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Pelosi running for minority leader

Posted on November 5, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she will run for minority leader in the new Congress, even as some moderate and conservative Democrats insisted she should step aside.

“Many of our colleagues have called with their recommendations on how to continue our fight for the middle class, and have encouraged me to run for House Democratic Leader,” she said in a written statement. “Based on those discussions, and driven by the urgency of protecting health care reform, Wall Street reform, and Social Security and Medicare, I have decided to run.”

Pelosi initially announced her intentions via Twitter.

In the wake of Tuesday’s Republican takeover of the House, Democrats will move into the minority positions in the new Congress, which convenes in January.

Shortly after Pelosi’s announcement, House Majority Whip James Clyburn announced that he would be running for minority whip. Pelosi’s No. 2 man, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer — who is widely considered to be more moderate — will “spend the next few days talking to [House] members and getting their thoughts on him being minority whip,” according to his spokeswoman, Katie Grant.

A senior Democratic source told CNN that Hoyer is “in a nice way saying he is going to run against Clyburn.”

Moderate Democratic Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma was the latest to urge Pelosi to step aside and not run for House minority leader. He said he would support a more centrist candidate.

“I cannot in good conscience support Nancy Pelosi as our leader,” Boren told CNN. “I think that it is important for the Democratic Party to move in a new direction for the sake of our country. Democrats and Republicans need leaders who are going to work together.”

Boren’s public pressure for Pelosi to go follows similar comments from Democratic Reps. Heath Schuler of North Carolina and Jim Matheson of Utah, who also have said they would prefer a new, more moderate Democratic leader.

“I think based on the outcome of this election, we should all acknowledge what the American people said — and they are looking for change. And I think when you, as a political party, suffer losses of historic proportions, it makes sense to change things up,” Matheson told CNN. “Therefore, I don’t think she should be running for leader.”

Rep. Jason Altmire, a moderate Democrat from a conservative district in western Pennsylvania, agreed. “I am not voting for Nancy Pelosi,” he said.

“I don’t get the sense that Speaker Pelosi understands what happened on Tuesday. We lost middle America. The Democratic party got crushed,” Altmire told CNN.

He noted that many of his fellow Democrats in districts near his lost their seats.

Despite his opposition, Altmire, who voted against major pieces of Democratic legislation, including the health care bill, said Pelosi will easily be victorious in her quest to be minority leader.

But Democratic Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. of Illinois said he would support Pelosi’s bid. “We’re in a political storm, but we don’t need to adopt an ‘any leader in a storm’ mentality,” Jackson said in a statement issued Friday. After Tuesday’s losses, moderate Democrats are now a very small part of the Democratic caucus. The bigger question, according to multiple Democratic sources, is what Pelosi’s fellow progressives want her to do. Americans United for Change, a progressive political organization, sent an e-mail notice to its members Friday morning asking them to send personal notes to Pelosi urging her to stay.

“Make sure she knows that we will support her,” said the e-mail.

“If she runs, she will win,” said one senior Democratic source.

A progressive Democrat told CNN he had talked to many of his colleagues about the situation in the past few days.

“It’s fair to say that for most progressives, their visceral place was that Nancy deserves to be the leader if she wants to be, but no one would have burst into tears if she decided not to,” said the congressman, who did not want to go on the record in order to protect private conversations.

The Pelosi supporter said she should not be blamed for the losses. Rather the setback was the result of a bad economy and, the supporter said, an ineffective job by the White House in selling Democratic achievements.

While Pelosi’s tireless fundraising has built a reservoir of support among Democratic lawmakers, several sources within the party said there are a number of progressive Democrats also who do not want her to run. Meanwhile, Rep. John Yarmuth, a Kentucky Democrat who had been a staunch supporter of Pelosi, told a local television station that he wants Pelosi to step down as Democratic leader.

“I know that there is some thought that Nancy Pelosi may stay around,” Yarmuth said Thursday. “As good a leader as she has been, I don’t think she’s the right leader to take us forward.”

Shuler is considering challenging Pelosi if she runs, according to a number of Democratic sources. Because of the makeup of the Democratic caucus, few think he would win.

Several Democratic sources say they worry about this dragging out, especially given how public the Democrats’ dispute over Pelosi’s future is becoming.

On Thursday, Pelosi told the Huffington Post that she is getting a positive response from Democratic lawmakers because she has “kept the caucus together” and increased Democratic numbers in 2006 and 2008.

