What’s on your mind this weekend?
UPDATE (David): The Nashville City Paper’s political blog says that GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander is being talked up as a possible replacement for the departing chancellor of Vanderbilt University. If there’s any truth to this, that would make him at least the fourth member of Congress this year to be considered for a move into academia. SSP readers will recall that Reps. Meehan (MA-05), Hulshof (MO-09) and LaHood (IL-18) were the others, though only Meehan pulled the trigger.
So the question of course is, should Lamar! step down, who would Dem Gov. Phil Bredesen appoint to fill his place?
The accidental Congressman, Daniel Lipinski is among the sorriest of Democrats in the current Congress. The local party machine allowed Lipinski to run unopposed to succeeded his father Walter Lipinski’s as the 3rd CD Illinois Congressman.
Lipinski is a 5th columnist within the Democratic caucus who sides with the GOP on Iraq, abortion, stem cell research, among other issues. He more conservative than a mainstream Democrat on nearly every social issue in fact.
Lipinski faces a significant challenger in the Democratic primary, his challenger being Mark Pera, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney.
Both the manner in which Lipinski first won the seat, and the manner in which Lipinski had defied the rank and file on core political issues, has earned Daniel Lipinski this primary challenge.
This progressive hopes Lipinski gets scalped in the 2008 Democratic primary and then he can go back to Tennessee where he fits in better and resume his teaching career. He almost has to be a better educator than legislator.
like so many people said. What was party unity score, 96.5%. Hah.
And I don’t see how Swann is anything better than extremely disappointed damaged goods. The guy was highly heralded; part of Rove’s strategy of putting forward black Republicans for statewide office (hence he had good connections); and dammnit, the Steelers started the year off by winning the Super Bowl!
I hadn’t heard anything about him since Rendell destroyed him (though I see I’ve been remiss), and I’d be seriously surprised if he ran again. Plus there’s his fantastic political judgment, too.
that he will not fight a contested primary and if Melissa Hart follows thru with her declaration to run for her old seat again, Swann should be expected to back off the race.
I would not waste too much time celebrating the prospect of a Swann v. Hart primary, doubtful it will happen.
Thanks, guys, for the kind words. And I completely agree with you regarding the rich comments section. Even when I wasn’t a front pager, I always felt that the comments were often just as good as the articles themselves. One thing about being a single issue blog is that you attract readers who really know their shit.
Except reverse the districts. Kleeb is in NE-03.
Aside from Kleeb, there’s no one even remotely capable of taking on Smith. Scott Kleeb was one of the most phenomenally qualified candidates for public office we’ve had in this state in a very long time – probably since Bob Kerrey (no offense to Ben Nelson). It’s a damn shame the voters didn’t see it that way, but I hope we get another chance to convince them.
As far as Moul goes – I’m fairly certain she has no intention of running again. So NE-01 is pretty much a guessing game. I don’t really have my ear to the ground in the 1st District right now, but I’ll try to keep you posted if I hear anything.
combined word. Shize is german for shit, Kopf means head, so I just put the two together, (incorrectly, their should be a space), thererfore, shithead. Seize the Day shitheads is what the tag means, Carpe Diem is latin, one of my favorite languages and one that I think should be used if the world is ever in need of a single, universal language.
Has Thad Cochran released his Q2 numbers yet?
Gave generously to all 4 in ’06 (and some already in ’08) and anxious to see 2Q07 cash on hand reports. Figured Melissa Hart would not run again because of her anemic 2Q07 report, but she says she is considering it. If Lynn Swann runs for that PA-4 seat vs. Altmire, he still has some explaining to do about his failure to pay PA. state sales taxes on his sports memorabilia business sales in PA (before he was caught not paying) and why he continues to hide his federal and state tax returns. He promised to make them public back 5 years, but after consulting with his attorneys refused to do so and denied he made the promise. Will Delaware at Large Castle get a top tier opponent? He had a health problem (stroke?) after ’06 election but his staff kept him under wraps. He is an enabler, less moderate than he claims, and needs to be defeated.
