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Political Circus: Hotties in the House

Posted on November 12, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — Politics is serious business, but not all of the time. From the halls of Congress to the campaign trail, there’s always something that gets a laugh. Here are some of the things you might have missed.

I’m not just a pretty face!

Check out Politico‘s “10 Crushworthy New Reps” featuring Hansen Clarke, Colleen Hanabusa, Adam Kinzinger and Kristi Noem.

Kinzinger, described by many Hill staffers as “the new hottie on the block,” gets this glowing endorsement from writer Karin Tanabe:

“Why he’s crushworthy: He’s heroic. He won the U.S. Air Force Airman’s Medal for saving a woman’s life in 2007. Plus, we’ll say it: He’s handsome. A pilot and an Iraq war veteran, Kinzinger, in aviators and a flight suit, conjures up memories of Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun’ — which isn’t a bad thing!”

As for GOP rising star Noem from South Dakota? “She’s more than pretty. Noem isn’t just a strikingly attractive woman, she’s a strikingly attractive woman who can run a farm.”

‘A happy wife is happy life’

Republican Sen. John McCain’s wife, Cindy — a staunch supporter of gay rights — is featured in an ad for the NOH8 campaign championing the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

“Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future,” she said in the ad, which features other celebrities. “They can’t serve our country openly.”

Her ad, though, could cause some issues at home. After all, her husband has signaled he is against repealing the law, which bars openly gay men and women from serving in the military.

From the Twitterverse

What’s in a name, you ask? McCain’s daughter Meghan has the answer.

@McCainBlogette: ” ‘Peter Sellers’ was my secret service nickname and has been my pseudonym at hotels for YEARS (whenever a crazy person threatening my family)”

The next South Beach Diet?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and his wife are planning to write a vegan diet book called “The Cleveland Diet.”

It will detail Kucinich’s “evolution from eating a traditional meat-and-potatoes diet to eating no animal products,” according to the article.

Headline of the day

Gawker: “White House Undecided On Whether To Let Republicans Walk All Over Them”

Mama Grizzly’s Alaska, or the other way around?

Sarah Palin’s new reality show, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” premieres this Sunday on The Learning Channel. But it’s already being panned — especially by New York Daily News columnist David Hinckley.

“Whether you think Palin is America’s breath of fresh air or a lightweight opportunist, there can be no argument this show is way more Palin than Alaska,” he wrote. “If she were buying the time, she couldn’t have created a more flattering infomercial.”

Happy to be here? Raise your hands …

In this handout photo to Getty Images, members of the G-20 Economic Summit pose for their class shot. The photo was taken Friday at the fifth meeting of the G-20 group of nations in Seoul, South Korea.

Notable quotable

“President Obama is meeting with world leaders in South Korea today at the G-20 economic summit. John McCain heard ‘G-20,’ and he yelled ‘Bingo!’ ” — George Lopez

Late-night laughs

Stephen Colbert: “Wall Street hands out record bonuses. Poor people — get ready to be trickled down on.”

Jimmy Fallon: “This guy in Indonesia wrote this book about President Obama. … It’s 5,472 pages long — the thickest book in the world. The book is called ‘One of Obama’s Speeches.’ “

David Letterman: “I’ll say this — the president [George W. Bush] looks great now and is everywhere talking about his book. And he is being very candid: In one interview, he said that he used to do stupid things while he was drunk. But think about it: Who among us hasn’t had a couple of drinks and invaded Iraq?”

Political Circus: Hotties in the House

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Tagged congress, country, dealer, family, obama, Politics, president, pseudonym, south-korea, tan, time, wife

A long, nasty campaign comes to an end

Posted on November 1, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — No more robocalls interrupting dinner or angry campaign ads at every TV break — the most expensive mid-term elections in history finally take place Tuesday, when voters decide who goes to Congress and governors’ offices.

Polls indicate a dissatisfied electorate may clean house — literally — by tossing out the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and possibly doing the same in the Senate.

With all predictions, including those of Democrats, signaling Republican gains, the election is considered a referendum on both the Democratic-controlled Congress and President Barack Obama’s first two years in office.

Losses by the governing party are common in the first mid-term election it faces, but the shift Tuesday could rival or match historic levels dating back decades.

Unemployment of 9.6 percent amid a slow recovery from economic recession has been the dominant issue, with Republicans accusing Obama and Democrats of pushing through expensive policies that have expanded government without solving the problem.

