A GOP businessman has switched races from running in Rep. Joe Sestak’s (D-Pa.) district to running in Rep. Jim Gerlach’s (R-Pa.).
Pa2010.com reports that Steven Welch is stepping aside for former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan (R), who is set to announce he is switching races himself, from governor to Sestak’s seat. Sesyak’s seat is now open with the incumbent running in a primary against Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).
Gerlach’s seat is open too, as he is running for governor, and both his 6th district and Sestak’s 7th are expected to be among the top handful of House races in the nation.
While the GOP averts a tough primary in Sestak’s district, they now face one in Gerlach’s district. State Rep. Curt Schroder and another candidate are running for Gerlach’s seat.
Pa2010.com reports that Welch lives in the 7th district, but most of his hometown lies within the 6th.
Democrats are running state Rep. Bryan Lentz for Sestak’s seat and former newspaper editorialist Doug Pike in Gerlach’s district.
Contrary to some speculation, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) won’t be running against Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).
Former Rep. Martin Meehan looks to be out of the running for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, or then again, maybe he’s not.
The NRCC wants to get rid of Rep. Ike Sketon (D-Mo.), But GOP Sen. Kit Bond (Mo.) doesn't.
MinnPost.com’s Eric Black – one of my favorite bloggers – notes that Minnesota will likely be forced to move its primary from September to August. It should aid Democrats’ efforts to recover from an early primary in Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) district.
Speaking of Bachmann, here’s the latest installment in her efforts to shock us with her words.
Potential GOV candidate Rudy Giuliani to be a guest on The View on … wait for it … Sept. 11.
Speaker son Ethan Hastert (R) could have more primary opposition in the race for Rep. Bill Foster’s (D-Ill.) seat.
Conservative talk show host Sean Hannity isn't ruling out a more formal life in politics, according to some remarks he made on his television show Thursday night.
Appearing on a discussion panel, Hannity made reference to a report on the conservative website WorldNetDaily that he may run for president.
The bombastic anchor didn't address those rumors directly, but left the door open to elected office.
"I would run for office at some point in my life," he said. "Yes, I would."
"I've never made a decision in my life without -- whatever destiny God has you've got to fulfill it," Hannity said. "I'm not sure that's my destiny."
Interestingly, Hannity appeared on the panel alongside former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz, who'd mulled running for Congress as a Republican against Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.) for a short amount of time before ruling out a challenge.
Watch a video of Hannity's remarks, flagged by the liberal group Media Matters for America, below:
Massachusetts lawmakers are beginning to rally behind a plan that would allow for a special appointment to fill the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D) seat, giving Democrats in Washington the votes they need to advance their agenda.
State law requires a special election to fill a vacancy, to be held between 145 and 160 days of a vacancy occurring. The law was changed in 2004, when Sen. John Kerry (D) sought the White House and Republican Gov. Mitt Romney (R) held the power to appoint a replacement.
Were a special election to occur, virtually all of the state's ten Democratic members of Congress have been mentioned as potential candidates, along with several widely-known officials who have held office in the state.
But with healthcare legislation and the rest of an ambitious Democratic agenda hanging in the balance, support is growing for a quick legislative fix, which would give Gov. Deval Patrick (D) the power to appoint a temporary replacement.
It is an idea Kennedy himself urged on his home state legislators. In a letter last week, Kennedy told Patrick and leaders in both chambers on Beacon Hill he supported changing the law.
Democratic leaders expressed willingness to push forward with such a proposal, but it would take time to work its way through the state legislative process, which could delay any possible appointment significantly and perhaps make the effort moot.
Patrick told a local radio station Wednesday that he would support such a change, and state Senate President Therese Murray has reportedly warmed to the idea after giving it a cold reception.
Patrick said he would urge the State Legislature to adopt the change.
A leading labor group is launched a series of online advertisements Friday, seeking to thank Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) for tentatively backing "card check" legislation -- and hold him to that pledge.
American Rights at Work, a nonpartisan group backed by organized labor, set off an advertising campaign on Pennsylvania and national news websites building on Specter's pledge at a conference of liberal bloggers earlier this month that he would back cloture for a modified version of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
"I expect the cloture vote to occur on a modified version of the Employee's Free Choice legislation," Specter told the bloggers. "And I will support that cloture vote."
That position marked a reversal of Specter's previous stance, before he switched parties to seek reelection as a Democrat, when he pledged to not only oppose EFCA, but also any vote to end debate and bring it up for a final vote.
