Prog Blogs, Orgs & Alumni
Bank Slate
Betsy Devine
birch, finch, beech
Democracy for NH
Live Free or Die
Mike Caulfield
Miscellany Blue
Granite State Progress
Seacoast for Change
Still No Going Back
Susan the Bruce
Tomorrow's Progressives
Politicos & Punditry
The Burt Cohen Show
John Gregg
Krauss
Landrigan
Lawson
Pindell
Primary Monitor
Primary Wire
Scala
Schoenberg
Spiliotes
Welch
Campaigns, Et Alia.
Paul Hodes
Carol Shea-Porter
Ann McLane Kuster
John Lynch
Jennifer Daler
ActBlue Hampshire
NHDP
DCCC
DSCC
DNC
National
Balloon Juice
billmon
Congress Matters
DailyKos
Digby
Hold Fast
Eschaton
FiveThirtyEight
MyDD
The Next Hurrah
Open Left
Senate Guru
Swing State Project
Talking Points Memo
50 State Blog Network
Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
On June 26, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 219-212 in favor of HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Only eight Republicans - we'll call them the "Enlightened Eight" - voted "aye." These Republicans were Mary Bono-Mack (CA-45), Mike Castle (DE-AL), John McHugh (NY-23), Frank LoBiondo (NJ-2), Leonard Lance (NJ-7), Mark Kirk (IL-10), Dave Reichert (WA-8), and Christopher Smith (NJ-4).
Republicans voting for cap and trade in the year of the Tea Party? You'd think that they'd be dumped in the harbor by now. Instead, they're all doing fine. In fact, to date, not a single one of these Republicans has been successfully primaried by the "tea party" (or otherwise). Instead, we have two - Castle and Kirk - running for U.S. Senate, one (McHugh) who was appointed Secretary of the Army by President Obama, and five others - Bono-Mack, LoBiondo, Lance, Reichert, Smith - running for reelection.
Rep. Lance actually was challenged by not one, not two, but three "Tea Party" candidates. One of Lance's opponents, David Larsen, even produced this nifty video, helpfully explaining that "Leonard Lance Loves Cap & Trade Taxes." So, did this work? Did the Tea Partiers overthrow the tyrannical, crypto-liberal Lance? Uh, no. Instead, in the end, Lance received 56% of the vote, easily moving on to November.
Meanwhile, 100 miles or so south on the Jersey Turnpike, Rep. LoBiondo faced two "Tea Party" candidates - Donna Ward and Linda Biamonte - who also attacked on the cap-and-trade issue. According to Biamonte, cap and trade "is insidious and another tax policy... a funneling of money to Goldman Sachs and Al Gore through derivatives creating a carbon bubble like the housing bubble." You'd think that Republican primary voters in the year of the Tea Party would agree with this line of attack. Yet LoBiondo won with 75% of the vote.
Last but not least in New Jersey, Christopher Smith easily turned back a Tea Party challenger - Alan Bateman - by a more than 2:1 margin. Bateman had argued that "Obama knows he can count on Smith to support the United Nations' agenda to redistribute American wealth to foreign countries through international Cap & Trade agreements and other programs that threaten our sovereignty." Apparently, Republican voters in NJ-4 didn't buy that argument.
Across the country in California's 45th District, Mary Bono-Mack won 71% of the vote over Tea Party candidate Clayton Thibodeau on June 8. This, despite Thibodeau attacking Bono-Mack as "the only Republican west of the Mississippi to vote for Cap and Trade." Thibodeau also called cap and trade "frightening," claiming that government could force you to renovate your home or meet requirements before you purchase a home. Thibodeau's scare tactics on cap-and-trade clearly didn't play in CA-45.
Finally, in Washington's 8th Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Dave Reichert has drawn a Tea Party challenger named Ernest Huber, who writes that Cap and Trade "is widely viewed as an attempt at Soviet-style dictatorship using the environmental scam of global warming/climate change... written by the communist Apollo Alliance, which was led by the communist Van Jones, Obama's green jobs czar." We'll see how this argument plays with voters in Washington's 8th Congressional District, but something tells us it's not going to go over any better than in the New Jersey or California primaries.
In sum, it appears that it's quite possible for Republicans to vote for comprehensive, clean energy and climate legislation and live (politically) to tell about it. The proof is in the primaries.
40 days from today - on May 18 - we will see two HUGE primaries for U.S. Senate. Even though these races aren't in New Hampshire, they impact Democrats across the country and, well, the entire country as a whole.
In Pennsylvania, Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak will try to upset Republican-for-decades Arlen Specter.
In Arkansas, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter will try to upset corporate lackey Blanche Lincoln.
These two races are tremendously important to defining who and what the Democratic Party is and what we will be fighting for.
If you can volunteer for these candidates (or encourage friends and family in Pennsylvania and Arkansas to do so), that would be amazing.
Of course, if you can help with a contribution to either or both via the Expand the Map! ActBlue page as soon as possible, it will make a big impact.