Obama has led Democrats in defending his record, saying steps such as the economic stimulus bill and auto industry bailout were necessary to prevent a depression, while health care reform and Wall Street reform will lay the foundation for sustainable future growth.

As voting day approached, voter anger appeared to tune out the Democratic arguments. Conservative groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce funded attack ads that skewered increased spending under Obama and the health care reform bill he championed, while labor unions and traditional Democratic donors backed messaging that warned a GOP victory would bring back Republican deregulation and policies that caused the recession.

The long and bitter campaign season will cost more than $3.5 billion to be the most expensive non-presidential vote ever, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Republicans need to win an additional 39 seats to claim the House majority, and 10 more Senate seats to overtake Democrats there.

With around 100 of the 435 House seats at stake considered “in play,” or competitive, the anti-Democratic mood is predicted to result in big Republican gains.

Video: Does Tea Party help or hurt GOP?

Video: Van Hollen: Pundits will be proven wrong

Video: GOP targets Democrats in New York

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On the Senate side, where 37 of the 100 seats are being contested, the majority will be decided by key races in Nevada, Washington and a few other states where Democratic incumbents face strong challenges.

A new national poll released Monday showed the number of Americans who say things are going badly in the country, at 75 percent, is higher than it has been on the eve of any mid-term election since the question was first asked in the mid-1970s.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey also indicates that the economy remains, by far, the top issue on the minds of Americans, more than all other major issues combined, including terrorism, health care, illegal immigrants and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In addition, the rise of the conservative Tea Party movement has added a new element to the election cycle, roiling Republican races by boosting little-known and inexperienced candidates to victory over mainstream figures in primaries across the country.

Tuesday’s vote will show how many of the so-called Tea Party candidates can win in a general election, but no matter the final tally, the result is expected to shift the Republican agenda to the right.

That means little chance of compromise or bipartisan approaches on major issues, observers warn.

Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist who worked for the last Republican House speaker, Dennis Hastert, put it bluntly: “It’s been a hostile atmosphere, but it will be hostile on nitroglycerin.”

Ohio Republican Rep. John Boehner will be the new House speaker if the GOP wins control of the chamber. He already has signaled little appetite to negotiate with the White House or congressional Democrats, saying last week that “this is not a time for compromise.”

Boehner and other conservatives say the top priorities must be spending cuts to try to balance the budget and job creation to spur the economy. However, they also advocate extending Bush-era tax cuts for everyone at a cost of $4 trillion over the next decade.

In the Senate, legislative gridlock is likely if Republicans strengthen their current minority of 41 seats. Obama and Democrats accuse Senate Republicans of using obstruction tactics as a political tool, showing the distrust and animosity that already exists.

Democrats are also wary of a recent comment by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who told the National Journal, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

The first test of a new relationship will come in mid-November when Congress convenes a post-election lame-duck session to try to clear unfinished legislation before the newly elected Congress convenes in January. Among other issues, lawmakers must decide whether and how to extend Bush-era tax cuts.

Voters on Tuesday also will decide governors’ races in 37 of the 50 states, with the outcome potentially having an influence on redistricting based on the results of the 2010 census.

Every 10 years, the states redraw House district lines to reflect population shifts. Some states gain more House seats due to population growth, while others lose seats due to declines.

In most cases, state legislatures draw the lines and governors have the power to approve or veto that map. Governors also can influence whether any loss or gain of seats in their state involves districts represented by Republicans or Democrats.

The list of states that will gain or lose seats is released in December. However, Election Data Services issued estimates based on preliminary census figures that indicated Texas will gain four seats, Florida will gain two, and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington will each gain one, while Ohio and New York will lose two seats, and Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will each lose one.

CNN’s Ted Barrett, Deirdre Walsh, Paul Steinhauser and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

A long, nasty campaign comes to an end

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Tagged afghanistan, congress, conservative, conservatives, country, democratic, election, obama, party, Video, white

Meek story shows Dems’ Senate fears

Posted on October 29, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — The point that many people seem to be missing in the Florida Senate saga is that this whole mess actually has very little to do with Rep. Kendrick Meek or the Sunshine State — it’s all about a much broader fear among senior Democrats that they may be about to lose control of the chamber.

There are some fascinating inside details I’ve been able to piece together about how and why this Meek story exploded into the public.