Matheson told CNN one of the political concerns is that it will be harder to recruit candidates to run in 2012 with Pelosi as the Democratic leader — especially those who just lost and may want to try to get their old seats back.

CNN’s Evan Glass contributed to this report.

Pelosi running for minority leader

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Obama: Let’s move forward

Posted on November 4, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — President Obama has invited the leaders of the Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress to join him in a meeting to discuss what to do in the waning days of this Congress’s term, vowing it will “not be just a photo-op,” he said Thursday.

“I want us to talk substantively about how to move the American people’s agenda forward,” he said.

Obama wants to discuss the future of the Bush-era tax cuts, he said. They’re due to expire at the end of the year, and Republicans and Democrats disagree about whether — or how — to extend them.

“We have to act in order to assure that middle-class families don’t see a big tax spike because of how the Bush tax cuts have been structured,” Obama said. “It is very important that we extend those middle-class tax cuts.”

Obama wants to let the tax cuts expire on the wealthiest Americans, while most Republicans do not want to single out the rich for different treatment.

The president said businesses also needed “certainty” about the future.

The meeting is set for November 18, he said.

It follows elections Tuesday in which Obama’s Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives and lost seats in the Senate. Current members of Congress keep their jobs until the end of the year, in what’s known as the “lame-duck” session.

Obama conceded Wednesday that his party had taken a “shellacking” from the voters.

The Republican leader in the Senate has already signaled that he’s more interested in rolling back what Obama has already done than in helping him push his agenda forward.

“For the past two years, Democrat lawmakers chose to ignore the American people, so on Tuesday the American people chose new lawmakers,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, is set to say in an address Thursday to the Heritage Foundation, according to excerpts from his office.

“The White House has a choice: they can change course, or they can double down on a vision of government that the American people have roundly rejected,” he says.

But Obama used his brief statement after a Cabinet meeting to highlight his priorities.

He urged the lame-duck Congress not to drop the ball on an arms control agreement with Russia, saying it is neither a Republican nor a Democratic issue.

“We have negotiated with the Russians significant reductions in our nuclear arms” in the new START treaty, he said.

That has given the United States leverage over Iran’s controversial nuclear program, he argued, because “people have seen that we are serious about taking our responsibilities when it comes to non-proliferation.”

The Senate must approve international treaties for them to take effect.

Obama is also planning to meet newly elected governors from both parties, he said. He’s invited them to the White House on December 2.

The meeting will be a “terrific opportunity to hear from them … about what they’re seeing, what ideas they think Washington needs to be paying attention to. They’ve got very practical problems that they’ve got to solve,” he said, praising their “common-sense approach that the American people are looking for right now.”

Obama: Let’s move forward

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Freshman Democrat’s job on the line

Posted on October 4, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Fort Collins, Colorado (CNN) — When Rep. Betsy Markey, a freshman Democrat, arrived back in Colorado a few days ago for the home stretch of her re-election campaign, she knew she had her work cut out for her.

“It was always going to be a tough race. I had a tough fight two years ago. I defeated a Republican incumbent, and I have no illusions that it wasn’t going to be a tough race this year,” she said.

The 4th District of Colorado is traditionally a comfortable spot for Republicans. Markey is the first Democrat to hold the seat since the early 1970s, and then-GOP presidential candidate John McCain took the district last time around. Republicans hope to reclaim the seat on their way to a majority in the house.

Her Republican opponent is Cory Gardner, a state legislator and part-time farm implement dealer from rural Yuma, Colorado. He is widely seen as the current favorite in the race.

“The philosophy over the next 30 days is: Kick hard — we’re entering the last legs of the race and nobody is going to work harder,” he said.

Gardner seemed happy to be out flesh-pressing and back-slapping at a homecoming game at the University of Northern Colorado. He has the easy confidence of a front-runner, and he doesn’t have to defend two years of votes during a terrible recession.

“I’m focusing my campaign on the economy. Getting the country back to work, creating jobs and cutting spending,” he said.

But in this election, Markey’s biggest enemy might not be her Republican opponent, but her own party and her own voting record.

“Betsy Markey has voted 94 percent of the time with Nancy Pelosi. She’s voted for the four horseman of liberal politics: health care, the stimulus, cap and trade and she co-sponsored card check,” Gardner said.

“That’s not in line with this district. You can’t get anymore out of step with the 4th District than those votes.”

Markey did indeed vote for those bills, but she seems to distance herself from some of the signature programs of the Obama administration in a recent TV ad.

“Bailout is just another word for cop-out,” she said in the ad.

