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Will Congress settle differences or scores?

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

(CNN) — The Democratic-led Congress that was knocked on its heels by voters November 2 returns for a post-election, lame-duck session Monday with a long list of controversial bills Democrats would like to clear before January when Republicans take control of the House of Representatives and bulk up their numbers in the Senate.

Whether they can pass any of these measures, which include funding the government and extending Bush-era tax cuts, is an open question. If they can’t, the bills will die or be punted over to the new Congress

At this point, congressional Democrats, who are still licking their wounds and assessing the fallout from Election Day, are split on key policies, and they’re not ready to begin negotiations with Republicans.

“We have a whole bunch of people who want to talk about what happened,” said a top Senate Democratic leadership aide who said those discussions will begin in earnest Tuesday when Senate Democrats gather for their weekly policy lunch. “Folks want to have a chance to assess where we are and where we’re going” before settling on the nettlesome details of tax and spending levels.

Meanwhile, a senior Senate Republican leadership aide predicted “only the bare minimum” will get passed in the lame-duck session. Republicans, the aide said, will be content to wait for Democrats to sort out what they want to do. After all, the GOP will have more control over any of the issues that are held over to the new Congress.

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More clarity, particularly on the issue of taxes, could come Thursday when President Obama plans to meet with bipartisan congressional leaders at the White House. Obama, who has long opposed extending the lower Bush tax rates for wealthier Americans, suggested recently that he’s open to compromises on extending, at least temporarily, the tax rates for all Americans regardless of their income level.

For more on the battles ahead, check out CNN’s White House blog, The 1600 Report

New members/same leaders

While Congress has many legislative priorities for the lame-duck session, much of the focus will be on planning for the new Congress.

Beginning Monday, Capitol Hill will be flooded by an especially large class of newly elected members of the House and Senate. Many of them won with support from the Tea Party, which is pushing for dramatic change in the Washington’s priorities, especially when it comes to tackling debt and the deficit.

But before those new lawmakers can change Washington, they must sit through an extensive weeklong orientation that will teach them the arcane and complex rules of legislating. They will learn the basics of how to set up their offices, hire staff and what ethics rules they must follow. Then they’ll jockey with each other to win key committee assignments and compete in a lottery for the best office space.

One of the first orders of business for new and returning lawmakers is voting for their party leaders. Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio is expected to become the new House speaker, and Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia will become the House majority leader.

House Democrats appear prepared to keep House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California in their top job — minority leader — and a deal struck by Pelosi over the weekend averted a nasty battle for the remaining leadership positions. But one conservative Democrat, Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, has said he will challenge Pelosi if she does not step aside.

“To be able to put Speaker Pelosi as minority leader is unacceptable for our party, to move our party forward in a moderate direction,” Shuler said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” though he acknowledged he didn’t have enough support to win.

Democrats will meet Wednesday to vote on the slate of candidates, and rank-and-file members will decide then whether they will accept the exact same leadership team that lost them majority control.

The Senate Democratic leadership will stay largely intact, although Democrats will have to pick a new head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee who will face the daunting task of defending as many as 23 seats in the next election — many in purple states that split their support between the two parties — while just nine Republican-held seats will be up.

Senate Republicans will keep their current leadership team. But GOP senators face a tough vote Tuesday on whether to give up earmarks entirely, a policy House Republicans already have in place and are expected to maintain in the new Congress. The idea is popular with many reform-minded senators but opposed by a number of senior members who believe steering funds to home state projects is one of their key prerogatives. Aides said the outcome of the vote is too close to call.

Leftover business

In addition to the expiring Bush tax rates, the reductions in the estate tax are also expiring. That means if Congress does not act, the estate tax rate, which this year is zero, will return next year to 55 percent on assets of more than $1 million, close to where it was before the cuts were adopted in 2001. One bipartisan Senate proposal would cap the tax at 35 percent on assets over $3.5 million, but serious negotiations haven’t started on the issue yet, aides from both parties said.

Congress must quickly decide what to do about government funding before a temporary bill that’s keeping the government running lapses December 3. House Republicans are pressing for a nearly yearlong extension but want the funding reduced to 2008 levels. A Senate Democratic leadership aide called that “flat-out unacceptable” but said Democratic senators would be open to discussing reduced spending.

Senate Democrats have a number of other bills they would like to pass but acknowledge GOP opposition will make that difficult. Because the lame-duck session will only last a few weeks, Democrats said they can’t afford to take up controversial bills that will take a long time to debate.

