Month: January 2009

The Senate overwhelmingly passed the S-CHIP reauthorization and expansion today, 66-32. All of the nays were Republicans. Here’s a roll call of the GOP crumb-bums up for re-election in 2010:

Bennett (R-UT)

Bunning (R-KY)

Burr (R-NC)

Coburn (R-OK)

Crapo (R-ID)

DeMint (R-SC)

Grassley (R-IA)

Gregg (R-NH)

Isakson (R-GA)

McCain (R-AZ)

Shelby (R-AL)

Vitter (R-LA)

Never will you find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Fortunately, though, quite a few of these troglodytes are vulnerable or are weighing retirement: Bunning, Burr, Grassley, Gregg & Vitter. I look forward to seeing them all get bashed over the head with their callous cruelty toward children. They deserve it.

Marist

611 Registered Voters

MoE +/- 4%

Gillibrand (D-Inc.) 49%

King (R) 24%

The poll was taken on January 26th, 2009

http://www.maristpoll.marist.e…

Gillibrand looks set for re-election.  King will need to think he has a hell of a case to  make to New York voters if he is going to put himself out there and run.  

Buchanan met with National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn yesterday to discuss a potential Senate campaign, and was escorted by the retiring Sen. Mel Martinez.  

Buchanan’s biggest asset is his personal wealth: When he first ran for the House in 2006, he spent $5.45 million of his own money into the race.  He would be able to, at least partially, self-finance a Senate campaign.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/…

With people expecting Rubio and Mack to run, this could throw a wrench in the mix.  It could open up some hot territory for Democrats, seeing as FL-13 is only R+4, if third parties don’t plague our chances.    

Roll Call:

Tennessee Rep. Lincoln Davis (D) closed the door Thursday evening on the possibility of making a gubernatorial run in 2010, a move he had been considering.

In a statement, Davis cited his recent appointment to the Appropriations Committee as a key reason behind his decision.

At the very least, this means that Republicans won’t get to take an easy crack at Davis’ conservative TN-04 CD — its old PVI was R+3, but Obama absolutely cratered in the district, taking only 34% of the vote, compared to 41% for John Kerry in 2004 and a remarkable 49% for Al Gore in 2000.

With Davis keeping his perch in the House, the field is now clear for… well, Harold Ford, Jr., I guess. Another possible name who may be convinced to take a crack at the race is state Sen. Andy Berke.

Holy shit if true:

The Obama administration has been floating the idea of naming Republican Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.) to be Commerce Secretary, several Senate sources said Thursday.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Gregg’s nomination was far from a done deal, but remains a serious possibility. Reached by phone, Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said he had no comment on whether he has been in talks with the White House about the post.

At first glance, this move might seem like TEH AWESOME – 60 SEATS0Rz! But believe it or not, I think this is actually bad for a lot of reasons. On the merits, Gregg is a conservative Republican – hardly the kind of guy I want running an important cabinet department. Of course, that’s neither here nor there for the purposes of SSP.

But electorally, it also troubles me. Gov. John Lynch would get to fill the vacancy, and he is very untrustworthy when it comes to matters of partisanship. He’s said ten times as many nice things about John McCain as he has about any Democrat. He’s regularly undermined Dems seeking elective office in New Hampshire, more than once supporting their Republican rivals (like GOP state Sen. Bob Odell). He’s just really not much a Dem.

In short, if there is any sitting Dem governor who might appoint a Republican in circumstances like this, it’s Lynch. At the very least, I think there’s almost no way he’d appoint Paul Hodes, who is our strongest candidate and a proud progressive. Lynch would very likely appoint a wishy-washy Lieberdem, perhaps even 2004 Lieberman national co-chair Katrina Swett (who briefly ran for Sununu’s seat last cycle).

These rumors may well amount to nothing. And even if they do pan out, Lynch could surprise us with a good pick, who with Franken would give us 60 seats in the Senate. But I don’t think the odds of that are high, and really, I’m not loving this.

UPDATE: As Populista points out, though, if this helps us pass the Employee Free Choice Act, then it’s worth it.

Bye-bye, Blago:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich was unanimously convicted at his impeachment trial and thrown out of office Thursday, ending a nearly two-month crisis that erupted with his arrest on charges he tried to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. Blagojevich becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment.

After a four-day trial, the Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict him of abuse of power, automatically removing the second-term Democrat. Democratic Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, one of his critics, immediately became governor.

In a second 59-0 vote, the Senate further barred Blagojevich from ever holding public office in Illinois again.

“We have this thing called impeachment and it’s bleeping golden and we’ve used it the right way,” Democratic state Sen. James Meeks of Chicago said during the debate, mocking Blagojevich’s expletive-laden words as captured by the FBI on a wiretap.

We are the Governor of Illinois.

God bless Bill “Brain Fade” Sali. He’s aiming for a comeback:

Republican former congressman Bill Sali is preparing for a rematch against Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick in 2010.

