My TV is chattering constantly, parsing the midterm election results. I thought I'd do the same. I looked at four lists of "targets" to see how the election results fared.
My favorite was the 2004 announcement by Focus on the Family's James Dobson that he was putting a target on the back of six Democratic Senators. His goal was to give the GOP a filibuster-proof Senate for wingnut judicial appointments. The six were Bingaman (NM), Dayton (MN), Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Conrad (ND), and Byrd (WV).
How'd that work out for you, dude?
The other lists I reviewed were CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress, League of Conservation Voters Dirty Dozen and our own dengre's Abramoff 65. Those targeted pols didn't fare quite so well as the ones on Dr. Dobson's hit list.
Not surprisingly, Richard Pombo made all three lists. The
San Francisco Chronicle editorialized about Pombo's political demise today:
Bye, Bye Pombo
TO FULLY understand Tuesday's Democratic victory, look no further than California's 11th Congressional District.
...
Almost the entire volunteer effort was run independently of the Democratic Party.
The GOP selection of Pombo to head a committee charged with guarding the nation's environment was one of the most cynical acts of its now shattered majority. His departure from Congress is long overdue.
So, heads up to everyone in that excellent volunteer effort. We got ahead of the party in doing the right thing. Lisa Vorderbreuggen of the Contra Costa Times (serving CA-11) blogged the following about the role of bloggers in the race, including mention of us Kossacks:
Scott Restivo, who lived in San Ramon until a recent move to Benicia, started VotePomboOut.Org in 2002 when Democrat Elaine Shaw challenged Pombo. But he is far from alone.
...
"The bloggers helped organize and coalesce people behind the scenes," Restivo says. "It wasn't just people griping. It was all about getting information out. We were a virtual watering hole, a place where we could sit around and plan the next activity....But my take on it is that Pombo did it to himself. Pombo was generating a lot of heat and people wanted to know, 'How do we get rid of him?' "
...
Restivo wrote an e-mail summarizing how he saw the bloggers' role in the campaign:
The most important point is that none of us did this for fame or glory or because we were paid operatives or anything like that, such as Pombo imagines. We did this as ordinary citizens who saw something was wrong and wanted to change it. Jerry included. I think that in itself is quite remarkable. Somehow, Pombo and crew always seemed to ascribe ulterior motives to us, but it was much simpler than that. We went to bat for what we believed in, and are now happy to return to "ordinary" life.
The new House Resources Chair will likely be Nick Rahall of West Virginia, heretofore the ranking member for the minority. He's not a shoo-in as Ed Markey (D-MA) has also expressed interest in the position. Rahall told Dan Berman of E&E News Daily:
"As Resources chairman, I will maintain NEPA, end royalty holidays in the
OCS and giveaways under the Mining Law of 1872, prioritize the reclamation
of abandoned coal mines and miners, advance Native American health care, and
tackle territorial issues such as political self determination," said Rahall
in a statement delivered to E&E Daily yesterday.
...
Rahall said he would also work on natural resources conservation, an issue
on which many Democrats and environmentalists have consistently criticized
the Bush administration. "Many of our most significant resources are still
not properly cared for and protected, whether it be roadless areas in
national forests, the crumbling national parks, threatened and endangered
species, or the integrity of our oceans and our fisheries," Rahall said.
As ranking member, Rahall has shown an interest in reforming BLM's oil and
gas programs and the 1872 Mining Law. He has also taken a lead role in the
attempt to prevent the slaughter of wild horses and burros. The panel may
also attempt to promote alternative energy sources, such as wind and
biofuels.
