Did Cooter bring down Eric Cantor?

[billyerock1991]

Did Cooter bring down Cantor? ? CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

One of the most powerful Republicans in Washington lost his seat Tuesday to an upstart political novice named Dave Brat. Cantor spent ten times the amount Brat did in an attempt to retain the seat he has held since 2001.

But maybe it wasn’t the breakout popularity of Brat or the unpopularity of Cantor that led to his defeat. Perhaps it was Cooter from “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
Last week former Rep. Ben Jones, who played Cooter Davenport in the TV series, issued a public appeal to urge Democrats to vote for Brat in Tuesday’s primary.

“By voting for David Brat in the Seventh District Republican primary, we Democrats, independents, and Libertarians can make a big difference in American politics. It is your right to cast that vote,” Jones wrote

In the low-turnout open primary, where Democrats can vote in Republican races, the idea is not so crazy. A little more than 10% of the electorate voted. Brat received 36,000 votes to Cantor’s nearly 29,000

But Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Brat also played a role in getting Democrats to vote against Cantor.

“You had Brat operatives going to Democratic Party committees, even on election eve, asking them to go to the polls to get rid of Eric Cantor,” Sabato said on CNN. “It had nothing to do with Dave Brat. There were robocalls to Democrats in that district, telling Democrats come out to the polls.”

don't know about robocalls... in my state you have to be a registered republicans to vote for the candidate ... some states allow both parties to vote ... their were several pollings taken a couple of days before the election ... one of the questions was do you approve of the job Eric cantors is doing ... 64% of them said they didn't approve of him and 34% said they did... in this same polling they used, do you approve of passing a immigration bill 84% yes they did and 16% said they didn't not approve ... in all of the polling up to his demised, it was showing eric cantor was losing the people confidence in him ... it had nothing to do with any of the currant reason the republicans are trying to push ... it had every thing to do with him not bringing bills to the floor, and the republicans who are in denial at this time they can't seem to realize what the problem really is ... its their inability to govern ....

 

[BlindBoo]

First, when Rush did it, he was open and honest about it.

Secondly, Rush was not running for office.

Brat was running for office and he urged Democrats to cross over and vote for him

But Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Brat also played a role in getting Democrats to vote against Cantor.

“You had Brat operatives going to Democratic Party committees, even on election eve, asking them to go to the polls to get rid of Eric Cantor,” Sabato said on CNN. “It had nothing to do with Dave Brat. There were robocalls to Democrats in that district, telling Democrats come out to the polls.”

I remember when the early Tea Party rallies were said to be comprised of concerned citizens from all political parties and walks of life.

And now we have sour-grapes conservatives bemoaning the notion that democrats might actually support a Tea Party candidate.

Good stuff.

IMO the Democrat supported knocking Cantor out of the House more so than they support the GOP's Tea faction guy. I could be wrong, but we'll see in Nov.

 

[Ravi]

Seems ethical when Rush tries it

First, when Rush did it, he was open and honest about it.

Secondly, Rush was not running for office.

Brat was running for office and he urged Democrats to cross over and vote for him

But Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Brat also played a role in getting Democrats to vote against Cantor.

“You had Brat operatives going to Democratic Party committees, even on election eve, asking them to go to the polls to get rid of Eric Cantor,” Sabato said on CNN. “It had nothing to do with Dave Brat. There were robocalls to Democrats in that district, telling Democrats come out to the polls.”

Oh, my! Now he will be labeled as a dishonest hoser by the confused GOPers.

 

[JakeStarkey]

I still think Cantor got ambushed by the Dems

Polls have a margin for error but the swing with Cantor was close to 40%. Something happened behind the scenes and it wasn't voter disgust

Just another example how sneaky and unethical the dems are!

Rush: damn it, damn dems, they get away with it and we don't, it's a commie conspiracy

 

[IlarMeilyr]

My prior post (citing the Washington POST piece) seems to refute that baseless speculation of yours.

And by "Washington Post piece", Ilarwelcher means an opinion blog.

^ and by his attempt at sarcasm, unmanli establishes that he either didn't read the piece or he was not able to understand it.



It isn't mere "opinion" to reference the poll numbers from 2012 and the 2014 GOP primary, unmanli.

 

[IlarMeilyr]

Good point but it probably reflects more about the turnout in a Presidential primary year than dissatisfaction with Cantor.

The reason Republican primary turnout would spike in a non-presidential election year is because voters had an incentive to vote in the Democratic primary in 2012. In 2014, if those voters have no Democrat they want to vote for in a primary, they will jump over and vote Republican

Why "probably?"

Why wouldn't it be more "likely" that the GOP bases is issuing a clarion call to advise the GOP leaders that the are unhappy with the direction of the GOP?

Obviously, lots of factors may be at play here. But I see zero basis to support your speculation.

The fact that the voters HEARD Professor Brat and then voted OUT the establishment Republican Cantor might (let's continue to speculate here), possibly, support the notion that what we observed was AS intended. The GOP voting base is expressing itself.

In my estimation, the bigger question is WHETHER the GOP establishment is willing or even capable of listening.

Like I said, the 7th is a heavily Republican gerrymandered district. A Tea Party candidate is fully capable of winning

But why did Brat win?

From what I have heard, he is not a highly charismatic candidate. If he got his message across, how did he do it on $200,000? What event provoked an almost overnight reversal of the vote to Brat? There was no "Oh shit" moment for Cantor. If there was an overall disatisfaction, why did it not reveal itself sooner?

Maybe Brat did pull off the upset on his own. But I still suspect something happened behind the scenes

As I said, it DID reveal itself several times before the primary. The revelation was simply not reflected in the polling. So, one might guess that the polling was done poorly or the sampling was somehow defective.

Something DID happen behind the scenes. On a low budget, the man got out and did actual campaigning and got his message out.