After eight years as senator from New York, Hillary Clinton is trading places, moving from Congress to the incoming administration.
On Monday, President-elect Barack Obama announced that he asked his former rival to be his secretary of state.
That means the scramble begins to replace Clinton on Capitol Hill. Among those mentioned to take her seat as New York’s junior senator is her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
This appointment is only for two years - then a special election in 2010 to fill the remainder of Hillary’s term through 2012. The real worry: Chelsea Clinton will turn 30 on February 27, 2010…and then be old enough to be a Senator. We could have endless Clintons here…the long, national nightmare might never end!
The runoff between Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin - Real Clear Politics aggregate of recent polls has Chambliss up by 4.7 points. All in all, it looks like the GOP will pull out a win here, though we must work hard - this could end up being the 41st GOP Senator.
As a side note, after our crushing defeat in 1992, it was Georgia’s Senate race which signaled the turn of the tide - coming hard on our defeat, it ushered in a period of victory which culminated in the 1994 mid-terms. History doesn’t actually repeat itself, but lets get a victory in Georgia and hope its an omen of our resurgence.
To help out Senator Chambliss who, with Franken still trying to steal Minnesota, may be all there is between liberty and 60 Democratic Senators:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will come to Georgia next week to campaign for incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss on the eve of the runoff election.
Palin, who drew large crowds while running for vice president with Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain, will appear at Chambliss rallies in Augusta, Savannah, Perry and Atlanta on Monday, the day before the Dec. 2 senate runoff between Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin.
A Chambliss victory following hard upon a Palin visit will make Governor Palin a top draw as we head towards 2010, and thus give her a massive leg up for the GOP nomination in 2012.
The words for today, boys and girls, are “well-connected” and “nepotism”. Can you say those words, boys and girls?
Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner announced she will appoint Ted Kaufman of Wilmington, a long-time aide to Sen. Joe Biden, to fill the Senate seat Biden will soon vacate to become vice president.
Kaufman’s term will expire after a special election in 2010. Picking someone so close to Biden fueled speculation that Democrats want to keep the seat warm for a 2010 run by Biden’s son, Beau Biden. The younger Biden, Delaware’s attorney general, is currently serving in Iraq.
Kaufman, 69 years old, was chief of staff in Biden’s Senate office for 19 years and has worked on all of his campaigns. He is also advising Biden on the transition.
Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki is considering a run against U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2010.
Krolicki says he’s discussing the prospect of challenging Reid with his family and will decide by early next year whether to try to unseat the veteran senator and political powerhouse.
Krolicki says Republicans “got shellacked” nationally and in Nevada in the latest elections. He says the GOP rebuilding effort in this state must include an effort to get a first-rate slate of candidates for numerous offices that will be up for grabs in 2010.
Krolicki was elected lieutenant governor in 2006 after serving two four-year terms as state treasurer. He said he has received calls from Republicans at both the state and national level about a race against Reid, who he described as “too liberal and too partisan for Nevada.”
I have it on very good inside information that at least one other Republican will seek the GOP Senate nomination to run against Reid in 2010. Still, unseating Reid will be no easy task, especially as national GOP leaders will be wary of spending money in Nevada when the GOP will have a hard time defending Senate seats in Florida, Alaska, Ohio and Louisiana. If there is a big GOP wave in 2010, that would make things different - but by the time such a wave becomes noticeable, the chance to beat Reid may already have passed. Still, it is interesting that this early on we’ve got the Lt Governor plus the to-be-announced guy interested in taking on Reid, who has many vulnerabilities - not least of which being the way he’s entirely abandoned Nevada values and opted to become a lapdog for Pelosi and her San Francisco values.
As for Krolicki, himself, he’s a good man, but I wonder if he’s really got what it takes to bring a fresh perspective to the GOP. To unseat Reid will take an imaginative, conservative-populist campaign freed from adherence to the political dogmas of the past. And this goes for a recovering GOP all around the country - we can’t just retread what failed in 2006 and 2008 and expect to win in 2010 and beyond. The hackneyed phrase, “think outside the box” really does apply here. We’ve got to think anew and act anew. Adhering to core, conservative principles but also stretch out to apply those principles to thus-far ignored constituencies (socially conservative African-Americans and Hispanics, most notably - but there are other groups the GOP has ignored or been mostly unaware of). Especially given the media and funding advantage Reid will enjoy, only the most aggressive and different sort of campaign stands a chance.