For the election recap, my three chosen "target" lists are combined below, marked as follows:
- League of Conservation Voters Dirty Dozen
- CREW's 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (with 5 also-rans)
- dengre's Abramoff 65
The politicians who have already resigned, retired, or were defeated this time are marked with strike-outs. The few that still don't have a winner declared are indicated in bold type. The few Dems on the list are marked in italics:
- AL-Gov Riley, Bob (3)
- AK-AL Young, Don (3)
- AZ-01 Renzi, Rick (2)
AZ-05 Hayworth, J.D. (1, 2, 3)- CA-04 Doolittle, John (2,3)
CA-11 Pombo, Richard (1, 2, 3)- CA-19 Radanovich, George (3)
- CA-35 Waters, Maxine (2)
- CA-41 Lewis, Jerry (2, 3)
- CA-42 Miller, Gary (2)
- CA-44 Calvert, Ken (2, 3)
- CA-46 Rohrabacher, Dana (3)
- CA-50 Bilbray, Brian (3)
- CA-52 Hunter, Duncan (3)
- CO-04 Musgrave, Marilyn (2, 3)
- CO-06 Tancredo, Tom (3)
CO-Gov Beauprez, Bob (1)- CT-02 Simmons, Rob (3)
- FL-24 Feeney, Tom (2, 3)
FL-Sen Harris, Katherine (1,2)- GA-01 Kingston, Jack (3)
- GA-06 Price, Tom (3)
- GA-12 Burns, Max (3)
IL-06 was Hyde, Henry (3)- IL-14 Hastert, Dennis (2, 3)
IN-02 Chocola, Chris (3)- IN-05 Burton, Dan (3)
IA-Gov Nussle, Jim (3)KY-03 Northrup, Anne (3)- LA-02 Jefferson, William (2)
MD-Gov Ehrlich, Robert (3)- MI-08 Rogers, Mike (3)
- MI-09 Knollenberg, Joe (3)
MN-1 Gutknecht, Gil (3)- MS-03 Pickering, Charles "Chip" (3)
- MO-06 Graves, Sam (3)
- MO-07 Blunt, Roy (2, 3)
MO-Sen Talent, Jim (1, 3)- MT-AL Rehberg, Dennis (3)
MT-Sen Burns, Conrad (1, 2, 3)- NV-03 Porter, Jon (3)
- NV-Sen Ensign, John (3)
- NJ-03 Saxton, Jim (3)
- NJ-07 Ferguson, Mike (3)
- NJ-11 Frelinghuysen, Rodney (3)
- NM-01 Wilson, Heather (1, 3)
NY-20 Sweeney, John (2, 3)- NC-08 Hayes, Robin (3)
NC-11 Taylor, Charles (1, 2, 3)- OH-14 LaTourette, Steven (3)
- OH-15 Pryce, Deborah (1)
OH-18 was Ney, Bob (1, 2, 3)- OK-02 Boren, Dan (1)
OK-Gov Istook, Ernest (3)- PA-03 English, Paul (3)
- PA-06 Gerlach, Jim (3)
PA-07 Weldon, Curt (2)PA-10 Sherwood, Don (2,3)- PA-12 Murtha, Jack (2)
PA-Sen Santorum, Rick (1, 2, 3)- SC-03 Barrett, Gresham (3)
- TN-02 Duncan, John Jr. (3)
TN-Sen was Frist, Bill (2, 3)- TX-04 Hall, Ralph (3)
- TX-12 Granger, Kay (3)
TX-22 was Delay, Tom (1, 2, 3)- TX-28 Cuellar, Henry (1)
- TX-32 Sessions, Pete (2, 3)
- UT-03 Cannon, Chris (2, 3)
- VA-05 Goode, Virgil Jr. (3)
- VA-07 Cantor, Eric (3)
- VA-11 Davis, Tom (3)
VA-Sen Allen, George (1, 3)- WA-05 McMorris, Cathy (3)
- WV-01 Mollohan, Allan (1)
- WV-02 Capito, Shelley Moore (3)
WI-Gov Green, Mark (3)- WY-AL Cubin, Barbara (3)
As mentioned above, James Dobson was 0 for 6.
LCV saw 11 of 15 leave office. 2 more still have results pending.
CREW saw 12 of 27 (including Ney & Delay, already gone) leave office, including the retiring Bill Frist (R-TN), with one more still pending.
dengre's Abramoff 65 is now reduced to the Abramoff 45 still in office, with 3 more still pending.
I'll close with an inspirational bit from the Capitol Weekly in their wrap-up on the Pombo take-down:
McNerney, enviros take down Richard Pombo
...
Those who considered themselves to live in "Pombo Country" included a woman who traveled all the way from the Artic Wilderness with caribou hairs and soil from the tundra in her pockets, said Mary McAllister, who helped coordinate volunteers for McNerney. Other precinct walkers included a woman on crutches and two older men who worked as a team, she said, the one who could barely hear leading around the one who could barely see so he could talk to voters.
All in all, not bad.