Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

A Cold Wind From North Dakota

Four Democrats dropped out of 2010 races yesterday, the most damaging being Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who very likely just flipped his seat to the Republicans.

The Jane F**king Hamsher left seems to think Dorgan is a petulant child and decided to retire, and throw his seat to the GOP, because he lost a vote on drug importation from Canada because of a White House deal with pharma companies (drug importation IMO is a terrible idea, but I digress). Of course the more likely scenario is Dorgan, who has never run a competitive race in his history, now probably suddenly has to since John Hoeven began throwing around hints that he was planning on running. Also, to add insult to injury, North Dakota’s lone member of the House, Democrat Earl Pomeroy, said he won’t run…not that progressives are enamored with him either, considering his Blue Dogness and opposition to a robust public option in the House bill back in the Fall.

In the meantime, speculation grew that Ed Schultz, the MSNBC firebrand would run. One would think someone as convinced that there needs to be better leaders in the Senate as Schultz would jump on the chance of running and getting elected to a body that needs people like him…but no, Schultz is flattered the Democratic Party in North Dakota asked him to run, but he’s comfortable in his new job that pays him a lot of money to bitch about the Senate being dysfunctional, why would he want to give that up and actually help make the Senate functional again?

“I’m flattered, I’m honored. I can’t say that I’m even considering it right now,” said Schultz. “I’ve worked awful hard in my career to get where I am, to go from Fargo to 30 Rock and here at MSNBC. I’ve invested a lot of years to get the microphone to have an opportunity to advocate for the middle class in this country. I’m in a different place right now. So we’re a long way from any consideration, we’re a long way from any kind of decision.”

So, in conclusion, Schultz feels he’s worked too hard to talk about issues to actually run for office and get them enacted.

Or maybe it’s because Schultz is afraid he won’t win? Chris Bowers seems to be admitting as much;

This is made worse given that Byron Dorgan is about the most progressive figure we could have hoped for in North Dakota.  While Ed Schultz is a clear exception, even he probably can’t beat Hoeven this year.

In other words, the American people clearly want populist progressive policies, even in North Dakota cause they elected Dorgan, except they won’t vote for a populist progressive and instead vote for a right wing nut…but the American people reallt truly honestly want progressive policies, I mean look at the polls, right!?! This is not a chance people like Olbermann or Maddow get. Schultz is clearly one of the only people who can stand a chance at this seat, there aren’t copious amounts of progressive firebrands from North Dakota running around.

Ed Schultz just got an opportunity to shit on a golden toilet, if he doesn’t take it, he needs to get the fuck out of the bathroom.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 21 Comments

21 comments

  1. creamer

    Ed Schultz just got an opportunity to shit on a golden toilet, if he doesn’t take it, he needs to get the fuck out of the bathroom.

    Well said.

  2. HappyinVT

    “kill the bill” crowd are misguided.

    (Yes, I know some were hoping to kill the bill and press for reconciliation but I’ve heard the numbers aren’t there for that, either.)

    Finally, I think Schultz would fit in better in the House than the Senate.  Although if Franken can make it…

  3. fogiv

    …about his eligibility to run?  Thought I saw some scuttle about that.

    {google pause}

    Politico reports that “Schultz said on his show Tuesday evening that he believes North Dakota law holds that a candidate would have to be a resident for the past five years to run, and he hasn’t been living in the state.”

    Whether or not North Dakota has such a law applicable to state candidates, it cannot constitutionally be applied to candidates for the U.S. Senate or House, where the U.S. Constitution sets the sole requirements. Here’s a footnote from our election law casebook, page 549:

    Under the Constitution’s Qualifications Clauses, members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives must be residents of the state they represent. See U.S. Const., Art. I, s2, cl. 2; s3, cl. 1. Numerous courts have struck down state statutes attempting to impose additional requirements such as that a candidate for the House be a resident of the Congressional district. See Daniel H. Lowenstein, Are Congressional Term Limits Constitutional?, 18 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 1, 43-44 (1994) (collecting cases); see also Schaefer v. Townsend, 215 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2000), cert denied sub nom. Jones v. Schaefer, 532 U.S. 904 (2001), in which the Ninth Circuit held that “California’s requirement that candidates to the House of Representatives reside within the state before election violates the Constitution by handicapping the class of nonresident candidates who otherwise satisfy the Qualifications Clause.”

    http://electionlawblog.org/arc…

    Ed thought he was ineligible, but was wrong.  Ed Schultz half-cocked?  Whouda thunkit?!?

  4. John Allen

    FDL was calling for a primary challenger for Dorgan back in May, if not earlier. They should be happy.

    BTW, what makes you think drug re-importatation is a bad idea?

  5. DTOzone

    Thanks for the picture addition. My new job requires me to come up with headlines for my reporters’ stories, and I’m learning that I’m sometimes awesome at it and sometimes very very terrible at it. Whoever found this picture and saw how it fit the diary needs to teach me a couple of things lol

  6. Cheryl Kopec

    Why are we paying much more for the same exact medications as are sold overseas? Why can’t Americans have them at those prices?

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