Why all the attacks on Christine O’Donnell? Is she the second coming of Imelda Marcos? Is she some sort of horrible enemy of our blessed land whose sole purpose is to radically change our capitalist system into a socialist netherworld? Nope, couldn’t be. We’ve got one of those in the highest office in the free world already.
Ever since this perennial also-ran became, through the will of the citizens of Delaware, the Republican nominee for Senator, she has been under an egregious political attack, not seen since, dare I say it, Sarah Palin.
She has been accused of everything from being a human-sacrificing worshipper of the devil, to now, with just 5 days left in the campaign, the kind of girl that you wouldn’t take home to mother. And the sad thing is, the attacks are not just coming from the opposition party.
Yesterday, in the latest attack against her, Gawker published some sleazebag’s story about the time three years ago on Halloween he hooked up with Christine O’Donnell, the would-be Senator from Delaware, and published it anonymously after paying the guy off. The funny thing is, all they did was smooch a little bit. Big whoop.
Brad Kurisko, 28, a district executive with a Boy Scouts council in the Philadelphia area, had his uniform borrowed by Dustin Dominiak, (no, not Dustin “Screech” Diamond) who was wearing it as a Halloween Costume in a bar. Gawker put a black bar over the name tag on the uniform, so that the jerk could not be traced.
Shortly after his last phone conversation with a reporter from thesmokinggun.com, a single name disappeared from Kurisko’s list of Facebook friends.
The man with whom electronic ties were abruptly cut is Dustin Dominiak, a 28-year-old buddy who attended Albion College with Kurisko. Records show that Dominiak has previously shared a Philadelphia address with Kurisko. One online posting reports that Dominiak, a Michigan native, has worked as an auditor at the Federal Reserve in Philadelphia.
Soon after Dominiak’s name vanished from Kurisko’s list of friends, Dominiak’s entire Facebook page (which listed 356 friends) was suddenly deactivated. Can you say running scared?
This incident is so sleazy, even the National Association of Gals (or, as Rush Limbaugh refers to them, the NAGS) had to, reluctantly, come out against it. Spokesperson Mai Shiozaki said:
NOW/PAC has proudly endorsed women’s rights champion Chris Coons, O’Donnell’s opponent in the Delaware Senate race, and finds O’Donnell’s political positions dangerous for women. That does not mean it’s acceptable to use slut-shaming against her, or any woman.
NOW has repeatedly called out misogyny against women candidates, and this election season is no different. Let me be honest: I look forward to seeing Christine O’Donnell defeated at the polls, but this kind of sexist attack is an affront to all women, and I won’t stand for it.
Translation: Although we hate the (Joy Behar’s new favorite word), we have to speak out about this or lose what little support we have left.
The other hot news item about O’Donnell that came out yesterday, was a poll issued by Fairleigh Dickerson University in Delaware. It presented the surprising conclusion that Coons is leading O’Donnell by 21 points, 57-36.
That’s kind of strange, because the usually accurate guys at hillbuzz.org, posted the following on 10/26:
Yesterday, a poll went around showing Christine O’Donnell just five points behind Commie Coons in Delaware’s Senate race. This SORT OF explains the weird amount of time the White House has been spending in a slam dunk blue state.
But, Democrats are ferociously attacking CoD as hard as they attacked Scott Brown in Massachusetts. If she is so far behind, what is the point in beating up on this woman?
This is anecdotal, but I think I know why they are doing this…just like with [Scott Brown] there are internals showing O’Donnell ahead.
Today I talked to a friend from Team Hillary who is a big Dem fundraiser. He told me that for the last week or so the DNC has been at DEFCON 1 leaning HARD on the rainmakers because they are terrified of a CoD win in Delaware.
The problem is some internal poll that apparently shows that a high percentage of Democrats early voting are voting straight ticket Republican instead…they are Democrats voting against Democrats.
So, how did that esteemed institution, Fairleigh Dickerson University, come up with such different information than hillbuzz.org?
Well, according to the university’s website:
The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of 797 randomly selected likely voters statewide in Delaware was conducted by telephone, using both landlines and cell phones, from Oct. 20 through Oct. 26, 2010 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.
Dr. Dan Cassino with Fairleigh Dickinson University says O’Donnell has firmed up her Republican base, but not without great cost:
We’ve seen that the voters in Delaware have become increasingly polarized about Christine O’Donnell, and we’re seeing that right now, she has a very unfavorable number of 44 percent, and that is up significantly.
