New Poll Shows Trouble for Delaware Democrats

11^th State Senate district race takes shape as republican challenger files, new poll shows trouble for democrats

Newark, DE, June 19, 2012:  The Delaware Republican Party is mounting a challenge to Democrat Senate President Pro-Tempore Tony DeLuca.  Christiana area resident and former U.S. Marine Evan Queitsch will file as the Republican challenger in the 11^th district on Friday June 22^nd at the Carvel Building in Wilmington.  Evan has been actively promoting free market, limited government solutions to Delaware’s challenges for the last 4 years and has decided to take action.  “Senator DeLuca embodies all that is wrong with politics and government today.  He holds two taxpayer funded positions, is at the center of a number of scandals and has authored and promoted numerous bills that have been bad for Delaware and especially the residents of the 11^th Senate District.  I’ll bring common sense and clarity to Dover and push for limited government, free market solutions that have been proven time and again to work.” Evan says.  

And the numbers show that the 11^th District agrees with Evan.  In December, an early poll showed Senator DeLuca in a dead heat with Mr. Queitsch with more than 80% of the respondents unsure of who they would choose.  A brand new poll taken this month of more than 1000 registered voters in the 11^th district shows the race beginning to shake out.  While 52% of the district is still undecided, Mr. Queitsch now holds an 8 point lead over Senator DeLuca.  The poll shows Evan carrying independent voters 3-1 over the sitting Senate leader and even claiming 14% of registered Democrat support.  In response to the poll, Mr. Queitsch said, “This poll shows that the residents of the 11^th District are tired of the status quo, more of the same politics that have been going on for decades in Dover.  They want someone who will work to restore fiscal responsibility, fix our education system, enable job creation in the private sector and demand open and transparent government.  These are values that spread across party lines and this poll shows that people are ready for a fresh start and a new approach after more than a decade of one party rule in Dover.  The policies of the elites, taxing and spending at will have led to more than 30,000 Delawareans out of work, failing schools and corrupt cronyism in our state government.  It’s time to clean up Dover, starting with Senator DeLuca.”

The poll also shows that the perceived partisan divide is shrinking among the electorate.  45% of those polled indicated that they would vote for the candidate with the best ideas over party affiliation.  It also showed that the race for President is far from over in the 11^th District as well.  While Barack Obama enjoys a 47%-31% lead over Mitt Romney, 22% of voters are still undecided.  In a district where Democrats enjoy a more than 2-1 registration advantage over Republicans, it would be expected that the incumbent Democrat President and Delaware’s own Joe Biden as VP would safely carry the district.  However, it appears that even Democrat voters are questioning reelecting President Obama as the recession lingers and many see White House policies as the reason for the prolonged economic downturn. 

-End-

 

Poll conducted by Voice Broadcasting Corporation
Margin of Error +/- 3%
Sampling size: 2200

Party Affiliation

Response Metrics:
52% - Democrat
27% - Republican
21% - Independent

Registration Metrics:
55% - Democrat
21% - Republican
24% - Independent

Voting Habits (order randomized during sampling for accuracy)

When voting, which of the following are you more likely to vote for: Press 1 for The Democrat, Press 2 for The Republican, Press 3 for The candidate with the best ideas regardless of party.

Response Metrics:
39% - Democrat
16% - Republican
45% - Candidate with the best ideas regardless of party

Nearly half of registered voters say that they would vote based on candidate ideas not party line.

State Senate Race (order randomized during sampling for accuracy)

For the State senate in District 11, if Evan Queitsch is the Republican and Tony DeLuca is the Democrat, for whom are you likely to vote? Press 1 for Evan Queitsch, Press 2 for Tony DeLuca or Press 3 for Not Sure.

