[Dean's World] Dean: Belleweather Election?

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Posted by Dean:
Belleweather Election?
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1149671994.shtml


   A very corrupt Republican congressman from California, Randy âDukeâ
   Cunningham, recently had to resign his congressional seat. Last night
   his precinct had a special runoff election to determine who his
   replacement would be: Republican Brian P. Bilbray or Democrat Francine
   Busby. Although the district leans Republican, it was considered
   plausible that the Democrats might capture the seat, thus making this
   the closest watched election in the country of the moment.

   As of 5:14am Eastern, with over 90% of the vote in, [1]Bilbray leads
   Busby by a solid four points.

   Barring something stunning, Republicans hold the seat.

   The interesting part now is, will Democrats continue to pour money
   into the district? This special runoff is only to finish out the last
   7 months of Duke Cunningham's term. There's another election in
   November, for the next full term. Will Busby keep fighting, keep
   campaigning hard through November? Will Democratic activists continue
   funnelling money to her for the next four and a half months if so?

   Some have said that if Democrats can't take this seat they can't have
   much hope for winning control of the House in November. I think that's
   probably a premature judgement, but it does make it look like it's
   still an uphill battle. Congressional Republicans are not very popular
   right now, and a corrupt Republican had to resign and go to jail, yet
   voters in his district just sent another Republican to replace him.

   (And by the way, without trying to be snotty about it, doesn't this
   make the Daily Kos crowd 0-20 so far? If so, might it not be time to
   examine the party's loyalty toward its so-called "net roots?")

References

   1. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/results/toplocalvotes.html