Conservative PAC vows to primary Collins, Snowe and Specter

All for the unforgivable sin of supporting an economic recovery plan.  The right eating it’s own once again.  And they wonder why they are down to 41 Senators and counting.

http://politicalticker.blogs.c…

An influential conservative political action committee is pledging to support primary challengers to any Republican senator who supports President Obama’s stimulus package – the latest public show of dissatisfaction from the right over the massive measure before Congress.

“The American people don’t want this trillion dollar political payoff that will just line the pockets of non-governmental organizations who supported [President] Obama in the election,” said Scott Wheeler, the executive director of The National Republican Trust PAC, an organization that calls for less government spending and lower taxes.

“Republican senators are on notice,” Wheeler said. “If they support the stimulus package, we will make sure every voter in their state knows how they tried to further bankrupt voters in an already bad economy.”

In a Senate vote Tuesday, only three Republicans backed the $838 billion measure – Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.

All three senators were involved in cutting spending proposals from the plan, and have said they may not vote for the final version bill if more spending projects are added to it.

Florida Senate Polls out

Since noone else brought it up I figured I would.  Kos sponsored another R2K poll.  This one on the Florida Senate race in 2010.  It really doesn’t tell us much since many of the candidates have announced they are not running.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…

Primary polls:

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 1/26-28. Likely voters. MoE 4%, 5% for primary samples (No trendlines)

Democratic Primary

Meek 17

Boyd 8

Gelber 3

Undecided 72

Republican Primary

Crist 57

McCollum 11

Rubio 4

Republican Primary

McCollum 28

Rubio 12

General Polls:

Crist (R) 49

Meek (D) 28

Meek (D) 31

Rubio (R) 22

Crist (R) 52

Gelber (D) 21

Gelber (D) 23

Rubio (R) 23

NRSC in Full Spin Mode on 2010 Senate

Ya, Obama is really destroying the Democratic Party.  Whatever.  Illinois, New York and DEelaware are their golden opportunities?!?  What is Cornyn smoking?  “Big John” Cornyn deathwatch thread time?

Cornyn: Obama Helping Senate GOP in 2010

Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican tasked with helping his party bounce back in the Senate, argued Wednesday that the Senate GOP has been inadvertently helped by Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats.

“President-elect Barack Obama has given us some opportunities,” said Cornyn.

Cornyn, the newly installed chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the GOP went from having no chance in Illinois to a fairly good one.

“I don’t see how Mr. Burris can separate himself from the circumstances of how he was appointed,” said Cornyn.

Cornyn did not name any specific Illinois Republicans who are planning to run for the Senate in 2010 but Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., is considered a top contender.

In New York, Cornyn thinks Republicans could be helped if Gov. David Paterson appoints Carolyn Kennedy, a political novice, to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Obama’s nominee for Secretary of State.

“Caroline Kennedy has never run for office before,” said Cornyn.

Cornyn cited Rep. Peter King as a New York Republican seriously weighing a Senate bid now that Clinton is expected to become the nation’s top diplomat.

Cornyn is also eyeing Colorado where Obama’s selection of Ken Salazar to be Secretary of the Interior removes a seasoned politician from the seat.

Gov. Bill Ritter has chosen Michael Bennet, the well-regarded Superintendent of Denver public schools, as Salazar’s replacement.

The NRSC is also hoping to put Delaware, the home state of Vice President-elect Joe Biden, into play.

Democrat Beau Biden, the state attorney general and son of the vice president-elect, is expected to seek the seat which will be held for the next two years by Ted Kaufman, a former Biden staffer who agreed not to run in 2010.  

The NRSC chair said Republicans have also been helped by Obama’s nomination of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be Secretary of Homeland Security and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack to be Secretary of Agriculture.

The appointments remove Napolitano as a possible challenger to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Vilsack as a possible challenger to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Cornyn downplayed speculation that Grassley would be the next Senate Republican to retire by saying that the Iowa Republican has held eight fundraisers since the new year.

Cornyn, who was sporting a pair of black boots with his business suit, made his comments in Washington, D.C., during a pen-and-pad briefing with reporters.

Breaking: Gov. Blagojevich impeached by IL House

Vote was 114-1.  On to the Illinois State Senate this goes.

In case anyone was wondering this is the one guy who voted against:

Rep. Milt Patterson (D-Chicago)

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITI…

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — The Illinois House of Representatives on Friday voted almost unanimously to impeach embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The vote was 114-1, with three representatives not voting.

