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August 24, 2010
Florida: Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) decisively won his U.S. Senate primary against self-funded challenger Jeff Greene (D). He will face a three-way race with Marco Rubio (R) and Gov. Charlie Crist (I).
In a much closer-than-expected race, Rick Scott (R) beat Bill McCollum (R) in the GOP gubernatorial primary. He will face Alex Sink (D) and Bud Chiles (I) in the general election. One caveat: McCollum has refused to concede.
Arizona: Sen. John McCain (R) defeated former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R) in the U.S. Senate primary.
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"The answer to that question is not going to come from me. It's going to come from the results of 2010. It's going to come from campaigns that are run across the country and the platform that candidates run on and people who get elected and go to Washington."
--Marco Rubio, in a
New York Times interview, when asked who the leaders are in the Republican Party.
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) attacked fellow Republican Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as a closet liberal who "gets elected because of one thing -- earmarks,"
Tulsa World reports.
Specifically, Inhofe was criticizing McCain's opposition to earmarks, which Inhofe said are simply appropriations.
Evidently, the
Eleventh Commandment doesn't seem to be enforced much anymore.
The latest
Gallup tracking poll shows Republicans leading in the generic congressional ballot, 47% to 44%. The GOP has held an advantage each of the past four weeks, the first time either party has done so this year.
Key point: "The consistent Republican advantages are also notable from a historical perspective. In Gallup's 60-year history of asking the generic ballot question, it is rare for the Republicans to be ahead among all registered voters."
Former Sen. Chuck Hagel's (R-NE)
endorsement this week of Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania could be a reminder to the White House about his very loose ties to the Republican party as they look for a replacement for Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Chris Cillizza: "Hagel has made no secret of his interest in serving in the Obama Administration... Hagel is rightly understood as trying out for a Cabinet job and the more he can show a willingness to put party aside to do what he believes is the right thing, the more attractive he will be to President Obama and his inner circle."
Ben Smith: "Hagel would provide some of the same political cover as Gates, shielding Obama if Petraeus or the generals complain about a lack of White House commitment to Afghanistan or other defense issues. And he has other assets. Being one of the Senate club might ensure an easy confirmation. He's also ideologically in sync with Obama, to a degree at least: He opposed the war in Iraq, has spoken of the need to leave Afghanistan, and -- though this is hazier territory -- has infuriated supporters of Israel for a refusal to sign on to the many statements of support on the Hill for the Jewish State, and by suggesting the more dispassionate approach to that conflict that -- on some days -- Obama seems to prefer."
A new
Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Americans are closely divided over extending the Bush era tax cuts. The poll found 49% favored extending all of Bush's tax cuts -- even for the wealthiest -- while 46% favored letting them expire at the end of this year for all or some Americans.
Said pollster Cliff Young: "Americans want to have their cake and eat it too. They want tax cuts on the one hand but they want to reduce the budget on the other."
First Read notes how Republicans leaders "haven't had an easy time reconciling their pursuit to extend the Bush tax cuts -- even for families earning more than $250,000 per year -- with their stated desire to also reduce the size of the deficit."
"The massive stimulus package boosted real GDP by up to 4.5 percent in the second quarter of 2010 and put up to 3.3 million people to work,"
Reuters reports.
"CBO's latest estimate indicates that the stimulus effort, which remains a political hot potato ahead of the November congressional elections, may have prevented the sluggish U.S. economy from contracting between April and June of this year."
"Being an independent is very liberating and refreshing. I'm really looking forward to voting for some great judges
today."
-- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I), quoted by the
St. Petersburg Times, on today's primaries in Florida.
U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene (D) was kicked out of a South Carolina restaurant by police after his companion got into a fight with people eating there, the
AP reports.
It doesn't look like the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused a major, lasting shift in public opinion about offshore oil drilling.
A series of new polls from
Public Policy Polling show support for drilling on the rise once again in Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina.
