The next time Matt updates the Senate rankings, you'll notice that my Florida ranking has been changed from "Leans Republican" to "Solid Republican." I had held some hope that maybe, just maybe, we could take the seat, but that was predicated on Charlie Crist winning the GOp primary, and that [...]
The vote is in, and the Reid bill has passed on to debate by a vote of 60 - 39. And we don't even need to write the list, we can name them by memory. Debate will begin following the Thanksgiving break.
I watched the last several hours of discussion, and [...]
It appears that things are still on for later today at the Senate.
Question 1: has anyone seen Max Baucus? I don't know that he's back in DC.
Question 2: has anyone seen Robert Byrd?
These should be two "yes" votes, but you have to play to win, and they need to [...]
Following seemingly quickly on the heels of the mammogram recommendations, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published their pap smear data yesterday.
Immediately, people were up in arms about this being some sort of "plot".
Untrue.
The pap smear guidelines raise the age for the first screening to 21, say [...]
Huge news for health care reform:
Sen. Ben Nelson announced Friday he will vote for a cloture motion Saturday that clears the way for Senate debate on health care reform.
Nelson, a centrist Democrat who holds one of the key votes required to prevent a Republican filibuster, said the Senate needs to [...]
WHO WILL YOU ENDORSE IN FLORIDA SENATE RACE?
Will You Endorse Stimulus-Supporting, President Obama Hugging Charlie Crist Or Club For Growth Endorsed Marco Rubio?
Dear Governor Palin,
I noticed that you will be in Florida next week to promote your new book Going Rogue. As you know, Florida is home to [...]
Earlier this week, the US Preventive Health Services Task Force published a report which concluded that the benefits to women under age 50 from mammograms were limited, and therefore regular mammograms for women age 40 - 50 should be discontinued for women without certain risk factors.
This was NOT a financial [...]
While Doug Hoffman is going off the deep end in NY-23, charging that ACORN stole the election for Democrat Bill Owens, (I mean this is so ludicrous - almost all the charges leveled against ACORN have been about voter-registration fraud, of which there have been a few minor cases, [...]
Interesting interview with Obama's campaign Manager David Plouffe...
PR.com: Tell me a little bit about the Superdelegate situation. During the campaign a lot of people were confused by it because it almost seemed like two separate races.
David Plouffe: This has never really factored into an election, because Kerry and Gore, [...]
There's a good chance you don't qualify, since this situation has only been attained by 158 men so far. (To the best of my information, no women, but that's not directly sexist, due to the base requirements.) What do you get?
A base "salary" of between $100,000 and $300,000 a year.Between [...]Notwithstanding anything that is or is not in the bill Harry Reid wants to bring to the floor, we want it to pass. This is because in spite of the abortion provision, the opt-out provision, the problems with the tax issue, and everything else we don't like in it, health [...]
I know, you were expecting to see that I'd read the Reid bill since last night. Um, no. But I will have a posting a couple hours about the political calculus of the upcoming vote.
Often there is the evil empire of health insurers who deny claims that shouldn't be denied [...]
A month and a half ago, FHQ posted a link to and discussed a presidential election forecasting model built on candidate biographical information. The benefit of this model -- and it performs quite well stacked up against other forecasting models -- is that the biographical data exists now. In [...]
Our flurry of stories last week regarding the 2012 Republican National Convention and the 2012 Democratic National Convention got picked up by Hotline on Call from the National Journal.
The Hotline story adds some names to the list of cities invited to bid by the DNC and [...]
If you don't live in Pennsylvania, you might not be keeping up with the indictments.
By way of background, Tom Corbett is the current Attorney General of the state. He's squeaky clean, to the best of my knowledge. He's also running on the GOP side for governor. As prognostications go, I [...]
Think back to the race last year: sitting Congressman Vito Fossella gets drunk in DC, crosses the bridge into Virginia, blows a red light, blows twice the legal limit on a breathalyzer, gets hauled to jail, calls not his wife, not his chief of staff who lives walking distance away, [...]
I have seen a lot of CNN lately. If you read my stuff, you probably know that I don't know which channel on my TV is CNN, so there must be something else going on. And there is.
But I've seen CNN, in bits and pieces. possibly more in the past [...]
Do you know these guys?
Yup, actually, you do.
This is the list of the 20 ostensibly pro-choice Democrats who voted for the Stupak amendment. Over at 538, Nate did a nice chart. The Planned Parenthood rating relates to pro-choice, the NRTL ranking is anti-choice. All [...]
WASHINGTON – With the investigation into the tragedy at Fort Hood ongoing, President Barack Obama used his weekly address to call for a careful and complete review of what happened before the tragedy.
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
November 14, 2009
Full text after the jump.
This [...]