Expand the Map! ActBlue page
Joe Sestak
Facebook, Twitter
Volunteer Page
Bill Halter
Facebook, Twitter
Volunteer Page
Expand the Map! ActBlue page
Polling shows that both Specter and Lincoln are at risk of - if not likely to - hand these Senate seats over to far-right-wing Republicans. (And, even if these two retain the seats, that's not much better on many key issues.)
Congressman Sestak and Lieutenant Governor Halter winning these primaries are critical to keeping these seats in truly Democratic hands. Your support can help make that happen! Please hop over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page right away to make a contribution - an investment in the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party to pull out an old expression - and show your support.
Thanks SO much for any support you can provide. 40 Days.
Just when I thought Sen. Clinton was warming to the idea of unifying the party when the hopes for her winning the nomination now seem rather untenable, just when I was warming up to her as a unifier for the party in the general election, Sen. Clinton has decided to put out a most scurrilous remark that should send chills down the spines of ALL Americans- whether Democrat or Republican. Senator Clinton's insinuation, in the clip provided, shows her pronouncing the Democratic nomination primary process not over because we should harken back to 1968 when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles. So guess what folks, if Sen. Clinton's little hypothetical historical parallel is true, history might repeat itself!
This is not only alarming but truly disturbing coming from someone who claims that she will support the nominee of the party while at the same time making deplorable comments that sink below the level that any politician in America- Democrat or Republican- should ever make. I believe that Sen. Clinton should publicly apologize for such an egregious historical comparison and renew her support for unifying the party. Whether she truly meant to be so tasteless in her comments, I do not know, but I think the very least she can do is to make a public clarification that her statement was not meant to be a disparagement of Barack Obama and that she apologize for having made such an insinuation.
In case you had not heard, the net roots organizers for Edwards have declared Friday Jan 18, 2008 the Edwards 'moneybomb' day.
https://www.johnedwards.com/ac...
Why? Well for one, Ron Paul's supporters are showing the establishment that the net roots can generate publicity in ways that can not be ignored - money.
The bus was late, but the show was sweet - bittersweet. John Edwards closed out his NH campaign in Dover last night to a rapt audience.
Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and James Denton were there. The whole Edwards family was there. The entire campaign family was there. The family of labor showed up in full solidarity for John Edwards. The enthusiastic family of environmental activists represented by Friends of the Earth was there.
But another family came to the Elk's Lodge in Dover tonight to support John Edwards at his final campaign event in NH.
The family of Nataline Sarkysian, a beloved daughter and sister, a friend and a young teenager so full of hope and potential, an American no longer on this earth for the sake of a few dollars more on the bottom line, that family was there tonight in Dover. The Sarkysian Family was there to raise their voices in protest during their time of intense grief to remind us that pernicious influence of corporations is not just the ultimate boogeyman out there in the political landscape today. No, the story of Nataline is a story about the human costs of the system we live under today in this country.
This is my personal perspective on a breaking story about Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly manhandling a campaign worker at a rally for Senator Barack Obama in Nashua, New Hampshire today. (Hat tip to icebergslim.)
Over 200 individuals applied for media passes to cover the rally for Senator Obama today. Among them were Bill O'Reilly and me, a photo blogger covering the event in my personal diaries on Daily Kos and BlueHampshire. (Hat tip to the Obama campaign for graciously offering access to bloggers as well as blowhards.)
The press pass came with a few reasonable conditions. Media presets were to be from 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. This means that camera equipment had to be set up before 9:00 a.m. in order to allow the Secret Service to sweep for bombs. All media representatives were required to vacate the gymnasium until the doors opened at 10:00 a.m. I showed up at 8:15 a.m., set up my tripod, and enjoyed a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee provided by the campaign. O'Reilly blew off the preset, then marched into the rally midway, after other broadcast crews and still photographers had already established their camera positions.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! There I covered all grounds. LOL. It's Christmas night and there is hardly an Edwards story to be found. But I did the best I could. Join us....
Today, an insurance company denied a family healthcare. This case of denial of coverage, was so grievous, that a public outcry arose.
Nataline Sarkysian died after she was denied a liver transplant by CIGNA- even after her surgeons requested the transplant. Besides feeling anger and indignation against the insurance company, I felt sorrow for the family. 'Is anyone listening?' I thought to myself.
Turns out, someone is. John Edwards...
On Bill Richardson's recent push to restore the war in Iraq to the most prominent issue among the Democrats running for President, Chris Bowers writes:
While I know that everyone in American politics is supposed to have some ulterior motive behind everything they do in public, everything in my experience has indicated to me that Richardson's position on Iraq is genuine. Richardson isn't alone, either. The latest CNN poll on Iraq showed public sentiment for total withdrawal sharply rising to 39%, a clear plurality nationwide. Further, residual forces wouldn't even be an issue in the campaign were it not for Richardson. No matter what happens when the voting starts, and no matter what you may think of Richardson otherwise, that is an important contribution to the campaign. And yes, it is one reason not to be cynical about American politics.
