Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Bob Turner (R) wins NY-9!

Republican Bob Turner won in a heavily Democratic district in New York City (Brooklyn/Queens). Separately, the Republican Mark Amodei won in Nevada-2, a safe Republican district.

Turner's victory is particularly surprising not just because of his party but also because he is a Catholic running against a Jew in a heavily Jewish district. Polls seem to indicate that the key issue was not Obama's economic policies but rather Obama's strained relationship with Israel. (Slate argues that it the Democrat's support for gay marriage.)

The Washington Post is trying to spin the results as showing a "fickle" electorate. They cite Democrat Hochul's win in an upstate NY special election earlier this year as evidence that "Republican momentum should be seen as momentary." Their article omits mentioning that the margin of victory in that election was provided a dirty trick: Millionaire Democrat Jack Davis ran as a pretend "Tea Party" candidate garnering 9% of the vote, giving Hochul the margin she needed for victory.

Both sides in the NY-9 campaign are accusing the other of dirty tricks, as the Daily Caller reports (hat tip: LegalInsurrection and Ace):
The campaign of Democrat David Weprin sent out a press release Tuesday accusing supporters of Republican Bob Turner of organizing an effort to jam the Weprin campaign’s phones. In response, Turner communications director William O’Reilly noted that Jewish residents of the district were receiving phone calls from a phony group calling itself “Jews for Jesus for Turner,” which he called an attempt to scare Jewish voters.
Are there no adults in the room?

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