Democrats Downplay Special Election Implications

DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-Fla.) downplayed the GOP upset in a conference call with reporters Wednesday, saying that pundits should not draw predictions on the 2012 presidential election based on the results from Tuesday’s special elections.

“If you’re looking for predictions like that, you should really be looking at the president’s standing against the Republican candidates in the battleground states, not the results of two House special elections; one of which was in a ruby red district which the Republicans carried even in 2008,” Wasserman Shultz said.

“The other seat opened up under what can best be called unusual circumstances,” the DNC chair said of former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s departure.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who also served New York’s ninth congressional district for 18 years, said that the district’s demographics have changed since he served in the ’80s and ’90s and that it should not be classified as a bellwether district. Schumer said the district’s Orthodox Jewish population has become more prominent and has created a more conservative base.

“The bottom line is it’s not a bellwether district,” Schumer said. “Anybody who tries to extrapolate between what’s happened in [NY-9] and what would happen in New York City, New York state or the country is making a big mistake.”