Democrats Lead Republicans in 2006 Congress Race

[Judi Lynn]

September 17, 2005
Democrats Lead Republicans in 2006 Congress Race

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – The Democratic Party maintains the upper hand 14 months prior to the next congressional ballot in the United States, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates published in Newsweek. 50 per cent of respondents would vote for Democratic candidates, while 38 per cent would support Republican contenders.

Twelve per cent of respondents are either undecided or would back other candidates. American voters will renew the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate in November 2006.

In the November 2004 congressional ballot, the Republican Party elected 232 lawmakers to the U.S. House of Representatives, while the Democratic Party secured 202 seats. The Republicans also have a majority in the Senate, with 55 members in the 100-seat upper house.

On Sept. 13 in Washington State, Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Ken Mehlman urged voters to support the GOP, saying, "The message is, if you care about expanding opportunity in America and expanding democracy in the world, it is the Republican Party you want." Washington State Democratic chairman Paul Berendt said Hurricane Katrina showed "a big racial divide in this country," adding, "The federal government wasn’t going to go in and rescue poor black people."
(snip/...)

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/8998

[brentspeak]

1. Democratic rank-and-file should not celebrate this poll

They should ignore it.

Campaign for candidates as if they're 20 points behind. That's the only way to beat the Republicans.

[meganmonkey]

2. You're absolutely right

They'll have to win by 20 points to beat Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia!

Regardless, I still smile at a headline like this :D

[Patsy Stone]

5. I was just going to post the same thought.

Kerry was ahead in the polls also, remember? :(

But it is difficult not to smile.

[Arkana]

9. You forgot Triad--weren't they the company that f**ked with Ohio?

[meganmonkey]

10. Indeed - how could I forget good old Triad?

They were the ones who sabotaged the so-called recount:

-------------------------------

A representative from Triad Systems came into a county board of elections office un-announced. He said he was just stopping by to see if they had any questions about the up-coming recount. He then headed into the back room where the Triad supplied Tabulator (a card reader and older PC with custom software) is kept. He told them there was a problem and the system had a bad battery and had "lost all of its data". He then took the computer apart and started swapping parts in and out of it and another "spare" tower type PC also in the room. He may have had spare parts in his coat as one of the BOE people moved it and remarked as to how very heavy it was. He finally re-assembled everything and said it was working but to not turn it off.

He then asked which precinct would be counted for the 3% recount test, and the one which had been selected as it had the right number of votes, was relayed to him. He then went back and did something else to the tabulator computer.

The Triad Systems representative suggested that since the hand count had to match the machine count exactly, and since it would be hard to memorize the several numbers which would be needed to get the count to come out exactly right, that they should post this series of numbers on the wall where they would not be noticed by observers. He suggested making them look like employee information or something similar. The people doing the hand count could then just report these numbers no matter what the actual count of the ballots revealed. This would then "match" the tabulator report for this precinct exactly. The numbers were apparently the final certified counts for the selected precinct.

Triad is contracted to do much of the elections work in this county and elsewhere in Ohio. This included programming the candidates into the tabulator, and coming up with the rotation of candidates in the various precincts (that is, the order of which candidate is first changes between precincts). They also have a technician in the office on election night to actually run the tabulator itself.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml

[ClassWarrior]

3. You got it brent. If we're behind, fight hard. If we're ahead...

...fight HARDER.

NGU.

[Patsy Stone]

6. Hey, CW!

Nice to run into you! How's it goin'?

38%: NGU!

[napi21]

7. BC said that on the Larry KIng show last night.

Run every campaign as if you were 20 points behind. Never think beyond the CURRENT campaign. He also said there is never a campaign you can't lose, and only a very few you can't win.


I also heard some talking head, on CNN I think, say the war, gas prices and Katrina seem to be affecting many Pub Governors in the US. Most seem to be laging behind their Dem opponents. "Could this mean a major shift to Dem leadership in 2006?" I know it was hopeful thinking on my part, but I sure do hope that's true!

[AlCzervik]

20. He's spot on, the last thing we needid for the democrats to blow

their chance.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

11. exactly...stories said Dems were favored over repubs during the last

mid terms..then amidst the angst of burying Paul Wellstone we lost the senate

[nvliberal]

13. Yep.

Frankly I don't believe Dems will come close to taking either house next year.

