Democrat Chris Coons easily wins Delaware Senate race with 57% of vote, trounces Christine O'Donnell

[ErnstBlofeld]

The NY Daily News:

Christine O'Donnell got the most press coverage of any candidate this election season, but the media spotlight didn't help the Tea Party darling pull through to victory.

O'Donnell lost the race for the Delaware Senate by a landslide, as her opponent, Democrat Chris Coons, easily sailed to victory.

Coons netted 57 percent of the vote with 98 percent of the precincts reporting, while O'Donnell got only 40 percent.

"We worked hard. We had an incredible victory. Be encouraged. We have won," O'Donnell said in her concession speech on Tuesday night. "The Delaware political system will never be the same...the Republican Party will never be the same...Our voices were heard and we're not going to be quiet now. This is just the beginning."

That speech marked a dramatic contrast from O'Donnell's attitude going into Election Day, when the much mocked Tea Party-backed candidate was lagging in the polls by 14 points but remained confident.

"This race is so winnable!" she tweeted Monday night.

But her upstart campaign couldn't beat Coons, an attorney and Yale graduate who serves as County Executive in Delaware's New Castle County.

[ErnstBlofeld]

Under the Federal Election Commission's rules, candidates can either refund the money to their donors within 60 days after the person is no longer a candidate or get permission from their donors to re-designate it for use by the candidate's campaign for another federal office. To pay off debts from their primary campaigns, candidates can tap general-election funds from contributors who didn't max out in the primary*, with the donor's permission.

[pollyannaish]

The thing that's driving me crazy about this race is the "lessons" both sides are trying to take away from it.

 

Republican elites are talking about how it is a message that you can't elect conservative candidates in states like Delaware, so you have to elect Blue light. That may or may not be true, but we can't tell from this race.

 

Democrats are suggesting that this is a message that the tea party candidates are far too extreme and it is a repudiation of Sarah Palin and the tea party. That may or may not be ture, but we can't tell from this race.

 

What we can tell, is that voters do not like candidates that LIE on their resumes. They don't trust people who don't tell the truth, especially on easily provable matters. These were not shadings of the truth. These were flat out falsehoods and many more than just one.

 

Voters don't like that and if you don't have the press covering for you (as happens in many Democrat races where the fabrications are minimized or hidden) you're not going to win. It's really as simple as that, in my opinion.

[NCTexan]

The thing that's driving me crazy about this race is the "lessons" both sides are trying to take away from it.

 

Republican elites are talking about how it is a message that you can't elect conservative candidates in states like Delaware, so you have to elect Blue light. That may or may not be true, but we can't tell from this race.

 

Democrats are suggesting that this is a message that the tea party candidates are far too extreme and it is a repudiation of Sarah Palin and the tea party. That may or may not be ture, but we can't tell from this race.

 

What we can tell, is that voters do not like candidates that LIE on their resumes. They don't trust people who don't tell the truth, especially on easily provable matters. These were not shadings of the truth. These were flat out falsehoods and many more than just one.

 

Voters don't like that and if you don't have the press covering for you (as happens in many Democrat races where the fabrications are minimized or hidden) you're not going to win. It's really as simple as that, in my opinion.

Totally agree Pollyannaish!

 

One can't say that O'Donnell was a terrible candidate, a witch, inexperienced, ran a poor campaign, and is stupid to boot... but would have won if she were not so conservative.

 

However, that seems to be the conclusion that some are attempting to draw from this race.

[Stella]

There are also two things about this race that I didn't like. The infusion of out of state money generated by Palin and the Express was beyond obscene. I know people don't like out of state interference in a race they consider local. All the extra money should be distributed among the unemployed in the state.

 

Also, O'Donnell was whining once again about lack of support from the GOP. I hate whining!!!! All this showed was that she didn't know how to run a race and that deep down she didn't think Palin and the Express were powerful enough to guarantee a victory.