Sali filed a statement of candidacy Monday with the Federal Election Commission, taking on the same “Sali for Congress” name he used in his 2006 and 2008 campaigns.

But Sali isn’t the only Republican who may take a crack at his old seat. The Idaho Statesman reports that state Sen. John McGee, former state Controller Keith Johnson, and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden are all mulling the race. Bill Sali’s best bet may be for all of them to jump in, allowing him to squeak through with a bare plurality — much like his ’06 primary win, when he gobbled up just 26% of the vote to earn his party’s nomination.

I have to wonder: will the Club For Growth stand by their man this time?

UPDATE (David): Let me add that Mustang Sali still owes about $125K in various debts. This was a serious problem for him last cycle – stiffing vendors in the small world of Idaho politics is a sure way to make enemies, one of the few things Sali is actually really good at. Continuing to stiff folks is an even surer way of getting your asses handed to you.

Roll Call:

Orthopedic surgeon and retired Army Lt. Col. Wayne Mosley (R) will make the Congressional bid in 2010 that many Republicans had hoped he’d make in 2008.

Mosley had been talked up in GOP circles in the previous cycle as the best candidate against Rep. John Barrow (D) in the eastern Georgia 12th district, but he backed away from the race in late 2007.

Now, the decorated veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has already filed his 2010 statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. In that filing he indicated he intended to spend half a million dollars of his own money on the race.

Mosley appears to be a considerable upgrade for the GOP here, whose 2008 nominee, radio “personality” John Stone, spent just $280K and went on to suffer a 32-point defeat at Barrow’s hands. Still, even without a presidential campaign to turn out the district’s African-American community in full force, Mosley will be facing a tough task against an incumbent who finally seems to be entrenching himself two elections after this district’s boundaries were redrawn.

Not quite what you may be thinking:

Totally awesome.

(Via Wil Wheaton)

From Tim Craig:

The first battle of the 2009 general election campaign for governor will take place next week when voters in Fairfax County go to the polls to elect a new board chairman.

Emboldened by the near victory of a GOP House candidate in heavily Democratic Alexandria earlier this month, Virginia Republicans are hoping Fairfax Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) can defeat his Democratic opponent, Supervisor Sharon S. Bulova (Braddock), in the chairman’s race.

In effort to lay the groundwork for his own campaign this fall, Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell (R) has dispatched paid canvassers and volunteers to help Herrity. By the end of the weekend, McDonnell’s staff estimates they will have knocked on more than 15,000 doors. McDonnell plans to campaign with Herrity on Monday.

Not to be outdone, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe is turning his Mclean headquarters into a daily phone banking center in support of Bulova. While much of the work will be done by volunteers, McAuliffe plans to man the phones on Saturday.

Dems Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds are also offering their assistance to Bulova. In a way, it may be Moran who has the most to prove. The Alexandria race Craig refers to in the second graf was actually a special election to fill Moran’s own seat in the House of Delegates (he resigned to campaign full time). As Craig explained in an earlier post, the Dems’ 16-vote narrow escape was a real embarrassment given that the district had voted 75% for Obama.

The Fairfax chairman post, meanwhile, was held by Gerry Connolly, who of course just entered the U.S. House of Representatives. Connolly has started asserting himself early as a member of Congress, whipping freshmen to support Henry Waxman’s ouster of John Dingell as chair of the Energy & Commerce committee, so this race probably means a good deal to him as well.

If the Dem wins, I expect we’ll see all kinds of competing claims over who deserves credit. Of course, the GOP will just say that the Dems should have won, and they’d be right – Fairfax went 60-39 for Obama. On the other hand, a loss or even a close call will lead to predictable recriminations and give Virginia Republicans a dose of momentum they certainly don’t deserve. Regardless of who wins our gubernatorial primary, that’s something the Dems can’t afford.

Rep. Allen Boyd announced today that he won’t be running for the open Senate seat in Florida in 2010. While Boyd (fairly conservative even by Blue Dog standards) might have been a decent prospect in the general, he may not have been enthused about his prospects for making it out of the primary, where two more liberal Miami-area politicians, Rep. Kendrick Meek and State Sen. Dan Gelber, are already jockeying for position. As a bonus, this means not having to defend an open seat in the Republican-leaning FL-02 in the Panhandle.

On the Republican side of the ledger, Attorney General (and Clinton impeachment manager and two-time Senate loser) Bill McCollum also bowed out today. While he was the front-runner in the GOP field according to last week’s Quinnipiac poll, that may have been based more on name recognition as a frequent statewide candidate (and certainly not on likeability).

Politico reports that it’s still full speed ahead for two other GOPers: former State House Speaker Marco Rubio and Rep. Connie Mack IV, although neither one has formally announced anything. On the Dem side, one other name cropped up yesterday, that hadn’t been mentioned before: Tampa mayor Pam Iorio publicly expressed her interest in the race. She could make things interesting, as the I-4 Corridor becomes more of a locus of Democratic strength in Florida while Meek and Gelber divide the Miami-area vote.