2012 Election
DelBene Wins Democratic Intramural in 1st, Looks Ahead to Contest with Republican Koster
Everyone expected Republican John Koster, the lone Republican in the race for the 1st Congressional District to win (which he did) while the pack of Democrats going for the seat carved up the the Democratic vote. But no one expected such a clear-cut win for Suzan DelBene on the Democratic side.
As of 10 days ago, progressive favorite Darcy Burner was leading the pack with nearly 20 percent of the vote.That polling was done before her rival DelBene, the former head of the State Department of Revenue, put $2 million of her own money into the campaign and put ads up on TV.
Short story: Burner called DelBene to concede tonight. DelBene got 23 percent of the vote to Burner's 14.
Koster got 43 percent.
We put the question directly to DelBene's campaign: Did she simply buy this victory?
Her spokesman Viet Shelton said: "It doesn't matter how much you put behind the message if the message isn't any good. And we feel very strongly that her message about rebuilding the middle class, her resume, and her focus on getting results and not pushing on rhetoric, resonate with the voters. And at the end of the d ay the voters get to decide which candidate moves on, and her values and her message and story reflected what the voters on the 1st wanted to hear."
Asked about the upcoming battle with Koster, Shelton said it will be close and then quickly went into framing mode calling Koster a "committed Tea Party Republican" who was not backing off his "extreme" positions of things such as not supporting the Buffett Rule (the concept that rich people shouldn't pay less in taxes than their secretaries) or his opposition to a woman's right to choose.
As of 10 days ago, progressive favorite Darcy Burner was leading the pack with nearly 20 percent of the vote.That polling was done before her rival DelBene, the former head of the State Department of Revenue, put $2 million of her own money into the campaign and put ads up on TV.
Short story: Burner called DelBene to concede tonight. DelBene got 23 percent of the vote to Burner's 14.
Koster got 43 percent.
We put the question directly to DelBene's campaign: Did she simply buy this victory?
Her spokesman Viet Shelton said: "It doesn't matter how much you put behind the message if the message isn't any good. And we feel very strongly that her message about rebuilding the middle class, her resume, and her focus on getting results and not pushing on rhetoric, resonate with the voters. And at the end of the d ay the voters get to decide which candidate moves on, and her values and her message and story reflected what the voters on the 1st wanted to hear."
Asked about the upcoming battle with Koster, Shelton said it will be close and then quickly went into framing mode calling Koster a "committed Tea Party Republican" who was not backing off his "extreme" positions of things such as not supporting the Buffett Rule (the concept that rich people shouldn't pay less in taxes than their secretaries) or his opposition to a woman's right to choose.