One example is the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bans openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the armed forces. The repeal is attached to the annual defense authorization bill, something that typically wins bipartisan support, but often after weeks of floor debate. Because many Republicans oppose lifting the ban and are unwilling to agree to a time limit for debate, it’s unlikely the defense bill will come up this year, aides from both parties said.

Also in the Senate, Democrats said they will try, but doubt they can win approval for, a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, the extension of unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and funding for the settlement of a discrimination suit by black farmers.

One bill Senate Democrats hope they can get through is a long-stalled food safety measure that faces a key test vote Wednesday.

The House is expected to vote on several bills that are Democratic priorities, although none is expected to become law. They include a measure to give Social Security recipients a $250 payment to make up for not getting a cost-of-living adjustment this year because inflation is so low; a child nutrition bill that Michelle Obama has pushed; and a targeted immigration reform — the “Dream Act” — which would allow children of illegal immigrants to become citizens if they attend college or serve in the U.S. military.

Some less controversial bills will likely get through, the aides said. They include: a short-term extension of the so-called “doc-fix,” so that doctors who treat Medicare patients won’t see a reduction in their payments; and adjustments to the Alternative Minimum Tax so that more middle-income families won’t get hit with a higher tax bill next year. Several other less controversial expiring tax measures also are expected to be approved.

Americans frequently said they are eager for lawmakers in Washington to compromise with each other. The most interesting aspect of the lame-duck session might not be what bills Congress does or doesn’t pass, but how well Democrats and Republicans work together in the wake of this month’s stunning election. Will lawmakers use the lame-duck session to find compromises, or will they use it to highlight their differences and begin to position themselves for the next election?

Will Congress settle differences or scores?

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Political Circus: ‘Rahmbo’ dodges egg

Posted on November 11, 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:

Rough crowd

Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel — better known in some political quarters as “Rahmbo” — found himself the target of an incoming egg during a stop Wednesday in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, NBC Chicago reports. The egg missed Emanuel, who is expected to make an official announcement soon that he’s running for mayor — and the egg thrower remained unidentified, the TV station reported.

Not a fan

More trouble for Emanuel: His tenant Rob Halpin — who reportedly refuses to move from a house he’s been renting from Emanuel — said he will run for mayor of the Windy City, according to a column by John Kass in the Chicago Tribune.

Halpin’s refusal to leave could hurt Rahm’s candidacy, too: “Now Emanuel’s campaign is expected to be challenged in the courts, a legal maneuver backed by guys on the South Side who are part of the stop-Rahm movement,” Kass wrote. “And Halpin’s talk of candidacy highlights the argument that Rahm is not a resident.”

Time to build an addition on the house perhaps?

‘Real World’ Rehoboth Beach?

Christine O’Donnell — the Tea Party-backed Republican who came up short in Delaware’s Senate race — appeared Wednesday on the “Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” Now that her schedule is free, O’Donnell said plenty of big opportunities are knocking on her door.

“The offers have been interesting,” she told Leno. “Anything from a book deal to a reality show.”

Notable quotable

“The Pentagon says it doesn’t know who was responsible for launching a missile off the California coast. They don’t know. Meanwhile Sasha and Malia [Obama] can’t believe the awesome new video game they just found in the White House.” — Jimmy Fallon

From the Twitterverse

Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Illinois, tweeted during his trip to South Korea, where negotiations for a U.S.-South Korea free-trade agreement are under way. Roskam may be working on a difficult subject, but he took time out to rib President Obama on his love for the teleprompter:

@PeterRoskam: The Teleprompters arrived safely, awaiting POTUS. #Korea http://plixi.com/p/56169133

Can’t see divorce from my house

In a new People magazine article, Sarah and Todd Palin shoot down tabloid rumors that they are on the verge of a $20 million divorce settlement.

“I call Todd on the cell phone [from the grocery checkout] and I say, ‘Todd, you won’t believe this cover!’ And he says, ‘Twenty million? Write me a check,’ ” Palin recounted to the magazine. “He’s good about laughing some of that stuff off.”

The picture you need to see

Someone missed his mark.

In this Getty Images photo, the caption notes, “Obama is moved to the correct spot by South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and his wife, Kim Yoon-Ok, for a photo during the official reception ahead of the G20 Working Dinner on November 11, 2010, at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul.”

Headline of the day

“Chuck ‘Loko’ over caffeine” — New York Post story on Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York.

Late-night laughs

Stephen Colbert: “Things are terrible right now so they [congressional Republicans] are planning to make some bold changes. Yes — extending the existing tax cuts will create jobs. Because the only way out of this mess is to keep things exactly as they are.”

Conan O’Brien: “President George W. Bush has not been in the news for a long time. The day I come back on the air after a 10-month absence he returns — with a book.”