 

Palin should give her a job with the Express since she is now unemployed and doesn't have campaign funds pouring in from across the nation to live on.

[Pepper]

"Christine O'Donnell got the most press coverage of any candidate this election season, but the media spotlight didn't help the Tea Party darling pull through to victory."

 

 

 

Puh-leeeeeeeeeeeze. Let me edit that for the NYT:

 

"Next to Paladino, Rand Paul, Joe Miller, Christine O'Donnell got some of the most negative press coverage of any candidate this election season, but and the constant media spotlight barrage of negativity and the infighting among Conservatives didn't helped sink the Tea Party darling candidate pull through to victory."

 

 

EDIT 12:40 EST

 

Rush sees it the same way. Infighting led to O'D's defeat. He just said she led the party to the right.

 

Is it really smart to have Coons in for Senate? Who is really stupid? Reid or Angle? Who are the stupid people, the tea party people or the idiots who reelected Jerry Brown?

 

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be embarrassed by.

 

This is the first step."

[Guest areafiftyone]

There are also two things about this race that I didn't like. The infusion of out of state money generated by Palin and the Express was beyond obscene. I know people don't like out of state interference in a race they consider local. All the extra money should be distributed among the unemployed in the state.

 

Also, O'Donnell was whining once again about lack of support from the GOP. I hate whining!!!! All this showed was that she didn't know how to run a race and that deep down she didn't think Palin and the Express were powerful enough to guarantee a victory.

 

Palin should give her a job with the Express since she is now unemployed and doesn't have campaign funds pouring in from across the nation to live on.

 

O'Donnell got the support she needed and wanted from the Tea Party - I don't know what else she could have wanted. She got money from all over the country (she even had more money than Coons), she got the most media attention than Coons. Instead of taking advantage of the media she did the Palin thing - she slammed the media and said they were picking on her and then folded her arms and stamped her feet and said "I'm not talking to the media from now on". Acting like a 4 year old is not the way to win a race. She needed to be her own person and instead she became a Palin clone. No one wants to elect a Palin. Especially in the North East. She did not even get all the Republican vote in her state which surprised me. But live and learn. I wish her well.

[Evad]

" She did not even get all the Republican vote in her state which surprised me."

Do you figure this was all the disgruntled Castle supporters?

[righteousmomma]

pepper, I like what Rush had to say about all this and will post it later.

Got to get busy and I am already tired from staying up most of the night.

[Pepper]

RM, As usual, Rush is right

 

: )

 

pepper, I like what Rush had to say about all this and will post it later.

Got to get busy and I am already tired from staying up most of the night.

[Guest areafiftyone]

" She did not even get all the Republican vote in her state which surprised me."

Do you figure this was all the disgruntled Castle supporters?

 

Some were - and some said on the forums that they would just write in Castle instead of voting for Coons. Most were republicans who thought Christine was not a good candidate for their state once they got to know all about her. Simple as that.

[righteousmomma]

" She did not even get all the Republican vote in her state which surprised me."

Do you figure this was all the disgruntled Castle supporters?

 

Some were - and some said on the forums that they would just write in Castle instead of voting for Coons. Most were republicans who thought Christine was not a good candidate for their state once they got to know all about her. Simple as that.

 

Well, maybe its because I am simple minded but I find that kind of reasoning as dumb as the Independents and "conservatives" who sat out the election in 2007 as "punishment" for the Repubs.

 

When we are up against the Dems and the future survival of our Democratic Republic I agree with Rush:

The party (and we Republican voters) needs to get behind all our candidates, not just elites.

 

True O'Donnell was not chosen by the Repubs but she was elected and there the options should end.

 

Edited to add: all theories aside the Republicans who entered the voting booth had to ask themselves one question" "Is she less of an idiot than the leftist Democrat idiot running against her?"

[Stella]

I think what my husband has said about Palin and O'Donnell to be very wise and truthful. My husband is one of the smartest people I know who is very good understanding human nature. He said that once you become the butt of jokes and the punch line for every comedienne, nobody will ever take you seriously again.

