Smart politicians don't get caught with their pants down

Two points. We do occasionally get details of a story wrong here and we are not in the habit of fact checking fellow bloggers. Sometimes mistakes glare too brightly to ignore. Here the poster did worse then get a detail wrong the whole point of the post is in error. At Red State we read; FL-13 Fallout Watch: Two Democratic House candidates drop out this week. As much as I like to report bad news for the Democrats something jolted my intuition as I read the post.

(H/T: AoSHQ) The two were Mike Parrish in PA-06 (Lean Republican) and Buffie McFadyen in CO-06 (Safe Republican). Of the two, obviously Parrish is the more disappointing news for Democrats… but it’s interesting to note that ‘R+5′ is apparently enough to be effectively out of the realm of possibility for Democrats this cycle anyway. I remember a time when it was not, and that time was 2006 and 2008.

The inference is that in the wake of the Alex Sink's loss in Florida credible Democratic candidates are loath to run in competitive or highly competitive House races this fall. So how credible were the candidates? From the Daily Koz's Will PA District 6 Dems Take a Gamble on Mike Parrish? We find that Mike Parrish has been a Democrat for less than 6 months.

Up until December 2013, Michael D. Parrish of Malvern, PA was a registered Republican. Parrish's whirlwind conversion from Republican to Democrat has raised eyebrows on both sides of the aisle. While Parrish's ideological talking points appear to be compatible with the general Democratic Party platform, announcing his bid for the District 6 seat a month after switching parties seems a bit premature.

The post then points out that Parrish has donated over $6,000 to Republican PACs since 2008. This was a credible candidate?
What's in a name? The name, Buffie McFadyen, sounds more suitable for Playmate of the Month than member of Congress. Indeed Buffie is a playmate in the lower case meaning of the word. Presently she is a member of the Pueblo County Commission who had the misfortune to get caught in a dirt parking lot with Pueblo Democratic Party Chairman Ron Greenwell while sitting in her SUV and both were more than a bit intoxicated. Plotting her campaign strategy? Oh course. They needed plenty of privacy.

There is only so much Democrats can blame on Alex Sink. Smart politicians don't get caught with their pants down.