Markey lives in the college town of Fort Collins and got into politics after a running a tech company and an ice cream parlor. She looked at ease on a sunny Saturday morning in the old town square near where her ice cream parlor once was. She’s glad to be back home and glad to be far from the president and her fellow Democrats in Congress.

“I didn’t come to Congress just to necessarily represent my party. I came here to be an independent voice for the people of the district, and I don’t answer to Republicans or Democrats. I represent the people of the 4th District of Colorado, and I think my voting reflects that,” she said.

But the message is a bit mixed. She also defends the stimulus plan, saying it helped save millions of jobs.

“When I took office two years ago the economy was on the verge of collapse,” she said. “We had to do something, and I’m proud of the work we’ve done.”

To keep her seat, she’ll need her base to get off the sidelines and start getting pumped up. It won’t be easy.

Maybe we should pound our chests and say yes, in 21 months we have accomplished a lot.
–Democrat Joe Perez
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Hayley Hull is vice president of the college Democrats of Northern Colorado. She said the enthusiasm among young voters that helped propel Barack Obama to the presidency is lacking this year. She aims to change that over the next month.

“A lot of that has fallen off so we’re trying to get people to be more involved,” she said.

“It’s been a little slow so far but were going to do our best.”

Democrat Joe Perez is proud of what his party has accomplished, pointing to the health care bill, financial reform and the stimulus program. At a Betsy Markey picnic he worries that Democrats haven’t done enough to promote these accomplishments, forcing candidates like Markey to distance themselves from the programs.

“Maybe we should pound our chests and say yes, in 21 months we have accomplished a lot,” Perez said.

“Maybe we should, but Dems ain’t that way,” he said with a laugh.

Freshman Democrat’s job on the line

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Colbert serious, sarcastic in hearing

Posted on September 24, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — There’s nothing funny about the issue of migrant farm labor — unless Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert is discussing it.

Colbert, accompanied by a media swarm, sarcastically testified on Capitol Hill Friday about the conditions facing America’s undocumented farm workers. The popular host of “The Colbert Report” told members of a House Judiciary subcommittee that he hoped to bring attention to the workers’ hardships.

“I certainly hope that my star power can bump this hearing all the way up to C-SPAN 1,” he joked.

“America’s farms are presently far too dependent on immigrant labor to pick our fruits and vegetables,” he told the subcommittee, keeping in character with the arch-conservative he plays on television.

“Now, the obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables. And if you look at the recent obesity statistics, many Americans have already started.”

Video: Colbert shows serious side

Video: Mr. Colbert goes to Capitol Hill

Colbert told the panel that “we all know there is a long tradition of great nations importing foreign workers to do their farm work.”

“After all,” he said, “it was the ancient Israelites who built the first food pyramids. But this is America. I don’t want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan, and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian.”

“My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants,” he declared. “He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That’s the rumor.”

Colbert appeared before Congress the day after “The Colbert Report” showed video of him packing corn and picking beans on a farm as part of a challenge from a pro-immigrant-labor group.

“I’ll admit I started my work day with preconceived notions of migrant labor,” Colbert said. “But after working with these men and women … side by side in the unforgiving sun I have to say — and I do mean this sincerely — please don’t make me do this again. It is really, really hard.”

The brief experience, he said, “gave me some small understanding why so few Americans are clamoring to begin an exciting career as seasonal migrant field workers.”

Colbert appeared alongside, among others, United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez, whose group over the summer launched “Take Our Jobs,” a campaign that challenged U.S. citizens to replace immigrants in farm work.

The group, which says only seven citizens or legal residents have taken it up on the offer, argues that immigrant workers aren’t taking citizens’ jobs, and is pushing for a bill that would give undocumented farm workers currently in the United States the right to earn legal status.

On his show Thursday night, Colbert mocked those deriding his appearance before the committee, saying he agreed that showing up in character would “sully the good name of experts that Republican-controlled Congresses have actually called to testify in the past,” like Elmo, the Sesame Street character who promoted music education before a House subcommittee in 2002.

Republicans on the subcommittee were not impressed or swayed by Colbert’s appearance.

“Maybe we should be spending less time watching Comedy Central and more time considering all the real jobs that are out there — ones that require real hard labor and ones that don’t involve sitting behind a desk,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

“If we did we’d realize that every day … Americans perform the dirtiest, most difficult, most dangerous (jobs) that can be thrown at them.”

Many of these workers, King said, “would prefer the aroma of fresh dirt to that of the sewage of American elitists who disparage them even as they flush.”

