LA-02, TX-23; Midterms Ain't Over

Before I get into the real juicy (and real depressing) news of the day, I wanted to take a look at the two runoff elections for Congress happening early next month. On December 9, about-to-be-convicted Rep. William Jefferson is facing off against Karen Carter (contribute here) in a matchup of two Democrats in Louisiana. Except Jefferson is completely corrupt and has taken to trying to win his seat through gay-bashing and appealing to "traditional values" (values like hiding 90 grand in your freezer). And now, in a sign of desperation, he's begging for debates.

Early Thursday night, the Jefferson campaign sent out a email claiming Karen Carter is “ducking debates” (hard to say Turkeying the issues). The Jefferson email said, “State Rep. Karen Carter is ducking televised debates on WDSU and WGNO to avoid discussion about her lack of leadership in holding insurance companies accountable for robbing our citizens of their claims. At a time when the high cost of insurance is more on our minds, Karen Carter is expecting to come under fire for her failed leadership as Chair of the House Insurance Committee.

“The story about Karen Carter’s failed leadership will be told because we will let people know that she’s voted to increase rates for small business; she’s failed to have one hearing on real insurance accountability and reform since Hurricane Katrina; and, she has been negligent because she hasn’t attended the meetings on the Louisiana Citizens' Insurance program,” Jefferson said. “She also knows that she cannot defend her family values record, which is out of step with the people of the district. She voted to support same sex marriage; I voted against it. She voted against making it more difficult to have late term abortion; I voted to end late term abortion. I voted to make cloning a crime; she’s the only member of the state legislature to vote against making human cloning a state crime. I want to debate Karen Carter and have confirmed participation to do so on WDSU, WGNO and WWL TV. Unfortunately, she doesn’t see the need to explain her negligence and record to the people of the 2nd Congressional district.”

Carter’s spokesperson, Cheron Brylski responded with a statement which mimicked an ad currently running by the Carter campaign. Brylski said, “Tonight, Bill Jefferson launched an attack which states Karen Carter is "scared to debate" him. It's just another step in underscoring why he’s a hypocrite. On Nov. 21, the Karen Carter Campaign agreed to one televised debate on Thursday, Dec. 7 on WWL-TV. Mr. Jefferson will do anything to avoid telling the truth. He has hired an army of lawyers to avoid having to explain why the FBI videotaped him taking a $100,000 bribe. With those facts, who do you really think is scared to debate on Thursday, Dec. 7? We're still waiting to hear his honorable explanation of his record."

These just don't seem like the things an incumbent would be doing unless he was in real trouble. I hope the people in the New Orleans area understand how dishonest their Congressman is being about this, asking for debates while refusing to talk about his ethical troubles. And the main issue in the district, the continuing response to Katrina, should be paramount, not cloning bills and same-sex marriage. Tim Tagaris is covering this race for MyDD.

In Texas-23, Ciro Rodriguez and Rep. Henry Bonilla are battling in the only race between a Democrat and a Republican Bonilla's pretty extreme for what is a 50-50 district that was forced to change its boundaries by the Supreme Court after part of the Texas redistricting scam was found unconstitutional. The only thing I really remember about Bonilla is how he went on The Daily Show during the 2004 election to claim that John Kerry was "the most liberal member of the Senate" and then didn't know where that statistic came from. Stewart destroyed him.

Ciro Rodriguez is a former Congressman who lost to Henry Cuellar earlier this year in a primary. The DCCC is heavily involved in this race and they sense an opportunity. The campaign has set up an online phonebanking tool similar to the one used by MoveOn this cycle. If you have the time before December 12, give it a shot.

There are also a few recounts around the country (Mary Jo Kilroy in OH-15, Larry Kissell in NC-08). The recount in Florida's 13th District, where 18,000 votes in Sarasota just up and vanished from electronic voting machines, just got more interesting during yesterday's "machine audit" which didn't even use the actual e-machines but backups, yet STILL encountered problems.

The audit was not designed and conducted by independent experts. Rather, state personnel conducting the audit represent a deeply conflicted party. The Secretary of State is a named Defendant in the VoterAction-led suit filed on behalf of Sarasota County voters and pollworkers. (Read the complaint here: http://www.voteraction.org/... Further, the whole Division of Elections can be reasonably described as defending itself against possible shortcoming. Isn’t there something obviously flawed about allowing a defendant to conduct this investigation? [...]

Test voters vote over and over in the "audit." Real election voters don't enjoy the same opportunity to practice. They're voting cold after not having seen a machine for months or years. Practiced test voters can hone their skills at touching sensitive or even mis-calibrated touchscreens. Even with this, Lowell Finley and others observed test voters at today's audit having considerable difficulty registering their votes on the touchscreens. Some testers required two or three attempts to get a touch to register on the screen. Some appeared to have one in every three attempts to register a touch fail. So, even practiced test voters are having trouble with the touchscreens during the "audit." Not a good sign [...]

The tests today did indeed revealed discrepancies. At least three votes recorded as undervotes in the election changed to Jennings votes in today's "audit." That's comes out to an approximate 7% shift in a race decided by less than two-tenths of one percent. It will be quite interesting to see how the State Division of Elections explains this shift.

I'll be watching this one very closely. You can contribute to Christine Jennings' recount fund at the Blue Majority link on ActBlue.