Through his campaign stops, press releases, TV ads and postings on blogs, Richardson has been relentless in raising the issue of Iraq and forcing the media and other candidates to not ignore it.
A feisty and boisterous overflow crowd greeted Team Edwards Wednesday in Portsmouth, NH on a chilly and gray day with more snow forecast for the Granite State. "Only in NH would someone ask the band a question," and JJ, a volunteer who introduced Peter Coyote, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, even got heckled by another attendee.
That mood was matched by the tone and passion of the new John Edwards stump speech.
"America Rising" is not a warm and fuzzy retooling of a "harsh anti-corporate populist" message that Edwards has been accused of delivering in this race. The remarks by Edwards were fairly consistent with the message I've heard since summer and they encapsulate the core values of our nation. The speech is truthful and aspirational. We were all in the mood for some truth-telling on Wednesday.
Follow me below the fold for all the video of Edwards's closing argument: "America Rising."
We elected a Democratic Congress to stop the war, and it's not happening. I regret very much that those senators running for president weren't even there to cast their vote, they were out campaigning. We gave the president $70 billion more to continue this war without any restraint or timetable to reduce the troops - it's basically a blank check.
That's what Bill Richardson said yesterday in New Hampshire.
Will Clinton, Edwards or Obama promptly bring the U.S. occupation of Iraq to end? None of them have made an iron clad promise to bring our troops home. Instead, all want to keep their options open and refuse to pledge to bring home all U.S. troops from Iraq by 2013.
X-posted from Dkos, with slight edits. (update is placed in diary)
Well, this is interesting. ABC is reporting that the Obama campaign is circulating a pamphlet attacking John Edwards.
Circulating among Iowa labor circles, I am told, is this leaflet,which looks to be a standard opposition-research paper against formerSen. John Edwards, D-NC. The shocker? It's from Mr. Positive, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois.
snip
It's a shocker because Obama chief strategist David Axelrod told ABC News that "One of the things people appreciate about (Obama) is he's not a cheap-shot artist" and this flier is full of cheap shots.
ABC News
Come around after the fold and let's talk about this interesting turn of events from a campaign we keep hearing is "surging," but feels the need to go negative against John Edwards.
Long before it was "popular", John Edwards was calling for a New Strategy for Iran (and the War on Terror in general)
Long before the NIE Report, threw water on the GOP's fiery rhetoric about the looming dangers of Iran, Edwards was saying we must learn the lessons of the Iraq War -- NOT Repeat them in Iran!
Long before the cynical Rumsfeld Memos were leaked (proving Edwards right), John Edwards was busy "reframing" the Global War on Terror, calling it "a 'bumper sticker' slogan Bush had used to justify everything ..."
Did Edwards get Media Attention and fanfare for his insightful and stateman-like leadership -- NO, but he DID help to change the national conversation!
So Much so, that insiders in NIE (National Intelligence Estimate), seem to have taken his advice that: "We've got to stand up to Bush and Cheney and the Neocons ..."
I think there may be some dispute between supporters of different candidates about who has the coolest celebrity endorsement, but for my money, the best one so far this campaign season is the endorsement of John Edwards today by Harry Belafonte.
Belafonte, who became famous in the 1950s by popularizing Calypso music from the Caribbean, has been a long time human rights activist. Among other things, he worked with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He hasn't stopped working for the betterment of humanity since.
Huffington post has the Iowa Independent ratings for how the Iowa caucus will turn out on January 3rd. Based on information revealed recently on John Edwards' campaign, their rankings put him at the top for January 3rd.
as revealed Monday morning on a conference call, the former North Carolina senator has recruited multiple precinct captains in 87% of Iowa's precincts, demonstrating the continuing superiority of his grassroots organization.
December 4, 2007 - Des Moines, IA, NPR News/Iowa Public Radio Debate
December 13, 2007 - Johnston, Iowa, Des Moines Register Democratic Debate
December 17, 2007 - Boston, MA
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
"The only things Inevitable in Life, are Death and Taxes!"
These are both unpleasant subjects, and since political candidates can't really do a lot about one, this diary will be exploring the other -- Taxes.
John Edwards has based his campaign on hard hitting messages about the need for "Economic Parity" in our Country -- this Diary will be taking a serious look at what Edwards will do about Taxes.
The Senator often says "I do not wanting to live in a Country made up of the Super-Rich and Everybody Else!"
That's not the America we all grew up in. Each year achieving the American Dream becomes more and more difficult. What are working people to do, in this society of Haves and Have-Nots?
Is John's tough Campaign Rhetoric just Talk, or does he actually have the Plans to Back it up?
Turn the page, to see where the "Rhetoric meet Reality" when it comes to that annual April Ritual, most hard-working American love to hate -- spelled I.R.S.
