Photo –David Duprey-AP
Kathy Houchul sitting with constituents schooling them on the Ryan Plan to decimate Medicare. (my words)
With about 90 percent of the precincts reporting, Hochul had 48 percent and Corwin 42 percent. Also on the ballot was a Democrat-turned-Tea Party candidate, Jack Davis, who polled 9 percent.
ATTENTION ALL DEMOCRATS; TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS!
1. Stand up and support President Obama and his stance on protecting Medicare by going out among your constituents and explaining the detriments of Ryan Care. BYE, BYE, RYAN CARE!
2. Every time you get in front of a tv camera, speak out on the negatives of the Ryan Medicare Plan, and mention any and ALL Republicans who support the Ryan Plan in your region.
3. Run similar ads like this Kathy Houchul ad:
4. WINNING!
Well done, Congresswoman-Elect Kathy Houchul; CONGRATULATIONS!
Ryan contines his spinnin of medicare
Paul Ryan’s comeback on Morning Joe from Houchl’s win
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#43166054
Posted at 11:36 PM ET, 05/24/2011
NY 26: Democrats should thank Paul Ryan
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
There is no way for Republicans to spin away Democrat Kathy Hochul’s victory in New York’s deeply red 26th congressional district. This is a big setback for Paul Ryan’s budget and a warning for Republican incumbents everywhere. This is simply not a district a Republican should have lost. Conservative overreach has clearly woken up Democrats and has gone down badly with independents.
The GOP can’t claim that Republican Jane Corwin lost because of a vote split with Tea Party candidate Jack Davis. With 87 percent of the precincts in, Hochul had 48 percent to Corwin’s 42 percent. Davis got just 9 percent, and the Green Party candidate picked up 1 percent. Let’s assume Hochul drops a point when the missing precints, which are mostly from Republican areas, are in. Republicans can’t claim that all of the votes that went to Davis, a former Democrat, would have gone to Corwin.
Hochul getting this close to half the vote is astonishing in a district where in 2010 the Democratic candidate got just 26 percent of the vote. Even in the very good Democratic year of 2008, the Democratic nominee got just 40.5 percent. To get a sense of how this result might extrapolate elsewhere, look at very Republican Wyoming County. Hochul lost it, as President Obama did in 2008. But Hochul matched Obama’s 36 percent share of the vote. If every Democratic House candidate in 2012 could reach Obama’s 2008 vote share, Democrats would be back in control by a substantial margin.
Of course, all the usual caveats apply: It’s a long time to November 2012; this is just one special election; special elections offer voters relatively cost-free opportunities to cast protest ballots; and such elections aren’t always a good guide to the future. But some of them are. Scott Brown’s victory in January 2010 in Massachusetts was a harbinger of the big Republican gains that came in November. Brown ran against the Democratic health-care plan. Hochul ran against the Republican Medicare plan. Brown mobilized angry conservatives and restive moderates. Hochul mobilized angry progressives and restive moderates.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/ny-26-democrats-should-thank-paul-ryan/2011/05/24/AFkPkrAH_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
Obama Congratulates Kathy Hochul on Her Upset Win
http://www.politicususa.com/en/obama-kathy-hochul
President Obama released a statement tonight praising Democrat Kathy Hochul for her surprise victory in the NY-26 House race.
The White House released a statement congratulating Hochul,
“I want to extend my congratulations to Congresswoman-elect Kathy Hochul for her victory in New York’s 26th Congressional District. Kathy and I both believe that we need to create jobs, grow our economy, and reduce the deficit in order to outcompete other nations and win the future. Kathy has shown, through her victory and throughout her career, that she will fight for the families and businesses in western New York, and I look forward to working with her when she gets to Washington.”
Having learned from getting too involved in previous special elections, Obama kept his distance from NY-26. According to The Hill, “Democratic nominee Kathy Hochul has gotten help from top House Democrats including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.), who have raised money and sent staff to help get out the vote in the final days before Tuesday’s election. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has campaigned for Hochul, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will be in Buffalo on Saturday to rally her supporters.”
