Martha McSally declared the winner in CD 2, Ron Barber concedes

barber mcsallyThe Maricopa County Superior Court declared Martha McSally the winner in CD 2 today after the first recount of a congressional race in Arizona history, and Congressman Ron Barber conceded the race.

McSally won by just 167 votes, less than one-tenth of one percent of the vote.

Martha McSally who, other than prematurely declaring victory after the election and providing a comment on President Obama’s executive orders on immigration, has been locked away in the “cone of silence” since Election Day, not commenting on any of the controversial matters before Congress in recent weeks.

Even with today’s announcement, she posted a statement on Facebook rather than speak with the media. McSally on Facebook:

After a long, hard-fought campaign, today we were declared the official winner for our race to represent Southern Arizona in Congress! I’m incredibly grateful to all our supporters for sticking it out with us, especially during the recount and extended vote process, to ensure we finished strong.

Now, it’s time to move forward as one community to make sure Southern Arizonans have the strong representation they deserve,” she said in the statement. “My focus will be on the priorities I heard from you throughout the campaign: provide better economy opportunity for our families and keep our country and communities safe.

I have had the sense since Election Day that Martha Mcsally really did not anticipate winning. She reminds me of Robert Redford’s character Bill McKay in The Candidate, upon learning that he has won, asks “What do we do now?”

“Silent Sally” will no longer be able to avoid the media or her CD 2 constituents now that she is a member of Congress. She no longer has the luxury of not answering questions by dismissing them as a “hypothetical,” or resorting to her pat answer during the campaign, Detail Work:

“I’m not in Congress, I don’t have a staff, I don’t have the briefings,” McSally said. “I’m not going to spend all of my time making comments on legislation I haven’t studied or been briefed on or have the same sort of opportunities that a member of Congress has. I’d be spending literally day and night if I’m going to comment on every single piece of legislation that comes up, and I’m not going to just willy-nilly go, ‘Yeah, I would have voted for that or I wouldn’t have voted for that’ if I haven’t really studied it.”

Well, school is now in session “Silent Sally,” and it’s time that you actually learn something about the substance of public policy and not just memorizing the talking points that your RNCC handlers have written for you. I have said all along that you are lacking in substance, that there is no “there” there. You can try to prove my assessment wrong, but I seriously doubt that you will.

no_blue_dogAs for Democrats now contemplating a run for Congress in CD 2 in 2016, let me make this point clear to you right now. The DCCC campaign consultant class notion that Democrats in CD 2 have to be a conservadem “Blue Dog” Democrat, essentially Republican-lite, is completely wrongheaded.

Excuse my French, but the DCCC campaign consultant class can go fuck themselves. It was their failed strategy to run against our president and Democratic Party principles and successes that cost Democrats their seats across the country, because this does not inform nor inspire the Democratic voter base to turn out to vote. These consultants should never be allowed to work in another campaign ever again.

Ron Barber lost by 167 votes. How many Democratic voters did the DCCC campaign strategy depress with its “Me too!” Republican-lite strategy? I’ll bet it was far more than 167 Democrats who stayed home and chose not to vote in this election. So good job DCCC campaign consultant class! You’re fired!

I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party when I say no more DLC/  Third Way/ New Democrat / Blue Dog corporate lap dog Republican-lite candidates! It’s time for a real Democrat who proudly embraces Democratic  Party principles and policies, and who will be a champion for the working class and Main Street, not the banksters of Wall Street.

11 thoughts on “Martha McSally declared the winner in CD 2, Ron Barber concedes”

  1. Seriously, Steve?

    Everywhere a blue dog ran against the president they got beaten.

    Everywhere a Dem ran as a real Democrat they tended to win. Al Franken won by a McSally-eque margin in 2006; he ran as a full throated supporter of Obama and his policies this time around a cruised to victory.

    Alison Grimes in KY listened to the morons from the DSCC and wouldn’t even admit to voting for the president. She got crushed.

    People who hate the president aren’t going to vote for a Democrat anyway.

    • Your math is a little off on All Franken. If he ran in 2006, then he ran again in 2012, not 2014. I don’t know when he ran, but I know he is a Senator, so he serves a six year term.

      I also know that the majority of successful Democrats who ran in 2014 distanced themselves from Obama. He is angry about that and is holding a grudge againsi them. There were undoubtedly a few exceptions to that general rule, but not many.

      • Steve, you’re right about Franken. He first ran in 2008, but Bruce’s observation otherwise is dead on. Franken wasn’t even seated at the beginning of the 2009 session because they still were recounting votes in MN.

        And Bruce is right on the other front. Every time there is a conservative wave, it’s the Blue Dogs who get creamed. Look at Ann Kirkpatrick, for example. She got crushed in the 2010 wave when she ran as a Blue Dog. In 2014, she ran to the left of Barber, and unabashedly so, and defended a district tougher than his on the numbers.

        • Argh! I was had time to be better informed. I work off of snippets of information here and there and sometimes I’m right, but sometimes I’m wrong.

          However, right or wrong, I do like the concept of candidates who actually let you know what they think instead of trying to mush their way through by trying to please please everyone. Take Hillary for example: I don’t like a lot of what she espouses, but I know where she stands on major issues. That deserves respect which I give her even though I would not like to see her elected.

          Thanks for the information…

  2. Democrats have been running away from the Party Platform because the lobbyist who serve as Democratic campaign consultants serve their corporate paymasters rather than the Democratic Base. Time for s change from the failed electoral strategies and to embrace the strategies that the Party was built upon when it came to power during the New Deal.

  3. Thank you to the 2000 Democratic voters in Pima County who did not vote in the 2014 election.

    • What was their motivation to go out and vote? Barber certainly didn’t provide any inspiration during his two years in Congress. Nor did he during his campaign.

  4. I suspect that you’re right: Ron Barber’s stances against President Obama cost Ron this election. That’s too bad, but Ron has nobody to blame but himself for listening to those consultants.

  5. If the rich old white men who ran for state wide office on their ego trips had tried to appeal to disaffected latino voters who were desperately looking for their support from arizona democratic candidates. Instead got rich old white democrats appealing to republicans who loath liberal democrats.

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