Response Metrics:
52% - Undecided
28% - Evan Queitsch
20% - Tony DeLuca

Breakdown:

14% of registered Democrats would vote for Republican Evan Queitsch over Democrat Tony DeLuca
49% of registered Democrats are still undecided
Senator DeLuca has only 39% support among his own party
Evan Queitsch is winning independents 3-1 over Tony DeLuca
11% of those who say that they would vote for Obama also say that they would vote for Evan Queitsch over Tony DeLuca
Senator DeLuca has less than 1% support among Republicans

Presidential Race (order randomized during sampling for accuracy)

In the Presidential race, for whom do you plan to vote? Press 1 for Mitt Romney, Press 2 for Barack Obama or Press 3 for Undecided.

Response Metrics:
22% - Undecided
47% - Barack Obama
31% - Mitt Romney

Breakdown:

Obama receives 11% support among Republicans
Obama carries Independents 40% - 30% over Romney with 30% undecided
19% of Democrats are still undecided
Obama carries 75% of Democrats while Romney carries 72% of Republicans

Fisker's Aptly Named Car Shows the Folly of Government

For the last 6 years, Delawareans have been barraged with promises from so-called "Green companies", most of which promised lofty job numbers and economic booms.  Blue Water Wind came to town with a plan to provide wind energy that would be clean and green and could even eliminate the need for dirty coal fired plants.  Their scheme turned out to be one that would produce far less energy than expected, one that required the government to enforce a mandate on Delmarva Power which forced them to pay more, one that required the federal government to give the company a non-compete contract for the off-shore wind farm location and one that ultimately failed just days ago when the project did not receive MORE government assistance in the form of more direct subsides.  Despite receiving awards of more than $800 million (although we can't be sure how much of it was spent on the project, how much went into the pockets of government cronies or how much the government still has, if Solyndra is any example, that money is long gone) of which we know that enough was used to pay at least 6 executives making 6 figures plus their assistants for 6 years (likely around $4 million) plus the cost of lobbyists, legislators (this is not a typo), architects, lawyers and surveyors for the ramp up to production (which likely cost Delmarva ratepayers millions more), Blue Water Wind needed MORE government funding just to begin production on a surveying tower to see if their idea would ever generate a single kilowatt of power!  After Solyndra, the government realized that green energy problems (like those that plagued Spain, the nation whose green jobs plan bankrupted their nation and after whom Obama's green jobs plan is modeled) would cause more scrutiny and so they decided to cut funding to this off shore wind disaster.  Subsequently, Blue Water Wind folded because they were unable to secure private backing (despite the assurances of company leaders who promised that it would be able to function without government support) for their venture.  Their contract with Delmarva ended 2 days ago at the stroke of midnight and along with it, any chance that we'd see a dime from the investment returned.

More recently, the buzz has been about the Obama crony run car company, Fisker.  You might remember Fisker (or more likely not) as the start-up company who out muscled Tesla as the Obama Administrations favorite in the Plug-in electric car market.  It bought (on the cheap) the Boxwood Road site formerly owned by GM and has been rehabbing it in preparation to begin production on the "cheaper" of its two offerings, the Nina (the more expensive Karma is made in Finland because Fisker says that no one in America can do the job...) in 2013.  The Karma is offered for sale at Union Park's family of dealerships in Wilmington.  A friend of mine recently tried to secure a test drive of one of the Fisker Karma's at Union Park only to find each time that he came by, that the vehicle was "in the shop" for some kind of software upgrade or maintenance issue (odd for a showroom car that is never driven).  Now, this friend may or may not have the means to purchase the vehicle, I don't get into that kind of thing but if I had to guess, I would say his credit record and history would warrant at least a test drive of almost any vehicle ever built.  The Karma retails for more than $102,000 and less than 300 have yet been sold.  Now remember, the Fisker business model actually called for them to own a significant portion of the hybrid/electric car market in just the first couple of years of production.  They would have to beat to market shares of GM, Toyota (who owns the largest share with the Prius), Nissan and Honda to name a few.  Delaware's Caesar Rodney Institute highlighted the bold plan years ago:

Competition in the hybrid market is fierce. All the major automobile producers are moving into the hybrid market. By 2015 GM plans for 26 out of 33 models to be some form of hybrid. Chrysler plans to have 8 hybrid or electric vehicles by that year. The current U.S. hybrid market averages across the business cycle 25,000 cars per month (300,000 per year). Three quarters of the sales are Toyota's Prius or Lexus, with Prius accounting for 55% of the total hybrid market. Ford and Mercury (Fusion, Milan) currently have a 9% market share, with Honda at 8% and GM at 5%. Sales have dipped during the recession and are directly influenced by the price of gas.

