What the 2010 Elections Say About America: Stories People for the American Way Is Watching

The national elections being held this week bring together a number of historic story lines, and analysts will no doubt be sorting through the results for weeks. It will take some time to assess the full impact of the virtual merger between Fox News and the GOP, and weigh the success of efforts by religious right leaders, GOP strategists, and big business to co-opt the Tea Party movement. But before election night is over, we'll get answers to some of the most important questions about where our country is headed.

Here's PFAW's guide to races to watch and to what the outcomes mean for America.

Will Scapegoating Latinos Backfire?

The Republicans could win this battle but lose the war. Sharron Angle, arguably the most high-profile of the Tea Party's Senate candidates, built her pre-election strategy on flooding Nevada airwaves with toxic, divisive, racially-tinged television ads that feature menacing, dark-skinned people threatening vulnerable white children and families. The national GOP's embrace of Angle will make it hard for them to distance themselves from her destructive, scapegoating ads targeting the fastest-growing demographic group in American society. The outcome of her campaign may depend on whether she was right in guessing that her ads would win her more votes in this election than they would cost her. Louisiana Senator David Vitter has also run what some consider the most offensive anti-immigrant ads of the campaign season.

America's Voice has identified another dozen or so candidates who have used distortions and stereotypes regarding immigrants and Latinos. Among races to watch where candidates have made outrageous statements on immigration:

• Sharron Angle -- U.S. Senate candidate, Nevada, ran divisive anti-immigrant ads, then claimed she didn't know if the scary people sneaking through the border fence in the ad were Latinos.
• David Vitter -- U.S. Senator, Louisiana, also ran offensive ads.
• Meg Whitman -- Gubernatorial candidate, California, who had called her former housekeeper an "extended member of the family," later urged that she be deported.
• Joe Miller -- U.S. Senate candidate, Alaska, looked to Iron curtain for border control inspiration, saying, "If East Germany could do it, we could do it."
• Kris Kobach -- Secretary of State candidate, Kansas, claimed the illegal voter registration by aliens has become "pervasive," then later admitted he didn't know the extent of the alleged problem.
• Allen West -- U.S. House candidate, Florida, mixed anti-government and anti-immigrant rhetoric: "You must be well-informed and well-armed, because this government we have right now is a tyrannical government. And it starts with illegal immigration."

While some GOP strategists and religious right leaders are worried about the long-term impact of the party alienating Latino voters, those concerns seem to have been pushed aside in the hopes that demagoguery on the immigration issue will win enough votes this year to help put the GOP in control of Congress. But playing to the Tea Party base of the party, and its hostility to any comprehensive approach to immigration reform, will put the GOP in a long-term bind. Most Americans support reform that includes a path to citizenship for people living, working, and raising their families here; GOP candidates answering to right-wing ideologues denounce any such provisions as "amnesty." Immigration is likely to be one of the issues on which the newly expanded far-right congressional caucus will find governing more complicated than campaigning.

Will Voters Overlook Right-Wing Violence and Calls for Violence?

Tea Party candidates and right-wing pundits have introduced a frightening amount of violent rhetoric into this year's campaigns, suggesting that if right-wing voters don't get their way they should consider resorting to violence or even revolution against a "tyrannical" federal government. They have portrayed the president and Democratic congressional leaders not only as political opponents but as enemies of America bent on crushing individual liberty and undermining the nation's interest. With that kind of example and inflammatory rhetoric from right-wing leaders, it's hardly surprising that members of Congress have faced death threats, or that violence and thuggish behavior have broken out on the campaign trail:

Among the races to watch:

• U.S. Senate, Kentucky: Campaign supporters of Senate candidate Rand Paul's knocked a woman to the cement, and another stomped on her shoulder and pressed her head to the ground with his foot, landing her in the hospital with a concussion and multiple sprains. Paul called the attack a "crowd control problem."
• U.S. Senate, Alaska: Candidate Joe Miller's paramilitary security team manhandled, handcuffed, and illegally detained a journalist who was trying to ask the candidate a question.
• U.S. House, Florida 22nd Congressional District: Republican Congressional candidate Allen West has used violent rhetoric in his campaign, used members of a biker gang for protection, and defended the harassment and bullying of a Democratic staffer attempting to video a public event.
• U.S. Senate, Nevada: GOP candidate Sharron Angle famously suggested that if the elections don't go the way Tea Party activists want, there may be need to resort to "Second Amendment remedies."

All indications point to widespread Republican gains on Election Day, which should mitigate against inflammatory charges that President Obama and his Democratic allies had somehow stolen the election. But if a number of close and heated races are won by Democrats, don't be surprised by violent reactions among those who have been amped up by Glenn Beck and other purveyors of paranoia.