Jay Leno: “While in Indonesia, President Obama said he is making progress toward ending people’s misunderstanding about Muslims — like the fact that he isn’t one.”

David Letterman: “Bush says he’s happy and spends a lot of time down there at his ranch in Texas. He’s glad to be out of the Oval Office. And here’s why he’s glad to be out of the Oval Office: because he does not have to think all the time. And I’m thinking, ‘Wait … that was him thinking all the time?’”

Jon Stewart: “I can’t believe that cutting through our national security bureaucracy to find out something that may not have actually happened [the mysterious rocketlike cloud in California] takes longer than an hourlong cable news shift.”

Political Circus: ‘Rahmbo’ dodges egg

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Divided Dems look ahead through 2012

Posted on November 9, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — One week removed from the great “shellacking” of 2010, Democrats at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are still picking through the ashes of their lost House majority and debating the best way forward.

Rumors of their demise are, of course, exaggerated. Republicans survived midterm massacres in 1974 and 2006; Democrats lived to tell the tale of 1994. Election night exit polls showed the GOP is no more popular among voters than the Democrats.

But any time a party loses at least 60 seats in the House and six in the Senate, recriminations are bound to fly. Angry liberals accuse the White House of selling them out on a range of issues — public option anyone? — and demoralizing the base. Diminished Blue Dogs point the finger at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s dismal approval ratings and complain about being saddled with unpopular stimulus and cap-and-trade plans, among other things.

Adding to moderate malaise: Pelosi’s unexpected decision to seek another term as her party’s House leader. The San Francisco speaker has been holed up in her Capitol Hill office this week, working the phones to stave off any possible challenge.

Her decision means more moderate Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer and more liberal South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn — numbers two and three in the current House Democratic leadership — are left fighting over the position of minority whip for the next Congress.

Some observers warn the Congressional Black Caucus will explode if Clyburn — a veteran African-American legislator — doesn’t get the nod.

What does all of this mean? Maybe President Barack Obama picked a good time to pack his bags for Asia. But he can’t avoid a radically changed landscape for the next two years as he pursues a second term.

Obama may have to further distance himself from House Democrats than Bill Clinton did after Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, Brown University political scientist Wendy Schiller told CNN.

“He’s going to have to sell the liberal wing of the Democratic Party down the river in order to get reelected,” she predicted, specifically citing negotiations over an extension of the Bush tax cuts.

Faced with a more uniformly liberal Democratic caucus led by Pelosi, Obama’s got to “become a solo operator,” Schiller said. He has “to step outside of the party box” and “reintroduce himself to the American public.”

But Nathan Gonzales, editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report, warned Obama will rarely attract enough support from the Tea Party-influenced GOP to compensate for the loss of liberal support if he tries too much to position himself as an independent operator.

“The best thing for Obama is to get his party on the same page,” Gonzales said. Republicans who may be inclined to strike a deal “are going to face a lot of pressure to resist working with the Democrats.” To most conservative activists, “that’s viewed as unacceptable. The moment you work with the Democrats, you’re at risk of a primary challenge. That’s a real threat.”

Gonzales cited the example of moderate Maine GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe, who is up for reelection in 2012. The New England Republican has been a favorite of the administration and congressional Democrats looking for bipartisan cover, but is now facing a rising Tea Party threat in her backyard. Her home state, a moderate bastion in recent decades, just elected a sharply conservative Republican governor.

It’s an open question how much politicians such as Snowe will be available to work with Democrats over the next two years.

Schiller and Gonzales differed over the impact of Pelosi staying on as the House Democratic leader.

“The president’s still the president. He’s still the leader of the Democratic Party,” Gonzales said. “In the midterms, Pelosi was more of an issue because the president wasn’t on the ballot. But 2012 is going to be about Obama and the direction he’s taking the country.”

Keeping Pelosi as the top House Democrat “means no change and Democrats can’t afford that message,” Schiller said, largely echoing the views of jubilant Republicans after the speaker announced her intentions last Friday.

Schiller also claimed Democrats may be making a mistake if they dump Clyburn from the party’s leadership.

“Hoyer can present a moderate face, but it’s unclear that he brings any change because he’s been so visible” over the past four years, she argued. He’s “indistinguishable from Nancy Pelosi to the average voter.”

Clyburn, she contended, is “a smart strategic choice. He’s a real southerner. Also, because he’s African-American he may insulate the party from the most vitriolic race-based attacks from very conservative Republicans.”

The “Democratic and Republican moderate voting base is the holy grail for 2012, and they won’t react well to any attack on Clyburn that smacks of racism,” she contended.