 

Will the market support Fisker's 2014 sales projection? U.S. car sales should top 8 million by 2014. If the hybrids share of cars rises from its current 1% and climbs to 5%, hybrid sales in 2014 will be around 400,000. This means that Fisker, with a limited retail and service network and no established reputation, will capture 19% to 25% of the U.S. hybrid market. Should 50% of Fisker's cars be sold as exports, the highest proportion of exports for any current American company, Fisker is assuming a U.S. hybrid market share of 9% to 13%, greater than the current shares of Honda and GM.

 

The likelihood of such a plan working was also a subject of the Institute and it found that the plan left far more questions on the table than it answered.  Fisker has had to hike the prices of the Karma to keep the company afloat, pushed back production and start-up plans, has sought more taxpayer funding and still has only delivered a relative handful of vehicles.  It's certainly not competitive in the market with companies like Toyota, Honda and Nissan.  Which bring us now to the news of today which is also a blow to sales of the start-up car makers most expensive model.  It turns out that the battery packs inside the Fisker Karma's can catch fire (much like the Chevy Volt which was recalled earlier this year) and cause explosions.  Battery fires have plagued the electric car industry largely due to government's force behind the implementation of the unproven and untested technology to save face in its quest for green energy goals.  The bottom line is, do we want to pin our hopes to another Pinto or Yugo?  Fisker is already north of $600 million in government subsidies, some have said it's closing in on $1 billion and now with these setbacks, business will suffer.  There can be no doubt that the $50,000 Nina, which is planned to be built in Delaware will suffer from these setbacks if it comes online in 2013 as promised and many good folks, like the people at Union Park and the many contractors who embraced this green energy plan will be affected by these pains.  The fact is that electric cars aren't ready for prime time and no amount of government force will make it so.  In fact, I say, when the private market venture capitalists start investing THAT is when you will see the rise of the electric car.  

Government picks for winners and losers, Solyndra, Blue Water Wind and Fisker are proving what conservatives have been saying for a long time, that private markets should be dictating the products in the market place.  Government wastes untold billions of dollars every year that could be used to pay down or deficit on misguided attempts to solve every problem when the reality is that it just can't do it.  Government solutions rely on mandates, cash subsidies and risky gambles with other people's money that more often than not lead to disaster.  Look at the latest deal with Bloom energy.  Delmarva Power ratepayers are now venture capitalists (don't get excited, you get no return on this investment) in a company that markets unproven emergency backups to major corporations.  Better still, not only did the government have to force Delmarva Ratepayers to subsidize Bloom but it also forced subsequent governments to have to stick with the plan.  That's right, future General Assemblies MUST remain in the agreement with Bloom for 21 years.  TWENTY ONE YEARS!  No matter how much it costs, how effective it is or how many jobs it produces.  Further, they had to compromise their own leftist principles to do it!  In 2011, the General Assembly passed a bill that redefined the term "Renewable Energy" to include Natural Gas (a fossil fuel considered dirty by the left) because the Bloom boxes need natural gas to operate and because anything not classified as renewable under Delaware's Renewable Energy Portfolio costs Delmarva more money to use.  UNREAL!  We've got to stop this madness.  We need someone with an ounce of common sense to make some changes.

Solyndra should wake up Delaware

Delaware must learn a lesson from Solyndra that even Spain couldn’t teach us.  A study of Spain’s focus on “green jobs” found that for every “green job” created, it cost Spain more than 2.5 jobs.  The study also found that the “green jobs” plan in Spain added so much to the debt that it actually delayed their exit from the economic crisis.  Spain’s model of green job creation is the model that President Obama used to create his plan for a new green economy.  This is the model that Jack Markell has embraced here in Delaware.

