{"id":259,"date":"2018-03-14T13:37:12","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T13:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/?p=259"},"modified":"2018-03-14T13:37:12","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T13:37:12","slug":"in-with-lyin-out-with-a-lamb-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/2018\/03\/14\/in-with-lyin-out-with-a-lamb-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"In with \u201cLyin\u2019\u201d Out with a Lamb Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As of this morning, March 14, with only a few hundred provisional ballots left to count, it appears Democrat Conor Lamb has won the special election against Republican Rick Saccone to represent Pennsylvania\u2019s 18<sup>th<\/sup> District in Congress.\u00a0 Lamb\u2019s victory is a big upset in a district where Republicans are so strong that the former representative ran unopposed and John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Donald Trump all won by huge margins.\u00a0 The race should not have been close, but Lamb pulled it out and should be a strong, positive voice in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Lamb won the race for two key reasons.\u00a0 First, he was the right candidate for the district.\u00a0 A veteran and former prosecutor, he ran a more centrist campaign that appealed to a wide range of voters.\u00a0 While he is against abortion, he is committed to protecting Social Security and Medicare.\u00a0 He was against the Republican tax cuts, but unlike the Democrats of 2016, he offered an economic message that resonated with steel workers and other voters who had previously felt abandoned by Democrats.\u00a0 Lamb also promised to fight gridlock and seek solutions to our nation\u2019s challenges, something that appeals to an electorate that has become increasingly frustrated by Congress\u2019 inaction and inefficiency.\u00a0 This is a model for Democrats to use to finally mount an effective 50-state strategy.\u00a0 Pay attention Tom Perez!<\/p>\n<p>The other key reason was President Trump.\u00a0 First, clearly Democrats had more enthusiasm for this race than Republicans.\u00a0 This is part of a national trend that helped recent Democratic victories in Virginia and elsewhere and if sustained could lead to more Democratic gains in November.\u00a0 Second, in my opinion,was President Trump\u2019s campaign rally with Saccone on the eve of the election.\u00a0 Trump\u2019s speech was rife with his usual hyperbole, insults and vulgarity, as well as dishonesty.\u00a0 While such events continue to rally the Trump base (many of whom acknowledge this is little more than entertainment), they do not serve the interests of Republican candidates.\u00a0 This election was extremely close, likely decided by under 1,000 votes.\u00a0 I posit that well more than 1,000 Republicans stayed home or voted for Conor Lamb.\u00a0 Saccone is also to blame for his shameful, desperate last-minute ploy.\u00a0 He asserted at a campaign rally that Democrats hate our country and hate God.\u00a0 This was not an errant exaggeration or moment of being carried away.\u00a0 Saccone actually added emphasis to the comments.\u00a0 Such vile, ridiculous, vitriol has no place in our politics and candidates who resort to comments like this deserve to lose and should be shamed out of politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As of this morning, March 14, with only a few hundred provisional ballots left to count, it appears Democrat Conor Lamb has won the special election against Republican Rick Saccone 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