Will Right-Wing 'Grassroots' Campaigns Mean Big Win for Government by Big Business?

With a big push from a Supreme Court granting corporations the same right as citizens to influence American elections, big business interests are pouring huge amounts of their record-breaking profits and cash-on-hand into buying a government that is even more willing to sacrifice the interests of individual Americans to the demands from corporate America. A coalition of right-wing groups coordinating with each other to lead the GOP-supporting effort dumped an additional $50 million into ads in competitive House races in the final weeks of the campaign. Unless and until a constitutional amendment addresses the extraordinary damage created by Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions that have undermined campaign finance laws, we can count on corporate America to invest whatever it takes to elect politicians pledged to implement policies that sacrifice the health of American consumers and workers, and the well-being of American communities, on the altar of ever-greater profits and wealth for those who already have the most.

Among the biggest investments by corporate interests dropped in competitive races are:

• U.S. Senate, Colorado -- Ken Buck v. Sen. Michael Bennet. American Crossroads alone has spent more than $5 million attacking Bennet; reportedly this race featured a record 3.9 million in outside funding on just one day in October.
• U.S. Senate, Illinois -- Mark Kirk v. Alexi Giannoulias. Crossroads GPS poured more than 4.4 million into this race to attack Giannoulias.
• U.S. Senate, Washington -- Dino Rossi v. Sen. Patty Murray. On Oct. 21, Rossi reportedly passed Illinois' Mark Kirk to take the top spot in secret money being spent on his behalf -- more than 4.5 million at that point.
• U.S. Senate, California -- Carly Fiorina v. Sen. Barbara Boxer. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent more than 5 million to attack Sen. Boxer.

How Many Anti-Government Extremists Will Take Seats in Congress?

Cheered on by right-wing pundits like Glenn Beck, Tea Party and GOP candidates are portraying this election as a choice between "socialism" and "constitutional conservativism." They are embracing a radically right-wing view of the U.S. Constitution, one that ignores the Constitution's -- and the nation's -- history, to promote a misguided nostalgia for a time when huge numbers of elderly Americans lived in poverty and when the federal government could not protect workers with safety regulations or minimum-wage requirements. Meanwhile, Beck and religious right figures are promoting the idea that this radically restricted view of government is grounded in Christianity and the Bible. In essence, they are trying to make the size and scope of government the new culture war, and to convince Americans that relying on government assistance in hard times is not only un-American but un-Christian.

Many Americans who end up voting for Tea Party-backed Republicans because they are worried about the state of the economy or size of the deficit will be shocked to find the kind of gridlock that will be caused if and when candidates get elected to office who have pledged not to support anything they don't find in their 19th-century view of the Constitution.

A few of the many races to watch:

• Mike Lee, U.S. Senate Candidate from Utah: Lee, virtually guaranteed a win in this heavily Republican state, will bring to the Senate a remarkably reactionary view of the Constitution and the U.S. government's role in society. He has denounced as "domestic enemies" those who disagree with his radically limited view of the (divinely inspired) Constitution. He would abolish the federal departments of Energy and Education, dismantle the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and phase out Social Security. He says earmarks are unconstitutional. Lee could be one of a number of new senators who take the GOP's already unprecedented campaign of partisan obstruction to a damaging new level.
• Joe Miller, U.S. Senate candidate from Alaska: Miller says the Department of Education should be eliminated because it's not in the Constitution. Also violating the Constitution, in Miller's mind, was health-care reform and legislation to extend jobless benefits to out-of-work Americans. He says he would phase out Social Security and Medicare.
• Ken Buck, U.S. Senate candidate from Colorado: Buck calls for the elimination of the federal Department of Energy and Department of Education, the privatization of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the elimination of student loans. He says he "doesn't know" whether Social Security is constitutional, but calls it a "horrible policy" and says the federal government should not be running health care or retirement programs.
• Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate candidate from Florida: Rubio calls "statism" the "fastest-growing religion in America."
• Rand Paul, U.S. Senate candidate from Kentucky: Paul has suggested that Congress should not be making mine safety rules. He says Medicare is socialized medicine. He wants to eliminate the Departments of Education and Agriculture, do away with the Federal Reserve, and abolish the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• David Hamer, U.S. House candidate from California's 11th Congressional District: Hamer, who calls public schools "socialism in education," wants to abolish public schools entirely and return education to "the way things worked through the first century of American nationhood," when an awful lot of people had no access to educational opportunities.

Will Voter Suppression and False Charges of Voter Fraud Help GOP Candidates Win?