Delaware is seeing the effects of this policy although the blame is being laid on the economy.  The truth is that “green jobs” and alternative energy are nothing more than limited alternatives to be added to the arsenal of energy alternatives for a nation.  Solyndra is a perfect example of a “green jobs” company that could not compete within the market place.  The Obama touted company brought in $1 Billion (including $535 million in taxpayer funds) from investors and employed 1100 workers (that’s just over $909,000 per job) yet the solar power manufacturer failed and filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week.  The results of the Spanish policy show why this occurs in the alternative energy market.

The climate change and alternative energy supporters often clamor for more subsidies for their products and they complain about the massive payouts to fossil fuel companies.  The truth is that solar and wind each receives more than 50x the amount of subsidies as the coal industry does yet coal provides more than 43% of America’s power while alternatives muster just over 5% of our needs.  So we see that alternatives are far better funded than admitted and for far less output.  Where is the money going?  Well the answer is that not all of it is graft or misuse but some of it is.  Alternative energy, despite its lifespan to date, is still lacking some technological breakthroughs that would make it more viable.  These include finding a way to create a long term power storage plan and finding more effective ways to transport the energy to the places that need the power.  Offshore and onshore wind farms can generate massive amounts of energy but that energy is short term kinetic power that must be used right away or lost.  They are also built far away from the place where the power is needed and much of the energy is lost in the transmission of the energy.  So these logistical problems contribute to the trouble that alternative energy has with becoming a competing source of power.  Massive wind and solar farms must be constructed to provide even the most basic power needs in order to compensate for the unreliable and ineffective power generation.  Remember this, the wind is not always blowing nor the sun always shining and so even in places like Delaware, where we have a Renewable Portfolio Standard that mandates usage of a certain percentage of renewable energy, we also have 100% of that alternative power backed up by conventional sources (nuclear, coal, natural gas).  Sort of defeats the purpose and it greatly increases the cost.

It’s also worth pointing out that the Spanish study found subsidies “multiplied by five” in Spain between 2004 and 2010 while the companies charge 12x what it costs conventional energy to make the same power.  Government subsidies in the alternative energy field are direct payouts, not “tax breaks” as they are in conventional energy sectors.  You see, oil, gas and coal companies are allowed to write off the depreciation of equipment and land as the real value of those assets decreases (this is a standard deduction for any business from the local bakery to Exxon/Mobil) while Solyndra and Fisker receive checks from the government to subsidize the cost of their products.    These direct subsidies actually COST the American taxpayer while tax breaks simply allow the company to keep more of what they earned based on a loss of value in another area. 

A perfect example is Fisker.  When GM closed their Boxwood Road plant in Wilmington, Delaware leaders scrambled around for a replacement.  While companies like Hyundai, Nissan and Toyota expressed interest in the plant, Delaware’s alliance with the autoworker’s unions and the added costs scared them off but not Fisker.  Fisker is a 4 yr old auto company that only recently built and delivered the first of its all electric plug in vehicles.  The first thing that Fisker did is to design plans for a the plug in vehicle and the second was to begin begging the government for subsidies and look for places where they could get free room and board.  They found Delaware and our government was all too willing to accommodate them.  All told, Fisker has gotten more than $1 Billion in state, local and federal subsidies to build their cars.  Their first car, rumored a year ago to be set around $80,000 is priced from $96,850-$109,850 which makes it about as affordable as a home in the Greenville hills.  These will of course, be snapped up by environmentally conscious uber rich folks who can afford to have the charger installed at home and at their office but that won’t work for the average Joe which makes Fiskers plans to build an “affordable” version (rumors had it retailing around $40,000 last year but it’s more likely to be near $60,000) that Fisker plans to take over the car market with.  The problem, as noted by the folks at the Caesar Rodney Institute is that the numbers don’t quite add up for Fisker, especially in this economy.  Fisker is relying on their vehicle getting “98 miles to the gallon” to justify the cost of the car and the charging system (which we hope will be installed everywhere we park otherwise we might not make it home) and also hoping that you don’t notice the $1 Billion that you the taxpayer have already given them to build this car that they will now charge you a year’s salary to own.  The problem with that is that there are now DOZENS of high quality hybrids like the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, the Prius and the Leaf at nearly half the cost who get similar mileage out of gas/electric engines.  That makes it unlikely that Fisker will own as much of the market as they expect to.  Hybrid sales average around 300,000 cars per year and Fisker plans to sell 100,000 of their electric cars in a year.  That means commanding 1/3 of the American hybrid market with a vehicle that is more than twice the cost of the hybrid sales leader, the Toyota Prius.