In the words of one senior Democratic Party official, the Meek story came to a head because former President Bill Clinton “flew into a purple rage” about the Democratic candidate breaking a private pledge to him to get out of the Senate race and endorse independent candidate Charlie Crist.

But a source close to Clinton said he “never saw anything close” to rage from the former president, who is at peace with how this wound up.

“He always believed this was Meek’s decision,’ said the source close to Clinton.

As for the Obama adminstiration’s role in this, I’m told by senior Democratic officials that while White House aides were in the loop on the Clinton-Meek talks, they were not driving the conversation and were not lobbying Meek to go.

Video: Meek: I’m not dropping out

Video: Clinton sets record straight

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I’m also told that senior officials deliberately kept President Obama out of the loop on these behind-the-scenes conversations because they did not want to get him personally tainted by the Meek story. That came no doubt in part because they didn’t want it to blow up in his face like the botched attempt to get Joe Sestak out of the Democratic primary in the Pennsylvania Senate race so many months ago. (Clinton was the intermediary then, too).

But all the jockeying and horse-trading is really just a sideshow. The real story is how bad the broader electoral map has gotten for Democrats heading into the final weekend of this midterm election: Top Democratic officials privately say they believe they are going to lose the House, but as they survey the country they are getting increasingly worried they will also lose the Senate.

These Democratic officials tell me they’ve reviewed private polling numbers that suggest Sen. Patty Murray of Washington has a razor-thin lead of about two points over Republican Dino Rossi despite all kinds of help from the president and first lady Michelle Obama, among others.

They’re also deeply worried about whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada can beat Republican Sharron Angle, so suddenly the “firewall” out West to keep control of the Senate might be more like a crumbling brick wall.

These Democratic officials also say in private that they think Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin is likely to lose to Republican Ron Johnson and they’re worried enough about Obama’s old Senate seat that the president is heading home to Chicago, Illinois, on Saturday night for a rescue mission to again help Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulias in his battle with Republican Mark Kirk.

Thanks to that awful landscape, Democratic officials made the brutal political calculation to try to toss Meek aside, because if Crist somehow beats Republican Marco Rubio in the three-way battle, he has indicated he will align himself with Democrats. A Crist victory would offset a potential loss in another state like Nevada or Wisconsin to help keep the Senate in the party’s hands.

“It’s got nothing to do with Florida,” one senior Democratic Party official told me about the story that’s rocked the state. “Except that if Kendrick was at 25 percent [in the polls] there may have been some sense that he was driving African-American votes that [Democratic gubernatorial candidate] Alex Sink couldn’t get on her own.”

Instead, Meek is stuck at 15 percent in the latest Quinnipiac University poll, a distant third place behind Rubio (42 percent) and Crist (35 percent). My sources say that given that grim political reality, several top Democrats have been privately encouraging Meek to step aside for the good of the party and Clinton was brought in as the “closer” to help seal the deal.

For several days over the last week or so, Clinton believed he had persuaded Meek to throw his support to Crist. I’m told that one of many scenarios had Crist and Meek joining up this past Tuesday at an event in Florida, but there was also another more dramatic scenario: The two candidates would shock the political world by getting together shortly after last Sunday morning’s CNN debate among the three candidates moderated by Candy Crowley.

But two people close to Meek persuaded him to reconsider: his wife and Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida, both of whom made the case that he would upset his supporters, especially African-American voters who had already turned out in early voting, and jeopardize his career long-term.

At one point, Democratic officials say Meek went into “radio silence” mode, infuriating Clinton and others as they waited to see if the congressman would follow through on his private promise to get out of the race. When Meek finally emerged to tell party officials that he was staying in, Clinton was unhappy.

Shortly thereafter, the story was leaked to Politico, causing some chaos. The leak sent the message to the Democratic base that the party hierarchy does not believe that Meek can win, so the rank and file might prefer to vote for Crist instead of throwing their vote on Meek.

Top Republicans are laughing at this strategy and the broader Democratic claim that the Florida seat is still winnable for Crist. One said, “I think a fair question for the White House is this: What does it tell your Democratic base to see that senior party officials are willing to throw an incumbent African-American Democrat congressman under the bus in place of a former Republican who campaigned against the health care bill and on a pro-life platform?”

In fact, I asked top Democratic officials if it’s really worth it to try to push Meek out, even though the whole plan has now been exposed and it appears the congressman will not budge. The consensus was yes, it’s worth it simply because holding on to the Senate is the Democrat’s sole chance of keeping some power on Capitol Hill.

One senior official was particularly blunt in saying the goal among top Democrats now is to get Meek’s numbers even lower than 15 percent in the polls, perhaps even below 10 percent, in the hopes that he goes so low that Crist gets a surge of support and pulls out a comeback victory. But is this really worth the risk of dropping one of your own Democrats down below 10 percent?

“Who cares if Charlie Crist wins and he caucuses with Democrats?” this Democratic official said bluntly, adding that this strategy is critical “especially if we don’t hold on out West” in some of the other Senate battles.

In other words, time to tighten the seat belts. Tuesday might be even bumpier than expected.

Meek story shows Dems’ Senate fears

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Gay candidate a front-runner in House race

Posted on October 26, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — In a year when Democrats are widely considered politically handicapped, openly gay House candidate David Cicilline has bucked the trend in his race to represent Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District.

Cicilline, the mayor of Providence, is up by double digits in the polls, holds a fundraising advantage against his competitor, Republican John Loughlin II, and has received a slew of endorsements.

And he has the help from the Democratic big guns. On Monday, President Obama stumped in the state for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, lending support for Cicilline, among others.

If elected, Cicilline, 49, would be one of four openly gay members of Congress — joining the ranks of Democratic Reps. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Jared Polis of Colorado (assuming they win their re-election bids).

Robin Brand, deputy executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, said her nonpartisan political action committee decided to endorse the mayor mainly because of his leadership track record.

Video: Democrat goes off on Obama

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“He had been a successful state legislator, successful mayor and really came out of the starting gate as the front-runner in this race,” Brand said. “He is a really strong campaigner.”

But he still has work to do, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

The report deems the district “Lean Democrat.” It previously changed its ranking in September from “Likely Democrat” to “Lean Democrat” after Cicilline was forced to acknowledge that the city had “improperly given him pay raises as mayor between 2006 and 2009.”

It’s a point that Loughlin was able to capitalize on.

“David Cicilline illegally collected more than $20,000 in salary that he was not entitled to — and he only gave it back because he got caught,” Loughlin said at a press conference last week. “If we can’t trust him to watch our money in city hall, how can we trust him to watch our money in Washington?”

Elections outside your state can affect you

Posted on October 25, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — When Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio hits the campaign trail before Election Day, you might want to listen, because the outcome his re-election bid could have a direct impact on you — even if you don’t live in his state.

The number crunchers at Election Data Services estimate that next year, Ohio is going to lose two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s up to the Ohio state government — including the governor — to decide which House members will go: Democrats or Republicans.

Imagine if, 10 days from now, the Republicans win control of the House, but by only a one-seat majority. Republican John Boehner becomes speaker.

But if a Democrat holds the governor’s mansion in Ohio, he could insist that when his state loses two seats, both must be in districts held by Republicans. That means just through redistricting in Ohio alone, the Democrats could take back control of the House.

That would affect your life, because everything from education policy to health care and taxes goes through the House, and which party is in control makes a big difference. The balance of power could hinge on who gets elected governor in states far from yours.

The scenario painted above is highly unlikely — in part because Republicans will probably retain control of the Ohio state Senate, and they would force a compromise with their governor.

Expected changes

States gaining seats
Texas +4
Florida +2
Arizona +1
Georgia +1
Nevada +1
South Carolina +1
Utah +1
Washington state +1

States losing seats
Ohio -2
New York -2
Illinois -1
Iowa -1
Louisiana -1
Massachusetts -1
Michigan -1
Missouri -1
New Jersey -1
Pennsylvania -1

Source: Election Data Services

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But there’s more to this chess game. Ohio isn’t the only state that stands to lose seats, and other states will win seats. Texas, for example, is poised to gain four seats. Republicans control the legislature in Austin, and there’s a tight race for the governor’s office.

Florida stands to gain two seats through redistricting. Republicans control the legislature in Tallahassee, and there’s a close contest in the gubernatorial race.

New York is likely to lose one seat. Democrats control both state houses, and a Democrat is poised to win the governor’s mansion.

In all, 18 states will gain or lose representation in the House of Representatives, totaling a change of 24 seats.

In most states, it’s all up to the legislature, and the governor vetoes or approves the map. Some states have a different process to try to minimize political games, but that’s hard.

“If one party has complete control of the process, they will tilt the table to their favor, so their state will be more likely to elect Democrats or Republicans for entire decade,” until redistricting begins again, explains George Mason University professor Michael McDonald, an expert on the process.

Imagine another scenario: On Election Day, Democrats eke out a win and retain control of the House by five seats. But Democrats lose governors and state legislative races across the country. Once redistricting happens next year, those elected state officials could wipe out the Democrats’ majority by adding seats Republicans will control and eliminating seats Democrats are certain to control. Democrats in Congress would lose their majority because of politicians elected in a state you’ve never even visited.

Sound unfair? The redistricting process is required by the U.S. Constitution to ensure that every member of the House has an equal population district. It’s the main reason we conduct a Census every 10 years, so we can rebalance districts based on where people are living. These new district lines last for 10 years, until the next census.

When a state has to change even one seat, all the districts in the entire state stand to be redrawn. Remember, every district has to have population of equal size. That means the whole deck is reshuffled.

There are clever ways to draw districts to ensure that one party or another is all but certain to win there.

“A long time ago, people figured out you could do more than rebalance populations so politicians can manipulate the boundaries to their favor,” McDonald said, adding that manipulation for political gain is ingrained into our politics. “This is what’s called gerrymandering. So the party that controls a state can tilt the balance of power in Washington, D.C.”

The origin of “gerrymandering”

The list of states that will gain or lose seats is released in December. But Election Data Services crunched the preliminary census numbers and estimates that the following states will see changes.

Texas will gain four seats, Florida will gain two, and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington will each gain one.

Ohio and New York will lose two seats, and Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will each lose one.

Elections outside your state can affect you

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Obama notes private sector job growth, rips GOP

Posted on October 8, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — President Obama put a positive spin on the Labor Department’s new jobs report Friday, noting the country has now had nine straight months of private sector job growth.

The economy lost 95,000 jobs in September, though the private sector added 64,000 jobs. The nation’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6 percent.

Obama blamed the net job loss on layoffs at both the U.S. Census and state and local governments. He slammed the GOP for opposing additional state assistance.

“We have to keep doing everything we can to accelerate this economy,” he said during a visit to a Maryland brick and masonry company. Too many Americans have been “swept up in the most devastating recession of our lifetimes.”

Obama highlighted the recently enacted small-business aid bill — a measure opposed by many senior Republicans — and renewed his push for a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts for families making less than $250,000.

“The damage left by this recession is so deep that it’s going to take a long time to get out,” he said.

Republicans have repeatedly warned that a failure to extend all of the tax cuts — including those for wealthier Americans — will damage an already sluggish recovery. GOP leaders have also criticized the White House’s economic recovery initiatives, claiming they’ve needlessly added to the debt while failing to sufficiently stimulate growth.

“With each passing month, and each new jobs report, it becomes increasingly clear that while massive Washington spending is growing the size of government, it’s clearly not growing sustainable private-sector jobs,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in statement released before Obama’s remarks.

“The trillion-dollar stimulus didn’t live up to promises made by the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress; the massive growth of the federal government didn’t result in a similar growth of jobs; and the maze of new regulations, health care mandates and taxes are having a predictable impact on the economy.”

Obama notes private sector job growth, rips GOP

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Texas Dem fights for survival in GOP hotbed

Posted on October 8, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Waco, Texas (CNN) — The volunteers file into the steamy campaign headquarters wearing bright red Chet Edwards T-shirts. A group of old men pull their “Vets for Chet” hats down tight, waiting for the congressman to fire up the troops.

“I think they might have predicted our demise a little too soon,” an energetic Chet Edwards tells the crowd to a round of cheers.

A young volunteer turns to a friend and says he’s eager to help the long-term Democratic congressman because, “he needs all the help he can get.”

The dozens of supporters standing in the room know Rep. Chet Edwards is in the toughest fight of his political life.

Edwards has long defied the political odds in Texas — a Democrat repeatedly elected to Congress since 1990 in one of the most conservative districts in the country.

The district includes Waco and Bryan-College Station, home to Baylor and Texas A&M universities, both bastions of conservatism.

In 2004, John Kerry received 30 percent of the vote in Edwards’ congressional district. In 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama managed 32 percent. Each time, Chet Edwards was elected back to Congress.

Edwards is often called an “endangered species,” as many conservative Democrats have disappeared from the political landscape of Texas in the last 20 years.

His political survival skills even catapulted him to the shortlist of potential vice presidential nominees for President Obama in 2008.

Now, Edwards’ opponent doesn’t miss an opportunity to link Edwards to the unpopular president and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Republican challenger, Bill Flores, paints Edwards as part of the Washington establishment.

“Since Nancy Pelosi took over, Edwards votes with her 96 percent of the time,” said one Flores campaign advertisement.

Edwards said he feels comfortable as an underdog. “I think voters have known me for years and they’ve known I’ve always been independent.”

Edwards sounds like a Republican in his campaign commercials, criticizing Democrats for passing health care reform and for being too liberal.

“I think Democrats in Washington have tried to do too much,” he said. “I wish some of them had focused more on our economy.”

Edwards bills himself as an independent voice in tune with the conservative side of his constituents. It won him the endorsements of the National Rifle Association, the Texas Farm Bureau and many military veterans groups.

But the intense anti-incumbent, anti-Washington mood is blowing swiftly across the rural Texas prairie that makes up much of Edwards’ congressional district.

The lunchtime crowd at the Bunkhouse BBQ joint in Clifton, Texas, symbolizes the struggles Edwards is facing this election year.

Burl and Dianne Hammons describe themselves as independent conservatives who’ve supported Chet Edwards in the past.

They have a son in the military and the congressman’s support of military issues often won them over. But this year, the Hammons are voting for Republican Bill Flores, even though they admit they don’t know much about him.

“He’s [Edwards] done a lot of good, but he’s through. He’s finished. He’s moving into the Pelosi area. … That doesn’t get my vote,” Burl Hammons said.

The last month of the campaign promises to be intense. The Edwards campaign accused Flores of supporting plans to privatize veterans health care and Social Security.

Flores said that’s not true but said he does support giving veterans the choice to use private doctors at government cost if they don’t want to travel to a VA hospital.

According to Flores, those attacks show Edwards is in more trouble than he’s ever been before and the Flores campaign said this is the first time the “right kind” of Republican opponent has matched up against Edwards.

Flores grew up in the Texas Panhandle, graduated from Texas A&M and spent 30 years working in the energy industry. This is his first run for public office.

Flores’ attempts to paint Edwards as a Washington liberal appears to be working.

Back at the Bunkhouse BBQ joint, Kim Watkins remembers all the votes she cast for Edwards, but said the congressman has swung to the left.

“He’s a hometown boy — he’s been around a long time, but I think the Democratic roots are showing up a little more,” said Watkins.

The Edwards campaign said it’s starting to cut into Flores’ lead. According to the campaign’s internal polling, Flores had a 10-point lead in mid-September. Their poll this week says the congressman has cut the lead to four points.

But the Flores campaign fired back with its own internal polling taken September 23 that shows Flores with a 19-point lead.

Edwards is used to this story. He often jokes that his Republican opponents start measuring the drapes too soon.

“They’ve written my obituary in so many elections over the years,” he said.

Texas Dem fights for survival in GOP hotbed

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Henry in the House: Who Is Pete Rouse?

Posted on October 1, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Chicago, Illinois (CNN) — President Obama is going from a chief of staff dubbed “Rahmbo” who once sent a dead fish to a political opponent to the exact opposite: a shy, self-effacing guy known for being a gentle boss and a cat lover.

The style differences between outgoing chief Rahm Emanuel and incoming chief Pete Rouse could not be more stark. Emanuel is hard-charging and profane, often dispensing shrewd political advice with a string of F-bombs to accentuate the point.

Rouse is the low-key, behind-the-scenes player who carefully maps out each move in an understated and yet equally effective way. After all, he was the guy who while serving as then-Sen. Barack Obama’s chief of staff meticulously laid out an improbable but meticulous battle plan about how a largely unknown freshman senator could put together a winning presidential campaign.

In public, Rouse never took any victory laps after playing such a pivotal role in helping to get Obama elected as the nation’s first African-American president. He simply went back to work, this time as a senior adviser in the White House, with little fanfare — a perfect fit with the “No Drama Obama” style we came to know during the campaign.

Drama, of course, is Emanuel’s middle name. He’s loud and rarely shy about being quoted in the media — either named or unnamed — in stories highlighting his vast influence over the Obama agenda.

While there were some people inside the White House who privately chafed at that approach, the fact is there’s no denying that Emanuel’s efforts have brought Obama major successes in the first two years of the administration.

I remember being in Chicago, Illinois, almost exactly two years ago, right after the 2008 presidential election, and I remember Obama immediately pouncing on the opportunity to try and woo Emanuel into leaving his seat in the House of Representatives to become his chief of staff.

Emanuel confided in me and others at the time that he was severely conflicted because he really wanted to stay in the House and become the first Jewish speaker of the House someday. But Obama was tugging him in the other direction with another piece of history, the opportunity to steer the country back on course with once-in-a-generation policy changes like the $787 billion stimulus and landmark health care reform.

Admittedly the jury is still out on the Obama-Emanuel “Big Bang” approach to governing, that the severity of the financial crisis demanded swift, bold and unprecedented action. There are Republicans who believes they far overstepped their mandate, while there are Democrats who agree with the policies but are privately waiting to see the Nov. 2 midterm election results before they’re willing to say whether the approach made sense politically.

Emanuel jumped at the chance to be running the White House at such a pivotal time, and he never looked back much on the decision to bolt the House. And his approach has been at least partly vindicated with a series of legislative victories that most presidents would love to have for the history books.

“I think his leadership, his energy has helped us accomplish so much in helping our economy recover,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “In passing landmark Wall Street reform, health care reform, credit card reform, student loan reform … there is not an important thing that has happened in this administration that we’ve been able to accomplish for the American people that has not involved heavily his signature.”

Nevertheless, there are senior people in the Democratic Party who privately believe that Emanuel’s win-at-all-costs mentality is perfect for the rough and tumble world of Chicago politics, but it is not the best long-term approach for the president as he tries to bring the country together heading into his 2012 re-election battle.

That’s why there is a feeling among some top Democrats that Rouse may wind up being more than just an interim White House chief of staff.

According to this theory, a couple of months of Rouse on the job may show the president that for all of Emanuel’s successes, a more low-key manner may be the best way to approach the next two years with either a Republican Congress or a severely weakened Democratic Congress.

Think of Erskine Bowles, the equally quiet and self-effacing White House chief of staff who helped President Clinton forge some legislative victories, such as a balanced budget, with a hostile Republican Congress.

Rouse’s fans note to me that he spent a few decades as a powerful staffer on Capitol Hill, and was known as the “101st Senator” during his days as top aide to then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, because of his quiet influence behind the scenes. He became known for sharp political instincts, fierce loyalty and absolute discretion on sensitive matters.

It’s important to remember that Daschle has deep ties to Obama. They bonded during the 2004 Senate campaign season, when Obama was first elected while Daschle lost his re-election bid. Daschle encouraged Obama to hire Rouse, who wanted to try something new, but was coaxed out of it by the freshman senator who clearly had designs on higher office.

Daschle later became the first major Democrat to encourage Obama to actually run for president when others were laughing at the notion, and it was Rouse who then carefully put together the playbook. He later played important behind-the-scenes roles in the presidential campaign and the presidential transition, and his power has only grown inside the White House.

“There is a complete loyalty and trust with somebody like Pete,” Gibbs said. “Pete’s strategic sense has played a big part in the direction of virtually every big decision that’s made inside of this White House. So I think the type of trust that the president and others throughout this administration have in Pete is enormous.”

Rouse is a bachelor who rarely seems to mind the long hours he has to put in at the office. Friends note that one of the only nonwork things that he goes on and on about is his love for Maine coon cats, which are “large and energetic,” according to catfacts.org.

Emanuel certainly brought plenty of energy to the job. I just can’t imagine him being a cat lover — or even a puppy lover for that matter.

Henry in the House: Who Is Pete Rouse?

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Tagged chicago, country, financial, health, history, love, obama, power, time, white

Obama, top Dems to huddle on way out

Posted on September 30, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — Top congressional Democrats will huddle with President Obama Thursday for one last strategy session before lawmakers leave Washington to campaign for their jobs.

As November election season nears, Democrats are dealing with voter anger about lingering high unemployment, two wars and a growing federal deficit.

Earlier this week, Obama had already appeared to be in campaign mode as he addressed a group at a town hall-style meeting in the yard of a home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

At the meeting Tuesday, Obama faced a range of questions but no matter the topic — education, small businesses, military veterans, clean energy — he repeatedly reminded listeners that the upcoming congressional elections would be their time to decide.