One thing certain, we GOPers can do no better in 2010 than forcing Reid out - even if we otherwise fail to secure a Congressional majority, if we can beat Reid we can show we’re back on track and have learned the lessons of 2006 and 2008. We must not throw away this chance either because we’re afraid to take Reid on, or because we’re afraid to try new things and new people.
This just gets me thinking of something which may be fun:
In a separate survey on Election Day, 42% of voters had an unfavorable view of Reid, including 27% who said their view of him was Very Unfavorable. Twenty-eight percent (28%) had a favorable view of the Democratic senator from Nevada, but just six percent (6%) said that opinion was Very Favorable.
Over one-quarter of voters (27%) on Election Day said they didn’t know who Reid was. Even 30% of Democrats didn’t know him, compared to 23% of Republicans and 29% of unaffiliated voters.
27% “very unfavorable” vs 6% “very favorable” - and while there has been no recent Nevada polling on Reid, who comes up for re-election in 2010, the general consensus out here is that Reid’s approval rating is pretty poor amongst the folks at home. Reid is vulnerable in 2010.
To be able to take out someone like Harry Reid, you’re going to need a boatload of money, an energized base, superior campaign management, organization and the best darned opposition research money can buy. And there’s no such Republican on the Nevada horizon.
We GOPers got rather blown out in 2008 here in Nevada - the Assembly now has a veto-proof Democratic majority, John Porter was defeated in his House re-election bid, and the RINO governor is signalling his willingness to go along with Democratic tax increases and, at any rate, no one likes the guy because he was cheating on his wife with the wife of another man…a double creep (I called on him to resign when this all came out). The governor will probably be challenged by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman - a former mob lawyer (his client was the man Pesci’s character in Casino was based upon) who normally wouldn’t have a chance, but I figure he a near certain winner, if he goes for it.
Bottom line: the Nevada GOP has no one available to go after Reid, and will be hard pressed to merely recover a bit from the 2008 drubbing. But we must go after Reid.
I wonder who will emerge to make a stab at ridding us of Reid?
100 votes suddenly discovered. Every one for Franken and Obama. Every one.
Hey, I’ve got 1000 votes for Coleman in my rumpus room. Sorry, I forgot to deliver them previously. Where shall I bring them?
The Minnesota GOP can probably use some money for lawyers.
Click on this link to donate to the Minnesota GOP - it might be too late to save the seat, but we must try to prevent the Democrats from stealing another election as they did in Washington State in 2004. Without our help, the Democrats will just keep manufacturing votes until they get the number they need to put Franken over the top.
If you click on the “every one” link above, you’ll see that what is happening is the impossible appearance and disappearance of ballots, always in favor of Franken. The MSM, naturally, doesn’t care - one more Donk Senator is always fine with the lapdog Dinosaur Media. The problem is that Minnesota has a very clean election reputation - when I noted the final tally, I figured the recount might have some small differences, but that Coleman was certainly re-elected because when you have efficient and clean elections, the variance between “count” and “recount” are very small. All of a sudden we’ve got all sorts of Chicago-style things going on.
Franken is a hard left fanatic and someone who has proven himself rather hate-filled in his statements as well as someone not entirely devoted to truth and justice. The Democrats under Obama’s Chicago leadership can be, if anything, even less trusted than before to be honest about the election tactics. It will be a terrible tragedy if the Democrats are able to corrupt Minnesota, and a plain and simple crime if the Democrats of Minnesota allow it to happen just to get one more Democratic Senator.
UPDATE: Very strange thing - 223258 and 312598. The first number is the number of votes cast in Alaska in 2008, the latter number is those cast in 2004. How come in a hotly contested election year, with the 80% approval-rating Alaska governor and a hotly contested Senate race is there about 89,000 less votes in 2008 than 2004?
COBURN: We have a patient with cancer, and they have secondary pneumonia because of the cancer and we’re going to treat the pneumonia. But we’re not going to fix the cancer. We’re gonna ignore the cancer. Let me tell you what the cancer is. The cancer is Congresses for years upon years have totally ignored the Constitution of the United States and taken to us areas where we have no business being. There is no way you can justify in the US Constitution that the country ought to be the source of mortgages for homeowners in this country, and yet Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac control 70% of the mortgages in this country.
[SNIP]
If anybody in America is mad about this situation, there’s only one place they need to direct their anger, and it’s right in the Congress of the United States. What we’re going to do is we’re going to continue to treat the symptoms rather than directly go after the cause that has created the greatest financial risk and peril this country has ever seen. We’re not going after the cause. The cause is get back within the bounds of the Constitution that very specifically says where we have business working and where we don’t. We decided that we would ignore the wisdom of our founders and create systems that are outside the enumerated powers that were given to us because we know better, we know better. We don’t know better, it is obvious.