The matter now moves to the state Senate, which will try the case and decide whether to remove Blagojevich from office.

On Thursday, an Illinois legislative committee unanimously recommended impeaching Blagojevich amid corruption allegations.

Blagojevich was arrested last month after federal prosecutors alleged, among other things, that he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat that President-elect Barack Obama vacated.

“Today is the day that we begin to give back democracy to the people of the state of Illinois,” Democratic Rep. Jack Franks, a panel member, said as he cast his aye vote Thursday night.

Blagojevich “has been AWOL and derelict of his duties. He has abused his powers, and he has brought shame to this great state,” Franks said.

“I believe that Rod Blagojevich is a liar, and I believe he is a thief,” Franks said. “He has stolen the trust of the people.”

The committee heard testimony Thursday afternoon from Roland Burris, the man Blagojevich appointed to succeed Obama in the Senate.

Burris denied any quid pro quo with Blagojevich for his appointment to the Senate. Burris, former attorney general for Illinois, is not accused of engaging in “pay-to-play” politics with Blagojevich.

Blagojevich denies any wrongdoing and has rejected calls for his resignation.

“I would have appreciated it if he had stepped aside, and we would not have been made the laughingstock of the country,” said Rep. Mary Flowers, another Democrat. She noted, however, that the governor is “innocent until proven guilty.”

The 21-member committee looked into Blagojevich’s actions on a number of issues beyond the federal allegations, including an allegation he withheld state money from a children’s hospital until he received a $50,000 campaign donation.

Rep. Chapin Rose, a Republican, called the alleged behavior “repugnant.”

“The report speaks for itself and contains many, many, many acts that I find, and most of my colleagues find, to be impeachable,” Rose said.

“The evidence is overwhelmingly damning,” he said.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald initiated a criminal complaint against Blagojevich after listening to wiretaps of the governor’s phone conversations.

Blagojevich was arrested December 9 but has not been indicted. A federal judge in Chicago told Fitzgerald he has until April 7 to decide whether to charge the Illinois governor.

The committee’s report said it found the government’s allegations against Blagojevich “shocking” and believes the information in the federal complaint “is sufficiently credible to demonstrate an abuse of office” that was “inconsistent with the governor’s constitutional oath.”

The Illinois committee’s report points out that Blagojevich does not need to be found guilty of a crime for the House to impeach him. “It would, in fact, be unreasonable to limit impeachable offenses to criminal conduct,” the report says.

“An impeachment inquiry is not a criminal proceeding and its purpose is not punitive. Rather, impeachment is a remedial proceeding to protect the public from an officer who has abused his position of trust.”

The committee pointed out that the criminal complaint against Blagojevich alleges he was secretly taped saying he would not appoint anyone to Obama’s seat without some form of compensation. iReport.com: Do you trust your political leaders?

“The governor repeatedly demonstrated that his decision to appoint a senator would not be based on merits of the candidate or on public policy, but rather on how that appointment could benefit him personally,” the report said.

“The governor directed various individuals to conduct inquiries on his behalf to negotiate deals for the Senate appointment, affirmatively setting into action a plot to trade the Senate appointment for something of value to the governor,” it said.

Blagojevich declined the committee’s offer to testify on his own behalf, the report said.

Former Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) to head Transportation

Don’t know a lot about him other than he just retired from Congress, is one of the more moderate republicans and is well-liked by people in both parties.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI…

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama has picked GOP Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois to be his nominee for transportation secretary, two sources told CNN on Wednesday.

Two Democratic sources also said Obama will tap Mary Schapiro to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Schapiro is CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the largest nongovernment regulator for all securities firms doing business with the U.S. public. She is a former SEC commissioner and served as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 1994 during the Clinton Administration.

Obama will formally announce his choice of LaHood, a seven-term congressman from Peoria, at a press conference in Chicago on Thursday morning, the sources said.

LaHood is well-respected by Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Freedom’s Crotch… err Watch folds

I know this was mentioned awhile back, but now it’s official.  My favorite part of the story is that the bankroller of this sorry organization has seen his company nearly go bankrupt.  His company has lost 95% of it’s stock value, roughly about the same drop that stock in the GOP would have fallen if there were such a thing.

http://thehill.com/leading-the…

Freedom’s Watch folds

A once-vaunted independent organization that was supposed to help Republicans make up severe fundraising shortfalls is closing after just one cycle in business.

Freedom’s Watch, the 501(c)(4) organization that ran advertisements slamming Democratic candidates, will effectively shut down by the end of the year, according to a source with knowledge of the plans.

