Scary Candidates

There is a scary Tea Party-backed candidate running for a Senate seat from my state. His name is Pat Toomey, a former Wall Streeter and a right-wing extremist. This very important Senate race could turn the tide and shake things up. You see, Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak has trailed scary Republican candidate Pat Toomey for months, and a Republican victory always has seemed likely, given that it's a Republican-trending year in this perpetually contested state of mine. Yet, the recent polls suggest Joe Sestak has closed the gap, and Republican leaders are imploring supporters not to panic even as they ask themselves, What the hell is going on?

The Pat Toomey-Joe Sestak Senate race mirrors other Senate contests that are making this one of the most intriguing and unpredictable mid-term elections in years, and one that is making me just a little bit nervous, but determined to get out and vote myself. But, I always vote... even in the so-called "not important elections"

The one nagging and intriguing fact about these races is this... In Nevada, Colorado, Kentucky, and perhaps even Alaska and Connecticut, each one of these candidates is an accomplished but imperfect politician, and the Tea Party movement is playing a big but uncertain role. Too big, if you ask me.

In most of those states, plus Washington and California, Senate races are tightening to nail-biting margins. That means Republicans might pick up a few seats or as many as ten, which would give them the majority. Democrats privately concede they may be unable to keep their House majority, but losing the Senate would simply be devastating.

President Barack Obama's travels now focus largely on trying to save Democratic senators in Washington, California, Nevada, and Wisconsin, a clear sign that he and his party is still playing defense. I hope you'll excuse the football terms... my team just lost as I'm writing this.

While the states of California and Washington see Senate GOP challengers creeping up on Democratic incumbents, it's embattled Democrats who seem to be rising elsewhere. They have seized on a common claim: A dangerous fringe movement, the Tea Party, has taken over the Republican Party. Which after all is true... but doesn't seem to scare enough people. The Nazi's rose to power in Germany the exact same way. And yes, I'm equating one with the other.

The scary man from this state that I'm talking about named Pat Toomey would seem to fit more comfortably in the GOP's business-friendly, low-tax tradition than in the hot-blooded, anti-establishment Tea Party model. Still, he has accepted Tea Party champion Sarah Palin's endorsement and begun to talk crazy like they do when they don't think anybody is listening to them other than people who are looney like they are!

I guess you can tell that I really don't like the Tea Party can't you? Joey Sestak is using that fact, plus curiously, the notoriety of Tea Partier Christine ("I'm not a witch anymore.") O'Donnell. The nutty GOP Senate nominee in neighboring Delaware to paint Toomey as a pilot of a new and scary Republican Party veering dangerously to the fringe. You would think that some republicans would be a bit frightened by this new nut fringe that is taking over their party. (Some really are, but they are far and few in between.)

In speeches and ads, Joe Sestak ties Pat Toomey to Christine O'Donnell, the headline-grabbing upstart who trails by double digits in Delaware polls. In a debate Wednesday, Joe Sestak said he worries about "those extreme candidates" who take advantage of "the extreme fringe of the Tea Party. There are those that are running with Congressman Toomey. Miss O'Donnell next door, for example."

Pound it home Joe... maybe you will scare some sense into the larger voting populace (White voters). African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and LGBT voters already know how scary these folks are, but a lot of white voters don't seem to find these Tea Party folks frightening enough.

While many analysts have predicted a tightening of Senate races, the strategy might be working. If that perception spreads, it will embolden Democrats making similar claims against Tea Party Republicans in Nevada, Colorado, and elsewhere.

It might even give hope to Democratic Senate nominee Jack Conway in Kentucky, where Republican Rand Paul has not quite sealed a victory. In Alaska's complex race, Sen. Lisa Murkowski is slapping the too-extreme label on Joe Miller, the Tea Party favorite who denied her the Republican nomination. Murkowski is trying a write-in campaign, while the Democratic nominee, Scott McAdams, seems to be running third.

If good people of all races and orientations can turn these scary candidates back, it will go a long way to keeping this country on not only the right track, but from becoming the laughing stock of the entire free world!