There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.
GOPers gear up for battle:
Congressmen and senators have departed Washington, D.C., for the July 4 recess. But unlike ordinary Americans who may take a break from their normal jobs for the holiday week, Republicans will be busy — taking time to rally voters and prepare for the giant legislative battles which await them upon their [...]
By helping Chuck Devore make her an ex-Senator.
But its certainly possible for him to become the next Republican Senator from Pennsylvania:
Likely Republican nominee Pat Toomey trails both of the Democrats who are vying for their party’s nomination – Senator Arlen Specter and Rep. Joe Sestak – in potential match-ups for next year’s U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey [...]
Well, thanks, Democrats:
By not allowing the Powers That Be to force an uncongenial candidate upon his party:
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is privately telling supporters that he intends to run for Senate, TPMDC has confirmed.
“He intends to get in the race,” says Meg Infantino, the Congressman’s sister, who works at Sestak for Congress. “In the not too distant [...]
Things that make you go, “hmmmm”:
Nearly half of Nevadans have had enough of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as the powerful Democrat heads into his re-election campaign, a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll finds.
About a third of the state’s voters would re-elect Reid if the 2010 election were held today, according to the poll, but [...]
Its getting to the point where we’ll have to start making a list of the things Murtha hasn’t done wrong, as its getting pretty short:
Talk about hardball politics.
Rep. John Murtha’s opponent in the 2008 election claims the Pennsylvania congressman’s chief of staff has threatened to have him recalled to active duty and court-martialed for [...]
Stuart Rothenberg, as I’ve noted, says its impossible. I say its not - and here’s a bit of analysis which tends to agree with my view:
The claim that parties cannot bounce back from rough elections and claim the mantle of “change” in the subsequent election is unsupported by history. In 1946, Republicans gained 55 [...]
The news story:
One of the nation’s largest liberal advocacy organizations, MoveOn.org , is resisting efforts to clear the Democratic primary field for Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter.
The political arm of MoveOn flexed its muscle Friday by releasing the results of an online poll that showed the vast majority of the group’s roughly 170,000 members in Pennsylvania [...]
If this pans out:
NRSC Vice-Chairman Orrin Hatch said today that he doesn’t believe former Congressman Pat Toomey has a chance to beat newly turned Democrat Arlen Specter in next year’s Senate race in Pennsylvania. Hatch even suggested that the NRSC may seek to recruit a candidate to run against Toomey.
“I don’t [...]
More news from the most ethical Congress, ever:
Democracy 21 and other good-government groups are expected to ask the House ethics committee next week for an investigation into lawmakers with close ties to defunct lobbying firm PMA Group, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer said on Friday.
The request will seek a probe into whether the millions of [...]
Rasmussen’s survey:
Incumbent Senator Arlen Specter trails former Congressman Pat Toomey by 21 points in an early look at Pennsylvania’s 2010 Republican Primary. Fifty-one percent (51%) of Republican voters statewide say they’d vote for Toomey while just 30% would support Specter.
Specter is viewed favorably by 42% of Pennsylvania Republicans and unfavorably by 55%, according to a [...]
Stuart Rothenberg rates the GOP chances of securing a House majority next year at zero - and he’s not kidding; he’s dead certain that there is absolutely no chance that the GOP will secure the 40+ seat net gain necessary for a majority. Why? Because Rothenberg, wise political observer that he is, notes [...]
Hey, they’re just buying shares in one of the best Senators money can buy:
U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, who has won praise from consumer groups for taking on credit card providers over predatory lending practices, has collected thousands of dollars in donations from people affiliated with the so-called payday loan industry.
The Democratic senator raised more than [...]
Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) program:
Peril awaits any first-term lawmaker who ventures to the House floor unprepared for a duel, but Ohio Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy had a particularly rough go of it the other day.
Kilroy took the floor to support an amendment to a popular public-service bill — only to face an ambush from Rep. Virginia [...]
Jennifer Rubin takes a stab at it:
…Democrats and their media spinners, who just days before the race declared this would prove the president’s enduring popularity and the electoral potency of his stimulus plan, have grown hushed. They mumble that it doesn’t mean much of anything. Just move along; nothing to see here.
But in fact it [...]
Because they don’t want this albatross ’round their necks in 2010:
A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Connecticut U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd now trailing former Republican Congressman Rob Simmons and two other possible GOP challengers for the 2010 election.
The survey of nearly 2,000 registered voters also shows that Dodd is experiencing his lowest job approval numbers, [...]
Ok, Democrats, explain this one away:
I just got off the phone with former GOP congressman Rob Simmons, who has declared his candidacy to challenge Chris Dodd. I asked him about the Washington Times story about AIG Financial Services chief executive Joseph Cassano’s 2006 fundraising push for Dodd, asking employees and their spouses to donate the [...]
We stage a come back in the Northeast then we’re set for a huge sweep:
…green Republican shoots are emerging from the spring muck. The most conspicuous one involves the falling fortunes of embattled Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, up for re-election next year. A new poll has the once seemingly invincible Democrat tied with former Congressman [...]