
 |
|
May 13, 2013
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
April 22, 2013
US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer
April 19, 2013
Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy
Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds
April 17, 2013
Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom
Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
April 15, 2013
Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral
Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators
April 12, 2013
Mark Clayton: New cybersecurity bill: Privacy threat or crucial band-aid?
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jackie Robinson's Friend, Hank Greenberg; CNN's Jake Tapper; Texas County in the News is named for 19thC. Jewish soldier and Congressman
The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: FRUITY QUINOA STUFFED PEPPERS: A flavorful, colorful and edible vessel of delicately fluffy, mildly nutty filling combined with chewy apricots, tangy cherries, and crunchy pistachios
April 10, 2013
Peter Grier: North Korean missiles: Could US shoot them down?
Morgan Housel: Warning: Don't waste your capital being fooled by profit prophets
Donald Hensrud, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Take vitamin supplements with caution --- even approved, they may actually do damage
Eryn Brown: 74 DNA discoveries move cure closer for three cancers
April 8, 2013
Jonathan Tobin: What Part of No Preconditions Do American Jews Not Get?
Fred Weir: Is Putin finally trading his own party for a new power base?
|
| |
Jewish World Review
June 7, 2012/ 17 Sivan, 5772
So, DiFi Is Taller Than 23 Dwarfs
By
Debra J. Saunders
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California's most popular politician, garnered 49.3 percent -- less than half -- of the vote on election day Tuesday. Winning 1.8 million votes, Feinstein trounced her 23 challengers handily in what wags call California's "jungle primary." There was no big-name challenger, yet more than half of voters went for Anyone But DiFi.
Feinstein won fewer votes than the failed (for now) ballot measure to increase taxes on tobacco.
Is Feinstein in trouble? Elizabeth Emken, the Republican who won the second-most votes and hence will challenge Feinstein on the November ballot, won 450,000. So probably not.
Feinstein political guru Bill Carrick notes that when absentee ballots are counted, the tally could change. Fewer voters turn out in primaries. (California Secretary of State Debra Bowen reported that 24 percent of voters participated Tuesday, although the percentage will grow as counties tally absentee ballots. The 2008 general election drew nearly 80 percent of registered voters.) California primary voters tend to be more conservative than general-election voters.
Feinstein could have spent money in the primary to boost her showing, but it wouldn't have made a difference. She still would have been in first place. And she beat 23 contenders Tuesday, "more people than she's beat in her entire career," Carrick says.
Don't write that Feinstein's in trouble, Carrick cautioned. "I'm trying to save you from an embarrassing column."
The real story, according to Allan Hoffenblum, former GOP consultant and publisher of the nonpartisan California Target Book, is "how weak" the Republican Party is. Last year, the Field Poll reported that 44 percent of voters were not inclined to vote for Feinstein, and 41 percent were. This year, voters turned out entrenched incumbents from France to Indiana. Yet there is no Republican with a public profile to challenge Feinstein. Two years ago, former tech titans Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina were on the ballot. They tanked, and that soured CEOs on state GOP politics.
For months, spokesman Mark Standriff has been pushing Emken as the best Republican because she's an "autism activist." (Oh, great, I think, a Republican who is a champion for a disease that, like government, keeps growing.)
Emken worked for IBM until one of her three sons was diagnosed with autism. The Danville resident later became a lobbyist for autism treatment and prevention.
She certainly doesn't sound like last year's big-money GOP hopefuls. "Aren't we tired of the plutocracy in this country?" Emken asked. She used her organizational and political skills not to chase away opposition but to win the state party endorsement, buy her way onto slate mailers and win the right to challenge Feinstein in November.
OK, Emken probably doesn't have a prayer. At least she may force Democrats to learn some new talking points. The standard playbook, Standriff notes, is to "demonize the Republican candidate as being an out-of-touch, wealthy 1 percenter who wants to throw Grandma off the cliff." Emken doesn't want to gut health care. She expects her son Alex to spend the rest of his life embedded in the health care system.
The GOP brand isn't selling well in California. But neither is Feinstein, who has been in Washington for 20 years. Probably she'll win, but not because Californians love her; they just hate Republicans more.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders' column by clicking here.
Debra J. Saunders Archives
© 2012, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|