The group, which ran television, radio, phone and mail campaigns against dozens of Democrats this year, received most of its funding from wealthy gaming mogul Sheldon Adelson, chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Others involved with the project included prominent Republicans Ari Fleischer, the one-time White House press secretary; Mel Sembler, President Bush’s first ambassador to Italy; and Matthew Brooks, who headed the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Freedom’s Watch was supposed to be a major player, with planners budgeting as much as $200 million for ad campaigns. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and its chairman, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), warned for nearly two years of an impending and unprecedented spending spree on behalf of Republican candidates.

That spree never emerged. In total, Freedom’s Watch spent about $30 million on television spots, though it would not reveal how much it spent on phones and mail, neither of which must be reported to the Federal Election Commission.

Adelson’s company, which owns casinos in Las Vegas and Macau, among other properties, has been hard-hit by the economic slowdown. With tourism and gaming industries suffering, Las Vegas Sands stock tumbled from a high of nearly $123 per share to just $5.95 per share at the close of business Monday.

The situation grew so dire earlier this year that some analysts expected the company to miss a loan payment. In November, Adelson stepped in to rescue the company to the tune of more than $2 billion.

Next state in the battle for gay marriage? Iowa?

Did a little research and it appears that 5 of 7 Iowa Supreme Court justices are democratic appointees.  No idea how liberal they are though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I…

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28…

Iowa high court takes on gay marriage

Judges will hear arguments in challenge to state’s ban on same-sex unions

DES MOINES, Iowa – The gay marriage debate moves to the Midwest this week as the Iowa Supreme Court hears arguments in a challenge to the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

If the high court rules in favor of the half dozen gay couples who filed the lawsuit, it would make Iowa the fourth state behind Massachusetts, California and Connecticut to uphold the right of same-sex couples to legally marry. In California, however, voters have negated the courts by amending the state constitution to ban gay marriage.

The Iowa case has been moving through the legal system for more than three years, and it could take a year or more for the state Supreme Court to issue a ruling after hearing oral arguments Tuesday morning.

MSNBC says Bill Richardson will head Commerce

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com…

Also expected Monday — an announcement that former U.N. Ambassador and Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, will be Commerce Secretary.

This one actually seems like a good move.  It doesn’t hurt us because the Democratic Lt. Governor Diane Denish will take over and she was probably our nominee for Governor in 2010 anyway.

Round up of top analyst predictions

thought I’d do a quick roundup of the top political analyst’s final predictions for the 2008 elections.  Feel free to add any I missed.

Charlie Cook

http://www.cookpolitical.com/

Pres: Obama 286EV McCain 139EV Tossup 113EV

House: Dem gain between 24-30 seats

Senate: Dem gain between 8-10 seats

Goov: No change to Dem gain of 1 seat

Larry Sabato

http://www.centerforpolitics.o…

Pres: Obama 364EV McCain 174EV

House: Dem gain of 26 seats

Senate: Dem gain between 7-8 seats

Gov: Dem gain of 1 seat

Stu Rothenberg

http://www.rothenbergpolitical…

Pres: Obama 353EV McCain 159EV Tossup 26EV

House: Dem gain between 27-33 seats

Senate: Dem gain between 7-9 seats

Gov: Dem gain of 1 seat to Rep gain of 1 seat

National Journal

http://www.nationaljournal.com…

House: Dem gain between 24-34 seats

Senate: Dem gain between 6-9 seats

Chris Cillizza

http://blog.washingtonpost.com…

Pres: Obama 319EV McCain 219EV

House: Dem gain between 25-30 seats

Senate: Dem gain of 8 seats

And for everyone’s amusement:

Karl Rove

http://www.rove.com/uploads/00…

Pres: Obama 338EV McCain 200EV

Charlie Cook’s last batch of ratings changes

Interesting.  All are movements from solid R to likely R.  Must mean he can see more longshot upsets happening.

http://www.cookpolitical.com/r…

SOUTH CAROLINA | District 2: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

OKLAHOMA | District 4: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

OKLAHOMA | District 1: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

OHIO | District 14: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

MICHIGAN | District 11: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

LOUISIANA | District 7: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

ILLINOIS | District 13: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

CALIFORNIA | District 45: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

CALIFORNIA | District 26: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

OHIO | District 12: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)

NORTH CAROLINA | District 10: Likely Republican to Solid Republican (11/03/08)

MICHIGAN | District 8: Solid Republican to Likely Republican (11/03/08)