Author: DavidNYC

Did you know there’s an election coming up this week? Yep, on Tuesday, May 15th, the City of Brotherly Love will hold its mayoral primary. I certainly don’t have a dog in this fight, but hey, an election is an election. Swing Staters, is this the only game in town, or are there any other local contests going on this week as well?

As always, you can use this thread to talk about Philly (that’s “wiz wit,” Mr. Kerry), or any other races which strike your fancy.

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James is in town, visiting Gotham. What should he do while he’s here? Tell us about your favorite things in New York City in comments. (And the usual election chatter, too, of course.)

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From CQ:

A House task force will investigate allegations that voting machine errors contributed to the razor-thin victory by Republican Vern Buchanan (news, bio, voting record) in Florida’s 13th Congressional District.

Democrat Christine Jennings, who was declared the loser to Buchanan by 369 votes in last fall’s election, has contested those results with the House of Representatives.

A three-member House Administration Committee task force agreed by voice vote Wednesday to embark on a formal investigation.

The task force will examine what Jennings contends is a glitch in touchscreen voting machines that resulted in the disappearance of 18,000 votes in the congressional race.

I’m glad to see that the task force is moving ahead despite the sad loss of committee chair Juanita Millender-McDonald recently.

Speaking of which, CQ also notes that Rep. Bob Brady of PA (currently the acting committee chair) is likely to get tapped as Millender-McDonald’s permanent replacement, assuming he loses the May 15th mayoral primary in Philly (which looks likely). I can’t say that I’m inspired by this choice, as Brady is very much an old-school machine politician and the House Administration Committee performs an important oversight role. I’d prefer a reformer, but let’s see if Brady surprises us. And so far, the move to a formal investigation is the right one.

In the white room, with black curtains, near the station,
Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings,
Silver horses ran down moonbeams in your dark eyes.
Dawn light smiles on you leaving, my contentment.

---

Weekend Discussion Items (James L.):

• PA-06: From “The West Wing” to Congress?  Apparently, Melissa Fitzgerald, who played C.J.’s assistant Carol in the TV series, is considering a challenge to Republican Jim Gerlach. (H/T: Adam B)
• OK-Sen: During a recent campaign event with Dick Cheney, Sen. Jim Inhofe unleashed the denial of all denials (emphasis added):

  Inhofe, speaking to the press before Cheney’s arrival, lambasted Democrats for Thursday’s Senate vote to begin withdrawal from Iraq by Oct. 1 and the press for “mischaracterizing” the reasons for U.S. involvement.

  “The whole idea of weapons of mass destruction was never the issue, yet they keep trying to bring this up,” Inhofe said.

  When asked why Gen. Colin Powell, then U.S. secretary of state, told the United Nations in 2003 that such weapons posed an imminent danger, Inhofe replied: “I can’t answer that. In fact, I’ve never been one of the real strong fans of General Powell.”

  Pressed for an explanation, Inhofe said weapons of mass destruction were “incidental” to the decision to invade Iraq.

  “The media made that the issue because they knew Saddam Hussein had used weapons of mass destruction. So we knew that they were there. But that was incidental to the fact we were going after terrorist camps.”

  If this is what Republicans and braying idiot pundits call “serious people” on the issue of national security and foreign policy, the lunatics have indeed taken over the asylum. (H/T: Senate 2008 Guru)

• AZ-01: Embattled Republican Rick Renzi  is hanging tight, at least for the time being.  How long do you give him?

Can you believe it? Swing State stalwart James L. just finished his very last final exam of college and is about to graduate! Please wish him a hearty congratulations in the comments – and welcome to the real world, James!

From the AP, word of a state lege seat pickup in a Florida special election:

Democrat Darren Soto narrowly defeated Republican Tony Suarez on Tuesday by just 285 votes for an open House seat in central Florida.

Soto, an attorney, won the Orange and Osceola County seat with 51.9 percent of the votes, according to unofficial election results from the state. He beat Suarez, who received 48.1 percent of the votes.

This adds to the six state House seats Democrats picked up in the November election.

“The election of Darren Soto bodes extremely well for the future of the Democratic Party in Florida,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman said. “In the pivotal I-4 (Interstate-4) corridor, the Party’s strong ground operation delivered a majority of voters who chose a Democrat because they want government to focus on positive change for the people.”

Soto replaces Rep. John Quinones, a Republican who quit to run for a new seat on the Osceola County Commission.

Nice work, Florida Dems. Hopefully the sign of more good things to come.

From the AP:

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., died early Sunday of cancer, an aide said. Millender-McDonald, who was 68, died at her home in Carson, Calif., said her chief of staff, Bandele McQueen.

McQueen could provide no details on what form of cancer Millender-McDonald had.

The congresswoman had asked for a four- to six-week leave of absence from the House last week to deal with her illness.

She was in her seventh term representing a Southern California district that includes Compton, Long Beach and parts of Los Angeles.

She was active until very recently, in particular establishing a task force just a few weeks ago to look into contested results of the FL-13 race. May she rest in peace.

Attention New Yorkers:

Who: Congressional Candidates Linda Stender (NJ-07), Dan Maffei (NY-25), and Eric Massa (NY-29) – and featured guest Jim Dean (chair of Democracy for America)

What: “Expanding our Majority: On to 2008!”  – a fundraiser for DFA

When: Wednesday, 4/25 – 6pm to 8pm

Where: Manhattan (Upper East Side)

For more info & to RSVP, click here. You can also contact Rachel Moss at (802) 651-3200, ext. 134 or rmoss@democracyforamerica.com. A wide range of contribution levels are available for anyone who would like to attend, including a special student rate of just $35.

So if you’re in town, this is a great chance to meet some of our strongest rematch contenders for 2008, plus Jim Dean, brother of Howard and a supremely good guy. Let’s go Team Blue!

(Bumpedity bumped. – promoted by James L.)

Could this really be true? Via MyDD, John Warner’s campaign finance report for 1Q 2007 – and the first line is really all you need:

Total Receipts: $500

No, I’m not leaving off a “K” at the end there. That’s five hundred dollars even – five Benjamins exactly. Is this for real? Or did some staffer or FEC clerk screw up?

Fact is, I could believe it. I definitely could. Jon Singer over at MyDD thinks that Warner would have to be literally turning money away in order to raise so little. Perhaps he’s just using his dead presidents to light cigars. (But even then, he’d have to report it! So can that theory.) But John Warner is an old man, and he may well be hanging up his spurs.

In that case, clear the path for Mark Warner. And hang on to your hats in VA-11, a dead-even swing district whose current Rep., Tom Davis, is the likely Republican nominee in the event of a John “Five Franklins” Warner retirement.

Race Tracker: VA-Sen | VA-11