Note: if you remember how Obama went to Cairo early in his presidency and talked truth to the middle east, you'll want to read this. While this speech lacked the fanfare of the Cairo speech, it is still important, as he talks to truth to Asia, including addressing Burma and [...]
Or maybe she's thinking her chances of winning the primary in Texas aren't looking so good:
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) will announce she is delaying her resignation from the Senate so that she can continue to represent Texas in the Senate while pursuing the Republican nomination for governor in [...]
And so it begins, don't say I didn't warn you.
When the Stupak amendment banning payments for abortions from the Public Option, even if someone paid the premiums themselves with no government stipend, there was a hue and cry from the conservative wing of the Democratic Party that this was okay. [...]
In this country, the freedom of the press to say or write just about anything is well protected by the First Amendment to the constitution. But things can be much more restrictive in other countries. However, here are two examples of how technology is working to defeat those press restrictions.
In [...]
Dick Durbin says:
Last month Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced a merged Senate health care bill -- a bill that includes a public option. And last weekend, the House of Representatives passed an historic health care reform bill that included a robust public option as well.As threatened yesterday morning, I have read the USA Today again. Sadly, my coffeemaker is still non-functional. I have a coffee story, and I put it after the jump. And yes, it's true.
The gem I would have missed had I not bought the paper has to do with political downsizing. [...]
Lou Dobbs has hung it up.
I think I know where he might be going: Hazelton, Pennsylvania. It appears that Lou "Get Every Immigrant OUT of here" Barletta is planning on challenging Paul Kanjorski. Again.
Barletta is the mayor of Hazelton, has been for almost a decade. He's the one, [...]
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON VETERANS DAY
Memorial Amphitheater
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia
Thank you, Secretary Shinseki, for the generous introduction -- more importantly, the extraordinary bravery in service to our country, both on and off the battlefield. I want [...]
If you remember third grade civics, a bill in the Senate doesn't just get voted upon, it goes through a process. First, the Senate Majority Leader puts the bill on the calendar, and then calls for a motion to proceed. This is a procedural tool used to start debate.
Harry Reid [...]
Yesterday we showed you four groups that were created to help bring the 2012 Republican National Convention to their city.
While the RNC should prove to be much more newsworthy, the 2012 Democratic National Convention will also be closely watched.
So far two groups have been created to bring the convention [...]
Last night, the City Council of the 125th largest city in America passed legislation which bars discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered people. The law covers job and housing protections. Yes, it's not gay marriage, but it's still a step. And here's the odd thing: the 125th largest city [...]
Good things come to those who wait:
The Senate on Monday voted 72-to-16 to confirm Judge Andre M. Davis to a seat on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Richmond.
Mr. Davis’s appointment to the seat has been a long time coming — nine years, [...]
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT MEMORIAL SERVICE AT FORT HOOD
Fort Hood - III Corps
Fort Hood, Texas
THE PRESIDENT: To the Fort Hood community; to Admiral Mullen; General Casey; General Cone; Secretary McHugh; Secretary Gates; most importantly, to family, friends and members of our Armed [...]
Quick trivia question: which daily US newspaper has been in business longer than any other? Clue: it was started by Alexander Hamilton in 1801. Give up? The New York Post. It's been owned on and off since 1976 by its current owner, Rupert Murdoch, and it's bleeding circulation. It lost [...]
DCW covered the Democratic National Convention last year. We had press credentials, and Oreo did a great on-site job. We also were delighted to have delegates reporting from there, too. We're planning on covering both the DNC and RNC 2012 conventions, although it's likely that if the [...]
Sunday was a beautiful day: warm and sunny. A great park day. And so it was that my brother, sister-in-law, nieces and my beloved pup were at the local park. Whenever I mention this park, the next words that fall out of my mouth are "20 million dollar bond issue." [...]
I just received this from a friend of mine and thought I'd pass it on...
The Stupak Amendment that passed as part of insurance "reform" last night is a total slap in the face to American women.
Stupak is a pro-life wingnutter from Michigan who happens to have a [...]
This was unexpected:
Governor Jodi Rell has just announced that she is not running for re-election.
Can you say Governor Lamont?
From Friday:
"I think that (Lamont's) candidacy will further fragment the Democratic Party," said Gary Rose, chairman of Sacred Heart University's department of government and politics. "And that could actually" [...]
In 2005 Matt started this site to cover the 2008 Democratic National Convention. His first post was on November 7, 2005 which was almost three years before the gavel dropped in Denver.
Now, in 2009 we're almost a full three years from the Democratic and Republican National Conventions for [...]
Welcome to the latest edition of the 2010 DemConWatch Senate Forecast, a summary of the best Senate forecasts in an easy overview table.