Right-wing strategists have a multifaceted strategy on voting issues. One tactic is to depress possible turnout among groups more likely to support Democratic and progressive candidates, particularly people of color, with disinformation and intimidation. News outlets have reported on a variety of voter suppression efforts aimed at lowering turnout among African Americans, including Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett telling the Delaware County GOP to keep the Philadelphia Democratic vote below 50 percent; billboards in Milwaukee showing people behind bars warning against "voter fraud," and the planned deployment by Illinois Senate candidate Mark Kirk of "voter integrity squads" in black neighborhoods in. In Wisconsin, the Republican Attorney General reportedly colluded with the state GOP, local Tea Party, and Americans for Prosperity in a voter "caging" operation designed to purge people from voting rolls. In Harris County, Texas, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has asked the DOJ to investigate voter intimidation efforts during early voting

Watch for stories on and after Election Day involving registered voters who are turned away because they had been purged from voter lists, stories of intimidation by "voter integrity" operations. Meanwhile, while there is no credible evidence that voter fraud -- the way right-wing strategists use the term, meaning individuals casting ballots they aren't eligible to cast -- has played any significant role in any recent election, GOP strategists and right-wing pundits have made it an article of faith among many Tea Party and right-wing activists that ACORN somehow stole the 2008 election for President Obama and that Democrats and people of color are conspiring once again to try to steal elections. Sharron Angle and right-wing groups have already suggested that Democrats are making plans to steal the close election. The extent of voter suppression activities, and the extent to which right-wing pundits and politicians make irresponsible charges of voter fraud, could tell us a lot about the extent to which inflammatory and racially divisive politics will continue to drive right-wing political strategy.

Among the races to watch:

• U.S. Senate race in Illinois, where GOP candidate Kirk has said he will deploy the largest "voter integrity" program in almost two decades
• Gubernatorial race in Texas, where Democratic officials have asked the DOJ to investigate reports of voter intimidation
• Numerous races in Wisconsin, including the U.S. Senate race, where GOP officials have engaged in "voter caging" to purge voting lists

 

Follow Michael B. Keegan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/peoplefor

Comments

[ggmome]

08:37 AM on 11/03/2010

What this means to me, makes me happy I will be 3/4 of a century old this year, and on the other side of the mountain chronologically.

[CenaW]

10:12 PM on 11/02/2010

The kochs & gang which includes the Chamber of Commerce have invaded California, so yes we now have vote suppression.
Closed and moved polling stations in Los Angeles, Missing absentee ballots in the East Bay.
I am sure they worked their election magic in any county they could.

[Democrat in the South]

11:27 PM on 11/02/2010

I usually recieve a card with voter locations but did not receive one this time. I received a phone call/message saying where to early vote but not where to vote on Tues. The call said you may have to vote at a different location but didn't say where. I thought that was odd and and am still suspicious about it. I vote Dem. in a red state.

[Nick Santiago]

02:17 PM on 11/03/2010

Well, on a more positive note, it debunks the idea that our votes don't count because the whole system is rigged. If they really did't count and it was all just a grand game we were forced to play they wouldn't be fighting so hard to block our votes!

[CenaW]

03:30 PM on 11/03/2010

Thanks. I agree.
Whenever that lame argument, "they, both parties are the same," I reminded them that probably isn't so since the conservatives are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat Democratic candidates.

They can't seem to grasp that, because, yes the Democrats have a few of their own, K0ch owned legislators.

[CenaW]

10:08 PM on 11/02/2010

Ok elections over.
2 more years.
Liberals & progressives have two choices,
1.New party, or simply joining the already organized Greens or Peace & Freedom.
2.Retake the Democratic party from the conservatives, who call themselves centrists but who are as fas.cist (entirely controlled by the big money) as the current Republican Party.

We must have a new economic model
We must acknowledge that people live longer and some, not all can work longer.
(kind of stupid to expect someone doing hard manual labor to keep working after age 65)
Mone must be returned to the individuals, so they can save and start new businesses, that is the only place there will be innovation, real innovation.
This is now impossible with the near total monopolization of business & banking now.
Get real about the so called News, it is conservative, there will be no liberal voice.
No chance of any change in regulations that has allowed all information systems to be 100% controlled by a few billionaires.
Yes, that includes the internet.

[pedernales]

09:22 PM on 11/02/2010

I voted Democrat, but anyone who wants the border with Mexico closed for good, with the exception of workers who must return to Mexico, is not a scapegoater of Latinos. This is what's wrong with so many Democrats and why they lose and will continue to lose. You live in La La Land, a nice place to visit but you can't stay. In the real world, our population is already way out of control and way too high to support us for the long term as our quality of life and resources devolve. Many of our Nobel Laureates, demographers, scientists, naturalists, et al, are warning us and the empircal evidence is all around along with the overwhelming of our public insitutions. What about the plant, mineral, and animal kingdoms? What about the water? What about just living in a country that is in some kind of balance with the natural world, not wall to wall stress, poverty, violence, and unconsious birthing.

