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Good afternoon, Progressive Electorate readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos.
This is an open source project, so feel free to add your own insights. Here's the news I found lurking around the Internets...
#1 I've got a couple of longshot candidates for you to check out. Rodney Glassman is running for Arizona Senate. There's been a blue drift from California Democrats moving to Nevada and Arizona for a while now. The Republicans are battling it out with McCain taking on rightwing talk show host JD Hayworth. If things get ugly enough could Rodney Glassman pick up the seat as a Democrat in AZ?
#2 Jack Conway is the Attorney General of Kentucky and he's running for Jim Bunning's Senate seat as a D. Just like in Arizona there's a hotly contested GOP primary. Republican party heir and Secretary of State Trey Grayson is losing in the polls to Dr. Ron Paul's son Rand Paul. Conway is a sharp egg, he could steal this seat.
#3 Have you joined the Coffee Party? It's a counter movement to the Tea Parties. But they seem to be adopting none of the loud and vile tactics of the teabaggers. One more benefit Coffeebagger is not a synonym for testicle sucking. The St. Louis chapter sounds like an interesting group.
"If we become the antithesis of the Tea Party, we cease to have any function," says Lear. "We're not looking to balance extremes. It's this idea of a cup of coffee. When we sit down with people to drink a cup of coffee, we're not at each other's throats."[...]
"I am concerned about the public discourse in our country that too much of the squeaky wheels get the grease," says Mary Kay Christian[...]
"Well, what we call this is an Astro Turf movement," says Jim Hoft, a conservative blogger and leader of the St. Louis Tea Party movement[...]
"It's driven from the top down and it's not a grass roots movement driven from the bottom up," says Hoft.
"I'm a home schooling dad working on my master at Lindenwold (University)," says Lear[...]
"I don't think it's particularly useful for me to sit at a table with only people who see things the way I do. It's hard to see the mud on my own back," says Lear.
#4 President Obama dropped in on a meeting insurance executives were having with HHS Kathryn Sebelius. He read to them a letter from someone who badly needs healthcare reform.
#5 Rep. Bart Stupak has either been lying about what abortion language is in the Senate bill or he hasn't read the bill. Jonathan Karl at ABC World News fact checked Bart Stupak and found one of his claims to be false.
I didn't quite catch that part about abortion, was Stupak's concern that subsidies provided for poor people's insurance would put them in a place where they'd buy abortion coverage? If not for the subsidies they wouldn't have the $1 abortion fee option? Or is he saying the subsidies would fund the abortions?
Good afternoon, Progressive Electorate readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos. We'll be here all weekend.
This thread has been declared open source, so feel free to add your insights.
On a local note: The Pentagon Metro stop reopened this afternoon. More details on that over the fold.
Good afternoon, Progressive Electorate readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos.
As always, this is a feature on Congress Matters. Don't miss The Most Important News of the Day™. It really is that important today.
All the Hill news that fit to blog is over the fold...
Conan O'Brien closed out his final show with Will Ferrell and his very pregnant wife singing Free Bird. Conan joined in on the guitar. Good times. Great memories. Is that ZZ Top in the band?
Good afternoon, Daily Kos readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos.
Good afternoon, Progressive Electorate readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos.
Today's Most Important News of the Day™ features -- who else? -- Sarah Palin. Also be sure to read MoT's story below about Russ Feingold.
Good afternoon, Progressive Electorate readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos.
As always, this is a crosspost from CongressMatters. This is the important news of the day. Okay, maybe only some of it. So if you disagree, go watch Casual Wednesday suggestion of the public advocacy class covered on CSPAN. Or cross the Eastern Continental Divide in winter to deliver a WVU student. I was in hiding after the Gator Bowl.
Good afternoon, Progressive Electorate readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos. We'll be checking in all weekend, especially if the snowpocalypse hits.
#1 Florida State lineman Zebrie Sanders takes a play off!
Have you ever seen anything like that? lol
#2 Rep. Maurice Hinchey says that the Bush administration pulled off Usama Bin Laden in Tora Bora because if they'd have captured him there'd be no good reason to attack Iraq.
• In 2000, the Pentagon admitted it has lost - yes, lost - $2.3 trillion. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a subsequent Department of Defense study said it was only $1 trillion. To put such numbers in perspective, contemplate what those sums could finance. $1 trillion, for instance, could pay the total cost of universal health care for the long haul. $2.3 trillion would cover universal health care plus the bank bailout plus the stimulus package.