“It’s an insult to me to hear that Americans won’t do this work,” he added, arguing that the hiring of undocumented workers is driving down wages and taking jobs away from those in the country legally.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, used the occasion to rip the Obama administration’s immigration policy. The notion that there’s little competition for jobs between citizens and undocumented workers is a “myth,” he claimed.

“We could make millions of jobs available to American citizens … if the federal government simply enforced our immigration laws,” Smith asserted. “Unfortunately this administration is turning its back on American workers.”

Democrats were quick to challenge the Republicans’ claims.

While Americans will take tough jobs, “study after study” shows that “people would rather have no income and no welfare than take the back-breaking jobs that the migrant farm worker has to do every single day,” said Rep. Howard Berman, D-California.

“Were it not for immigrant farm workers in this country, there would be no seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables,” he said.

Most of the media attention, however, remained focused on Colbert. The chairwoman of the subcommittee, Rep. Zoe Lofrgen, D-California, told CNN’s Dana Bash before the hearing that she didn’t think Colbert’s appearance was a stunt.

“Celebrities add pizzazz to an issue,” she said. “I hope his celebrity will bring attention” to this one.

But another Democrat, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, initially seemed unimpressed with Colbert, asking him to leave the committee room and merely submit his written statement instead.

Colbert noted that he was testifying at Lofgren’s invitation, and said that he would remove himself at her request.

Conyers later told CNN he feared Colbert would create a “circus” atmosphere. But Colbert, who engaged in a question-and-answer session with the subcommittee, actually turned out to be “profound,” he said.

CNN’s Jason Hanna, Deirdre Walsh, Alison Harding and Catherine Shoichet contributed to this report

Colbert serious, sarcastic in hearing

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Delaware Senate candidates set stage for November

Posted on September 17, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — Delaware voters were treated to a markedly different tone Thursday night as they watched their two Senate candidates together for the first time since the primaries.

During a candidate’s forum, Republican Christine O’Donnell and Democrat Chris Coons displayed little of the animosity that came to define O’Donnell’s bitter primary battle with Rep. Mike Castle.

Rather, the night was marked by polite discourse and even agreement as the two candidates sought to lay out their position on many key issues.

Their messages did diverge, however, as the two sought to define their political narratives.

Coons, a county executive, repeatedly brought up his political know-how, saying in his opening statement that he had the “value, skills and experience” needed in a senator.

“Delaware’s next senator should be someone who is prepared, who has concrete ideas and who is ready, willing and able to get our economy back on track, to restore America’s middle class, to revitalize manufacturing,” Coons said.

Video: GOP unhappy with O’Donnell?

Video: GOP’s political mystery money

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O’Donnell, meanwhile, portrayed herself as a “hard-working average citizen who understands what it’s like to fall on hard economic times.”

The conservative commentator and marketing consultant has never held an elected office. She became the latest Tea Party-backed candidate this election season to defeat an incumbent candidate after she easily beat Castle, a moderate Congressman and former governor. The primaries were held Tuesday.

“As we approach the general election over the next month and a half, it’s my goal for you to get to know who I am, and why I’m running in this race, and why I’m asking for your vote on November 2,” O’Donnell told the standing-room only crowd.

O’Donnell has received an outpouring of national attention from conservative groups and heavyweights, including the Tea Party Express and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

At the forum, O’Donnell expressed her gratitude for the national support, and lamented her own state party’s failure to get behind her candidacy. The Delaware Republican Party backed Castle in the primary, and has yet to publicly embrace their new candidate.

“I am fighting two political parties here in Delaware. Our political system has become an entrenched system. My goal is to open up the political process to ‘we the people’ where you get to decide based on the policies who you want to represent you in Washington, D.C., not who a party has anointed you,” O’Donnell said.

Polls suggested that Castle would have been favored in the general election battle over Coons, but with O’Donnell as the party’s nominee, surveys indicate that Coons is now considered to have the advantage.

Delaware Senate candidates set stage for November

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McCain fends off Hayworth challenge

Posted on August 25, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain told supporters he will “take nothing for granted” after defeating former Rep. J.D. Hayworth in a bitterly fought Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Arizona Tuesday.

“I … will fight with every ounce of strength and conviction I possess to make the case for my continued service in the Senate, and the policies and principles I will advocate and defend if I’m fortunate to be re-elected,” McCain said in his victory speech Tuesday night.

McCain — seeking a fifth term as senator — was ahead 58.8 percent to 29.8 percent, with 20 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press.