The American Rights at Work ad says Specter "listened" to that group in crafting his stance on the card check bill, a union organizing bill strongly supported by organized labor, and tells viewers to "thank Senator Specter and make sure he keeps listening."
The ad will run on national sites like the New York Times, Washington Post, and MSNBC websites, as well as several prominent political sites in Pennsylvania: Philly.com, PoliticsPA.com, KeystonePolitics.com, GrassrootsPA.com, and YoungPhillyPolitics.com.
Three or four Massachusetts lawmakers may look at running for the vacant seat in their state, but many will be discouraged because of plum House positions, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Thursday.
"Frankly, in 2004, most of us were thinking about running when John Kerry looked like he might become president, because we were in the minority," Frank said in a telephone interview on MSNBC. "And when you're in the minority, you don't have much of an impact."
Frank backed the idea of an interim senator to replace the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) before a special election could be held, but said it would be a mistake for some lawmakers to give up high-ranking positions in the House.
But the veteran House member, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, seemed to take himself -- and others -- out of consideration for the Senate seat.
"I've got a committee chairmanship that's very important to me and to the things I'm trying to do," Frank said, naming Reps. Ed Markey (D) and Jim McGovern (D) as others with important positions.
"I think three or four may run, but I think many of us have positions now that it would be a mistake to give up," he added.
Frank praised the late senator, but noted that his voice had been absent for some months now in the Senate, as Kennedy had been holed up in Massachusetts during his struggle against cancer.
President Obama will not weigh in on whether he thinks the Massachusetts governor should be able to point a quick successor to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).
White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters at Martha's Vineyard on Thursday that the president prefers to leave the decision up to state officials.
"The decision of how Massachusetts will be represented in the United States Senate is up to the people and representatives of Massachusetts, and their governor," Burton said. "That's just not a scale that he's going to put his thumb on."
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has backed efforts pushed by the senator shortly before his death to appoint a quick interim senator to fill the vacancy before a special election could be held.
With the high-stakes debate over healthcare continuing this fall, a successor to Kennedy could be critical in determining the fate of reform Kennedy termed the cause of his life.
The White House declined to say how the senior senator's absence would affect the political calculus over healthcare, arguing that it would be inappropriate at this time.
"People are going to have discussions about this, but the president thinks today isn't the appropriate time to do that," Burton said.
The press secretary also described the personal role Kennedy had played with Obama, especially during the height of the presidential campaign.
"It was obviously incredible and immeasurable in some ways. He endorsed President Obama as a candidate at a time that provided a cannon burst for the campaign," Burton said. "It would be hard to replicate on any other way."
Ohio House candidate Jim Renacci's (R) day job as an Arena Football League owner was supposed to help him in his race against Rep. John Boccieri (D-Ohio).
But at least one AFL fan isn't happy to see Renacci take the plunge, noting that he was supposed to be responsible for saving the league from its impending doom.
Writing in the Grand Rapids, Mich., Press (where they also have an AFL team), columnist Brian VanOchten tears Renacci a new one:
No wonder the Arena Football League remains in limbo.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Jim Renacci, co-owner of the Columbus Destroyers and leader of the AFL Board of Directors' restructuring effort, has been preoccupied with launching a political campaign.
Renacci filed paperwork to run for a U.S. House seat in northeast Ohio.
And here's the punch line: He says his priority will be job creation.
The lack of leadership from Renacci, former mayor of Wadsworth, Ohio, has resulted in hundreds of jobs lost in numerous communities -- including Grand Rapids -- that supported AFL teams.
The AFL canceled its 2009 season last December because of financial problems amid crumbling economic conditions. The league recently announced it suspended operations indefinitely.
So, now, it appears Renacci has abandoned the league.
Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) announced Thursday that he would not seek reelection to a fifth term in office, declining to run for any higher office in the immediate future.
"I will not seek another term as governor of Vermont," Douglas said during a press conference at Vermont's statehouse in Burlington.
"I know there will be some speculation about my future plans," Douglas quickly added. "I am not running for president. I'm not running for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House or any other office in 2010."
Douglas, a centrist Republican, has been elected to four two-year terms as Vermont's governor. National Republicans had sought to draw him into the Senate race in 2006, to run against then-Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the open seat.
While Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is up for reelection in 2010, Sanders won't be up until 2012 -- leaving the slightest possibility open that Douglas could challenge the considerably less entrenched Sanders (relative to Leahy, at least) in that cycle.
Douglas cited a desire to hand over the reins of state government to someone new as part of his desire to decline reelection, noting that his first grandson had been born recently, and that he wished to spend more time with family after a grueling work schedule.
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