Are there any candidates who are “wackos, weirdos and witches”? Senate 2014

[ProudModerate2]

Shortly after the 2012 Senate races, conservative political analyst Michael Barone told an audience in Washington that Republicans put too many tea party “wackos, weirdos and witches" on the ballot that year (2012), costing them seats in the U.S. Senate.

“Twenty-three Democratic seats up, only ten Republican seats up — it looked like a sure chance for Republican gains and a good possibility of gaining four seats that would give them the majority leadership even if Barack Obama was re-elected,” Barone explained during a speech at Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center near Capitol Hill.

He went on to say, "Republicans need to learn to have candidates that don't make unforced errors" ..... "don't nominate dogs !"

To see the 3-minute video on this speech : http://dailycaller.com/2012/11/09/michael-barone-tea-party-wackos-and-weirdos-and-witches-cost-gop-senate-seats-video/


Do we have any Republican "wackos, weirdos or witches" as candidates for the Senate 2014 races ?
(Or any Democratic ones, for that matter.)
Please give details, including what the candidate said (or did) that makes them "strange."

[Hifly]

I think that Shenna Bellows is a wacko, but that's just me.

[ProudModerate2]

I think that Shenna Bellows is a wacko, but that's just me.

Please give details, including what the candidate said (or did) that makes them "strange."

Shenna Bellows is the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in Maine, and is running against incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins.

Assemblyman Hifly,
I'm curious, I don't know much about this candidate. Can you give us an example of why ? What sticks in your mind, that makes this candidate "strange" ?

[Hifly]

She was a NRA hack and gun nut.
Also anyone who runs against Susan Collins and thinks that they can win is automatically a wacko.

[IceSpear]

Joni Ernst

[ProudModerate2]

Joni Ernst

Joni Ernst is the Republican candidate for the United States Senate in Iowa, and is running against Democratic candidate Bruce Braley.

IceSpear,
Can you give us an example of why ? What sticks in your mind, that makes this candidate "strange" ?

[IceSpear]

Joni Ernst

Joni Ernst is the Republican candidate for the United States Senate in Iowa, and is running against Democratic candidate Bruce Braley.

IceSpear,
Can you give us an example of why ? What sticks in your mind, that makes this candidate "strange" ?

Said Obama is a dictator who should be impeached, thinks Iraq had WMDs, peddles NWO conspiracy theories.

[7,052,770]

Ernst is a far-right conspiracy-peddling nutjob. We got really lucky republicans bailed us out, considering how poor our candidate is there.

[Kevin]

Amanda Curtis certainly comes to mind for the Dems. Erin Bilbray too whom I just find extremely annoying.

[njwes]

Unlike previous years, I don't think the Republicans nominated horrible candidates (a la Akin, O'Donnell, etc.). Having said that, with the exception of Shelley Moore Capito and maybe Cory Gardner, I don't really see many of the candidates as all that great.

I think that sums it up. Lots of bad/mediocre Dem candidates this year, but I don't think the Republicans could get quality candidates to run--or, in the case of places like NJ, they just don't exist. Very shallow pools of candidates in some of these states it seems... Like, Scott Brown was seriously the best the 'pubs could do in NH? And NJ candidates were actually hilariously bad or unknown.

Ernst is definitely the closest we have to a wacko this cycle, and I'm skeptical of her chances of winning. Not terrible, but I'm VERY curious to see how she performs in her debates with Braley. Good for her to agree to do them, but there's a huge potential for a Palinesque disaster IMO.

Edit: Oh and Amanda Curtis too, forgot about her lulzy hijinks. But she was a non-factor from the start, so not as entertaining.

[Kevin]

I think that sums it up. Lots of bad/mediocre Dem candidates this year, but I don't think the Republicans could get quality candidates to run --or, in the case of places like NJ, they just don't exist. Very shallow pools of candidates in some of these states it seems... Like, Scott Brown was seriously the best the 'pubs could do in NH? And NJ candidates were actually hilariously bad or unknown.

This. The GOP got good recruits in West Virginia, Montana, and Colorado. Maybe add South Dakota, though Rounds has been underwhelming. Similar story with Cotton (even though I think he'll still win, but what if the GOP recruited Griffin?).

What if the GOP had gotten someone else in North Carolina? Latham, Northey, or Reynolds in Iowa? Someone else in New Hampshire?

All those guys you mentioned didn't express interest in running. Keep in mind at the time both NH and IA looked like probable Dem holds.

