Will 2010 be the year of the incumbent and establishment apocalypse? It very well could be. In May 18th primaries for United State Senate, Joe Sestak and Rand Paul won Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively. Mark Critz, a staffer of the deceased John Murtha, beat his Republican opponent in a special election and will have to defend the seat in November. In Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, the incumbent, was forced into a runoff with Bill Halter.
Sestak upset incumbent Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Spector, who was first elected to the US Senate in 1980. Spector had Obama on down in the Democratic establishment supporting him. Spector was portrayed as a party switching self-server because he switched party affiliations earlier this year. Sestak, first elected in 2006 to Congress, took on steam late in the campaign by tying Spector to George Bush and hammering his loyalty to the Democratic party. Sestak told
TalkingPointsMemo.com "The president wants a real Democrat. ... I'm the only Democrat in this primary who voted for him."
Sestak secured 54% of the vote in the two way race.
Rand Paul destroyed his fellow Republican opponent, Trey Grayson, who enjoyed the support of the national GOP and Senate Minority Leader and fellow Kentucky politician Mitch McConnell. Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, won about
59% of votes.
Critz won a special election to fill the seat of deceased Congressman Jack Murtha. Critz portrayed himself as someone who could keep the pork flowing from Washington with values that were center-right. Murtha was notorious for getting pet projects and federal dollars flowing into his district. Both the DNC and RNC poured money into this race as did many outside groups. The GOP portrayed the race as a sure thing for them to win, but with the polls showing a dead heat, the Democrats began to say the race was a GOP must win in order to save some face had they lost.
Blanche Lincoln faced her biggest challenger from her left and a minor challenger from her right. Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter won about 42% and Lincoln got a few points more than he did, but did not get the 50% to keep a runoff from occuring.
The establishment lost tonight. The economy is back on track in numbers but not in the hearts and minds of people. A back burner war, Afghanistan, has been brought to the front and now the Iraq War seats on the back burner. Financial reform is stonewalled in Congress and health care angst still permeates the country. Politics is toxic right now. People hate the status quo. Is this end of the status quo? The elected faces have changed, but when the cultural status quo starts to change there is more angst. These politicians can't actually change Washington, even for the better, because that would represent a change from what we see, know, and scream at. The faces have changed, the establishment has been upset. Now, it's time to build another establishment.
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