"More than a dozen political groups have organized in recent weeks to spend large amounts of money on attack ads against House and Senate candidates as special interests on the left and right play a larger role in midterm races,"
USA Today reports.
"Recent federal court rulings allow outside groups to collect unlimited corporate and union cash and spend it on independent ads that call for the election or defeat of candidates. Such activity had been illegal until earlier this year. In many cases, the public will not know who has funded the ads until long after they have aired."
RNC new-media director Todd Herman
tweeted: "Is @BarackObama amongst the 20% who think he's Muslim?"
Ben Smith: "Republicans appear increasingly to have concluded that poking at the allegation that Obama is a Muslim is less likely to blow up in their faces than they used to think."
A new
Public Policy Polling survey in Florida finds Democrats will get their stronger candidate if Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) wins the Florida U.S. Senate primary tonight as expected, but the biggest winner coming out of the primary may be Marco Rubio (R).
Rubio leads a general election match up with 40%, followed by Gov. Charlie Crist (I) at 32%, and Meek at 17%. If Jeff Greene (D) were somehow able to pull off the upset tonight it would be much closer with Rubio at 37%, Crist at 36%, and Greene at only 13%.
Key point: "Crist's support continues to show an awkward balance that may ultimately make victory for him impossible. 57% of those planning to vote for him if Meek is the nominee think he should caucus with the Democrats in the Senate if elected while 28% think he should side with the Republicans. He's more likely to find the additional support he needs to get elected from Democrats than Republicans, but can he do that without losing the 20% of Republicans who are still with him?"
"Existing-home sales plunged to their lowest level in 15 years in July as
inventories soared, painting a grim picture for the housing market
absent government support," the
Wall Street Journal reports.
Mark Halperin: "At what point does so much consistently bad economic news force the White House and/or congressional Democrats to change their message?"
The Hill reports Massachusetts Democrats are building up their campaign war chests for a possible showdown with Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) in 2012.
"Former Rep. Martin Meehan (D-MA) has almost $4.9 million cash on hand, and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has $3.3 million, according to Federal Election Commission records. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) has $1.5 million, and Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) has $1.3 million. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA), who was defeated by Martha Coakley in the 2009 Senate Democratic primary, has only $15,000 on hand."
Interestingly, Brown "has also been busy raising funds, amassing more than $6 million in his war chest."
The crowded GOP primary in Arizona today to replace retiring Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) is interesting in that it could mark the quick end to the Quayle political dynasty.
First Read: "One of the candidates in the field -- Ben Quayle, son of the ex-VP -- received a considerable amount of attention (and criticism) over his
tough anti-Obama TV ad. Also running in this primary is Pamela Gorman, whose TV ad showing her firing a variety of automatic weapons landed her on our list of top ads this cycle. In a more Democratic-friendly year, this district would actually be FULLY in play in the fall. Democrats might make the case they could make this competitive if either Quayle or Gorman end up with the nomination. By the way, remember six months ago -- pre-Arizona immigration law -- when Democrats thought one of their five best pickup opportunities for governor was in Arizona? That's not the case anymore."
In the mail:
Big Citizenship: How Pragmatic Idealism Can Bring Out the Best in America by Alan Khazei.
Politico: "Florida, the political cliché goes, is a state where TV is king. Whichever candidate wins the advertising air war across its 10 markets can usually claim victory at the polls. But the Republican gubernatorial and Democratic Senate primaries Tuesday offer test cases on the limits of TV commercials and, more broadly, what exactly money can buy in a campaign."
Mitt Romney "is preparing to embark on an aggressive schedule that will take him to more than 25 states in what is seen as a prelude to another possible White House bid," the
Boston Globe reports.
"Since losing the 2008 Republican nomination, the former Massachusetts governor has sought to reposition himself within the party, de-emphasizing social issues and focusing instead on foreign policy and economic affairs. But the most dramatic reinvention may be a stylistic one: Romney is seeking to come across as more easygoing and accessible than the formally dressed, perfectly coiffed, carefully rehearsed candidate of the last campaign."