Hoyer’s camp, however, asserts he is successfully convincing other House Democrats he is more of a unifying force than Clyburn. At the moment, Hoyer also has more public endorsements than Clyburn. A letter released late Sunday included the names of 30 House Democrats reflecting a broad cross-section of the Democratic caucus.

Sources close to both Hoyer and Clyburn have each told CNN their candidate will prevail. Other Democrats, meanwhile, are convinced both Hoyer and Clyburn will ultimately remain part of the leadership, with one of them taking the number-three slot of Democratic caucus chairman.

Stay tuned.

Divided Dems look ahead through 2012

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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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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.

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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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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.

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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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Campaign circus: 12 months of GOP hunks

Posted on October 27, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — As Election Day gets closer, the rhetoric gets more intense, interesting and, shall we say, passionate. Here are some things you might have missed.

It’s certainly not the FDNY calendar

Vanity Fair magazine has unveiled “Red Meat,” its official 2010-11 Republican Beefcake Calendar — House Minority Leader John Boehner in a Speedo-style bathing suit is a must see.

Whoopsie

The White House recently sent out a press release with a glaring error. The press shop misspelled first lady Michelle Obama’s name. On Wednesday, they sent a corrected press release to reporters.

This isn’t amateur night at The Apollo

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman was booed by an audience Tuesday night at a debate when she declined to end negative ads. Her opponent, Democrat Jerry Brown, accepted the challenge.

Here’s Johnny

“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart lambasted Republicans on his show Tuesday night for saying Washington is broken and needs “change,” without laying out specifics on how they will fix it.

He was especially tough on Sen. John McCain — using sound bytes of the Arizona Republican saying that the system is broken. “John McCain has always worked here and always will and he is the caretaker from ‘The Shining,’ ” said Stewart.

Move over, Zagat Guide

Former President Clinton, perhaps the most sought-after campaigner this year, is also the most sought-after diner. Restaurants around the world are using his visits to attract customers — and it’s working. A tip here: You might want to call ahead for the “Clinton Table” at the Bukhara restaurant in New Delhi, India.

A scary day for Democrats

“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno used Halloween to take a shot at Democrats, saying: “Of course this Sunday is Halloween — the scariest day of the year. Unless you’re Democrat and that’s next Tuesday that would be the scariest day of the year.”

I want a best friend

The New York Post reports that White House senior adviser David Axelrod is in the market for a dog and has been “begging his wife for a dog” since coming to Washington. The only problem? His wife, according to the paper, says he has to wait until he moves back home to Illinois.

Picture of the day: Her very own ‘Mini-Me’

Former first lady Laura Bush has something to cheer about in this picture from Getty Images: She received her bobble-head doll during California first lady Maria Shriver’s annual Women’s Conference on Tuesday.

Campaign circus: 12 months of GOP hunks

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Where are Bush, Cheney as election nears?

Posted on October 22, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — Dick Cheney is certainly not one to hold back on how he really feels. George W. Bush, on the other hand, has been mum.

Despite their differing approaches to handling the post-White House years, their absence on the campaign trail has been obvious.

“The former president has been very quiet since leaving the White House in 2008, other than appearances related to fundraising and the establishment of his presidential library,” said political analyst Bill Crane. “The vice president has primarily been visible on issues such as national defense and has traditionally not been the strongest fundraising draw.”

Cheney also has been dealing with health troubles — undergoing heart surgery in July and spending the bulk of his time since then recovering.

But that is not stopping him. The 69-year-old soon will embark on a 10-stop speaking tour this year, with additional plans next year when his memoirs are slated to come out.

While conservatives adore the former vice president, they understand that he is a polarizing figure, especially to independents, a vital voting bloc in any election.

“Conservatives would love to see Dick Cheney be more vocal,” said S.E. Cupp, a conservative blogger and co-author of the book “Why You’re Wrong about the Right.” “But at the same time, he’s not an idiot and neither are conservatives. He realizes that while that might energize the conservative base, that might not win over many independents who have a very bitter taste in their mouth from the Bush administration.”

And it shows in the polls.

A USA Today/Gallup Poll in early September found that 71 percent said Bush should get blame for the country’s economic troubles. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll taken at the same time indicated that 53 percent blamed Bush and Republicans for causing the current economic conditions, while 33 percent blamed President Obama and Democrats.

Those numbers may be why Tea Party-backed candidates such as Republican Sharron Angle and Ken Buck have made a name for themselves and are neck and neck in the polls against their Democratic opponents. They tout themselves as outside the Washington fray.

Washington insiders such as House Minority Leader John Boehner and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele are likely seen as a part of the problem to voters disenchanted with Washington.

