Yesterday we get news that Cuomo is in trouble, now another completely safe, New York Democrat seems not so safe:

…Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joseph DioGuardi is running neck and neck with Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand for the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton…

The poll still has Schumer cruising to victory…but it looks like the GOP, and pretty conservative parts of it, in to the bargain, have a shot of breaking the Democrats in New York. Add this to the trouble Dingell in MI (between him and his dad, Dingell has held his seat for 80 years) and Frank in MA are having, we’re starting to see a really incredible election year shaping up.

With Democrats being forced to defend seats which were not under threat even two weeks ago, literally anything is possible on November 2nd.

NRO comments on the new Republican program for America:

All year long, conservatives have been pressuring Republicans to release a Contract with America for 2010 — an updated version of the campaign platform that the party unveiled before its 1994 sweep of Congress. Thursday morning, Republican congressmen are responding to that pressure by making a “Pledge to America.” The inevitable question will be: Is the pledge as bold as the Contract?

The answer is: The pledge is bolder. The Contract with America merely promised to hold votes on popular bills that had been bottled up during decades of Democratic control of the House. The pledge commits Republicans to working toward a broad conservative agenda that, if implemented, would make the federal government significantly smaller, Congress more accountable, and America more prosperous…

Which is, of course, what we need. I haven’t had a chance to digest the document, but I am impressed by the steps towards balancing the budget – our debt is the biggest internal threat we face today. If we don’t control our debt, it will destroy our economy…and maybe destroy our country.

This Pledge is just what we need going in to the last weeks of the campaign – everyone knows why they despise the Democrats, but we need to tell everyone why they should support the Republicans. This does the trick – smaller government, lower taxes, greater individual liberty, strong national defense: this is what the people want and expect from their Republican party, and we are now pledged to give it to them.

Its in Spanish, but handily sub-titled. What you’ve got here is Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) on Univision explaining that Republican candidate Van Tran is trying to take her seat away from “us” – meaning, Sanchez and her fellow Latino Americans.

Its a naked appeal to help her keep the seat “Latino” – because Democrats believe (a) there are “Latino” issues which are different from “black” or “Vietnamese” issues and (b) they further believe that only a Latino can represent Latinos. Of course, there are only human issues – and what we are to look for in our Representatives is a decent human being who will represent what is best in all of us.

Just disgusting – but no surprise after decades of Democrats playing upon racial divisions.

You can help Van Tran get this race-baiting Democrat out of office by going here.

Geesh – from the AP:

Democrat Andrew Cuomo sought to bolster his appeal among independents Wednesday in the race for New York governor with an endorsement from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as a new poll showed tea party Republican Carl Paladino gaining ground.

Cuomo held the Bloomberg announcement just hours after the poll results were released. Soon after, Cuomo had to retract his statement during the event that he had once voted for Bloomberg…

The poll noted there shows Cuomo with only a 6 point lead, and below 50% support. Not a good sign for the man who was supposed to cruise to victory in November.

Paladino is, of course, still behind and has a very uphill fight to break the power of the elite in New York…but he’s hammering away at them, and Cuomo is scared…and starting to make stupid mistakes.

Could be an interesting night coming up on November 2nd.

From the Washington Post:

Some of the country’s most prominent health insurance companies have decided to stop offering new child-only plans, rather than comply with rules in the new health-care law that will require such plans to start accepting children with preexisting medical conditions after Sept. 23…

I know, you liberals didn’t see this coming – but with a mandate that policies accept people with pre-existing conditions, the reality is that a lot of people will wait until the child gets sick before making the purchase. This is what comes of writing laws without a basis in reality. You can’t get car insurance after you’ve driven your car in to a lamp post because it makes no sense for someone to insure an already wrecked vehicle, ya dig? Insurance is to pay for the unexpected events of life, not the things which have already happened.

A better way to provide care for children would have been to free up the insurance market for cross-State sales and to allow people to pool themselves for the purchase of insurance. That way, people with children could band together to buy policies as a discount specifically to cover their children. This, of course, is the sort of ideas we Republicans had from the get-go, but the Democrats excluded us from any say, at all, in what went on. Nancy and Harry wrote the thing behind closed doors – idiocy has been the natural result.

As I said to a young liberal the other day, you either believe in freedom, or you don’t. If you believe in freedom, then you believe that a genuinely free market will be provide for human needs. Not perfectly, because there is no perfection in this Fallen world – but best possible. Our half-free medical market is already in trouble, and the Democrats plan is to make it entirely un-free – disaster will follow.

Our job is to repeal the ObamaCare monstrosity and start implementing policies which will actually help people take care of themselves.