Cotton looked far superior on paper at the time but he's found it obviously much rougher on the campaign trail. Same with Land in MI too.

Unlike previous years, I don't think the Republicans nominated horrible candidates (a la Akin, O'Donnell, etc.). Having said that, with the exception of Shelley Moore Capito and maybe Cory Gardner, I don't really see many of the candidates as all that great.

I think that sums it up. Lots of bad/mediocre Dem candidates this year, but I don't think the Republicans could get quality candidates to run--or, in the case of places like NJ, they just don't exist. Very shallow pools of candidates in some of these states it seems... Like, Scott Brown was seriously the best the 'pubs could do in NH? And NJ candidates were actually hilariously bad or unknown.

Ernst is definitely the closest we have to a wacko this cycle, and I'm skeptical of her chances of winning. Not terrible, but I'm VERY curious to see how she performs in her debates with Braley. Good for her to agree to do them, but there's a huge potential for a Palinesque disaster IMO.

Edit: Oh and Amanda Curtis too, forgot about her lulzy hijinks. But she was a non-factor from the start, so not as entertaining.

Even though Ernst is pretty conservative she seems much more in control of herself then people like Akin, O'Donnell, Angle, Palin or Mourdock.

I think she should be ok during the debates esp. against a problematic, gaffe-prone candidate like Braley.

[Bojack Horseman]

Joni "The Castrator" Ernst and Terri Lynn Land.

[njwes]

Terri Lynn Land

Explain?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I think Pat Quinn has some form of wizardry behind his campaign blessing him with supernatural luck.

[Senate Minority Leader Lord Voldemort]

I think Pat Quinn has some form of wizardry behind his campaign blessing him with supernatural luck.

Said "wizardry" is being a Democrat running in Illinois.

[MATTROSE94]

Chris McDaniel was pretty out there in his views, but we don't have to worry about him anymore since Thad Cochran won the primary election.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I think Pat Quinn has some form of wizardry behind his campaign blessing him with supernatural luck.

Said "wizardry" is being a Democrat running in Illinois.

And avoiding a serious primary challenge in a state with a huge ambitious bench with underwater polls? Sounds spooky to me.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Steve Daines - sitting Representative in the US House from Montana, and current Senate candidate. He's a fundamentalist and bible literalist who believes that evolution is a fraud and that the Earth is only 6000 years old. He's cunning enough to know that his more extreme views won't play well with a lot of voters who otherwise support his politics, so his lunacy is mostly off the public record (or at least off the internet - I'm sort of curious what a really thorough newpaper search might dig up) but sometimes it leaks out:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/steve-daines-creationism

While he is likely to win the MT Senate race, if a clip of him spouting off his Creationist BS surfaces before November, Amanda Curtis will have a decent shot. (Otherwise she's pretty clearly toast.)

[dmmidmi]

Terri Lynn Land

Explain?

I'm not sure I'd classify Land as a wacko or weirdo, but there are concerns that she's avoiding press events or reporters. She apparently had a hard time answering questions at an event earlier this year. I don't count it as a 'blown' seat for Republicans, since it was likely out of reach from the start.

She's not a wacko or weirdo, she's just a horrible campaigner.

[Miles]

The GOP mostly dodged bullets this year, especially in MS.

I do think, though, that Ernst, Tillis and Gardner are about as far right as you can get while still being able to win statewide in their states.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The GOP mostly dodged bullets this year, especially in MS.

I do think, though, that Ernst, Tillis and Gardner are about as far right as you can get while still being able to win statewide in their states.

The Republicans always push the envelope there. Meanwhile, Democrats have moderate heroes like Feinstein and Carper in deep blue states.

[Person Man]

The GOP mostly dodged bullets this year, especially in MS.

I do think, though, that Ernst, Tillis and Gardner are about as far right as you can get while still being able to win statewide in their states.

The Republicans always push the envelope there. Meanwhile, Democrats have moderate heroes like Feinstein and Carper in deep blue states.

More or less agree. Looks like Republicans have their Karl Rove-style candidates who are model conservatives, who strike the right balance between moderate and reactionary.

[ProudModerate2]

Though this guy has no chance in winning, I thought it was an interesting (and disgusting) story.
This dude is definitely a wacko and a weirdo :

Robert Ransdell is campaigning as a write-in candidate for United States Senate in Kentucky under the slogan “With Jews We Lose!”

To read more about this candidate, here is a link:
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2014/09/18/longtime-neo-nazi-robert-ransdell-running-for-u-s-senate/