 

I have no idea why people who claim to be GOP didn't support her but went to the Democratic side. Could it be that they know something about her that her out of state supporters don't know? Could they be angry that she and Palin turned their state into a three ring circus?

[righteousmomma]

RUSH: "Both Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman ran as moderates, proud, proud moderates. Indeed, they were the model candidates, according to the party fathers, the Republican side, and we see how well that worked out. It is what it is, folks. It is what it is. In both cases, both women were heartily endorsed by Senator McCain, and both were prominent in his campaign of 2008. How's that hope and change working out for you? Now, exactly who are the stupid people?

 

Last night on Fox Karl Rove said that there was a lesson in Christine O'Donnell's defeat. The lesson is that if we don't vet candidates, we're gonna end up with flaws and therefore it's gonna be a problem.

 

The problem is that we didn't vet. She decided to run on her own. The Republicans didn't field Christine O'Donnell, they didn't pick Christine O'Donnell. Outsiders don't come packaged. Outsiders are not packaged by the insiders.

 

The lesson? The lesson? Let me tell you what Christine O'Donnell did. She has taken the Republican Party in Delaware to the right. She has moved the conservative ball forward. Sarah Palin on Fox last night said, "I hope everybody notices what they're saying on CNN tonight, that even Mike Castle would have lost in Delaware last night."

 

Christine O'Donnell could have won were it not for all the backbiting after her primary victory.

 

Had the party gotten behind her, had Steele had some on-the-ground money for Nevada, who knows how that might have turned out. We didn't have any money on the ground in Nevada. There was no way we're gonna combat the unions getting behind and the gaming industry getting behind Dingy Harry and who knows what the hell happened to ballot boxes in places, but there was no ground game money in Nevada and very little in Delaware, what the hell was gonna happen?

 

I know this. I know that Christine O'Donnell didn't kill anybody at Chappaquiddick by driving her car off the bridge. I know that she didn't lie about her country and denigrate her country when she got back from Vietnam. I know she didn't do that. She doesn't have anywhere near the baggage that prominent Democrats have. She has nowhere near the baggage that acclaimed, loved, adored, and said to be stars in the Democrat Party have. Did she ever join the Ku Klux Klan? Did she ever become a Kleagle and recruit for the Ku Klux Klan? She didn't, did she? The Democrats have a guy who did. Robert Byrd and his seat stayed in the Democrat Party. Did she have anywhere near the kind of financial fraud and tax cheating that Charles Rangel had? No.

 

And yet somehow there's a lesson that we are to learn from Christine O'Donnell? Exactly who are the stupid here, Christine O'Donnell or the people who let the media and the unions put Chris Coons into that seat? Is it really smart that we have Chris Coons in the Senate from Delaware? Is it smart that we took steps that allowed that to happen? Who's really stupid out there? Who are the stupid people?

 

Sharron Angle or the people who let the media and the unions give the election to Harry Reid without any ground game money.

 

Where were the people defending Sharron Angle when her character was assaulted out of the box by Dingy Harry? Where was it? Who are the stupid people out there, the Tea Party people or the idiots in California who reelected Jerry Brown after throwing him out 28 years ago? He's back.

 

This idea that somehow there's a lesson to be learned in what we do? There's a lesson to be learned in who we nominate? There's a lesson to be learned in who we elect?

 

This was a wipeout last night. There's nothing to be ashamed of, there's nothing to be embarrassed by, there's nothing to be depressed over. Everybody said from the get-go, this is the first step. Nobody said Obama was gonna be defeated last night. Nobody said the agenda was going to be totally reversed last night. Last night's not even the end of the beginning. The end of the beginning is still happening.

 

This is Jerry Brown's third term in California. Schwarzenegger couldn't run 'cause it woulda been his third term. Jerry Brown waits long enough, goes over there, becomes mayor of Oakland, really burnishes his credentials, and then runs for a third term.