I dont think Lamar will retire for a post at Vandy because I have heard he has leadership aspirations for the Senate GOP.
By the way, why do you always post his name with an exclamation mark??
Didn’t he only win the district very narrowly…like by a few hundred votes or something like that?
Altmire managed to win 52% in a strong Democratic year. Swann may keep it close again, but I can’t picture him defeating Altmire.
Hart is done in this district.
That means Rendell lost the district and Altmire won it. I don’t know what that means. It means Altmire had no coattails to speak of from Rendell, and in fact had negative coattails from the governor’s race as a whole, when the rest of the PA Dems had positive coattails. I think it means that Altmire is a better candidate than I had thought.
I’d want to see the Casey-Santorum numbers to know if it is just a very GOP district, or a district that was supporting hometown hero and then the Democratic ticket. I’m sure Swann’s numbers overstate the GOP lean of the district, but by how much I wonder?
Here’s the best link I’ve found for tracking fund-raising reports as they come in:
http://tray.com/cgi-…
IIRC, it was up to #686 at end of day Saturday. I assume this will update today, too. There should be an avalanche of new reports coming in later to make today’s deadline (Sunday, 6/15).
Maine’s flip flop Susan Collins had promised her vote to Lamar in his battle with former white supremacist Mississippian Trent Lott (Lott opposed the Civil Rights Act and as late as 1981 convinced Reagan to change US tax code to give tax breaks to universities that officially racially discriminate – Bob Jones Univ – but Reagan reversed his order within 48 hours after a storm of protest; there are other facts in his background why Lott can be accurately described as a “former white supremacist”) – but she reneged on her promise and hers was the deciding one vote margin that elected Lott to his current post over Lamar (Alexander, not Heddy). I hope Maine Rep. Tom Allen uses her support of Trent Lott against her in the Senate race.
While the Allen implosion was a key factor in Webb’s victory, an equally important component is the changing demography of the state of Virginia. The population in northern Virginia (the DC ‘burbs) is on the rise, quickly reaching the point at which it can swing the state. If there had been an Allen-like candidate who imploded in, say, Georgia or South Carolina, that candidate would have ended up winning, even with an implosion, and even running against a stellar candidate like Webb. Remember, Virginia has something the other southern states don’t have: a significant slice of Northeast Corridor within its borders!
of how Grier Martin could beat Dole by taking a few tips from Webb is at BlueNC
persay, but I was just thinking that SSP must look pretty similar to Dkos in 2001-2002. I wonder where this site will be in four years, anywhere near where Dkos is now. If blogs keep growing this rapidly in influence and size, I think this site could have 100,000 members by June Fourteenth 2011. It’s interesting to think of what ths site would be like with Dkos’ size and better feedback because of this.
i heard kleeb being mentioned as both a candidate for senate (if hagel ever announces anything) and for ne 01. if kleed runs for senate (or nothing, deciding to wait for a nonpresidential year) who else is there in ne 01? does anyone else there even have a chance? bush did get nearly 75% in 04 right? is there anyone other than moul being mentioned in ne 03?
And allow a Democratic governor to appoint a Democratic replacement with the Senate as close as it is?
Is it typical for so many candidates to be so far behind in debt? For example, according to one Political Money Line that was linked to early, Rick Renzi is in debt 456K. Now granted, he wouldn’t be the top of my list of people to give generously too, nor does it sound like he’s trying real hard for reelection, but he isn’t the only one. And I find it crazy that Mark Foley has 1.5 MILLION haha I mean, come on… Foley?? AND he took in 17K this quarter. At least if this site is right, and why wouldn’t it be? Am I missing something?
Jon Gard filed papers to run for the Republican nomination in the 8th Congressional District in Wisconsin this afternoon. He lost to Democrat Steve Kagen 51-49 in 2006.
Jon Gard will not get a free pass on a primary this year like he enjoyed in 2006. In 2006 it was Kagen who had to best three strong primary opponents to even make it to the general election. No primary challenge is on the horizon in 2008.
Steve Kagen ended the quarter with 377,000 in the bank according to the data posted in the 2nd quarter FEC elections diary recently posted here.