I suspect we will come close to losing the filibuster in the Senate if not actually lose it.

NEVER underestimate the extremes this bunch will go to retain power.

[Tiggeroshii]

27. Oh yeah.

I think 2004 taught us that, yeah?

[genieroze]

30. They have to include the Diebold, Triad cheating factor.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Frances]

12. I'm not sure what you are asking.

I believe that Martin Luther King Jr. accomplished more progress with his nonviolent stance than did Stokely Carmichael and others who advocated violence.

I am for change, but not for violence.

[loudsue]

21. We didn't have computerized vote counting machines when MLK, Jr.

had his revolution.

If the computers are programmed to "switch" votes, and let the loser have the votes the winner got....like we saw in 2002 and 2004 elections...then, we'll lose by the exact same number that we cast votes to win with.

It's in the PROGRAMMING.

:shrug: Why...WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY can't people get this through their heads?

Until we OUTLAW computerized vote counting machines, we will get ONLY what the programmers want, NOT what WE, THE PEOPLE want.

:kick::kick::kick:

[AlGore-08.com]

25. No, they just lynched black folks who tried to vote

And stuffed ballot boxes by hand.

And used the names of dead people to inflate voter rolls.

And paid off ballot counters.

And fixed mechanical booths so that they broke down or registered the wrong vote.

Etc...

Etc...

Etc...

[Frances]

28. you are right

crooked elections are not new.

[Straight Shooter]

8. Dem contenders should look at this poll and campaign with confidence.

No need to bend over backwards in fear of Republican backlash. What the people want can only be given to them by the Democrats. It's as simple as that. The Republicans can no longer point to anything and claim to be better.

Well, except for fear-mongering, war-mongering, profiteering, corporatism, destruction of the social safety net, et cetera, et cetera.

[meti57b]

14. pubbie-poos, you don't need to worry about this too much. Just swiftboat

our candidates in August 2006 and we'll tell ourselves that if we ignore you, you'll go away.

[stray cat]

15. Democrats need to campaign as the party of effective government

[Bill McBlueState]

16. this poll doesn't say anything useful

The way the Senate is set up, 50% of voters could vote for a Democrat, 38% could vote for a Republican, and we'd still have a Republican majority in the Senate.

[TheDonkey]

17. I look forward to 2006, hopefully Democrats are united like in 04

and we assualt the republicans well. There are many issues we can go after, the republicans are crumbling. ie. "if you are for spreading democracy over the world" in 2 years people will catch on to this BS.

[bluestateguy]

18. So what

I see these polls all the time leading up to the midterms, showing Democrats in the lead, and they never materialize into real results. Republicans always seem to pull their numbers up in time for the election, or cheat, or both.

[ticapnews]

19. What matters is district by disctrict...

Some Dems will win their district with 70% of the vote as will some Repubs. If 10 Dems win by 70% and 20 Republicans win by 2%, the poll will show we won in a landslide. The reality would be a crushing defeat. The Republican margin of victory in 1994 was 1% nationwide, but it sure didn't feel like 1% did it?

Besides, going by polls we would be humming 'Hail to the Chief' whenever John Kerry entered the room...

[rayofreason]

31. district by district...

You are right. It is a district by district deal, and all politics is local. It is exceedingly rare that house races turn on a national issues.

[TheStates]

22. Don't put too much stake in polls.....

You've still got to remember things like Diebold and so on.....until elections are secure and safe again, its always a wildcard to what could happen in the end.

[pfitz59]

23. Won't make difference...

The rot runs too deep....

[Gregorian]

24. Diebold- the gift that keeps giving.

Nothing says "I won" like Diebold.

And nothing matters until there is a paper count. No poll, no vote, not election.



Demand a receipt for your vote. You wouldn't leave the bank without one. Would you?

[truthisfreedom]

26. i guess the GOP objective of "hell on earth" didn't work this time, huh?

8^)

[Ernesto]

29. Screw all these negative responses Judi

Thanks for a positive post. Geezers like me & perhaps you know about how the pendulum swings. Our time is coming.

[Lecky]

32. This is good news :)

I still have hope! Thanks for posting this.