Interesting: "New Hampshire is the place Romney's advisers and allies say they see Mitt at rest: a wearer of jeans and driver of a black 2003 Chevy Silverado pickup truck. Some of them are hoping that Romney's laid-back summer lifestyle will survive Labor Day and endure onto the campaign trail, helping to erase the impression many voters have had of a wealthy candidate almost animatronically focused on winning."
"Frankly, he has not been around long enough to determine what my dignity is."
-- Rep. Charles Rangel, quoted by the
New York Daily News, slapping back at President Obama's unsolicited advice for him to "end his career with dignity."
In a "major speech" in Cleveland, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) will call for the mass firing of the Obama administration's economic team, "arguing that November's midterm elections are shaping up as a referendum on sustained unemployment across the nation and saying the 'writing is on the wall,'" the
Washington Post reports.
Politico notes the speech "is being billed as the beginning of a major rollout of the Republican party's economic agenda -- and also a preview of how Boehner would run the House if he becomes Speaker. Although the speech contains some fresh ideas -- Boehner calls for a 20 percent tax cut for small businesses -- he also uses some familiar rhetoric, using the phrase 'job killing' 13 times to describe Obama economic policies, according to the prepared text of his speech."
The most interesting question: Is Boehner's high profile speech about President Obama or about fending off possible leadership challenges within his own party?
Five states -- Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma and Vermont -- go to the polls today "but only three of them can point to primary elections that are being closely monitored by a national audience,"
Politico reports.
"In Alaska and Arizona, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and John McCain (R-AZ) face vigorous challenges from the right. In Florida, the open Senate and gubernatorial contests have attracted self-funding outsider candidates whose free-spending candidacies are testing the resolve of each party's political establishment."
However, there's also an interesting and competitive race in Vermont where five Democrats are battling for their party's nomination to face Brian Dubie (R) in the fall election.
Polls close in Florida and Vermont at 7 pm ET, in Arizona at 9 pm ET, in Oklahoma at 8 pm ET, in Arizona at 9 pm ET and in Alaska at 12 am ET.
Soon after the verdict was read by a judge explaining a mostly-hung jury, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich hit the airwaves for a massive media blitz, including a must-see appearance last night on the
Daily Show.
Said Blagojevich: "They charged me with political horse trading. They ought to charge themselves with crimes and throw another count of hypocrisy in there."
Phil Rosenthal: "Blagojevich is out to convince the nation, or at least one juror, that the cost of a new trial would be unfair to taxpayers, that he didn't do anything wrong despite his felony conviction on a charge of lying to federal agents and that the jury's lack of unanimity on the other 23 corruption charges should be viewed as an absolution."
Daniel Libit: "Blagojevich's post-verdict press junket may demonstrate, among other things, his recognition that interest in him might not sustain itself in a second trial quite like it did in the first."
Judge James Zagel has set a hearing for Thursday to determine if and when a retrial will take place.
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August 23, 2010
With Gov. Charlie Crist running as an independent in Florida's U.S. senate race, one-time Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio (R) is "facing intense competition for the moderate Republicans and independents who could be the keys to victory in one of the nation's most evenly divided states." Rubio is now breaking with some Tea Party orthodoxy, in an effort to show he is more than just an "insurgent protest candidate," the
New York Times reports.
"His course bears little resemblance to those of other insurgent candidates, many of whom hope to ride a combative streak -- and little else -- to Washington. Mr. Rubio is increasingly trying to turn his candidacy into one built more on ideas than outrage, which is why he delivered three detailed speeches in the past week alone on education, veterans' affairs and retiree issues."
The release of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R) book,
Real Hope, Real Change: New Conservative Solutions to Rescue America, which was supposed to be published next month has been pushed back until November.
The publisher attributes the delay to the BP oil spill and its aftermath.
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