David Plouffe releases OFA Vote 2010 Strategy Update
– September 7, 2010Posted in: Blog
2010 Elections Archive
Delaware Democrats Continue to Showcase Momentum with Office Opening
– September 2, 2010Posted in: Press Releases
Democrats Open Newark Office for Business, Welcome Volunteers
Newark – Delaware Democrats officially opened their Victory 2010 Coordinated Campaign office in Newark this Wednesday afternoon, hosting a kickoff party with volunteers and candidates in their new headquarters space.
The office, located at 350 College Square, will host volunteer for phone banks and canvassing daily throughout the November election.
Over 60 volunteers were greeted by U.S. Senate candidate Chris Coons and U.S. Congressional candidate John Carney, as well as many other state and local elected officials and candidates.
Coons and Carney both thanked the volunteers for their enthusiasm and fired up the troops for an evening of phone calling. Carney said:
“One of the things I believe strongly in as a Democrat, as a long-time Democrat, as a volunteer going back a number of years, as somebody who worked for other elected officials, as a candidate, and an office holder, and now as a candidate again – that this is a team sport…”
“The idea that we are opening this beautiful facility in this place, and we have all these people, at almost 6 o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon on September the first – this is unbelievable! And I’ll tell you what, it makes me a believer.”
Photos from the event are available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/deldems
Video from the event is available at: http://www.youtube.com/deldems
Delaware Democrats Add Two Candidates to November Ballot
– September 1, 2010Posted in: Press Releases
Democrats Make Push to Pick Up 11th House District, 4th Sussex County Council District
Wilmington – Just before the filing deadline for parties to appoint candidates to their ballots, the Delaware Democratic Party filed two additional candidates to appear on their November ballots.
In the 11th Representative District, Rep. Greg Lavelle will face a challenge from Josh Schoenberg. For the past year and a half, Schoenberg has served as the Executive Director for the Delaware Democratic Party, and was previously involved in Governor Markell’s campaign, as well as numerous other campaigns around the country.
“Putting Josh on the ballot is a huge show of confidence from the Democratic Party,” said Jim Paoli, Coordinated Campaign Chairman.“Representative Lavelle has directed many of the Republicans’ efforts to block legislation supported by House Democrats and by Governor Markell. He and his caucus must be held accountable for their actions.”
“I am pleased to see Josh take a run for political office himself,” said Governor Markell. “With his varied experience in government, politics, and helping to grow his family business, I’m sure that voters in the 11th district will be eager to hear from him about his plans to move Delaware forward.”
Schoenberg will take a leave of absence from the party to run, but will maintain some part-time contract work to keep the Party’s accounts compliant with state and federal election law.
In Sussex County, the County Party has chosen Russ Melrath to run for the 4th County Council district, where he will face incumbent George Cole. Melrath is a retired State Farm Insurance executive and lives in Dagsboro. He has been active in Sussex County politics since moving here 10 years ago. He is a member of the Shore Democrats as well as the 38th District Democratic Committee. Russ is also a distance runner who can often be seen in local 5K races.
“I am very pleased to announce Russ’s candidacy,” said Ed O’Conner, Sussex County Democratic Chairman. “With strong candidates in Russ Melrath and Dennis Cordrey, we intend to show the Sussex County Council that they cannot simply kowtow to the big developers, and leave normal people in the lurch. We intend to bring a level of balance to the County Council, and like our chances with these two candidates.”
For a full listing of Democratic Candidates, please visit our website at www.deldems.org.
Delaware Democrats Officially Open Newark Headquarters
– August 31, 2010Posted in: Blog
With offices opening across the state, Democrats demonstrate their commitment to winning big in this fall’s election
Newark – In conjunction with state and local elected officials and candidates, Delaware Democrats will officially open their Newark headquarters with a bang this Wednesday, inviting volunteers to participate in an office-opening celebration.
The Newark location is one of many offices the Delaware Democrats will open in the fall campaign season. Within the next few weeks, offices in the City of Wilmington, Brandywine Hundred, Middletown, and Smyrna will officially get up and running, and Democrats hope to expand further south into Dover and Sussex County shortly thereafter.
