« Presidential Predictions | Main | Wisconsin »
Monday, December 01, 2003
On Hiatus
Posted by DavidNYCOn hiatus until after exams - so until late Dec. or early Jan. One quick hit, though: It looks like the Bush administration will indeed lift the steel tariffs. Automakers and other steel users are, of course, cheering this move. But the steel makers, quite predictably, are unhappy:
Lifting the tariffs now, said Terrence Straub, senior vice president at U.S. Steel, could cost Mr. Bush a winning margin in Pennsylvania -- a state he narrowly lost in 2000 and will have visited 23 times Tuesday since taking office."They don't need but a handful of votes," Mr. Straub said. "If he lifts the relief, he forsakes that; he's walked away, he's squandered that opportunity. This would be, in our view, a broken promise by the White House."
Kos breaks it down further here.
Posted at 03:09 PM in General | Technorati
Comments
Bush can say "bye bye" to PA and WV!
Not only that, but at least 3 GOP congressmen/women are now in serious trouble after this decision.
Posted by: A.E at December 4, 2003 01:05 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Over at my blog I have the first Presidential primary poll up that I have seen.
Dean is leading the primary field by a decent margin, with Lieberman in second. However the meat of the value in this poll is the generic Democrat is tied with Bush 44-44, while all of the legitimate Democratic contenders are losing to Bush but are within the MOE. The field is still good for a Democratic candidate to harvest votes from.
Posted by: fester at December 10, 2003 02:16 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
David, aren't you done with finals yet? Did you see this new polling data on steel tariffs? It looks like there will be a small impact (which could be big in PA).
Pennsylvania voters disapprove 52 -- 36 percent of President Bush's decision to end tariffs on foreign steel, but 75 percent say this will not affect their Presidential vote.
It is a post-Saddam poll which is interesting.
Posted by: Seamus at December 17, 2003 09:46 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
It's coming down to three valid regions of attack:
For Dean:
The SW-- Arizona, Nevada, Colorado.
The Rust/Coal-- Ohio, West Virginia.
For Bush:
The Upper Midwest-- Iowa, Minn., Wisconsin
Posted by: Jerome Armstrong at December 27, 2003 09:01 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
The city of Pittsburgh is functionally bankrupt and it is currently seeking new ways to raise revenue and decrease expenditures, or at least shift the expenditures off of the books. This condition is partially the result of massive lack of political courage and partially the Bush Tax.
Right now the Pittsburgh City council has approved a budget that will be increasing parking taxes by 60% The city is still expected to run out of cash in the summer of 2004, which will not be conducive to Bush gaining any ground in Southwestern PA next fall.
The city is in tough shape, and as we look further into the surrounding metropolitan areas, we are seeing the same situation. The old steel towns and counties are running out of money so government layoffs are continuing. Some of the steel plants are still reeling and laying people off
Western Pennsylvania is going to be a tough fight for both sides next year, but I think the terrain favors the Democrats.
Posted by: fester at January 15, 2004 06:58 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment