On Wednesday, Sen. Jim DeMint ’s Senate Conservatives Fund will be a major contributor to a “money bomb” fundraiser for the GOP Senate campaign of former Florida Speaker Marco Rubio with a goal of raising $200,000 in 24 hours.
The South Carolina Republican had already gathered $115,000 in pledged donations for Rubio as of Monday and it probably would be unwise to bet against him reaching his goal.
Doug Hoffman, last November’s Conservative Party nominee in New York’s 23rd District who is vying again for the seat, is refusing to rule out running as a third-party candidate this year if he fails to win the Republican primary.
And his leading backer, Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long, told POLITICO that he refuses to endorse any candidate other than Hoffman — raising the prospect of another contest in which a fracture on the right enables Democratic Rep. Bill Owens to skate to victory.
Another rift on right looms in N.Y. 23 – Josh Kraushaar – POLITICO.com.
Jack Murtha was the virtue and vice of Congress. He was an old-school pol, the very archetypal backroom Washington dealmaker often derided today. But here was also the disappearing representative many long for: the lawmaker who crossed party lines and got his work done; the politician not easily classified as left or right; the everyman who fiercely served his country in war and in office.
In this era of paper-thin politicians, this was a substantial and complicated character. Murtha was a political grunt in an age of flyboys. He was known for the ugly and the good. And it’s why his death, Monday at age 77, tells a story of not only his life but also a fading era of American politics.
RealClearPolitics – Murtha: the Virtue and Vice of Congress.
The conventional wisdom is that Barack Obama’s decline in the polls represents a new, unexpected turn against him. But an examination of the results of the recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts suggests that what we might really be seeing is a return to the skepticism that significant portions of the electorate have showed about Obama from the beginning of his national career.
For six months during the 2008 primaries, Obama and Hillary Clinton crisscrossed the country wooing voters. Obama consistently failed to win over important parts of the Democratic base, even after it became clear that he was going to be his party’s nominee.
Who is Ayn Rand, and what does her renewed popularity mean? A refugee from Soviet Russiawho fled Communist dictatorship in the 1920s, Rand called herself a radical for capitalism rather than a conservative. Her vision, articulated in several novels and later in nonfiction essays as the philosophy of Objectivism, earned her a sometimes cult-like following in her lifetime and beyond it.
A recent flap in a Berkeley high school reveals what a farce “fairness” can be. Because this is ultra-liberal Berkeley, perhaps we should not be surprised that a proposal has been made to eliminate four jobs as science teachers and use the money saved for programs to help low achievers.
In Berkeley, as in many other communities across the country, black and Latino students are not performing as well as Asian and white students. In fact, the racial gap in academic achievement at Berkeley High School is the highest in California– no doubt a special source of embarrassment in politically correct Berkeley.
Mr. Becker, a lawyer who has served as counsel to the Service Employees International Union and labor federation AFL-CIO, has been struggling for months to win a seat on the NLRB, an independent quasi-judicial federal agency that supervises union elections and referees disputes between employers and employees.
Business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers have lobbied hard against him, citing concerns that Mr. Becker’s writings about labor law suggest he would use a seat on the NLRB to shift the status quo in labor law in favor of unions.
Prospects Dim for Labor Board Nominee Craig Becker – WSJ.com.
Under a 1974 law, the president can submit a “rescission” order on funds that have already been appropriated. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) pledged that their party would supply the 88 votes necessary to force a floor vote on any specific rescission order the president submits.
Boehner, Cantor urge Obama to force votes on spending cuts – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.
The jury is in: Toyota may or may not have a serious quality-control problem. Under government pressure Toyota “voluntarily” recalled cars reportedly subject to sudden acceleration. Some of the acceleration is attributed to pedal mechanics, the rest to floor-mat interactions, but auto industry professionals tend to be skeptical of both, suspecting driver error and panic account for many reported problems.
In just about every speech at their 2008 convention, Democrats promised voters that a change in the White House would, in Barack Obama’s formulation, restore “our moral standing” in the world. Replace the unilateralist cowboy at the top with a humbler multilateralist, and the path would finally be cleared to fix vexing international issues such as curbing carbon emissions and dealing with the mullahs in Iran.
Heavy weekend snowfall closed down the capital of the United States. Not that many outside the Washington Beltway were sorry about it. Possibly — by their reasoning — the blizzard was God’s gift to decent government, a holiday from the ceaseless commotion, braggadocio and show-offing that have become the capital’s principle pastimes.
There is no greater aider and abetter of Al Qaeda than Barack Obama’s White House. Through sheer incompetence and arrogance, they are handing over to Al Qaeda vital intelligence and giving them all the PR they need to effectively recruit new terrorists.
How many Americans will die because of Barack Obama’s handling of national security?
It is Barack Obama Serving Al Qaeda’s Goals – Erick’s blog – RedState.
With incumbent Governor Bill Ritter out of the way, it’s a different ballgame for Colorado Democrats. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has now moved ahead of his likeliest Republican opponent, Scott McInnis, in Colorado’s race for governor.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state shows Hickenlooper with a 49% to 45% lead over McInnis. A month ago, McInnis, a former congressman, had a three-point lead on Hickenlooper, 45% to 42%.
Most voters think the country would be better off if the majority of the current Congress wasn’t reelected this November, and their confidence in their own congressman continues to fall.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of likely voters believe, generally speaking, that it would be better for the country if most incumbents in Congress were defeated this November.
Just 19% disagree and say it would be better if most congressional incumbents were reelected. Another 18% aren’t sure.
The Political Class strongly rejects these views, however. While 78% of Mainstream voters say it would be better for the country if most of the current Congress was turned out of office, 89% of the Political Class think it would be better if most were reelected.
The number of voters nationwide (61%) who give Congress a poor job performance rating is now at its highest level in more than three years. More voters also think most members of Congress are corrupt.
63% Say Better for Country If Most of Congress Not Reelected – Rasmussen Reports™.
Half (50%) of American adults believe abstinence-only education programs are at least somewhat effective in preventing teen pregnancy, but that finding includes just 15% who say they are very effective.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% of Americans disagree, including 29% who say abstinence-only programs are not very effective and 13% who think they are not at all effective.
50% See Abstinence-Only Programs As Effective, 42% Disagree – Rasmussen Reports™.
Ohio Governor: Kasich 47%, Strickland 41
TORONTO — The commander of Canada’s largest Air Force base, who once flew dignitaries around the country, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of two women
Ontario Provincial Police Det. Insp. Chris Nicholas said Monday that Col. Russell Williams, 46, was also charged in the sexual assaults of two other women. Williams was arrested Sunday in Ottawa.
“I don’t see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation,” Steele said. “Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?”
Steele hints critics motivated by race – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.
Some are even questioning whether Mr. Obama has forgotten how he got elected and the promises he made to the people who elected him.
Don’t take my word for any of this. Look at the clear message the American people have been sending at the polls these past few months.
In my native Virginia, voters went to the polls and turned the Democrats out of the Executive Mansion with more votes and by a higher percentage than had ever happened since we ended one- party government rule fifty years ago. I told the president that this could very well happen and did not support his candidate.
Doug Wilder: Obama needs a staff shakeup – L. Douglas Wilder – POLITICO.com.
