With just days to the 2009 election, we can prepare for ourselves an avalanche of media reports, blog posts, tweets, e-mails (OK, you get the idea) of what the results in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races mean for President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.
Truth to be told, it won’t mean much no matter what happens. Why, you say? First, with about a year to the 2010 midterm elections and three years to the presidential elections, the results of what happens in Virginia (McDonnell will win, unfortunately), and New Jersey (Corzine will win, fortunately) will be long forgotten. Second, as much as people want to make state races in an off-year about the incumbent president’s popularity or lack thereof, they really come down to state issues (not national ones), and how candidates and campaigns ran against each other. That being said, nothing will stop the avalanche of stories and comments by the political intelligentsia, who will try to extract national meaning from two state races that at best can be described as traditionally blue (New Jersey) and purple (Virginia).
In highly contested elections, candidates are rarely asked
questions that pertain to their personal lives, as their political agendas
command all the attention. It is in this regard that Kathy Kemper stands apart.
Kemper not only gets answers to the most pertinent of issues, but also explores
the candidates’ tastes and preferences. This is Part III of a series.
Q: What do you do to relax? How do you stay fit? What are you
most proud of? What book are you reading now? What is your favorite sport to
watch on TV? What is on your Ipod these days?
Sen. Creigh Deeds (D): I enjoy spending time with my
family—especially outdoors.
As a baseball fan, I was excited to hear that they’re
bringing minor league baseball back to Richmond. I think that’s a great thing
for the community and for everybody in Richmond who loves baseball. I look
forward to getting out to cheer on the home team next year.
The Hill's A.B. Stoddard answers a viewer question about congressional term limits and looks at how Tea Party Republicans and other third-party candidates may help Democrats in several upcoming elections.
Minnesota Gov. Tim
Pawlenty (R), a 2012 presidential prospect, has stepped into the fray and
endorsed the third-party candidate in NY-23, leaving former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich (R-Ga.) all by his lonesome in the GOP establishment.
Doug Hoffman,
who is running against Democrat Bill Owens and liberal Republican Dede
Scozzafava, has now earned the endorsements of Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov.
Sarah Palin, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and former House Majority
Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas). Scozzafava, a State Assemblywoman, supports
abortion rights, card-check for unions and same-sex marriage.
Read more...
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) filled up a large room with
gay activists at New York’s LGBT Community Center yesterday for a 45-minute town
hall meeting that touched on many issues important to the community. Questions ranged
from gay persecution in Iraq to repealing “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Although she
has been a vocal supporter of LGBT rights since her January appointment, this was
the first time she faced an entirely gay audience for open questions. She did quite
well.
It is easy for Democrats with healthy majorities in both houses of Congress and a president riding high in public approval to laugh at the site of the former president's brother, the House minority whip and a defeated presidential candidate sitting on stools at a pizza parlor in a Virginia suburb of Washington, trying to start a comeback for the GOP. Though the National Council for a New America hasn't exactly come up with any new policy proposals, I applaud Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) for acknowledging that when you find yourself in a hole the first thing you must do is stop digging.
Read more...
It was a small victory. A couple of Republicans won local elections in the Democratic bastion of Alexandria, Va. But it is a start.
Why did voters say they voted for the Republican? According to The Washington Post, the reasons varied. One said that he voted for the person, not the party. Another thought that electing a Republican would give more balance to the City Council, and perhaps inspire it to work in a bipartisan way.
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As Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) continues to question whether Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) is a real Democrat yet, was it wise of the newest Democrat to declare on "Meet The Press" on Sunday that he never promised to be a loyal Democrat?
One thing is clear amid the settling dust that follows Specter's explosive defection last week: His party switch has produced the same effect that the AIG bonuses did — anger in both parties.
Read more...
There’s no question the political winds are dead into the face of congressional Republicans these days.
Even with a hard shift to the left by President Obama and his Democrat cohorts, Americans remain willing to give the party of FDR more latitude and flexibility to pursue its liberal agenda, pending any massive lurches that throw the entire country off track.
Despite Treasury Secretary Geithner’s best attempts to do just that, public opinion of the administration remains high. Polls out just this week show most Americans don’t blame Obama for the financial mess, alluding to the argument that many are anxious to see how he will get us out of this mess.
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The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has apparently decided to keep $100K in contributions from Bernie Madoff, who faces up to 150 years in prison for swindling billions from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Elie Wiesel, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick in a massive Ponzi scheme.
In campaigns, one side often calls on the other to return money for one reason or another. Sometimes it's valid, sometimes not. Regardless, it's Campaign 101. But when the contributor in question is the single biggest financial criminal in history, there can be no question that those illicit funds should not remain in campaign coffers.
Read more...
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