“I hope everybody is going to pay attention and do their homework and find out about candidates,” Obama said at the end of the hour-long event. “And I think what you’ll find is, is that when you’re making choices for governor and you’re making choices for Senate and Congress, that these choices are going to mean something.”

He encouraged people to ask themselves, “What direction do I want this country to go in?”

“Do I want to invest in our people, in our middle class and making it stronger, and our infrastructure and our education system and clean energy — is that one vision,” Obama said, “or are we just going to keep on doing the same things that got us into this mess in the first place?”

His stark portrayal of the stakes in November and his Thursday White House meeting with party leaders comes as polls show likely losses for Democrats, with a possibility they could lose their majority in the House.

Obama, top Dems to huddle on way out

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Tagged cnn, comes-as-polls, country, democrats, Education, house, infrastructure, keep-on-doing, making-choices, obama, president-obama, thursday, thursday-white, time

Welcome to the world of hashtag politics — or #politics

Posted on September 27, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — When a scuffle broke out at a candidate forum in Nevada last week between supporters of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican rival Sharron Angle, the fight didn’t end after tempers cooled. It simply moved over to the social media website Twitter, where the war of words in this nasty race continued.

One of Angle’s campaign managers, Jordan Gehrke, posted a tweet, a short message on Twitter, that accused Reid supporters of starting the fight. “Check out the video here of Reidbots screaming and heckling,” the tweet said.

The message included a link to a video that appears to show audience members at the forum shouting down Angle. That same tweet also included a hashtag — #dumpreid — made by attaching the # symbol to the message “dumpreid.” Twitter users who clicked on the #dumpreid link were taken to a feed of anti-Reid tweets.

Welcome to the new media world of hashtag politics, where the character attack is compressed into 140 characters — the website’s limit for tweets — and instantly blasted out to a campaign’s long list of “followers.”

“It was inevitable that negative politics would transform itself into social media. That’s exactly what’s happened,” said Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

You don’t even need a complete sentence to change a campaign — just a phrase can change a campaign.
–Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics

“You don’t even need a complete sentence to change a campaign — just a phrase can change a campaign,” Sabato added.

Why pay for an attack ad when you can post a free attack tweet?

One recent Reid attack tweet — “Sharron Angle’s mocks health coverage for ‘autism’” — includes a link to a video that shows the Republican Senate candidate attacking mandates in the new health care law. Is it the tweet or the video that went viral? Answer: both.

Another Angle tweet, “Harry Reid’s plan to save the Nevada economy: coked-up stimulus monkeys,” was both acidic and inventive. Not only did it mock the real use of stimulus money to study the effects of illicit drugs on primates. The buzzworthy phrase “coked-up stimulus monkeys” was picked up by political writers across the country.

Campaign staffers are throwing mud via Twitter too. A tweet from an Angle campaign staffer refers to Reid’s handlers as “13 y/o girls.” And on it goes.

Video: Campaign Twitter wars

Video: Voters in a fighting mood

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Michael Patrick Leahy, a Tea Party activist and co-creator of the hashtag #TCOT (or Top Conservatives on Twitter) said, “I think we’re about to enter a new era of American political history.”

Leahy’s “Tweeps” (Twitter slang for his followers) who click on #TCOT are transported to a virtual Tea Party, a nonstop feed where visitors tweet back and forth on the latest news in the conservative movement.

Leary’s website, tcotreport.com, ranks the top conservatives by number of followers on Twitter.

One of those “top conservatives,” former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has more than 250,000 followers on Twitter. Her tweets go out not only to her legions of fans, but also to the nation’s top political journalists, who are following Palin’s every tweet.

“She can just put out a tweet and generate headlines in the traditional media,” Sabato said.

Those journalists, many of whom are also prolific Twitter users, often “retweet” or redistribute Palin’s tweets to their own lists of followers.

“The retweeting is how it really gets out there,” Sabato added, noting that last weekend marked the 50th anniversary of the first debate in the epic 1960 presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

#timeshavechanged

Welcome to the world of hashtag politics — or #politics

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Posted in Health, News, Politics, Video, economy, tan

Tagged angle, conservative, conservatives, country, director, news, party, Politics, social, tan, twitter

Tag Archives: country

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A long, nasty campaign comes to an end

Meek story shows Dems’ Senate fears

Gay candidate a front-runner in House race

Elections outside your state can affect you

Obama notes private sector job growth, rips GOP

Henry in the House: Who Is Pete Rouse?

Obama, top Dems to huddle on way out

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