SSP Daily Digest: 3/4 (Morning Edition)

With the Daily Digest turning a year old (and starting to get pretty portly on a regular basis), we thought we’d experiment with splitting it into two parts. This may not happen every day, just on an as-needed basis. But with the campaign season really heating up, we may need to do this a lot! Without further ado:

  • NY-Gov: Gov. David Paterson’s free-fall is so spectacular that it’s actually interfering with AG Andrew Cuomo’s investigation of Paterson’s alleged interference in the abuse case against his top aide. Apparently, aides are so eager to brandish their knives in the press that various accounts are coming out publicly before Cuomo’s team can conduct proper interviews, making it hard to get the straight story. Talk about perverse luck for Paterson – though I’m sure it won’t make a difference in the long run.
  • AL-02: State Board of Education member Stephanie Bell has officially entered the Republican primary for Alabama’s 2nd CD. She’ll face off against NRCC Young Gun Martha Roby and teabagging businessman Rick “The Barber” Barber.
  • GA-07: As expected, state Rep. Clay Cox has jumped into the race to succeed John Linder. Cox says he’s a teabagger, loud and proud. Since most ‘baggers tend to be of the Some Dude variety (at best), this has to count as a pretty good get for the tea partiers. (TheUnknown has further updates on the race and the downballot implications.)
  • NY-24: Mike Arcuri has decided to employ the John Kerry strategy: Even though he already voted for healthcare the first time around, now he’s saying he might vote against it. What a profile in courage. Arcuri’s complaints sound like a laundry-list of right-wing talking points. Who’s advising this guy, Lanny Davis and Al From?
  • NY-29: “Shotgun” Randy Kuhl, the man Eric Massa beat in 2008, says he is weighing a comeback. Ex-Corning Mayor Tom Reed has been in the race for a while, but hasn’t raised much and is probably considered shoveable-asidable by bigger players. Some other names in the mix for the GOP include Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, state Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, and state Sens. Cathy Young and George Winner (R). (Remember the last time we ran against the Assembly minority leader in upstate NY?)

    • The Dem bench, as Crisitunity noted, is hella thin in these parts, but apparently Assemblyman David Koon is putting out feelers. Hornell (pop. 9K) Mayor Shawn Hogan has also been mentioned as a possibility.

    Also of note, several outfits now report that Massa informed Steny Hoyer about the sexual harassment allegations against him a few weeks ago. Yet before anyone jumps to conclusions, this is no Mark Foley scandal. Hoyer told Massa to report himself to the Ethics Committee, and Massa did just that.

  • Minnesota: In order to comply with a new federal law mandating that overseas voters have sufficient time to mail in their ballots, Gov. Tim Pawlenty finally signed a bill into law which changes MN’s primary from Sep. 14 to Aug. 10. This makes Minnesota the first state with a late primary to resolve this problem – quite a few others will likely need to make similar arrangements.
  • Texas: Get a load of this: Former GOP state Rep. Rick Green was ousted by Dem Patrick Rose in 2002. Four years later, he punched Rose in the face at a polling location. Now, this bag of dicks is in a run-off for the Texas Supreme Court, the state’s highest civil court. Kath Haenschen wants to know: “If Rick Green loses the run-off, will he punch Debra Lehrmann in the face?”

    • Given the absurd number of races on the ballot in Texas, I’m sure Green wasn’t the only maniac to do well last night. In fact, Dems have at least one problem of their own: Kesha Rogers, a LaRouchie who won the nomination in TX-22 (Nick Lampson’s old seat) on a platform of impeaching President Obama. Says Rogers’ website:

    The victory in the 22nd Congressional District yesterday by LaRouche Democrat Kesha Rogers sent an unmistakable message to the White House, and its British imperial controllers: Your days are numbered.

    Fortunately, a spokesperson for the Texas Democratic Party said, “LaRouche members are not Democrats. I guarantee her campaign will not receive a single dollar from anyone on our staff.” Or pounds sterling.

    40 thoughts on “SSP Daily Digest: 3/4 (Morning Edition)”

    1. The morning digest is always a nice surprise. Thanks for putting the effort to get it out.

      “British imperial controllers”. Huh. Are there any resident Larouchologists who can shed light on the origin of this particular conspiracy theory? Because the last time I checked Britain hadn’t had much of an empire for, oh, half a century or so.

      And yes, given the freakshow that is Albany, we might want to be praying that the GOP nominates Kolb and history repeats itself.

    2. tell Mike Arcuri you already voted for HCR the first time so you’re not going to save yourself by voting against it the second time. There still going to attack you for voting for “the government takeover of Health Care.”

    3. I took my kids to see a game at the Iowa girls’ state basketball tournament yesterday. A bunch of teams in the Des Moines metro area made the quarterfinals. I noticed that NRCC “on the radar” candidate Jim Gibbons had an ad scrolling occasionally (nothing special, just “Jim Gibbons for Congress, http://www.gibbonsforcongress.com“). Gibbons is in a five-way primary to face Leonard Boswell in IA-03 (D+1). Among the Republicans, he has raised by far the most money, but he isn’t as well-known in the district as you might expect.

      Anyway, the basketball tournament didn’t go his way yesterday. The teams from Republican-leaning Ankeny and Johnston (Des Moines suburbs) were eliminated in the quarters, so their fans who live in IA-03 won’t be back to see more of the Gibbons ads later this week. Des Moines East advanced to the semis, but I don’t think many GOP primary voters live on the east side of Des Moines. The other teams in the semis are two Cedar Rapids schools (IA-02) and Waukee (Des Moines suburb, but in Dallas County and therefore in IA-04).

    4. First the bad, NY-29 (OPEN, Massa) was moved from Lean D to Lean R, which given out bench I would say is probably where this one belongs.

      Ok the good

      AR-01 (OPEN, Berry) Lean R -> Toss up

      AL-02 (Bright) Toss up -> Lean D

      NC 11 (Schuler) Lean D -> Likely D

      The apocalypse will be delayed perhaps.

    5. You guys rock!

      I think I’ve moved past undecided and into the Paterson needs to go camp.  If anything, he’s just a distraction of the highest order.

      Someone in my office said this morning that he was glad he wasn’t a black politician in NY.  An amusing thought for a white guy in a white shoe law firm.

    7. It gives me something to read in the morning, allows people an open thread for news updates throughout the day, and sometimes when the digest is ridiculously long, I usually pick and choose the things to reply so that I dont end up with a list of points.

      Kick ass SSP crew!

    9. with more positive reinforcement of the double Daily Digest.  The Daily Digest is the only good thing that ever happens in my workday.  If it happens twice, that’s two good things in my workday.

    11. I checked out a DVD about the 2002 Texas State Rep race between Patrick Rose and RIck Green.  Don’t rememeber the title, but it was a good one.  Green represents all that is reprehensible about the GOP.    

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