by Sandy » Thu Apr 20, 2017 1:40 pm
I guarantee you, if a Republican with no prior experience, no name, and no money had come within 6 percentage points of winning Nancy Pelosi's house seat, and had caused the Democrats to scramble to pour in millions of dollars in "outside money" and change the VP's schedule to make a campaign appearance, the right wing media would be labelling it a "win." It was certainly a moral victory in a district that Pompeo won in November by 30+ points. Likewise, for Ossoff to pick up half the vote in a district that Price won by 20 points in November was a moral victory, and certainly exceeded expectations. Even the most optimistic supporters didn't expect he'd hit 50%.
Run-offs are tricky, especially after special elections, but Ossoff's campaign clearly didn't count on winning it outright, and banked resources. The Democrats are raising large amounts right now, so he'll get more. And his opponent, who beat the Trump guy by 10%, has to campaign through several more weeks of Trump ineptitude and lies, which is Ossoff's biggest advantage. He starts with 50%, and he's running against a career politician, which might not have been an advantage two years ago, but is now.