I just got in from an enjoyable night with old college friends…and no, still no snow here in New York, so FORECAST FAIL!
During the course of the night, I was reminded of a fun little political factoid.
It’s possible that Barack Obama’s Senate seat could be lost to Republican Mark Kirk if the rumored scandals about Democrat Alexi Giaanoulius turn out to be true. If it happens, it would be a terrible embarassment, but not something unique for a Democratic President. Let me explain…
Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) placed a hold on 70 executive nominations…yes 70…meaning the Democrats need to muster 60 votes to proceed to a debate to proceed to another cloture vote, or wait until Shelby nicely releases the holds…and you wonder why people don’t trust the government with their healthcare?
Why would a Republican Senator put a blanket hold on nearly six dozen executive nominations?
I’ve been thinking a lot about the insane enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans lately. I noticed a point where that gap began happening among people I know. When once politically-dominated conversations turned into “Can we talk about something else?” or “I don’t care anymore.”
Despite what the blogsphere might tell you, I don’t think it has anything to do with Obama or the public option or gays or not prosecuting Bush or even jobs (as most of my friends have one), I think it has more to do with the voters themselves. I warn you, we’re a generation that uses rough language. I will not make it PG for you;
I’m doing a story about banks and their importance to the economy of the New York area. I interviewed a major figure in a New York investment bank this morning, and was struck by his comments. Here’s what he said on the record;
“The market is down three percent in the past two days. It doesn’t like these reforms, it’s clearly an attempted government takeover of our financial system. We’ll fight it in the courts if we have to. These are too draconian. We don’t see the President putting these regulations on auto companies, for example.”
My new job is great because I get to spend a lot of time with local Queens politicians and I’m beginning to get to know them really well. My IPhone is chock full of cell phone numbers for State Senators, Assemblymen and Councilmen. Today I went to Anthony Weiner’s Queens office…I am doing a story about volunteer ambulance corps in Queens. After the press event at his office, the Congressman gathered his bags and began heading out to DC
We ended up in the same elevator and had a short, but candidate conversation about heathcare. Weiner is known for not being a compromiser, for being one of those shit-flingers I mentioned before, but when his back is against the wall, Weiner has compromised in the past and has voted against the liberals (see Iraq War)
Phonebanking for Martha Coakley has been perhaps the most frustrating and heartbreaking experience of my life. I’ve come to the conclusion, based on this experience, Massachusetts will soon have a Republican senator.
The most striking thing was the complete apathy about the election from younger voters and minorities, both of whom still overwhelmingly approve of President Obama and his policies, and both of whom are barely registering among likely voters in the upcoming Senate election in Mass. Why aren’t they rushing to the polls to keep Ted Kennedy’s seat blue and why aren’t rushing to the polls to protect the agenda they claim to support?
PPP released their poll on the Massachusetts Senate race and they have Republican Scott Brown LEADING Democrat Martha Coakley by a point.
One could argue Coakley is running a bad campaign, but why the fuck is a Republican even getting 48% of the vote in Massachusetts
Our day are numbered. This is an open thread.
Four Democrats dropped out of 2010 races yesterday, the most damaging being Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who very likely just flipped his seat to the Republicans.
The Jane F**king Hamsher left seems to think Dorgan is a petulant child and decided to retire, and throw his seat to the GOP, because he lost a vote on drug importation from Canada because of a White House deal with pharma companies (drug importation IMO is a terrible idea, but I digress). Of course the more likely scenario is Dorgan, who has never run a competitive race in his history, now probably suddenly has to since John Hoeven began throwing around hints that he was planning on running. Also, to add insult to injury, North Dakota’s lone member of the House, Democrat Earl Pomeroy, said he won’t run…not that progressives are enamored with him either, considering his Blue Dogness and opposition to a robust public option in the House bill back in the Fall.
Some say the goal of terrorists is to kill people…I say if that’s true, they’d be called mass murderers or homicidal manaics and not terrorists. Their goal is to terrorize people, whether by killing a large number of people, or by attempting to, and one wonders; when we start arresting people because they had an onset of diarreah on an airplane or we start banning people from going to the bathroom on a …plane an hour before landing, are they kicking our ass at it?
From the breaking news file
Democratic senators say they have a tentative deal to drop a government-run insurance option from health care legislation. No further details were immediately available.
But liberals and moderates have been discussing an alternative, including a private insurance arrangement to be supervised by the federal agency that oversees the system through which lawmakers purchase coverage. Additionally, talks centered on opening up Medicare to uninsured Americans beginning at age 55, a significant expansion of the large government health care program that currently serves the over-65 population.
Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa told reporters he didn’t like the agreement but would support it to the hilt in an attempt to pass health care legislation.
Let’s watch the blogsphere as it enters freakout mode.