[SNIP]
This body continues to spend more, authorize more, and create bigger and more intrusive government, limiting the power of the great American experiment to in fact supply an increased standard of living. We’re in tough times, but they’re going to get tougher until the American people hold this body accountable to live within the rules set out in a very wise, a very providential way that served this country well. We ignore this book, this Constitution at our peril, we are reaping exactly what we have sown.
Indeed. The Senate has opened a Pandora’s box full of enough socialism to put our Constitution and all it stands for into a death throe.
It is my hope that there are enough Tom Coborns in the U.S. House to shut the door to this insidious box before it’s too late.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., took credit for the stimulus package that passed earlier this year.
“In January, I outlined a plan to help revive our faltering economy,” Obama said, “which formed the basis for a bipartisan stimulus package that passed the Congress.”
Is that true?
Democrats on Capitol Hill who support Obama say no.
Wanting Obama to win, however, none will say so on the record.
I’m a big fan of Barack Obama, the Illinois freshman senator and hot young Democratic Party star. But after reading his autobiography, I have to say that Barack engages in some serious exaggeration when he describes a job that he held in the mid-1980s. I know because I sat down the hall from him, in the same department, and worked closely with his boss. I can’t say I was particularly close to Barack - he was reserved and distant towards all of his co-workers - but I was probably as close to him as anyone. I certainly know what he did there, and it bears only a loose resemblance to what he wrote in his book.
– Dan Armstrong
Famously during Obama’s World Tour to the Middle East and Germany Obama claimed he was on the Banking Committee and passed significant legislation:
“Just this past week, we passed out of the US Senate Banking Committee - which is my committee - a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Just this week, as the financial markets were roiling in the wake of the Bear Stearns collapse, Obama made another claim that was greeted with disbelief in some corners of Capitol Hill. On March 13, Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, unveiled legislative proposals to allow the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee new loans from banks willing to help homeowners in or approaching foreclosure. Obama and Clinton were in Washington for a day-long round of budget voting, but neither appeared at the housing news conference.
Yet Obama on Monday appeared to seek top billing on Dodd’s proposal.
“At this moment, we must come together and act to address the housing crisis that set this downturn in motion and continues to eat away at the public’s confidence in the market,” Obama said. “We should pass the legislation I put forward with my colleague Chris Dodd to create meaningful incentives for lenders to buy or refinance existing mortgages so that Americans facing foreclosure can keep their homes.”
Dodd did say that Obama supported the bill, as does Clinton. But he could not offer pride of authorship to the candidate he wants to see in the White House next year.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted Sen. Joe Lieberman today for making what she called “totally irresponsible” remarks about Democrat Barack Obama, which she warned could prompt Senate Democrats to strip him of his committee chairmanship.
Here’s the answer: Joe, caucus with Republicans. Majority control will switch, you’ll certainly get to keep your chairmanship, and you won’t be blackmailed anymore.
The following is a guest blog entry from Dave Cuddy, Repubilcan candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska, who is running against incumbent Republican Ted Stevens.
The Democrats ran our country for 40 years. They gave us many budget deficits, started stealing from Social Security and Medicare, and brought us corrupted officials. In 1994 Republicans promised reform and limited government. We promised the voters we’d balance the budget, and fix Social Security and Medicare. The lobbyists and special interests simply walked across the aisle and bought Republicans where they used to buy Democrats. The national debt is much worse under Republican leadership. The power and control by the federal government is much worse. More money has been embezzled from the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. In 2006, the voters began to throw the Republicans out of office… as they should. Immediately after the 2006 election, our Republican leaders said they’d learned their lesson. They would return to the basics of limited government, reform, and personal responsibility.
Based partly on this assurance and partly on the premise that if we don’t begin to fix our broken government, we will become a third rate power, I announced my run for the US Senate against a Republican who is everything the Republican Party says it will change. I am the “clean government candidate.” My background, a Duke Economics degree, Gonzaga MBA, a term in the Alaska State Legislature, twenty years as a commercial banker, and much public non-profit service, positions me perfectly as the profile of candidate the Republican Party says it is looking for….yet….it just can’t drop it’s big spending Senator. The other Republican members of “The Club” still support their incumbents. Incumbency is a very powerful factor, and it may destine the Republican Party for many decades in the wilderness.