Any business owner can tell you, as a new company, expecting to compete with a well-known and well respected existing company right away is a fools folly.  This is especially true when your product is more expensive and less proven than the competitor.  Yet this is the “investment” that Obama/Markell’s “green energy” plan makes.  A company with no evidence that their product is viable in the long term or in the long run is given $1 Billion to produce it.  Meanwhile, conventional vehicles are being forced into higher costs to allow this new “investment” to compete.  The truth of the American car market is that fuel efficiency is important but American families are large and we enjoy comfort which means we like our vehicles larger than Europeans for instance.  The most recent list of top selling Ford vehicles did include the Fiesta but it also included the Explorer and the F-150.  Instead of driving these vehicles out of existence, we should be looking at ways to make them more efficient.

Delaware had a unique opportunity to lead in the auto market when Chrysler and GM closed their doors.  Both plants were setup to manufacture cars and SUV’s that Americans want to drive and both would have taken minimal effort to adjust for companies like Hyundai and Toyota to begin producing those vehicles with hybrid engines right here in Delaware.  It’s time for new leadership in Dover that will use common sense when confronted with these kinds of problems and that will look for ways to create jobs for Delawareans regardless of the effect on unions.  Delaware has turned away more jobs because we refuse to be a right to work state than we’ve lost due to the economic crisis.  This has to stop.  We need LEADERS in Dover who understand what the people want and need, not puppets who are beholden to special interest groups.  When I get to Dover, I’ll make sure that we get government out of the way so that businesses can thrive and create jobs.  Delaware deserves no less than that.

Reference:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/leaked-spanish-report-obamas-model-green-economy-a-disaster-pjm-exclusive/ - Spanish government documents show that study of Spanish green jobs initiative was generous, damage to Spanish economy worse than previously thought.

http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/epm_sum.html - energy sources

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/stifling-innovation-with-subsidies/ - Fisker shenanigans

http://www.caesarrodney.org/pdfs/Fisker_revisited.pdf - Fiskers numbers don’t add up

House condemns military action in Libya on the anniversary of Congress' repeal of Vietnam resolution

Today marks the 41st anniversary of the repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which ended the unchecked war powers granted by Congress to the Executive Branch with regard to the handling of the conflicts in Asia.  In fact, after the Korean War and Vietnam War were waged without a declaration of war, Congress passed the War Powers Act which was vetoed by Nixon and then overridden by Congress.  The War Powers Act declared that the President must notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to any military action and forbids the military from remaining in a conflict zone past 90 days without authorization from Congress or a declaration of war. 

Today, 41 years after the repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Congress voted against a measure that would have given Barack Obama the authority to continue the U.S. military operation in Libya.  The bill was defeated 295-123 with 70 Democrats joining the House Republicans in rejecting the plea from the White House.  However, the House did not vote to cut off funding for the action.  In reviewing statements from tea party supported candidates like Allen West, Michelle Bachmann, Paul Ryan and Ron Paul, it appears that the resolution to defund failed because it did not go far enough.  Here is a list of those who voted against the resolution.  The video below shows Ron Paul's reason for opposing the defund resolution:

As was mentioned above, the lack of support for the President, especially with regard to his actions in Libya is bi-partisan.  In a shocking video, New York Democrat Representative Jerrold Nadler gives an impassioned speech calling on Congress to stand up and reclaim the powers delegated to them by our Constitution and to keep America from becoming an empire as opposed to a Republic.