“With the momentum we have seen already from volunteers across the state, I’m looking forward to getting our regional headquarters online, so that these volunteers have a place to meet, make phone calls, or stage canvasses,” said Jim Paoli, Coordinated Campaign Chairman. “We are making an effort to contact every voter across the state, and we are confident that the Democratic message of moving Delaware forward will continue to resonate over the Republican agenda to reverse us into the Bush-era policies that nearly bankrupted our country.”
The office will be located at 350 College Square in Newark.
Vice President Biden’s Remarks to the DNC
– August 23, 2010Posted in: Blog
Last week, Vice President Biden joined Democratic Party leaders from across the country at a meeting in St. Louis. He delivered the following remarks. Here’s the AP’s summary of Biden’s message:
Vice President Joe Biden boldly predicted Friday that voters would reject a “Republican tea party” of extreme candidates and Democrats would retain control of Congress this November.
In a pep talk for the party’s rank and file, the vice president challenged the widespread notion that significant losses in House races, and perhaps the Senate, would cost the party its comfortable majorities — a possibility White House press secretary Robert Gibbs suggested last month before saying Democrats will hang onto the House.
“On Nov. 3 … there will be in Washington, D.C., a Democratic majority in the House and a Democratic majority in the Senate. That will be the case,” Biden said in a speech to the Democratic National Committee. And, he said, Democrats will do better than expected in gubernatorial races, too.
“If it weren’t illegal, I’d make book on it,” Biden quipped.
All 435 House seats, 36 in the Senate and 37 governors races are on the line.
Bowing to economic reality, Biden said voters’ anger and frustration was understandable given persistently high unemployment and a sluggish recovery. But he also expressed confidence that once voters focus on the elections, they will stick with President Barack Obama because “the choice is between Democrats and the Republican tea party. It’s between Democrats and the party of repeal and repeat.”
“They’re offering more of the past but on steroids,” Biden said, castigating “the Republican tea party” as “out of step with where the American people are.”
Watch his remarks:
DNC releases new ad, “Big Choices”
– August 20, 2010Posted in: Blog
We have choices this November – to continue moving America forward, or to go back to Bush-era policies.
After Padding Bank Account with TARP Funds, Michele Rollins Hypocritically Launches Anti-Bailout Ads
– August 17, 2010Posted in: Press Releases
New Castle – Delaware Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Ellis issued the following statement today responding to multi-millionaire Michele Rollins launching hypocritical television ads where she decries government bailouts:
“Considering she lined her pockets with thousands in taxpayer funded bailout money, Michele Rollins is the last person who should be attacking bailouts. In fact, Michele Rollins saw her compensation quadruple after her bank received millions in TARP funds and paid out lavish bonuses to executives, and this new TV ad is nothing but an attempt to distract from her own record. Until her bank finally pays back tax payers, she should spare Delawareans her anti-bailout rhetoric because they’re going to see right through her hypocritical outrage.
“Michele Rollins has already demonstrated that she doesn’t understand the challenges working Delawareans are facing every single day. If she thinks she can pull a fast one on Delawareans with this ad, which only reinforces how grossly out of touch she really is.”
Fox News: A Sleeper Race in Delaware?
– August 5, 2010Posted in: Blog
Trish Turner
August 4, 2010
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/08/04/sleeper-race-delaware
To read reports back in February when New Castle County Executive Chris Coons dared to jump into the Senate race to challenge one of Delaware’s most popular politicians, Republican Rep. Mike Castle, the young Democrat might as well have been committing political suicide.
Vaunted campaign prognosticators rated the race back then “Solid Republican, ” but Vice President Joe Biden, who’s former Senate seat (for 36 years) the two men are vying to take, said at the time, “I predict to you that Chris Coons is going to surprise the devil out of them.”
And he appears to be doing just that. His slow but steady rise in the polls, coupled with a first for Castle as he dipped below the 50 percent mark in a mid-July Rasmussen poll, has some Republicans scratching their heads in wonder. Could this be a sleeper race?
