Every election contains a few great stories. Here are some of the best ones from 2010:
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2010 Races to Remember Recommended Stories |
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RACE |
CANDIDATES |
WILD STORY |
RESULT |
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Rhode Island Gov |
Frank Caprio, D vs. Lincoln Chafee, I vs. John Robitaille, R |
President Obama refused to endorse Caprio, who responded by telling the Commander in Chief that he could “take his endorsement and shove it.” |
Obama’s personal friend, former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, won. Caprio finished third. |
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Tennessee-4: |
Rep. Lincoln Davis, D vs. Scott DesJarlais, R |
Davis ran one of the most scathing negative ads of the cycle, accusing his opponent of holding a gun to his own head for hours while threatening his ex-wife. |
The ad backfired horribly on Davis, and DesJarlais crushed him on Tuesday. |
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Florida-8 |
Rep. Alan Grayson, D vs. Dan Webster, R |
Grayson ran an ad mocking Webster’s evangelical Christianity and calling him “Taliban Dan.” |
Voters gave “Taliban Dan” a 19-point victory. |
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Idaho-1 |
Rep. Walt Minnick, D vs. Raul Labrador, R |
Democrat Minnick ran a scorched-earth anti-immigration campaign against Labrador, trotting out law enforcement endorsements. But among the endorsers was a U.S. Marshall who had been involved in the 1992 Ruby Ridge massacre. |
Labrador won by ten points despite failing to raise much money. He will be Idaho’s first-ever Puerto Rican congressman. |
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Minnesota-8 |
Rep. James Oberstar, D vs. Chip Cravaack, R |
Oberstar controlled the House Transportation committee, but he failed to shore up his Duluth-based district. For example, only one of his constituents had given him money. |
Cravaack’s victory might have been the biggest shock of the night. |
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North Carolina-2 |
Rep. Bob Etheridge, D vs. Renee Ellmers |
Etheridge was caught on tape manhandling a student who had asked him a cheeky question. |
The state’s other endangered House incumbents survived – surprisingly – but the voters manhandled Etheridge. |
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Louisiana Senate |
Sen. David Vitter, R vs. Charlie Melancon, D |
Vitter, a family-values conservative, was caught frequenting prostitutes in the same dragnet that caught Eliot Spitzer. Melancon even paid to air a long infomercial reminding voters of the fact. |
Vitter won by only 20 points. Laissez les bons temps rouler! |
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Arizona-7 |
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D vs. Ruth McClung, R |
Grijalva called for a boycott of his own state after its controversial immigration law passed. |
He nearly lost his safe seat. But with unemployment at 30% in Yuma, people had lots of time to go out and vote for him. So it looks like the boycott worked. |
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Maine Gov |
Paul LePage, R vs. Eliot Cutler, I, vs. Libby Mitchell, D |
The conservative LePage promised he would tell President Obama to “go to hell.” |
The voters delivered the message for him instead, electing LePage and flipping the state House and Senate to the GOP. Oh, yeah, and Mitchell finished third. |
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New York-13 |
Rep. Mike McMahon, D vs. Mike Grimm, R |
When the two candidates debated, McMahon tried to unnerve his opponent by inviting Grimm’s ex-wife to sit in the front row. |
McMahon is now Grimm’s ex-congressman. |
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Texas-17 |
Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D vs. Blake Farenthold |
Ortiz was accused late in the campaign of earmarking funds for the security company he had helped found. |
Despite chairing the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, Ortiz wasn’t “ready” for Farenthold, who defeated him by 799 votes. |