 

Was Christine O'Donnell ever a Black Panther? Did she ever go to anybody's polling place and intimidate people into not showing up, did Christine O'Donnell do that? Did Sharron Angle do any of that? Did Christine O'Donnell ever get a TARP bailout for a boyfriend of hers? A lot of Democrats did. A lot of Democrats got TARP bailouts for their husbands. Who are the smart people here? Who is it that says we have to run around and keep making excuses for ourselves? Sarah Palin campaigned for a lot of candidates, and the vast majority of them were victorious. Whitman nor Fiorina campaigned with Sarah Palin. They didn't want her anywhere around. We see how all that turned out.

 

I don't know if I've ever seen a disinformation campaign like we saw against Christine O'Donnell or Sharron Angle, Meg Whitman, Linda McMahon. You have to hand it to the news media; they did their best out there. They did their best to mischaracterize and miscategorize these people. They really did. Imagine in Nevada, the state with the highest unemployment, the worst foreclosure rate, the state of Las Vegas, state of Nevada, which Obama told everybody to avoid, and it still goes for Harry Reid? What could be suspicious about that? We know that people don't like Harry Reid in Nevada. We know that. They're on the board saying so. They're on record saying so in all kinds of polling data, worst unemployment, worst foreclosure rate, and still they vote for Harry Reid. As I say, not bad, if it is what it is, then good, we've got Harry Reid. He's still there, what better face could we have as the Democrat Party?

Nikki Haley wins the governorship. Republican women who are conservative sailed. They've got more to be proud of than is known. "

[Sabre86]

I think the thing that made me sick about the whole Delaware Senate race was how many self proclaimed "conservatives" demonized Christine O'Donnell worse than the media and Democrats. This includes people here, on GBR, and FR among others.

 

If they didn't like her, they just needed to shut the heck up.

[NCTexan]

I think the thing that made me sick about the whole Delaware Senate race was how many self proclaimed "conservatives" demonized Christine O'Donnell worse than the media and Democrats. This includes people here, on GBR, and FR among others.

 

If they didn't like her, they just needed to shut the heck up.

Amen Brother!

 

She would not have been my choice in the primaries.

 

However, somebody needs to convince me that she would have been worse for Delaware or the country than the now elected liberal DEM Senator... or most of the other DEMs in the senate.

 

BTW, somebody convince me that she's 'stupider' than the current elected VP.

[Stella]

I think the thing that made me sick about the whole Delaware Senate race was how many self proclaimed "conservatives" demonized Christine O'Donnell worse than the media and Democrats. This includes people here, on GBR, and FR among others.

 

If they didn't like her, they just needed to shut the heck up.

 

I was under the impression that TRR welcomed an exchange of ideas and points of view. It seems that several people would prefer an echo chamber. Not every candidate is perfect. This was also about more than O'Donnell, it was also about interference from the Express and the infusion of a lot of money from all over the US that could have been better spent on another candidate. And if people don't think this is worthy of discussion that I guess an echo chamber is preferred.

[nickydog]

No, Stella! Speaking just for me, I definitely don't want you to "shut the heck up!" You have added much to our discussions and I always look to see what you have to say.

[Sabre86]

I think the thing that made me sick about the whole Delaware Senate race was how many self proclaimed "conservatives" demonized Christine O'Donnell worse than the media and Democrats. This includes people here, on GBR, and FR among others.

 

If they didn't like her, they just needed to shut the heck up.

 

I was under the impression that TRR welcomed an exchange of ideas and points of view. It seems that several people would prefer an echo chamber. Not every candidate is perfect. This was also about more than O'Donnell, it was also about interference from the Express and the infusion of a lot of money from all over the US that could have been better spent on another candidate. And if people don't think this is worthy of discussion that I guess an echo chamber is preferred.