Obviously - obviously! - these points are no cause for alarm and certainly no cause for military spending reductions, right? All they must prove is that the archconservative Cato Institute, William Randolph Hearst's newspaper chain, National Journal employees and Pentagon officials are secretly America-hating liberals.
And - obviously! - so are two of the most aggressive neoconservative hawks ever to hold government office, Sen. John McCain and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. After all, they're the ones who issued those scathing statements about wasteful military spending in the pop quiz above. That means they're actually terrorist-appeasing lefties, right?
(Thanks for the diary. Some very good succinct points. - promoted by admin)
They are calling themselves "National Council for a New America" - ahem, this may be another Contract On America. It is interesting that Limbaugh said good riddance to Specter, he can take McCain and daughter with him. McCain did a little better than that. I can not wait to see how this is going to unfold. I may just do a blog being on the National Council for a New America watch. The Republican party has officially imploded. The only word I can use to describe this well factioned group is the repubrushpaulicans. Looks like this is going to be a 40 year walk in the wilderness if they think they will be able to muster up a formidable offense for 2010 or 2012.
John McCain appeared for 2,000 folks in Cobb County yesterday to sing his praises for Saxby Chambliss. I'm not sure he had 2,000 people at one of his own rallies.
Well apparently Zell Miller (I thought I would never have to write about him) came out of retirement and the mountains to urge Georgia faithful to vote for Saxby.
"It's good to be among you again," Miller told the crowd, which cheered its approval. "It is critical that we keep Saxby's voice and vote in Washington."
Miller said Chambliss could be the "last man standing" in front of a "far-left agenda" that Martin wants to help the Obama administration push. He zeroed-in on Obama's pledge to increase taxes on higher-income Americans and give tax breaks to most others.
"To steal from Peter to pay Paul, even if it gets Paul to vote for you, is wrong, wrong, wrong," Miller said.
Remind me why Zell Miller was a Democrat. Or am I dreaming that he ever was?
So I had intended to finish this evening in one big bang blowout post of five states. Well, I got sidetracked trying to rearrange the site. Anyone notice?
I've got to be up early in the morning, so I'm going to do Virginia (that sounds kind of freaky huh?) and then go read a wonderful book that I will fill you in on later in the week. What a tease!!
Virginia
Virginia did not go blue overnight. Trends had been moving in this direction for the last eight years. Look at the Northern Virginia population that moved from Bush to Kerry in 2004. That was significant when you add in the counties that moved blue for Jim Webb in 2006. The Chesapeake area moving strong to Obama shored up the Democratic base.
All those factors combined plus the Republicans falling apart in the Senate race and an Obama victory was in effect.
Senate - Mark Warner won by over a million votes in the Open Senate race. Warner and Webb serving together will be the first time that Two Democratic Senators served together since 1970.
House Races - We know that the Dems won VA-11 (open Northern Virginia Seat) (Gerry Connelly)
and VA-02 (Glenn Nye) - who benefited from Obama's strong effort in the Chesapeake area.
It's not official, but it looks like Tom Perriello will defeat incumbent Virgil Goode. The count has hovered at about a 1,000 vote lead.
Last night, I wrote an article for another site about Jefferson County voting for a skinny black man with a funny last name for President. This is the first time that a Democratic Candidate for President carried Jefferson County since before the Civil Rights era. Neither Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore or Jimmy Carter could carry Jefferson County.
Well this morning The Birmingham News ran a story called Blacks, Liberals Key to Obama win in Jefferson County.
A number of fallacies of thinking in just one headline. Imagine that.
1. If you are black you must not be liberal
2. Only white liberals voted for Obama
3. Black voters voted for Obama because he's black
How do you know if these white voters are liberal?
And I know the Birmingham News, I have been reading the Birmingham News daily since I was eight years old.
And let me tell it, they had to get a jab in by calling all white Obama voters as liberal. Granted they conveniently forget that a number of what would be called influential conservatives voted for Obama.
Black voters vote Democratic regardless, especially here in Jefferson County. They may have come out in higher numbers because of race. However, they could have also come out in higher numbers because of the state of the economy. It's a logical conclusion, but one done without any conclusive data to back up its premise.
What an amazing night!!! The presidential race went about as I predicted.
Unfortunately, all three of our progressive electorate winning candidates lost. Kay Hagan and Jeff Merkley were victorious in their races. We are not sure if Jim Martin made a runoff yet.
I'm shocked Dan Seals did not perform better than he did.
We won NC-08 and the two New Mexico races. California 04 is just too close to call.
I think we made a good run in our races. We definitely feel like a lot of progress was made in some tough seats.
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