Yet another congressman running for governor is finding his day job to be a liability.
With Reps. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) and Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) both calling it quits to focus on running for governor, Rep. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.) is also dealing with the perils of his job title.
The conservative group Americans for Job Security is launching an ad campaign hitting Barrett for voting for the bailout and for accepting stimulus funds for his district.
Former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz says he has no interest in running for retiring Rep. John Linder's (R-Ga.) seat.
In a text-message exchange with an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter, Smoltz said he will not get involved politics:
Me: jim galloway w ajc politics here. Could u call re ur interest in linder seat? Thx.
Smoltz: I do not know what you are talking about I am not in any way involved in anything regarding politics sorry.
Me: [Certain Washington source] says u would make gud candidate to replace john linder who has announced retirement. Interested?
Smoltz: Sorry I am not.
The seat is expected to garner plenty of Republicans, including potentially former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed, Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway, state Sen. Don Balfour, state Sen. David Shafer, state Rep. Tom Rice and state Rep. Clay Cox.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) said Friday
night that he would not scrap every piece of the Democrats' healthcare
reform bill but did not identify a part of it he likes.
Crist, who is in a tough Senate primary match-up with former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (R), told the Palm Beach Post editorial board
Friday night that he would get rid of parts of the bill but would not
start from scratch as Republican leaders have said they would like to
do.
He said:
There
may be parts of it that you don’t have to scrap. There are three parts
of it that I would like to see scrapped: It would raise taxes
significantly, it would raise rates significantly and it would take
half-a-trillion dollars out of Medicare.
I think the real issue
here, as it relates to health care, is that people want it to not cost
so much and people want to have access to it. I think there is a
consensus of agreement that the health care that is delivered in
America is good. But it’s not easy to get it and it’s too expensive
when you do get it.
Republicans
have called on Democrats to start from scratch since they finalized
their healthcare proposals late last year. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
echoed that call in the weekly GOP address Saturday and Republican leaders spent much of the White House healthcare summit on Thursday calling on Democrats to start over.
But when he was asked if there were any parts of the bill he liked, Crist said:
I
don’t think a whole lot. Watching the discussion yesterday [Thursday]
you get a chance to sort of see more of it be ferreted out. You know,
I’m the kind of guy … I’m pragmatic. The stimulus is a great example.
We needed the money. Every other Republican governor took it, too. I
was just maybe a little more honest and straight forward about it.
Well, shame on me for being honest. But, you know, as it relates to
health care, if there are good ideas, I’m willing to look at them. And
I would take that same approach to any issue in Washington.
Asked again if there were any parts he liked he said:
Not at present. No.
Rubio, who is challenging Crist from the right, pounced on Crist's comments.
“Once
again, Charlie Crist has shown why Floridians can't trust him to go to
Washington and stand up to the misguided agenda of President Obama and
Congressional Democrats," he said in a statement.
To Crist's credit, he did criticize parts of the bill but he did not repudiate the entire bill as most Republicans have.
It's becoming a steady drumbeat in the Kentucky Senate race: Trey Grayson attacks, and Rand Paul responds by tying him to President Obama. Now, though, it appears Bill Clinton is fair game too.
In what is shaping up to be one of the nastiest primaries in the country, Paul hit back with an ad for the second time this week.
More interesting about the latest Paul ad is that it points out Grayson voted for "draft-dodger Bill Clinton."
Grayson, a former Democrat, quipped at a GOP function last year that, “Some people in college tried pot; I tried Clinton.”
The GOP field to replace Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) won't include the biggest name of all.
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has announced that he won't run for the seat.
He would have joined a vast field that so far includes former state Sens. Pam Gorman and Jim Waring, former state Rep. Sam Crump, Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker and Ben Quayle, the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle.
Attorney Jon Hulburd remains the only Democrat in the race, which will be an uphill battle for his party.
Former Rep. Merrill Cook (R-Utah) is running for office again. This time he is joining the race for Sen. Robert Bennett's (R-Utah) seat.
Though a former member of Congress, Cook likely won't be taken too
seriously, given his erratic political career. He has transitioned
between running as a Republican and independent and has sought office unsuccessfully several times since leaving Congress.
Cook, who served two terms in Congress last decade, most recently lost at the GOP nominating convention in a bid to win his old 2nd district seat in 2008.
Attorney Mike Lee, former congressional candidate Tim Bridgewater and activist Cherilyn Eager are Bennett's more serious opponents.
"He apparently doesn’t like it. That’s too bad. Welcome to the NFL." -Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, on Senate primary opponent Marco Rubio.
Rubio today was dealing with the fallout from the leak of a state GOP credit card statement that showed he expensed personal items on the party's card.
Crist was responding to Rubio's charges that Crist's campaign was behind the leak.
Democrats in the late Rep. John Murtha's (D-Pa.) district will recommend a candidate on March 6 for the special election to replace him.
The "recommendation convention" will be held at 10 a.m. in Delmont, Pa. The decision will be non-binding, with the final say resting in the hands of the state executive committee on March 8.
Counties in the district will have weighted votes, depending on their share of voters in the 12th district, with the big counties being Cambria, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland.
Republicans will pick their nominee on March 11. In their case, the local counties will have the final say.
The airwaves are starting to light up in Colorado’s GOP
Senate primary, and much of it isn’t benefiting former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton.
The conservative Declaration Alliance is up with TV and
radio ads (see TV ad above) labeling Norton a liberal, big-government bureaucrat. The buys total
about $47,000, according to sources.
And self-funding former state Sen. Tom Wiens is up with his own
$10,000 radio buy in the Denver and Colorado Springs markets.
Norton herself, of course, went up with a TV ad during
President Barack Obama’s recent campaign visit for Sen. Michael Bennet
(D-Colo.).
The early ad buys are significant in a state where the
primary isn’t being held until August. The precinct caucuses begin next month,
though, and Norton’s opponents will likely try to take a bite out of her
there.
UPDATE: The Norton campaign's response: "First and foremost, the Declaration ads are patently false. Jane Norton cut spending in both of her government positions, unlike Ken Buck, who has ballooned his budget by 50 percent since becoming (Weld County District Attorney). But the overarching issue here is that it's unfortunate that Tom Wiens and Ken Buck's supporters would rather attack a fellow conservative than focus on the overspending in Washington."
Arizona Republican Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth is trumpeting support from backers of 2008 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
That would not be considered out of the ordinary, except for the fact that Romney has endorsed the man Hayworth is challenging; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
Hayworth, a former congressman and talk radio host, took to Twitter Wednesday to show that Romney supporters have created a Facebook group titled "Mitt Romney Supporters for JD Hayworth."
Observers predicted that Romney's endorsement would allow McCain, the GOP presidential nominee in 2008, to collect conservative support that he needs since Hayworth is challenging him on the right.
As with any endorsement, it's unclear to which candidate Romney supporters will flock. So far, the Facebook group only has 66 members.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