The nominees were confirmed without dissent after drawn-out talks between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and a last-minute hang-up over a demand from Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., a campaign finance crusader, to meet with all five nominees.
Though the FEC staff has been at work, the six-member commission has been inactive because it has not had a quorum to conduct business. The commission is the agency that regulates federal elections and campaign finance matters.
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement after the confirmation of the nominees.
“A fully functioning, bipartisan FEC is long overdue. I’m glad that Democrat obstruction on nominees is over so the FEC can now resume its critical role of enforcing election laws and ensuring that this election season is fair and equitable to all who are involved.”
Senator Kent Conrad said he was given preferential treatment on a mortgage from Countrywide Financial Corp. and will write a $10,500 check to charity.
“It appears Countrywide waived one point on my mortgage,” Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, said in a statement today in Washington. “Although I did not ask for or know that I was receiving a discount, and even though I was offered a competitive loan from another lender, I do not want to have received preferential treatment.”
Conrad said he also received a loan from Countrywide on an eight-unit apartment building in Bismarck, North Dakota, even though the lender typically serves properties that have four units or less. He said he had decided to refinance that loan with another institution.
Conrad and Senator Christopher Dodd, who oversees the U.S. mortgage industry as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, were among those who received loans through Countrywide’s “V.I.P.” program, which waived points, fees and borrowing rules for prominent people, Portfolio magazine reported June 12. Dodd has denied receiving preferential treatment.
“He never expected, asked for or was aware of any special treatment,” Conrad’s spokesman, Chris Thorne, said. “He is paying this to make absolutely clear he will not partake in any preferential treatment.”
As there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to bribe a politician. The fact that there is such a thing as a VIP program is disturbing enough (full disclosure: the very large financial institution I work for has one, too, and it annoys me no end, though I’ve never noted a politician in the mix, but I’m also not nearly privy to the full scope of the program), but to see an elected official not making 100% certain that he doesn’t benefit from such a program gets any “clean government” advocate rather upset.
You see, the problem here is that its too large an opening for outright corruption - we don’t know if Conrad was actually being bribed, but the plain fact of the matter is that such a thing can very easily become a bribe. Like this - one of the things Matt and I discovered in writing Caucus of Corruption is that while a politician can’t use political donations to enrich himself, he can put his wife on the campaign payroll and pay her (and, therefor, himself) a hefty paycheck out of donated funds…and more than once Matt and I found that the politician doing this sort of thing had no or token opposition to his re-election bid (meaning he was taking in vast amounts of money for no actual purpose, and shovelling it over to his wife for alleged work on a nearly un-necessary re-election effort). Very easy for Countrywide - or any bank - to turn special treatment of a loan into a bribe; “ok, Senator, you vote the way we want and we’ll ensure that you get a very low cost loan to buy that property you have your eye one” - the savings in such a transaction could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars, more than enough to get a corrupt pol to do one’s bidding.
And, once again, this brings me back to the theme of Caucus - that unless and until Democrats start holding their own side accountable for corruption, this sort of shady practice will continue unabated. Conrad might be squeeky clean, but does anyone want to bet me that a program like Countrywide’s VIP program has never been misused? Back in 2004, Democrats were urging any Republican even remotely connected to shady practices be forced out of office…I won’t hold my breath waiting for Democrats to start demanding the same level of accountability for their side.
Failed liberal talk radio host and not-so-funny comedian Al Franken apparently thought that he could get away without paying taxes over the past four years. Well, the joke is on him and he now has to pay $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states.
DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, frontrunner in the race to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, owes $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states, where he earned income going back to 2003.
Franken on Tuesday told the Associated Press that he never intended to avoid paying taxes and that on the advice of his accountant, had paid taxes to the city and state where he lived.
Franken has been under fire since early March, when a Republican operative revealed that Franken had failed to pay workers’ compensation and disability premiums for employees of his New York-based corporation, Alan Franken, Inc., between 2002 and 2005.
New York state officials had tried to collect the back premiums for four years, resorting to a collection agency and even filing a summary judgment against Franken in state Supreme Court last May for $25,000.
In recent months, there’s been quite a bit of corruption discovered about Al Franken. This isn’t just some isolated incidents of corrupt actions… There’s a pattern of corruption. Three years ago we learned that Air America, Al Franken’s liberal talk radio project, was stealing federal funds from the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club.
Al Franken truly is a member of the Caucus of Corruption. The question remains… will this be enough to force him out the race, or will Minnesota Democrats give him a free pass?