Chris Coons’ unfavorability numbers, earlier in this month, were at 27 percent. His unfavorability numbers are now up to 36 percent.
Who is Dr. Dan Cassino? He’s an Associate Professor in Social Science, in charge of their political polling department/initiative named Public Minds. What are his bona fides? Well, let’s let his biography page on the school website tell you:
APPOINTMENTS
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR: (2007-) Fairleigh Dickinson University Department of Social Science and History
DIRECTOR OF OUTSIDE RESEARCH: (2007-) Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind Survey
LECTURER: (2006-2007) Fairleigh Dickinson University Department of Social Science and History
STAFF RESEARCHER: (2005-2006) Princeton University Department of Politics
INSTRUCTOR: (2003- 2005) Stony Brook University Department of Political Science
PUBLICATIONS
Peer Reviewed Academic Publications
“Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back: Politics, Religion and Masculinity in Young Men’s views of Abortion.” Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality 1:2.
“Motivated Ignorance and the Dynamics of Partisan Presidential Approval.” (with Matthew Lebo) Political Psychology 28:4.
“Information Processing and Public Opinion.” (with Charles S. Taber and Milton Lodge) Politische Vierteljahresschrift (Political Science Quarterly) 48:2.
Books
Consuming Politics: Jon Stewart, Symbolic Politics and the Youth Vote in America (with Yasemin Besen). Under Contract with Associated Universities Press, for delivery in 2008.
Book Chapters
“The Primacy of Affect in Political Evaluations.” (with Milton Lodge). In The Affect Effect. Marcus, Neuman, et al., eds. 2007: University of Chicago Press.
Non-Peer Reviewed Journals
“Bush Withers Republican in Garden State Senate Race,” (with Peter J. Woolley) The Polling Report, Vol. 22, No. 16 (August 28, 2006), pp. 1, 7-8.
“Why Menendez Won,” (with Peter J. Woolley) The Polling Report, Vol. 22, No. 22, (Nov. 27, 2006), pp. 1, 5-6.
EDUCATION
PhD. POLITICAL SCIENCE (May 2005)
Stony Brook University
Areas of specialty: Political Psychology, Political Economics, Methodology
M.A. POLITICAL SCIENCE (May 2003)
Stony Brook University
B.A. POLITICAL SCIENCE (May 2001)
University of Arizona
UNDERGRADUATE CLASSES TAUGHT
Parties and Interest Groups
The American Presidency
Research Methods
Introduction to American Politics
Congress
Statistics
Constitutional Law
Political Psychology
GRADUATE SEMINARS TAUGHT
Introduction to Quantitative Methodology in Social Sciences
INQUISIT programming seminar
MY RESEARCH IN THE MEDIA
(selected examples)
“New Poll Gives Sen. Menendez Edge in NJ,” Washington Post, Forbes, CBS News, San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, October 5, 2006.
“Poll: Democrat Leads NJ Senate Race,” MSNBC, ABC News, Fox News, Thursday, October 5, 2006.
“GOP Hopeful Says Rumsfeld Should Resign,” New York Times, Sunday, September 3, 2006.
“Iraq Weighs Heavily in Kean’s Balancing Act.” New York Times, Sunday, September 10, 2006.
“Gibes are Traded by Rivals for Senate.” Philadelphia Inquirer, Thursday, August 31, 2006.
“Poll: War Concerns Hamper Kean Bid.” Newsday, San Jose Mercury News, others, Wednesday, August 30, 2006.
NPR’s Talk of the Nation, August 30, 2006.
So…Dr. Cassino, the guy responsible for the Fairleigh Dickinson Political Poll is a Liberal Pinhead. I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked!
Christine O’Donnell walked across the stage with the undergraduates at Fairleigh Dickinson in 1993. She did not earn her degree until 2010.
This academic pinhead-driven poll couldn’t be liberally slanted, could it? Nawww. Of course, not.
Kingsjester's Blog 
Scholarly work there, KJ. Well done. Thanks for the info!
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This would be a BIG one if she would happen to win. What are you so afraid of Barry?
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Christine is still holding her head up, staying classy, and that means alot in my book.
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KJ…you are a true Conservative hero! Keep up the great work.
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She comes within 5 on election in Delaware, consider it a win.
But, like I said, I’d be willing to give up some House seats for a win if only to re-coin the phrase “Count it!”
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Good background info, kj…I can only imagine how much it hurt NOW and the other facist womens groups/members to have to come to CO’D’s defense, however slight…
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Go Christine!
My collie says:
“Beat that disgusting little Marxist crapweasel.”
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