The race between McCain — the 2008 GOP presidential nominee — and conservative talk show host Hayworth started off nasty and didn’t get any friendlier down the home stretch. Forced to spend $20 million in the campaign, McCain was driven to the right on some issues as Hayworth accused him of not being a true conservative.

McCain is expected to easily beat any one of the four Democratic primary candidates in the solidly red state.

Video: Crist says race benefits Florida

Video: Marco Rubio is looking to the road ahead

Video: Alex Sink wins Fla. Democratic primary

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In Florida — one of four other states to hold primaries Tuesday — millionaire political newcomer Rick Scott claimed victory over Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Republican primary for governor.

In a speech to supporters, Scott, who spent $50 million of his own fortune since joining the race in April, alluded to the divisive nature of his fight against McCollum, the party-establishment favorite and former Congressman.

“Some of you may have noticed this was a hard-fought race. We talked a lot about our differences, but tonight it’s time to remember those things that bring us together — to recall our core beliefs and recommit ourselves to fighting for our principles,” Scott said. “The Republican Party will come together, and the reason we will come together is our shared devotion to the values that make America great.”

Scott was ahead of McCollum, 46.5 percent to 43.4 percent, with 96 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press.

The winner will face a November general election against Alex Sink, Florida’s chief financial officer, whom CNN projected will win the state’s Democratic primary for governor.

In a different race featuring a political veteran against a self-funded candidate with deep pockets, Rep. Kendrick Meek declared victory over billionaire Jeff Greene in Florida’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

Meek led Greene 57.3 percent to 31.2 percent, with 97 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press.

Meek will take on Marco Rubio — who won the Republican primary for Senate — and Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican-turned independent, in the general election.

In an e-mail Tuesday night, Meek thanked supporters for lifting him past Greene, a billionaire real estate investor who was funding his own bid after making a fortune betting against the housing market.

“The pundits thought this seat could be bought. Our critics wrote us off. But together, you and I proved them wrong,” Meek’s message said.

Meek used his victory speech minutes later to try and establish himself as the candidate for Democratic voters in November. He noted that he is “running against two conservative candidates” — a clear swipe at Crist, who could siphon votes from Meek in November. “I made the case, and I am the real Democrat in this race,” Meek said.

Crist, who avoided a primary battle with Rubio by announcing an independent candidacy, framed the three-way Senate race as a choice between him, the hard right and the hard left.

“If … you want somebody who wants to fight the gridlock in Washington and put the people first instead of the party, [and] do what’s right for Florida rather than what’s right for Washington or right for just Republicans or Democrats, then you have an alternative,” he told CNN’s “Larry King Live” on Tuesday night.

Rubio told his supporters that Crist and Meek would be the candidates for voters who already “like the direction that America is headed.”

“If, on the other hand, you are unhappy with the direction that Washington is taking America … then there is only one person running, there is only one campaign in Florida in 2010 that is offering to stand up to that agenda,” Rubio said.

Florida’s Democratic primary for Senate and the Republican primary for governor were two races in which two deep-pocketed political novices came virtually out of nowhere this spring, but managed to transform a pair of primaries into two of the most outlandish contests of the 2010 cycle.

Meek, a Democrat from Miami, Florida, had a clear path to his party’s Senate nomination until April, when Greene decided to fund his own bid.

Both campaigns quickly trained fire on one another, with Meek dubbing Greene a “Meltdown Mogul.” Greene linked Meek to an indicted Miami real estate developer and questioned Meek’s commitment to Israel, a weighty charge in a state with a large population of Jewish voters.

Republicans also were grappling with a divisive primary in the governor’s race between McCollum, a former Congressman backed by the state’s party establishment, and Scott, a millionaire former health care executive.

Scott spent $50 million of his personal fortune since joining the race in April, mostly by blanketing Florida’s expensive television and radio airwaves with advertisements questioning McCollum’s conservative bona fides. He eventually stumbled on the campaign trail as he faced questions about his management of two health care companies that went on to face legal problems.

Arizona’s GOP Senate race also was bitter, with Hayworth insisting that after running to the right in the primary, McCain would seek to build his legacy by cutting deals with President Obama and the Democrats if re-elected.

Fights over immigration fueled the race, as Hayworth and Tea Party activists challenged McCain’s previous efforts at reform, which called for tougher border security, but included a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented workers.

But McCain defended Arizona’s new immigration law, State Bill 1070, and went on a six-stop statewide tour with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, whose signing of the bill earned her wide praise from conservatives, and made her the symbol of opposition to amnesty.