Unemployment Hits 9.8%

The Wall Street Journal reported tonight that unexpectedly low jobs numbers drove the unemployment rate up to nearly 10% and betrayed the idea that the economy is recovering at least at the speed with which the Obama administration suggests.  Employers added just 39,000 jobs in November which was a deep drop from October's numbers.  It's unlikely that the economy will make any miraculous recoveries anytime soon.  Most forecasters are suggesting that at best, the unemployment rate will shrink to 8.5% by the end of 2012.  The Obama administration has increased the national debt by more than $3 Trillion and has spent money on stimulus and bailouts like crazy hoping for better results than this.  Had they cut spending instead of increasing it, gotten out of the way of the free market instead of buying into it and reduced the tax burdens on job creators there is plenty of evidence to suggest the numbers would be far better.

These numbers are not what the American people had in mind in 2008 when they voted for "change" and they certainly are not what the people had in mind last month when a wave swept the Democrats out of control of the House and crippled their filibuster proof majority in the Senate.  If the numbers continue to stay this high, it's difficult to see how Obama and the Democrats will be able to overcome the push of conservative fiscal policy when the new Congress takes office in January. 

World Cup 2022 host nation decision has been made...

The nations who were seeking the 2022 World Cup tournament (the largest attended single sport tournament in the world) were:
Australia
Japan
Qatar
South Korea
United States

Conventional wisdom said that the U.S. was an easy favorite to run away with the bid.  Australia was considered our closest rival, followed by Japan and then South Korea and Qatar for obvious reasons. 

Australia is a former Olympic venue, they have the stadiums, infrastructure and the scenery to host a World Cup and their citizens have the passion and knowledge of the game to make it work.  The problem for Australia is more political than strategic.  The Aussies haven't made enough friends in the Asian confederation yet.  There is also enough money to entice FIFA.

Japan's national league is the largest in Asia and while small, the nation has a world class infrastructure and excellent stadiums.  The Japanese are also not hurting for cash to bring FIFA in.  The problem is that it co-hosted the World Cup in 2002 with South Korea and 2 World Cups in 20 years is too much.

South Korea has the same problem as Japan, having co-hosted in 2002.  South Korea is also not able to put up the dollars that the other nations are which adds to their downside.  Adding even more to the South Korean woes is the aggression of their northern neighbors and the threat of military instability.  Playing soccer in an active war zone is not attractive.

Qatar has more money than God and they're spending it.  That's about the only positive about Qatar's bid.  It's located in the Middle East where violence is only one suicide bomber away and the temperatures tend to soar into the 120's.  It's not the place that anyone wants to run around outside for 90+ mins.  Qatar isn't exactly soccer central either so we'll see how many outsiders are willing to fly into the Middle East.

Finally we get to the U.S. bid.  We are able to spend ALMOST as much as Qatar but because we already have the stadiums built and the infrastructure in place we don't need to keep pace.  The climate here is another boon as is the fact that the U.S. Soccer program is slowly becoming a world class organization.  The problem is that we aren't exactly beloved around the world and that is a powerful motivator for the international FIFA to ignore us.

So as I stated in the title, FIFA has made their decision.  The 2022 World Cup will be played in...Qatar.  Apparently money talks and everything else, including the safety of the players and the fans, walks.  FIFA has become the latest international body to sell out to the fat cat Middle Eastern oil sheiks.  It almost makes me think that President Obama himself lobbied for us to get the World Cup the way he lobbied for us to get the Olympics.  This time though, it's President Clinton, who got such a warm ovation in Africa, who was summarily rejected by an international sporting body.

2 for 2 libs.  Way to go.