Two big, competing narratives are dominating media coverage of the upcoming 2010 elections. The first is that the GOP primaries keep producing candidates who
“„Elections this weekin Colorado and Connecticut yielded a new crop of oddball nominees. Ken Buck, a gaffe-prone prosecutor once ordered to take ethics classes for his handling of an illegal guns case, defeated former Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton in a Republican Senate primary. In Connecticut, Linda McMahon, who founded World Wrestling Entertainment with her husband Vince, was linked to steroid investigations and appeared in numerous violent and sexually suggestive sketches, bested Rob Simmons, a former congressman and decorated veteran, for the GOP’s Senate nomination. [...]
“„“There’s no way [the National Republican Senatorial Committee] could tell you they’d rather have Ken Buck than Jane Norton, or that they’d rather have Sharron Angle than Sue Lowden, pre-chicken bartering comment,” the strategist said, referring to the GOP candidate in Nevada and her defeated primary opponent.
“„“Even with Republicans having low numbers, they are the opposition party and are going to benefit from people saying, ‘We’re ticked off and we want a change,”‘ said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart. “The way you vote your discontent is to say you’re going to vote Republican.”
“„Mr. Hart said the 2010 contest is being pulled by the sentiment associated with the JetBlue flight attendant who fled his plane via the emergency chute after an altercation with a passenger. Calling it the “JetBlue election,” Mr. Hart said: “Everyone’s hurling invective and they’re all taking the emergency exit.”