On Tuesday night, McCain told supporters he was convinced that Republicans will regain majorities in both the Senate and the House.

“And when we do, we will stop the out of control spending and tax increases and repeal and replace Obamacare,” McCain said. “We will keep families in their homes, we will create new jobs and we will allow our businesses to grow without Washington interference. We will secure our borders, defend our nation and bring our troops home from Afghanistan with honor and victory.”

Other races:

– Republican Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona easily won her party’s gubernatorial nomination Tuesday night, according to a CNN projection. Brewer captured 87 percent of the vote in the GOP primary election, according to early unofficial vote returns from the AP.

– In Alaska, incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, with one of the best-known political names in the state, is pitted against an unknown challenger. But attorney Joe Miller’s campaign picked up the support of the Tea Party movement and the backing of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

In a last-minute robocall for Miller, Palin went after Murkowski saying, “Lisa Murkowski has voted with the Democrats more than any Republican up for re-election this year. She waffled on the repeal of ObamaCare, co-sponsored cap and trade and voted for TARP.” But some think that endorsement of Miller is at least partly personal. Palin had tangled with Murkowski’s father Frank and defeated him in the 2006 governor’s race.

The Tea Party made its support known again in the final hours, promoting the more than half-million dollars it put into Miller’s campaign.

– Also in Alaska, voters decide on gubernatorial nominees. Gov. Sean Parnell, who replaced Palin when she resigned last year, faces two challengers in the GOP primary. Two Democrats are battling for their party’s nomination.

– Longtime Republican Gov. Jim Douglas is retiring in Vermont, giving Democrats hope of competing for the seat. Five Democrats are running in what’s considered a tight race. The winner will face GOP Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie.

– In Oklahoma, two U.S. House Republican nominations will be decided in a runoff. In the 2nd District, Republicans think they have a chance for a pickup this fall against conservative Democrat Dan Boren. And two Republicans are battling to likely replace Rep. Mary Fallin, who’s running for governor.

– A 10-way Republican primary in the Arizona 3rd Congressional District race to replace retiring Rep. John Shadegg has attracted national attention because Ben Quayle, son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, is one of the candidates. The winner will face Democrat John Hulburd in the fall in the heavily red district.

CNN’s Peter Hamby, Steve Brusk, Rachel Streitfeld, Jeff Simon and Mark Preston contributed to this report.

McCain fends off Hayworth challenge

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Blagojevich jurors to return for 13th day of deliberations

Posted on August 16, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — Jurors return Monday after a three-day break to resume deliberations in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

It will be Day 13 of deliberations.

On Thursday, the jury sent a note to the judge that suggested that it was far from reaching a decision.

The panel had only decided on two of the 24 counts against Blagojevich, the note said.

It failed to agree on 11 counts and had yet to consider 11 others, involving wire fraud charges.

The former governor faces charges including racketeering, wire fraud, attempted extortion and bribery.

The two-term Democrat was removed from office in January 2009 amid accusations that he attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat that had been occupied by Barack Obama before he became president.

In one conversation recorded by federal agents, he told an aide, “I’ve got this thing, and it’s [expletive] golden. I’m just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing.”

Conviction on the counts of wire fraud, racketeering and attempted extortion could each bring a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, while a conviction on the count of solicitation of bribery would carry a maximum sentence of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

The maximum penalty for bribery conspiracy and false statements is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Blagojevich’s brother, Robert, is standing trial with him on four of the charges.

Robert Blagojevich testified that his brother was “trying to politically work something to his benefit” in handling the Senate appointment but was thinking in terms of political horse-trading, not corruption.”

“It didn’t seem out of the ordinary, because Obama was taking a lot of people from Illinois with him to D.C.,” said Robert Blagojevich, who raised money for his brother. He said the governor “was interested in the idea of being the head of Health and Human Services.”

While awaiting trial, the ousted governor asserted his innocence in interviews and on Twitter, as well as during his appearances on the “Celebrity Apprentice” reality TV show.

CNN’s Katherine Wojtecki contributed to this report.

Blagojevich jurors to return for 13th day of deliberations

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Waters to address ethics charges

Posted on August 13, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, who is under investigation by the House ethics committee, will personally plead her case to reporters in a 10 a.m. news conference on Capitol Hill Friday.

The 10-term congresswoman is alleged to have helped steer federal bailout money to a bank in which her husband had a financial stake.

In an appearance on the Tom Joyner Morning Show on Tuesday, Water said she has not been given due process and that she “will not be a sacrificial lamb for anyone.”

