the legislative races, even possibly pick up one of the chambers.
That’s what happens in Massachusetts. The Democratic Party Machine gets wound up whenever a Republican wins, and the next election cycle, they pour every cent they can find into winning the race. It’s like they are trying to nip the Republican Rebellion in the bud. Can’t have that, can we?
I’ve donated money to Paul LePage, and I’ll be voting for Scott Brown.
Joe Visconti really needs to drop his bid. He may allow Malloy to keep his governorship
In Rhode Island we all might be better off if the current democratic governor, Gina Raimondo wins. She took a courageous stand on reforming pensions and if she loses in deep blue Rhode Island it will be another reason for Democrats to avoid any pension reform elsewhere in the country.
I drove through Plymouth, VT, a few weeks ago. Cal is not smiling. He’s weeping and angry, as are all Vermonters who don’t have a head firmly shoved into a dark place.
The wreckage that has been done to this state in the last two decades by the unthinking morons who call themselves “progressives” will be born by the dwindling population of native Vermonters who have to work two jobs to live in this once glorious state. Considering Vermont’s demographics, it may be that we never, ever, will learn what we’ve done to ourselves, until, well, we look back on this time in 20 years or so and wonder what in the hell we were thinking.
This means Rob Long has a fighting chance.
GO LONG IN NOVEMBER!
I was carpooling with a guy (Liberal) who expected Texas to turn blue. It would give me the ultimate pleasure if New England turned red! From your keyboard to God’s ears…lol.
That’s usually how it works, Manny.