[CenaW]

09:58 PM on 11/02/2010

The big money behind the Republicans, Kochs for example want unfettered immigration for a cheap work force. They also want to eliminate all environmental rules. They also want all services privitized.
You will still have the laws that force you to pay for garbage service, you will still need power and water, It will cost you much more.
You must learn to live in third world conditions since you keep voting
Republican.
Immigration: Reagan allowed in millions to break the farmworkers unions, and the meat processing unions, then legalized them via amnesty.
Immigration: Once became a massive problem (estimates as high as 20 Million during your Republican Geo. W. Bush years. This time he didn't get to legalize them, and didn't really want to, when illegal, one works harder for less.
So sure keep voting for the candidates of the Koch cartel of f.a.s.c.i.s.t (Bircher/Libertarian), tea bag candidates.
Learn to love poverty, soon to include what was once a prosperous middle class soon to be as tharashed as the working classes. All those cheap engineers and technical degrees from India, Taiwan, Korea, all those cheap nurses from the Philippines, and so on.
Capitalism MUST have a huge constantly increasing population of cheap labor as well as a constantly growing population of consumers to survive. That is how it is designed.

[CenaW]

10:02 PM on 11/02/2010

I apologize, you said you voted Democratic, but then followed with the usual Republican rheortic.
ps.
Democrats are not infavor of illegal immigrants, but for this one, I do not want to be part of a nation that is willing to do a massive round-up and deportation. I reject that catastrophic act.
If we don't go after employers, they will continue to arrive. Anyone going for real sanctions against employers will be labeled "anti-business" by the conservative talkers.

[M4dwoman]

05:40 PM on 11/02/2010

What this election says about the American people is that they have been played. The Citizens United ruling came after two republican losses, when the party was washed up and floundering. How better to stop the bleeding than to allow corporations unlimited and unchecked access to the political process.
And considering what passes for news these days, there is no real voice of opposition.
I believe that the corporations will finance short term employment boosts and economic prosperity for the next 2 years to keep the republicans in office. They will continue to destroy the republic through propaganda and lies.
And in 2012 there will be an apocalypse, when the four horsemen, led by Jeb Bush, sweep all semblance of democracy out of Washington.

[Gregory Peek]

04:03 PM on 11/02/2010

The worst crimes against humanity always begin with attempted dehumanization of selected scapegoats. No mainstream religion authorizes dehumanization, yet religion is recruited to rationalize the worst atrocities. We know better. Who wishes to be the source of atrocities and forever run from that reality? When your grandchildren ask what you did to make America better, you will say...?

[2013]

03:53 PM on 11/02/2010

This ice cream cone election, choose the toppings but the center is always the same, is a turning point in American political history because it allows voters to agree that there may be more then two views in politics.
This idea has been faught as hard by the two political parties as they pretends to fight with each other. Both parties know that their hold on America relies on just them having a voice and allowing only them the financial strings of government to control.
Starting in 2011 a new party, a thousand times more dangerous to the two big guys then a Tea Sipper, will begin a real attack on the reality of what the Democrats and Republicans have work for and achieved a balance of power to rule the USA.
Starting in 2011, January 2011, the American party will talk about the election, the symptom issues used in the election and why you are not better off today then the people were in 1969! This party will discuss jobs, the bailouts, the bubble and why it happened, social security being robbed by both parties and your choices for the American future. We will push American jobs, equal trade not free trade, wealth, yours being spent over seas, transportation, power, and space. We will detail changes, most small, many done by your political parties that have harmed you. The American party, changing the face of politics, forever.

[roudy]

03:04 PM on 11/02/2010

Can anyone explain to me why senior citizens support candidates that want the elimination of Social Security and Medicare programs?

[Revee]

03:20 PM on 11/02/2010

I think it is "sleight of hand" by the GOP. They are really good at distracting the seniors with other issues. For example, my mother in law (in her 80s) was worrying about estate taxes! She is on SS with some modest income. Her estate is far far .. far less than the limits for taxation!

[ThePeoplesKey]

07:47 PM on 11/02/2010

Ignorance comes to mind. As well as diminished reason caused by age for many . . .

[Gregory Peek]

02:14 PM on 11/02/2010

Voter intimidation may well be the most lasting legacy of the Republican Party.

[flyovermark]

04:58 PM on 11/02/2010

...just as voter fraud is the lasting legacy of the Democrat Party...

[CenaW]

10:51 PM on 11/02/2010

Name one case that the Republicans have been able to take to court.

[Democrat in the South]

11:46 PM on 11/02/2010

Voter fraud by the Democrats got the rethugs elected tonight. You would think "Republics" would welcome that kind of voter fraud? You must not understand what voter fraud means?