The real culture of corruption:

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. directed a major political fund-raiser to offer former Gov. Rod Blagojevich millions of dollars in campaign cash in return for an appointment to the U.S. Senate, sources said the fund-raiser has told federal authorities.

The allegation by Oak Brook businessman Raghuveer Nayak counters public statements made as recently as last week by Jackson that he never authorized any deal to attempt to buy the Senate seat…

This is Chicago politics – it is the way they work there because Chicago has been under one-party rule for decades, and the Ruling Class feels they both deserve power and will never be called to account. Obama rose out of this stew – and now we’re seeing what its really all about.

We have to keep hammering on this theme – the way the people in power look after themselves. They really are getting rich and famous on our dime. Remember – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has become a multi-millionaire even though he has less private sector work experience than the average 25 year old (in fact, only in four of the last 40 years has Reid worked in the private sector…and even in those years, he spent time running for office). There are too many people like that in DC – and while Republicans are well represented amongst these cretins, most of them have a D after their name.

We must clear out the muck – we must gain control over our government and put in to office people who will know they work for us. The fate of our nation is at stake, and we dare not fail in this task.

As for Jackson, he does have an opponent – a fine, young man, Isaac Hayes (no relation to the late singer). In fact, I can’t think of anything better than letting Mr. Hayes explain himself – here’s a video. Clearly not a polished politician – but, he’s sincere, he’s honest…and he’s one of us.

Now would be a good time to help him out.

A rather stunning poll result:

PPP’s first look at the West Virginia Senate contest finds a very tight race with John Raese up 46-43 on Joe Manchin, a result within the poll’s margin of error.

The contest provides a fascinating choice for voters in the state who love their Democratic Governor but hate the party’s ranks in Washington DC that he would be joining…

It could well be that the people of West Virginia end up saying, “we love ya, Joe, but we don’t want to send you to DC to help Obama”.

As of right now, I can only see two Democrat Senators who are in any way “safe” for 2010 – in Maryland and New York, and I do believe we even have an outside chance in Maryland. Of open seats, only Delaware offers a bit of hope for Democrats (though, even there, the path for victory remains very open for the GOP). This is the stuff of political tsunamis.

We’ll have to see how it all comes out…

From NRO’s Campaign Spot:

ince 2000, Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, has taken 18 trips sponsored by outside organizations, at a value of $97,975.

Naturally, if you want to learn about the Islamic world, you go to . . . Paris, France. With your spouse. For a week. At a cost of $12,272, as Boxer did in 2008.

If you want to become more familiar with the impact of U.S. policy on Latin America, clearly, you go to . . . the Punta de Mita beach resort in Mexico. With your spouse. Three times, in 2006, 2005, and 2002, at a cost of roughly $6,000 per trip.

If you want to learn more about U.S.-Russia-European relations, you go to . . . Dublin, Ireland, for five days, at a cost of more than $6,000, as she did in 2005. (I salute her taste.) Or perhaps you go to London, at a cost of $8,260, as she did in 2002.

The Aspen Institute was most often underwriting the cost of Boxer’s trips; in addition to the destinations above, the group covered the costs of Boxer’s trips to the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, the outdoor-sports resort town of Banff, Alberta, and Barcelona, Spain…

Now, do all Senators do this? No – as is pointed out later, California’s other Democrat Senator, the equally liberal Diane Feinstein, pretty much pays her own way. The Aspen Institute, itself, is just another one of those global, liberal groups which claims to be in favor of all the peoples of the world, but sure seems to spend a lot of time at swank resorts, with bought Senators in tow.

In Boxer’s defense, she hasn’t proved as arrogant in this as, say, our First Lady – but, then again, that might be because Boxer lacks access to Air Force one and thus can’t bring a massive entourage to lavish resorts in Spain. But, still – come now, liberals: is this a defender of the working class? Are these the actions of those who care about the poor? Or are they just the acts of out-of-touch elites, feeding off the productive people of our nation?

We report, you decide.

A Ruling Class on the run, just can’t get it done, anymore:

The Senate on Tuesday dealt a significant blow to the Obama administration’s efforts to repeal the ban on openly gay people serving in the military.

In a 56-43 vote, Senate Democratic leaders fell short of the 60 votes they needed to proceed to the 2011 defense authorization bill, which included language to repeal the Clinton-era “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law…

It was a bit of dirty pool to attach it to the Defense authorization bill anyway – the merest trick to try and scare up votes for an otherwise unpopular measure. Things like the repeal of DADT should come in a one-item vote…and they’d probably get cloture on that, because nothing would please the GOP more than to force Democrats to take a stand.

Loved this ad as a kid: