Salon.com > Ben Evans

Election nearly wipes out white Southern Democrats

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:03:00 +0000

The white Southern Democrat -- endangered since the 1960s civil rights era -- is sliding nearer to extinction.

After this week's elections, the Democratic Party barely holds a presence in the region outside of majority-black urban areas such as Atlanta and Memphis. The carnage for the party was particularly brutal in the Deep South, where just one white Democrat survived across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

The Republicans' effort to win over the South, rooted decades ago in a strategy to capitalize on white voters' resentment of desegregation, is all but complete.

"Right now in most of Dixie it is culturally unacceptable to be a Democrat. It's a damn shame, but that's the way it is," said Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, a campaign strategist for conservative Democrats such as Jim Webb of Virginia, one of the few remaining Southern Democratic senators.

The losses were particularly disappointing for the party after the baby steps it made in the South in 2006 and 2008, when it picked up a host of Republican-leaning House districts and won Senate seats in North Carolina and Virginia. Many thought the party had learned its lessons and had begun to reverse recent history by nominating conservative candidates who hit the right notes on divisive social issues such as abortion and smaller government.

Another treasurer leaves O’Donnell campaign

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:18:00 +0000

Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell has parted ways with yet another campaign treasurer and appointed her campaign manager as her fifth treasurer since launching her bid for Senate last year.

Campaign finance experts say the turnover is unusual and could raise questions at the Federal Election Commission about her financial reporting. O'Donnell began with relatively small donations but has been taking in nearly $1 million a week after winning the GOP primary last month.

The latest treasurer to leave is Sandra Taylor, who began just two months ago. Campaign manager Matt Moran is now listed as treasurer in reports filed earlier this month.

Taylor could not be reached and O'Donnell's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- Despite a spate of television ads aimed at reintroducing her to voters, Republican Senate hopeful Christine O'Donnell of Delaware has failed to chip away at Democratic nominee Chris Coons' strong lead, according to a new poll. She even may be going backward.

O’Donnell drops further behind in the polls

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:33:00 +0000

Despite a spate of television ads aimed at reintroducing her to voters, Republican Senate hopeful Christine O'Donnell of Delaware has failed to chip away at Democratic nominee Chris Coons' strong lead, according to a new poll. She even may be going backward.

The survey released Thursday from Fairleigh Dickinson University-PublicMind shows Coons holding a commanding 21-point lead, with 57 percent of likely voters saying they will vote for him compared to just 36 percent for O'Donnell. O'Donnell trailed by 17 points in a similar Fairleigh Dickinson poll released earlier this month.

"It would be an historic comeback for her to win on Tuesday," said Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson political scientist.

Cassino said O'Donnell, a tea party favorite who spent years as a conservative evangelical commentator on cable television, would probably win in other states that have more social conservatives and a larger tea party presence.

"But there just aren't enough in Delaware," he said.

O'Donnell, who has raised more money than Coons, has been dogged by past television appearances in which she spoke out against masturbation, characterized homosexuality as a disorder, and acknowledged dabbling in various religions, including witchcraft as a teenager. She also has drawn criticism for her thin resume and spotty financial history.

Christine O’Donnell: Prayer helped me in polls

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:35:00 +0000

Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell says prayer could be boosting support for her Senate campaign.

In an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network that aired Monday, O'Donnell said her campaign saw a spike in polling on the same day that a group of supporters prayed for her campaign. She asked people to, in her words, "pray specifically that the eyes of the voters be opened."

In the same interview, O'Donnell said she thinks she's being held to a double standard because she is a conservative woman.

Most polls show O'Donnell trailing Democrat Chris Coons by double digits. The two are vying for the Senate seat long held by Vice President Joe Biden.

O’Donnell: Separation of church and state?

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:20:00 +0000

Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell of Delaware is questioning whether the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from establishing religion.

In a debate at Widener University Law School, O'Donnell criticized Democratic nominee Chris Coons' position that teaching creationism in public school would violate the First Amendment by promoting religious doctrine.

O'Donnell asked where the Constitution calls for the separation of church and state. When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O'Donnell asked: "You're telling me that's in the First Amendment?"

The exchange Tuesday aired on radio station WDEL generated a buzz among law professors and students in the audience.

You can listen to audio from WDEL here.

