SSP Daily Digest: 4/17

• NY-20 (pdf): This morning’s official tally from the BoE gives Scott Murphy a whopping lead of 268. This new number reflects the addition of all the remaining absentees from Columbia County, where Murphy performed well on Election Day and apparently even better among absentees. There are still 1,200 absentee ballots that haven’t been counted because they were subject to challenge; they’ll be reviewed starting Monday.

Jim Tedisco isn’t waiting around for those ballots, though; he’s already asking the courts to declare him the victor. Wait… what? Isn’t he the one who’s behind? (The Tedisco camp has tried to clarify that they were re-filing a motion that they filed on Election Day, to also have Tedisco declared the winner, as some sort of ‘insurance policy.’ OK, that makes me feel much better.)

• CA-10: BigDust broke the story yesterday in diaries: Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, seeing his gubernatorial campaign sputtering and lured by the siren call of a term-limits-free job, has more-or-less confirmed that the rumors are true and he’s jumping into the 10th District special election, where state senator Mark DeSaulnier had already nailed down the ‘establishment’ candidate mantle. (Unlike other frequent job-hopper Tom McClintock, Garamendi actually has the advantage of living in the district.)

• KY-Sen, SD-Sen: The message can’t get much clearer than this. Mitch McConnell is hosting a fundraiser in the state of Kentucky for his fellow senator… John Thune? That’s right; McConnell would rather help a guy from South Dakota defending a safe seat than help his fellow Kentuckian Jim Bunning, who has already been complaining about how McConnell is sucking up all the fundraising oxygen in the state.

• CT-Sen: Chris Dodd may have raised a million bucks last quarter, but only five donors were from his home state of Connecticut. And before you can say “But what about donations below $200 which don’t require detailed disclosure?”, we’ll just point out that Dodd took in under $2,300 total from that category of donors. Sigh. (D)

On the plus side for Dodd, he got a hearty endorsement and a promise of future help from someone a little more popular than him: Barack Obama. “Chris is going through a rough patch,” says Obama.

• NH-Sen: Paul Hodes raised $225K this quarter, which doesn’t seem like a whole lot, does it? (D)

• NJ-Gov: Governor Jon Corzine, facing a tough re-election, has another problem: his gross income last year was negative $2.75 million. You’ve got to assume that his overall net worth (once estimated at $300 million) has taken a much, much larger hit, so that calls into question his willingness, if not ability, to moneybomb the race as he did with his last two runs for office.

• TX-Gov: I never thought I’d have to say this out loud, but Governor Rick Perry may not have a winning issue on his hands when he makes veiled secession threats. A Rasmussen snap-poll finds that 75% of Texans would prefer to remain a part of the USA. 18% prefer secession, and 7% just aren’t sure. Not coincidentally, a similar percentage of the Texas state senate (71%) just voted, 22-9, to ignore Perry and accept the $550 million in federal stimulus money to keep their state unemployment trust fund from going broke.

• Words: Here’s a fun time-suck: a website that lets you create a word cloud for most-used words in a particular day, week, month, or year in the Congressional Record, or for a particular lawmaker.

81 thoughts on “SSP Daily Digest: 4/17”

  1. Not quite full marriage rights, but a nice start.  Has your head exploded yet Kyle?

    http://www.spokesman.com/blogs…

    After long debate, the state House of Representatives this afternoon approved an “everything but marriage” bill granting same-sex domestic partners most of the rights and responsibilities of spouses.

    The bill passed, 62-35. It now goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it into law.

    The vote was largely along party lines. Democrats argued that the bill is a simple matter of fairness for same-sex couples, in things like getting benefits when a partner is killed on the job.

    “The principal we’re talking about is equal rights under the law. It’s that simple,” said Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland.

    Republicans and one conservative Democrat argued against the change, with many saying the bill is a legal path to full same-sex marriage in Washington.

    “Everybody knows that this is what this debate is about,” said Rep. Dan Roach, R-Sumner. He and other opponents of the bill urged the House to instead send the matter to voters.