She also said she was not guilty of any violations and wants to go on trial.

Video: Waters denies allegations

Video: Rangel: ‘Not asking for leniency’

On Friday, Waters is expected to read a prepared statement and also answer questions.

The House ethics committee released a report Monday detailing three counts against Waters and rejected her request for the charges to be dismissed.

The 71-year-old Waters has been pushing the ethics panel to set a trial date before the midterm elections in November.

But she said Tuesday in the radio interview she doesn’t expect that request to be granted.

“That’s one of the issues of not having due process. When in the heck are you going to set up this hearing? We are on break and we don’t think it’s going to be before the November election,” she said.

Waters, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, helped arrange a meeting in September, 2008, between Massachusetts-based OneUnited Bank and Treasury Department officials, according to ethics investigators.

OneUnited Bank ultimately received $12 million in bailout funds.

According to the report, Waters’ husband owned almost 4,000 shares of OneUnited stock at the time of the meeting. The shares had declined in value from more than $350,000 in June to $175,000 at the end of September — the height of the Wall Street financial crisis.

Waters, according to a separate preliminary report, called then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson “and requested that Treasury Department officials meet with representatives from the National Bankers Association,” an organization representing more than 100 minority-owned banks.

“A meeting was in fact granted, however, the discussion at the meeting focused on a single bank — OneUnited. Rep. Waters’ husband had been a board member of the bank from 2004 to 2008 and, at the time of the meeting, was a stock holder of the bank,” the report said.

But Waters reiterated Tuesday that “the meeting was set up for NBA — for all the minority bankers. Just like you have a representative for the chamber of commerce or for the Realtors, etc., that’s what the meeting was for.”

The report also states that Waters approached Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, to say that she was “in a predicament because her husband had been involved in the bank, but ‘OneUnited people’ were coming to her for help.”

Waters, “according to [Frank] … knew she should say no, but it bothered her. It was clear to [Frank] that this was a ‘conflict of interest problem.’”

Frank’s advice to Waters, the report states, was to ‘stay out of it.’”

In the Tom Joyner Show interview Tuesday, Waters admitted she had spoken to Frank, but described the circumstances much differently than the report.

“I didn’t go to him for advice. I went to him and told him, ‘These are your constituents. They are headquartered in your district and they are now trying to find TARP. We’re representing the National Bankers Association,’” Waters said.

“So then I said, ‘Perhaps you need to take a look at this’ and he said, ‘Fine. Don’t worry. You don’t have anything to do with this. I will take care of it.’ And, as a result of that, he started to work on it.” she said.

The report released Monday stated that Waters “agreed to refrain from advocating on behalf of OneUnited,” but failed to instruct her chief of staff, Mikael Moore, from doing so.

Following the September 9 meeting between Treasury and National Bankers Association officials, Moore “was actively involved in assisting OneUnited representatives with their request for capital from Treasury and crafting legislation to authorize Treasury to grant the request” for financial assistance, the report said.

“Reasonable” people could construe Moore’s “continued involvement in assisting OneUnited as the dispensing of special favors or privileges to OneUnited,” the report concluded.

Waters refuted that allegation as well Tuesday.

“If you’re going to wrap this all around creating these violations because I failed to supervise my staff, it doesn’t hold water, they don’t have any proof of that and I maintain that I want to go to trial or whatever they want to call it — adjudicatory hearing — because I think I don’t deserve this,” she said.

Waters is the second high-ranking Democrat now facing a public ethics trial this fall. New York Rep. Charlie Rangel, the former chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has been accused of 13 violations of House rules involving alleged financial wrongdoing and harming the credibility of Congress.

The prospect of inquiries into the two high-profile Democrats has compounded the fears of congressional Democrats nervous about their prospects in mid-term elections in November.

The growing likelihood of trials for Waters and Rangel also adds the explosive element of race to the political equation. Both representatives are leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, and OneUnited Bank is one of the largest minority-owned banks in America.

Waters alluded to race Tuesday on Joyner’s show, which is broadcast over the Internet on BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“The OCE [Office of Congressional Ethics] is poorly constructed. You don’t know who is charging you with what or brought a claim against you or who brought the information to the OCE… of all the information claimed or accusations brought to them, they think that African-Americans are the only ones who they move further with investigation on,” she said.

CNN’s Alan Silverleib contributed to this report

Waters to address ethics charges

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Blagojevich deliberations will go into third week

Posted on August 13, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — If the Rod Blagojevich trial were a movie, it could be called Lost in Deliberation.

