Sitting ere thinking of the 2010 House and senate race and recalling what a remarkable year it was for both the Delaware Senatorial race as well as the House of Representatives. This Senate special election was created to fill the vacancy left when our previous Senator Joe Biden departed to assume the position of Vice President. As specified, I am thinking of the Republican contenders in both races - Christine O'Donnell and Glen Urquhart.
The main news source that was used in this document was the local newspaper, the News Journal out of Wilmington Delaware. The online version of the newspaper is referred to as DelwareOnline.com. I have also taken the liberty to include a reference to our public television network WHYY.
During the primaries, Delaware's former governor Mike Castle was favored in the polls as the Republican nomination however the Tea Party backed Christine O'Donnell upset the status quo in the beginning of the election. Although O'Donnell had such high visibility in the primary she ultimately lost to Democratic nominee Chris Coons. Coons will finish this term out and face the new challenges in January of 2015.
After O'Donnell's surprise victory over Mike Castle in the Republican primaries Democrat Chris Coons was christened the favorite son for winning this political race. Immediately the state Democratic Party saw an opportunity to capture the house seat after a 17 years wait when former governor Castle announced that he would campaign for Joe Biden's Senate seat.
Naturally the high-profile campaign was between O'Donnell and Coons. Reports made the local and national headlines daily detailing O'Donnell's fiscal difficulties. Although the Tea Party was not concerned in the least with her financial problems, the issues were to become a focal point of attacks from not just the opposing party but her own Republican members as well. During July of 2010 polls showed that O'Donnell was running ahead of Chris Coons by 41 to 39 percent while a similar poll conducted in late August revealed she was trailing Coons by 36 to 46 percent.
Upon seeing the early August primary results in Alaska between Joe Miller and Senator Lisa Murkowski it was decided by the Tea Party Express to increase spending for the O'Donnell campaign by $600,000. The goal was to defeat the established Republican contenders with insurgent Tea Party members.
Seeing the split taking place with the Republican Party at this time was a great encouragement for the Democrats. Castle being defeated by O'Donnell refused to provide his support in her quest as did The National Republican Senatorial Committee. The committee publicly related how it would not spend money in support of her campaign. As has often happened in the past the split in the party was their downfall. Representatives such as Castle would rather lose the seat permanently for his party than endorse someone who has beaten him in the primaries. With all this chaos going on the voters who had supported Mike Castle was now intent upon supporting Coons over O'Donnell.
On the other side of our legislative body we come to the U.S. House of Representatives where we see the less famous contest between former Lieutenant Governor John Carney and Republican Glen Urquhart.
As in any political race, money often determines the outcome and this house race proved to be no exception. The Democrats ushered behind their candidate and he entered the race before Castle had officially announced his bid for the senate. This provided Carney with a head start towards accumulating campaign funds and political support prior to other contenders assuming a position. By the time the smoke had cleared Carney had already amassed $1.3 million towards his war chest.
Although Glen Urquhart was not the Republican's choice for the race they were forced to accept his nomination in view of the Christine O'Donnell and the Tea Party wave taking place. Riding upon O'Donnell's coat-tails Urquhart received the support of not only Delaware's Tea Party group but also Sarah Palin and US Senator Jim DeMint. During the primaries Urquhart beat Rollins with a mere 554 votes.
As stated previously with Congressman Castle deciding to run for the US Senate seat rather than campaign for another term in the House, Carney was off and running. He had a head start in accumulating his war chest placing him ahead of the game and all in all Urquhart was considered a fairly easy candidate to beat. In October, Urquhart was trailing Carney in fundraising with $700,000 for Carney to his mere $565,000, most of which originated from his own pocket.
I feel that more money was spent on personal appearances than on media advertising as Carney's philosophy was to get out and talk to the people. According to the WHYY report, Carney even, with all the additional funds heading his way contends that it would not change his, "tenor of his campaign". He asserts that it is the voters who will ultimately decide regardless of the amount of money being spent.
When visiting and comparing the News Journals website for related information on the 2010 elections, I noticed a drastic increase in Senate seat coverage over the House positions. I suppose this was to be expected in view of the high profile campaign being performed for Joe Biden's seat in the Senate. Just on the first page alone there were nine articles which appeared, three related to the senate race and the remainder as information of a general nature. No entries on the first page related to the House of Representatives race what-so-ever. As I wandered around and took a tally the total for the month relating to the senate was 1534 articles as opposed to the house's 1088.
Although I can understand the importance being placed upon the Senate campaigns, I still feel that more emphasis should have been placed upon the house as well. When one analysis' the situation they see how the national limelight was upon O'Donnell since she was being supported by the Tea Party and Carney was secure in winning his election.
One of the ideologies which made this senate race unique is the lack of party support by the Republicans. As we all know only too well members usually vote along their party lines. This was clearly not the case in this election. Here we had a Republican camp and a Tea Party congregation. In this case, the Republican candidates were apt to lose before the race was even begun. I personally do not believe that any additional news coverage could have modified the outcome of either of these elections.
Copyright @2012 Joseph Parish
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