    “Those that are proponents of this bill know that a referendum will not pass,” he said. “The people are not ready for that.”

  3. Brian Moran’s biggest problems have always been his doofus older brother Rep. James Moran.  This may just compound his problems in keeping a distance from him.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

    More than a dozen defense contractors with business before U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a member of the powerful House Appropriations defense subcommittee, have donated thousands of dollars to Moran’s younger brother Brian, a candidate for governor of Virginia.

    Brian Moran filed a campaign finance report this week that shows he collected $80,000 during the first three months of 2009 from 18 contractors that have been longtime backers of the congressman. Seven of the firms are awaiting approval of Moran-backed earmarks totaling $14.5 million.

    Many of the firms are Virginia-based, and those executives who would speak about the gifts said they have long been politically active in the state and have known both brothers for years. Others have been heavy federal contributors with little involvement in state politics. Most have benefited from Jim Moran’s role in crafting defense spending bills each year.

  4. By a 35-23 vote.  That’s a heck of a lot of republicans who voted against.  Congrats on making history Governor.

    http://www.adn.com/news/politi…

    JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature voted 35 to 23 on Thursday to reject the confirmation of Wayne Anthony Ross, Gov. Sarah Palin’s pick for attorney general.

    According to Legislative Research Services, it was the first time in state history a head of a state agency has failed to be confirmed by the Legislature. All the Democrats in the Legislature voted against Ross and were joined by nine Republicans, including the Senate president and House speaker.

    “I think he is too controversial for the state of Alaska. We’ve got in some people’s mind a controversial governor, and I think that he just has too many controversies out there,” said House Speaker Mike Chenault, a Nikiski Republican.

    Even Ross’ opponents in the Legislature had said just a few days ago that he had enough support to be confirmed despite widespread opposition from Alaska Native groups, his calling gays “degenerates” in the 1990s, and allegations that he made offensive comments about women. But a tipping point appeared to come this week when Ross gave what lawmakers called bad and politicized legal advice to Palin about a fight she’s having with lawmakers over a state Senate appointment.

    Palin suggested lawmakers who voted no were turning their backs on voters. They rejected an attorney general, she said, who strongly supports the issues important to Alaskans — gun rights, constitutional rights and developing resources to the maximum benefit of residents.

  5. McConnell’s a jerk, but I gotta nod at his wicked hardball tactics giving fundraisers in KY for an out-of-state pol.

    It will be so hilarious to watch if he started giving a string of fundraisers in KY for every Repub out there EXCEPT for Bunning.  Won’t be many dimes in KY left for poor Jimmy.

    I wonder if Bunning would like to take a baseball and bean him, but McConnell’s skull is probably so thick and Bunning’s fastball nowadays is probably so slow that he hardly would even notice.

  6. He’s not considering switching to run for Governor is he?  That’s the only reason I can think of for needing to raise any real money.

  7. raised 90% of his donations from PACs. This coming after a lackluster performance in 2008. He still seems to be taking his seat for granted and looks like a lazy campaigner which I could udnerstand if he was at the forefront of a lot of legislative issues but he’s a quiet back benching legislator as well. What’s with this laziness?

  9. With all ballots counted except challenged ballots and “set asides”, Murphy leads by 273.  So what does Tedisco do now?  Ironically, to have any chance, he must now argue to count challenged ballots, most of which, he himself challenged.  This one is over folks.

  10. How expensive is it to run in New Hampshire?  

    I imagine there isn’t that much pressure on Hodes to raise so much money, as he has no primary opponent nor a credible one for the general election. Once an opponent emerges, those numbers will increase.

    TX:

    I love how the state senate basically said “Ignore Gov. Goodhair, we’ll take the money now!”

    Alaska:

    Once again, Palin gets rebuffed by her own party. I get the distinct feeling that they are getting as annoyed with her as the rest of us (though, she’s at least entertaining).

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