Bill Clinton recorded a robocall for Hochul. Almost every big name Democrat was helping in this race, but not the biggest one of all. Obama stayed away, and he helped Hochul by not nationalizing the special election any more than it already was. The worst thing that Obama could have done would have been to take the focus off the Medicare issue and put it on himself.
Just as the President did the right thing by not getting involved in Wisconsin, he was smart to stay out of NY-26. The push back against Scott Walker and the national movement that it has inspired along with the Republican plan to privatize Medicare are about something bigger than Obama.
The President was wise to stay away. You can bet that this victory matters not only to the White House, but to all Democrats as we head into 2012.
Congrats, Kathy Houchul! You rock!
For Paul Ryan:
Time to paint those states & districts BLUE!!!
Democrat Wins G.O.P. Seat; Rebuke Seen to Medicare Plan
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
Published: May 24, 2011
Democrats scored an upset in one of New York’s most conservative Congressional districts on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the national Republican Party in a race that largely turned on the party’s plan to overhaul Medicare.
The results set off elation among Democrats and soul-searching among Republicans, who questioned whether they should rethink their commitment to the Medicare plan, which appears to have become a liability heading into the 2012 elections.
Two months ago, the Democrat, Kathy Hochul, was considered an all-but-certain loser in the race against the Republican, Jane Corwin. But Ms. Hochul seized on the Republican’s embrace of the proposal from Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, to overhaul Medicare, and she never let up.
On Tuesday, she captured 48 percent of the vote, to Ms. Corwin’s 42 percent, according to unofficial results. A Tea Party candidate, Jack Davis, had 8 percent.
THIS: “Voters, who turned out in strikingly large numbers for a special election, said they trusted Ms. Hochul, the county clerk of Erie County, to protect Medicare.”
So much for these clowns Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan for trying to reconfigure the medicare plan from voucher scam to “empowering” seniors!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/nyregion/democrat-capture-house-seat-in-special-election.html?_r=1
I especially liked Rep Peter King’s comment:
“It’s a Republican district with a solid Republican candidate,” said Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island. “What went wrong? We definitely have to determine the extent to which the Medicare issue hurt us.”
IOW, he and the republicans just KNEW they had this election in the bag. Tool.
Hello Majii,
Welcome to 3 Chics! Republicans are getting their wake up call
IOW, he and the republicans just KNEW they had this election in the bag.
To republicans: Psyche! :)
Peter King, imagine this: I wlk up to you and YANK your health insurance/medicare card from you, your wife, and in laws, and give you a voucher in place of it.
That’s the extendt to which gutting MEDICARE HURTS GRANDMA & GRANDPA!
Democrat Kathy Hochul wins special election for New York’s 26th Congressional District seat
Published: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 10:56 PM
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Democrats picked off a heavily Republican upstate New York congressional seat Tuesday night in a special election that became a referendum on Medicare.
Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul edged past Republican state Assemblywoman Jane Corwin to win the seat in the 26th Congressional District.
The rural-suburban district between Buffalo and Rochester is one of the state’s most conservative. But Corwin saw her early lead dissolve after coming out in favor of a Republican budget plan that would cut billions from Medicare, the government health plan for seniors.
With 83 percent of precincts reporting, Hochul had 48 percent of the vote, compared with 42 percent for Corwin. A chant of “Kathy, Kathy” went up at the Hochul headquarters at a suburban Amherst union hall.
A third candidate, tea party contender Jack Davis, also siphoned votes away from Corwin.
The seat became vacant in February when Republican Rep. Chris Lee resigned after shirtless photos he sent to a woman surfaced online. The 26th Congressional District, which covers a swath of rural and suburban towns between Buffalo and Rochester, was one of only four districts in the state — out of 29 — that favored Republican John McCain over President Barack Obama in 2008.
But Corwin, a multimillionaire state assemblywoman, watched her lead evaporate after expressing support for a plan crafted by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to strip billions from Medicare and recast it as a voucher program. Corwin said she supported the Ryan plan as a way to ensure Medicare for future generations.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/democrat_wins_special_election.html