The fate of the former Illinois governor is in the hands of a jury that can’t seem to make up its mind.

Two weeks have gone by. And if the note the jury sent to the judge on Thursday is any indication, the deliberations are likely to drag into a third week.

But will this be a record for jury deliberations? Not by a long shot.

In 2004, a mother and son sued Long Beach, California, saying the city was violating federal law by not allowing them to open up residential homes for Alzheimer’s patients.

A jury took four months deciding the multimillion dollar case, which is believed to be a record for the mainland United States.

But that’s nothing compared to a case in Guam in 2001, where the jury spent a whopping 15 months to render a decision in a big-dollar civil case.

“We have the record even though there is no agency that tracks deliberation times,” said Dick Williams, the lead attorney in the Guam case. “In the legal lore, our case is thought of as the longest.”

The case involved a lawsuit against two construction firms after an earthquake toppled a resort hotel in Guam.

The first indication that the verdict would take a while came when the jury sent a note to the judge that had nothing to do with the evidence in the case.

“The first request from the jury on the first day of deliberations was for two refrigerators,” Williams said.

While they wait, lawyers and nervous clients can only look to questions and requests the jury makes to the judge for clues on when a verdict may come.

Other than that, what happens in the jury room is a secret.

In the Blagojevich federal corruption case, the former governor faces charges including racketeering, wire fraud, attempted extortion and bribery.

The two-term Democrat was removed from office in January 2009 amid accusations that he attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat that had been occupied by Barack Obama before he became president.

On Thursday, the jury sent a note that suggested that it was far from reaching a decision.

The panel had only decided on two of the 24 counts against Blagojevich, the note said. It failed to agree on 11 counts and had yet to consider 11 others, involving wire fraud charges. They were implored to keep working.

A judge has a few tools to move a jury toward reaching a decision in a case.

He or she can step in and ask the jury if it is deadlocked and then declare a hung jury.

This leads to a mistrial and a possibility that a case would have to be re-tried.

This option does not seem likely in the Blagojevich case, some legal experts say.

“I think the judge will be patient in this case,” said Jessica Gabel, a law professor at Georgia State University.

“The larger issue is if there is a hung jury, this could be very costly in a time when prosecutors cannot afford it. The case would have to tried all over again and with the media and paparazzi and everything that goes along with this case, it could become very costly.”

One of Blagojevich’s lawyers has already told the Chicago Tribune that the wait is affecting him. He hasn’t been able to eat or sleep, according to the attorney.

Those who have been through longer waits have some advice.

“In my case, I just tried not to think about it,” said Barry Litt, who was an attorney in the Long Beach case.

“After it gets past five days, any trial lawyer will start to get anxious.”

In the Blagojevich case, Monday will be Day 13.

Blagojevich deliberations will go into third week

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Blagojevich jury may be deadlocked on some counts

Posted on August 11, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — A federal jury weighing the fate of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his corruption trial telegraphed Wednesday it may be deadlocked on some counts of the indictment.

“In a situation where all the jurors cannot agree on all counts what should the next step be? We must now ask for guidance?” the jury asked U.S. District Judge James Zagel.

The judge responded, “It is permissible for a jury to return a verdict on some counts and not all counts” and told it to continue deliberations.

Blagojevich faces 24 counts, including racketeering, wire fraud, attempted extortion and bribery. The two-term Democrat was removed from office in January 2009 amid accusations that he attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat that had been occupied by Barack Obama before he became president.

In one conversation recorded by federal agents, he told an aide, “I’ve got this thing, and it’s [expletive] golden. I’m just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing.”

Conviction on the count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud would carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while a conviction on the count of solicitation of bribery would carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The former governor’s brother, Robert Blagojevich, testified last week that the governor was “trying to politically work something to his benefit” in handling the appointment but was thinking in terms of political horse-trading, not corruption.

“It didn’t seem out of the ordinary, because Obama was taking a lot of people from Illinois with him to D.C.,” said Robert Blagojevich, who raised money for his brother. He said the governor “was interested in the idea of being the head of Health and Human Services.”

Robert Blagojevich is charged with wire fraud, extortion conspiracy, attempted extortion and bribery conspiracy and is on trial with his brother.

While awaiting trial, the ousted governor asserted his innocence in interviews and on Twitter, as well as during his appearances on the “Celebrity Apprentice” reality show.

CNN’s Katherine Wojtecki contributed to this article.

Blagojevich jury may be deadlocked on some counts

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