“There’s a reason why so many of these conservative candidates are not going to John Boehner to help them to campaign,” Cupp said. “They kind of want to do it on their own to have at least an appearance of being grass-roots and unaffiliated.”

Democratic strategist Mark Siegel, who served under former President Carter, said Bush’s presence on the campaign trail would hurt the GOP candidates’ message that they would govern differently than the previous administration.

“Democrats have been saying over and over again that if you elect these new Republicans we’re just going to go back to the way things were,” he said.

Crane argues that Bush’s absence has more to do with respect.

“President Bush’s father took a similar approach during the Clinton years,” Crane said. “Having spent some time around the family … this is more about their respect for the office … as opposed to ‘fear’ by GOP challengers and incumbents about being connected with Bush, in my humble opinion.”

But Bush soon will appear from his so-called hiding when his book “Decision Points” is released on November 9. He is expected to give exclusive interviews and make appearances — after the November 2 election.

The ex-president has released a YouTube video previewing his upcoming book. In the video, Bush says he decided to take an “untraditional approach” to his memoir, forgoing an “exhaustive, chronological account of my life and years in office.”

CNN Political Ticker: Bush on ‘What I got right, what I got wrong’

Cupp said that Bush’s media blitz after the election is most likely due to his own political savvy.

“I don’t think he wants anyone to be able to say, ‘If Bush just hadn’t had said that or done that or gone there, maybe I could have won,’ ” she said. “It’s self-protection for one. I think he wants to stay out of the headlines for a bit.”

She added that this understanding of the political climate right now may be behind his decision to stay out of the spotlight.

And that is something Democrats have seized on.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden repeatedly have invoked Bush’s name on the campaign trail — talking points that more than likely originated from a poll this summer by the Benenson Strategy Group, the president’s chief polling firm, for Third Way, a moderate think tank.

Conducted June 19-22 of 1,100 likely voters, the poll found that Bush’s economic principles are “almost universally rejected” by a large margin — and merely bringing up the former president’s name causes a swing in attitudes.

When respondents were asked whether they would prefer a candidate who “will stick with President Barack Obama’s economic policies” or “one who will return to President George W. Bush’s economic policies,” the result was a 15-point advantage for the Obama approach.

Read more about Democrats’ Bush bashing

But a lot has changed since then.

According to CNN/Opinion Research poll in October, Americans are divided over whether Obama or Bush performed better in the White House.

By 47 percent to 45 percent, Americans say Obama is a better president than Bush. But that margin is down from a 23-point advantage a year ago.

“Democrats may want to think twice about bringing up former President George W. Bush’s name while campaigning this year,” said Keating Holland, CNN’s polling director.

Many moderate Democrats in hard-fought battles this year are shying away from being seen with the president — but are putting out the welcome mat for another one: Bill Clinton.

He has stumped in conservative areas for Blue Dog Democrats and is a real asset for Democrats across the board, Siegel said.

“Bill Clinton is not governing now. And when you think back to his presidency, at least economically, you think about a booming economy and surpluses, fiscally responsible,” he said. “I could see how he would be a tremendous plus. Bubba in the South — very, very popular culturally … popular among the people who are going to be determining the fate of a lot of Blue Dog Democrats.”

Where are Bush, Cheney as election nears?

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Axelrod hopes GOP gains bring cooperation

Posted on October 10, 2010 by admin| Comments Off

Washington (CNN) — White House senior adviser David Axelrod is looking for a silver lining in expected Democratic losses in November’s congressional elections.

While saying he thought his party would retain its majority in both the House and Senate in the November 2 voting, Axelrod told the CBS program “Face The Nation” that that he hoped Republican gains would bring more cooperation.

He accused Republicans of deliberate obstruction as a political strategy since President Barack Obama took office last year with majorities in both the House and Senate.

“The posture of the Republican Party from the moment we got here has been basically to deprive the president of bipartisan support so they could accuse him of not being bipartisan,” Axelrod said.

“So I’m hoping that with more seats, the Republicans will feel a greater sense of responsibility to work with us to solve some of these problems,” he said.

Former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie indicated a continued GOP hard-line stance on spending issues.

“I think there will be areas where there’s cooperation and areas where there’s opposition,” Gillespie said on the same program. “Look, the Republicans, if they take control of the House and get very close in the Senate, are going to try to put the brakes on all this reckless spending.”

Gillespie said “common ground” was possible on a few issues such as free trade agreements, but maintained his focus on spending controls.

“If they can find some areas where you can get spending restraint with this administration, Republicans would be happy to go along with that,” he said.

Axelrod hopes GOP gains bring cooperation

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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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