Read the rest of this entry »
Rollins Clip Gains Wide Notice
– July 30, 2010Posted in: Press Releases
At a campaign meet-and-greet on Monday, Congressional candidate Michelle Rollins expressed her opposition to extending unemployment benefits, suggesting that they discouraged unemployed Delawareans from looking for jobs. Her comments, along with similarly out-of-touch comments from other candidates, have gotten wide notice from local and national publications this week.
Audio from the clip can be found
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Washington Post -
Let’s call it the “Let Them Eat Want Ads” Caucus — those candidates and public officials who argue that unemployment benefits are problematic because they discourage people from seeking jobs… And let’s add another Republican to that caucus: Candidate Michele Rollins, who’s running for Mike Castle’s open House seat in Delaware… Rollins, who’s running in a contested race against green technology exec John Carney, was asked by a constituent if she would have voted to extend unemployment benefits. She suggested she wouldn’t, claiming that “for someone who hasn’t worked in two years” it’s “pretty hard to get energized to go back and look for a job.”
DelawareLiberal.net -
So listen up Delawareans — Michelle Rollins thinks that the reason you are unemployed for almost two years is that you are happy collecting a government check. Not that her party crashed the economy and there are way fewer houses and buildings being constructed; or that manufacturing and retail jobs have disappeared because people are still cautious about buying things. Know that her agenda if elected would be to make sure that the working families hit hard by the repub-engineered recession would be thrown an anchor.
Washington Monthly -
The moral of the story seems to be that conservative Republicans just don’t seem to like the unemployed. If every American who’s had to rely on jobless benefits since the start of the recession was poised to vote in November, the GOP would be in a bit of panic right now.”
Mother Jones -
Any chance of Rollins winning over the 8.5 percent of Delaware citizens who are unemnployed just plummeted. Indeed, I’ll bet that those 37,000 or so jobless people in her state would take offense to her claim that unemployment insurance is the same as “pay[ing] people to do nothing” and that aid makes people “do nothing for a long time.” I’ll bet most of them would tell Rollins they’re sending out resumes every week, showing up at job fairs, dropping in on employers to ask about openings—hardly sitting around and continuing “to do nothing.”
Bluestem Prairie wonders if Minnesota congressional candidate Randy Demmer would join Rollins in the “Let Them Eat Want Ads” caucus, if both were to be elected.
Rollins blames benefits, out of work Delawareans for unemployment
– July 29, 2010Posted in: Press Releases
Millionaire Republican shows how out of touch she is with the concerns of real Delawareans
Rehoboth, DE – At a campaign meet-and-greet at the Hampton Inn on Monday, Michelle Rollins demonstrated how out of touch she is with working families by suggesting that continued benefits for out of work Delawareans are the cause for ongoing unemployment. She also indicated that she would have voted against extending unemployment benefits for families in need.
When asked if she would support proposed extensions to unemployment benefits, Rollins answered:
“Truthfully I probably, lets see 99 weeks is almost two years. A few weeks shy of two years, 52, 52, 104. Probably at week 80 I would have made sure that everybody got a notice that week 99 was coming and the benefits were going to be done. Um… someone who hasn’t worked in two years, pretty hard to get energized to go back to look for a job. I know that this is a bad market and this is a bad time but you just cannot keep paying people, cannot keep taxing us to pay people to do nothing because they will continue to do nothing for a very long time and I feel we are entitled to a little more than that. Against it.”
“Multi-millionaire Michelle Rollins is hopelessly out of touch with the struggle of working-class Delawareans. For her to suggest that unemployment benefits are the reason why people remain out of work proves that she just doesn’t get it when it comes to the struggles of hardworking Delaware families,” said Katie Ellis, Deputy Executive Director for the Delaware Democratic Party. “Rollins fails to understand that folks aren’t unemployed by choice; they are forced to go on it because they have no alternative. Delaware has been hit hard with job losses at G.M., Chrysler, and Valero, and while the administration has had great success in re-opening those facilities, the jobs will take time to come back. The last thing we should do is turn our backs on those who are struggling, like Rollins suggests.”
“It’s obvious that, if elected to Congress, Rollins would ignore the day to day struggles of working-class Delawareans, and as a result she can’t be trusted with that responsibility.”