 

Big difference in not believing she was the best candidate, and the attacks on here which were just as nasty and hateful as what was in the MSM and from the Democrats.

 

Republicans have truly forgotten Reagan's 11th Commandment.

 

Many so called "conservatives" need to stop forming circular firing squad every time there is a candidate they don't like. It happened in Colorado and look what that got us. Democrats won both the governorship and Senate seat, and relegated the Republican Party to minority status for the next 4 years. If you can't or won't help, then at least don't actively hurt.

[nickydog]

Personally, I think it was a useful discussion, Sabre86. First of all, it was a private discussion and second, it was thoughtful, nothing at all like what was in the MSM or from the Democrats. Even though only one of us here at TRR (as far as I know) lives in Delaware, it is good to think about who we vote for, starting in the primaries.

[Sabre86]

TRR wasn't nearly as bad as other sites. I really didn't even notice it until last night. (Of course, I had been gone for 3 weeks due to having to have surgery again.)

 

However, on other sites, it was atrocious. As bad as stuff as would be on DU.

 

As I said, there is a difference in disagreeing with which candidate was the best choice, or various ideological points, but people actively trying to harm the candidate (to nothing but the advantage of the Democrats) is something anyone who claims to be a conservative should never do.

[Valin]

TRR wasn't nearly as bad as other sites. I really didn't even notice it until last night. (Of course, I had been gone for 3 weeks due to having to have surgery again.)

 

However, on other sites, it was atrocious. As bad as stuff as would be on DU.

 

As I said, there is a difference in disagreeing with which candidate was the best choice, or various ideological points, but people actively trying to harm the candidate (to nothing but the advantage of the Democrats) is something anyone who claims to be a conservative should never do.

 

 

I call them Nutters.

 

What some people (apparently) don't get is, it is a three part process. Not only do you need the correct ideas, but you also need a good candidate, and you need to run a good campaign.

 

In spite of doing everything correctly, you can still lose. As a Flight Chief I had said...Life is full of disappointments...this is one of them...deal with it.

[Pepper]

Sing it Brother NCTexan and BrotherSabre86

[ErnstBlofeld]

There are also two things about this race that I didn't like. The infusion of out of state money generated by Palin and the Express was beyond obscene. I know people don't like out of state interference in a race they consider local. All the extra money should be distributed among the unemployed in the state.

 

Also, O'Donnell was whining once again about lack of support from the GOP. I hate whining!!!! All this showed was that she didn't know how to run a race and that deep down she didn't think Palin and the Express were powerful enough to guarantee a victory.

 

Palin should give her a job with the Express since she is now unemployed and doesn't have campaign funds pouring in from across the nation to live on.

 

O'Donnell got the support she needed and wanted from the Tea Party - I don't know what else she could have wanted. She got money from all over the country (she even had more money than Coons), she got the most media attention than Coons. Instead of taking advantage of the media she did the Palin thing - she slammed the media and said they were picking on her and then folded her arms and stamped her feet and said "I'm not talking to the media from now on". Acting like a 4 year old is not the way to win a race. She needed to be her own person and instead she became a Palin clone. No one wants to elect a Palin. Especially in the North East. She did not even get all the Republican vote in her state which surprised me. But live and learn. I wish her well.

 

Well Said and always on target.

[ErnstBlofeld]

I think the thing that made me sick about the whole Delaware Senate race was how many self proclaimed "conservatives" demonized Christine O'Donnell worse than the media and Democrats. This includes people here, on GBR, and FR among others.

 

If they didn't like her, they just needed to shut the heck up.

 

I was under the impression that TRR welcomed an exchange of ideas and points of view. It seems that several people would prefer an echo chamber. Not every candidate is perfect. This was also about more than O'Donnell, it was also about interference from the Express and the infusion of a lot of money from all over the US that could have been better spent on another candidate. And if people don't think this is worthy of discussion that I guess an echo chamber is preferred.

 

Good Point

 

 

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.-George Patton