RK ARCHIVE - Byrne vs. Connolly Heats Up

As most people know, there's no love lost between the Connnolly and Byrne camps, so this mailing is not exactly surprising. As to the content, maybe the bar's been raised for me since the Jim Webb primary, when he was called a racist, misogynist AND an anti-Semite, but somehow I'm not seeing how it's "outrageous" for Emily's List to mention "Boss" Connolly's "bullying, over-the-top tactics." Those are, frankly, well known. As to the "lucrative contracts," I have no idea if the allegations are correct or not, but there's certainly an impression out there.

Both in this case and also in general, instead of simply dismissing allegations of close ties between Connolly, big developers and others, why not just address them? If they're truly "outrageous" as the Connolly camp claims, why not simply provide evidence that counters the charges, perhaps examples where Connolly acted CONTRARY to the interests of "parties who had business before the board?" Instead, we have the Connolly campaign immediately yell "negativity!" about Leslie Byrne. A lot easier, perhaps, but less satisfying (and effctive?) in the end, perhaps.

By the way, does anyone else think that Doug Denneny, who has been picking up endorsement recently, including from VoteVets, is hoping for Byrne and Connolly to tear each other apart while he runs a positive campaign and possibly starts picking up support from voters looking for a fresh altenative? If so, it seems that Denneny is probably pretty happy right now, as Byrne vs. Connolly heats up.

UPDATE: The Washington Post provides an example of Connolly actively opposing a bill that the developers/homebuilders wanted to pass. The bill died in the House Committee on Rules.

Comments

You're a troll. (Lowell - 3/19/2008 7:59:51 PM)

I've endorsed Byrne strongly, on many occasions -- in what possible way have I not been "honest." Here, just for you, I'll do it again:

I STRONGLY ENDORSE LESLIE BYRNE FOR CONGRESS

Byrne Denies Then Admits Negative Mailing (The Economist - 3/19/2008 12:26:25 PM)

As usual, there was more to this morning's Post story...

Byrne first denied the existance of a negative mailing about Connolly, but when challenged by reporter Bill Turque about the mailing that was paid for and authorized by the Byrne campaign, she changed her story and told the truth.

Yesterday, Byrne initially denied a role in any mailing that mentioned Connolly. "I haven't sent out anything that even refers to him," she said.
Later in the day, after being read portions of the letter by phone, she acknowledged that the campaign paid Emily's List a fee to cover mailing costs, as required by federal election law, but that "it is not our writing and not our wording."

An objective voice is needed (citizenindy - 3/19/2008 2:15:12 PM)

As most of you know by now I am not a Democrat
(therfore I have no dog in this fight) so here is some objectivity

Lowell is in the tank for Byrne, Obama, Feder

NLS is in the tank for Byrne, Hillary, Feder

With that being said, blogs are not the MSM and have no requirement to be objective. Blogs are basically like oped pages. If you don't like the content you have several choices, quit reading it, start your own blog, or start "debate."

Final note on "debate" over time you will be able to figure out who actually doesn't mind debate and who will ignore what you say and continue to spout their talking points. Arguing with the latter group is a waste of time. We all fall into the trap of the latter group at certain points. To this sites credit there is only one or two people that don't seem to respond to debate at all.

This Race Is Going To Be Nasty (Flipper - 3/19/2008 2:17:25 PM)

There is obviously no love lost between the Byrne and Connolly camps, which Lowell has pointed out above. In some ways, this race will probably go down the same road that the race for the presidential nomination has gone between Obama and Clinton.

I think most would agree that at this point, it will be a face-off between Byrne and Connolly. However, if the race gets as nasty as I think it will, it will give an opening to Doug Denneny. If Denneny can raise the money to get his message out and inform Democratic voters of his impressive resume, he could pull this out. Democratic primary voters in 2006 nominated a number of Iraq war veterans as their congressional nominees and most won their races in 2006, contributing to the Democratic takeover in Congress. A fresh face might be quite attractive to Democratic primary voters who believe the two other candidates carry too much baggage.

As far as the dust up over the Emily's List mailer, what a surprise. Ellen Malcolm and Emily's List have an impressive record of trashing their endorsed candidates opponents in Democratic primaries.

The trashing of Barack Obama ealier this year in primaries and caucuses by Ellen Malcolm and Emily's List was appalling. Ellen Malcolm trashed Obama over his votes regarding a series of bills regarding the choice issue in the Illinois Legislature.

A number of pro-choice supporters rose to defend these outrageous lies against Obama from Ellen Malcolm:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

I have no problem with Emily's List - their focus as a group, to elect Democratic women to office who are pro-choice, is honorable. But to trash a fellow Democrat who voted on particular bills based on an agreement with other pro-choice groups like NARAL and Planned Parenthood, was unforgiveable.

And the irony of these viscious attacks by Ellen Malcolm was that she lavished praise on Obama back in 2006, after Obama gave the keynote address to a luncheon in 2006 that was sponsored by Emily's List. See the link for Ellen Malcom's letter to Obama:

http://women.barackobama.com/p...

So, any information in the form of mailings or radio ads on behalf of Byrne coming from Emily's List should be taken with a grain of salt. Do not assume their statements are true.

But I think Byrne has one BIG problem in one of her biggest supporters, Ben Tribbett. Ben's caustic words against anyone who disagrees with him is well known. And his viscious attacks on Barack Obama ranked right up there with those of Emily's List. And as a well known Byrne supporter, you have to wonder how much damage he will inflict on her campaign. Is Ben Leslie Byrne's Rev., Wright? We'll see.

I think you may have a point (totallynext - 3/19/2008 3:10:11 PM)

By the way, does anyone else think that Doug Denneny, who has been picking up endorsement recently, including from VoteVets, is hoping for Byrne and Connolly to tear each other apart while he runs a positive campaign and possibly starts picking up support from voters looking for a fresh altenative? If so, it seems that Denneny is probably pretty happy right now, as Byrne vs. Connolly heats up.

This year - politics as usually - needs to be careful. Lots of new interest with wanting solutions - not a cat fight.

All candidates are good people and qualified - it will be critical to how they conduct there campaigns.

June isn't that far off. (jsrutstein - 3/19/2008 8:06:00 PM)

It's hard to imagine either Byrne or Connolly making some kind of huge mistake that would leave room for the relatively unknown and definitely underfunded Denneny, especially given how little time remains between now and the June primary. It's also very possible that Obama and Clinton will still be contending during this time. Between that, the economy, and the war, it's going to be hard for even Byrne and Connolly to get attention. And, even to the extent they can get attention, they'll probably have to do so by attacking each other and taking turns acting like the victim who has no choice but to respond. All this might mean that only dedicated voters who never miss an election and die-hard supporters will decide. I'm guessing that Connolly would have an edge with dedicated voters, and Byrne will have an edge with die-hard supporters. I predict that as VA-11 went for Obama in the March primary, VA-11 will opt for the "change" candidate. I think Byrne is more of a change agent than Connolly.