Poll: Christine O’Donnell trailing badly

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:15:00 +0000

A new poll shows Republican Christine O'Donnell badly trailing Democrat Chris Coons in a Delaware Senate race that Republicans were heavily favored to win until the tea party-backed O'Donnell pulled off an upset in the GOP primary last month.

The survey released Wednesday by Fairleigh Dickinson University-PublicMind found Coons leading O'Donnell 53 percent to 36 percent. It shows O'Donnell struggling within her own party, with only about two-thirds of Republicans saying they support her.

It also found that O'Donnell's primary opponent, Rep. Mike Castle, would have a strong lead if he were the GOP nominee.

The statewide survey of 801 likely voters was conducted Sept. 27 to Oct. 3. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

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On the web:

http://publicmind.fdu.edu/

O’Donnell nonprofit has not filed taxes in three years

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:25:00 +0000

A nonprofit evangelical group founded and run by Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell of Delaware is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status for failing to file required federal tax forms.

IRS documents reviewed by The Associated Press show the group -- Savior's Alliance for Lifting the Truth -- is on a list of organizations threatened with revocation of its nonprofit status next month because it has not filed returns for three consecutive years.

O'Donnell founded the group in 1996 and is listed as its current president on the financial disclosure documents she filed with the U.S. Senate this summer. The alliance is a pro-abstinence outreach group aimed at young Christians.

A campaign spokesman said the group is looking into the matter.

Sherrod says she’d love to talk race with Obama

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:52:00 +0000

Former Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod said Thursday she wants to discuss racial issues with President Obama, who's "not someone who has experienced some of the things I've experienced in life."

But she also said on morning news shows she feels there is no need for Obama to apologize for her wretched week, which started with a conservative blogger posting controversial remarks she made, and led to her ouster as an Agriculture Department official and then, ultimately, apologies from both the White House and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The furor centered on a videotape on the Internet of Sherrod's remarks, recalling her reluctance 24 years ago to help a white farmer seeking government assistance. Blogger Andew Breitbart said he posted it to illustrate that racism exists in the NAACP, an argument he was using to counter allegations by the civil rights organization of racism in the tea party.

"He was willing to destroy me ... in order to try to destroy the NAACP," Sherrod said Thursday of Breitbart, saying she still hasn't heard an apology from him. She had argued from the start that her talk was about racial moderation and reconciliation, and that the Internet posting took her speech out of context.

Sherrod not sure she would go back to Ag Dept

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:25:00 +0000

The woman at the center of a racially tinged firestorm involving the Obama administration and the NAACP said Wednesday she doesn't know if she'd return to her job at the Agriculture Department, even if asked.

"I am just not sure how I would be treated there," Shirley Sherrod said in a nationally broadcast interview. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday he would reconsider the department's decision to oust Sherrod over her comments that she didn't give a white farmer as much help as she could have 24 years ago.

A conservative website posted video of Sherrod's remarks, causing a furor which led to her condemnation by the NAACP and her ouster by Vilsack. Until Tuesday, she was the Agriculture Department's director of rural development in Georgia. Then, she said, she was pressured by superiors to resign.

Sherrod said her remarks, delivered in March at a local NAACP banquet in Georgia, were part of a larger story about learning from her mistakes and racial reconciliation, not racism, and said they were taken out of context by bloggers who posted only part of her speech.

Vilsack's statement came after the NAACP posted the full video of Sherrod's comments Tuesday night.

Poll finds blacks motivated to vote in November

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:57:00 +0000

Democrats facing strong headwinds this election season have at least one reason for optimism, according to polling that found the party's large African-American voting bloc eager to stay involved even without Barack Obama on the ballot.

About two-thirds of black adults in four states say they are closely following news about the upcoming midterm elections, and between 74 percent and 80 percent say they are very likely to vote, according to the poll, conducted by the nonpartisan Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The organization surveyed 500 African-Americans in each state -- Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas and South Carolina -- all of which have Senate races in November.

How many of those voters follow through with their intentions will help determine if Democrats hold control of Congress. In many competitive congressional districts, blacks make up a quarter of the electorate, and they vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Their surge during Obama's 2008 victory is widely credited with helping sweep many down-ballot Democrats into office who might have otherwise lost.

David Bositis, a researcher at the institute who directed the poll, said turnout will surely be lower than the poll's findings. But he said the numbers suggest continued enthusiasm.