Don’t panic yet, Democrats. The 2010 elections are still a year away.
But the respected, nonpartisan Cook Political Report just lowered - slightly - the chances of Rep. Ike Skelton winning re-election for the 17th straight time.
Its latest assessment of the race shifted Missouri’s 4th Congressional District from a “likely” [...]
Sen. McCaskill
WASHINGTON — There was disquieting news for Missouri Democrats along with some welcome news in the second part of a Public Policy Polling survey released this afternoon.
The good news was a generally strong approval rating for Gov. Jay Nixon at a time…
[...]Here's a thumbnail comparison of the three approaches to health care reform -- House Democrats (the bill that passed); House Republicans; Senate Democrats.
(Senate Republicans aren't offering a bill.)
Wonks can consult the CBO scores attached below (CBO later updated the score on the House Dems' bill; that [...]
The Washington Post's Dana Millbank lays into Senate Republicans like Kit Bond this morning.
Ten of the Senate's 40 Republicans, attempting some measure of consistency, parted ways with Sessions and voted with Democrats in a resounding 70 to 29 vote to break the filibuster. But the [...]
A new CNN poll indicates that half of the GOP voters want "ideologically pure" Republican candidates, consequences be damned.
A new national poll suggests that the Democrats may be the party of pragmatism and Republicans may be the party of ideological purity…
The poll indicates that a slight majority, 51 percent, [...]
Sen. Kit Bond voted this afternoon to continue the Republican filibuster of David Hamilton's nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Bond failed his in efforts, however; Democrats and Republicans joined together to move the nomination along with a 70-29 vote, and Hamilton will receive an up-or-down' [...]
Here's what Kansas GOP Chairwoman Amanda Adkins had to say today about the Democrat's new candidate for governor, Tom Wiggans:
"It is hard to imagine Kansas Democrats would actually nominate for Governor someone who has never voted in a Kansas election."
True? Yes. Wiggans left Kansas after he graduated from KU, enjoyed [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich.
That finding from a new Associated Press poll will be welcome news for House Democrats, who proposed doing just that in their sweeping remake of the U.S. medical [...]
No Democrats filed to run for Kansas governor today.
Word on Friday was that Tom Wiggans would file paperwork with the Secretary of State to make a run at the governor's mansion. Wiggans is a bioscience executive who now lives in Olathe. If the political newcomer does enter the race for governor he'll [...]
The Senate Democrats’ campaign committee sent out a press release today that at first glance prompted this reaction:
“No way.”
It was about a poll of the 2010 Missouri Senate race that showed state Sen. Chuck Purgason, who’s running a shoestring campaign for the Republican nomination, possibly “polling in the double-digits” [...]
TOPEKA | The Kansas Democrats have a candidate for governor who plans to file preliminary campaign paperwork Monday.
Speculation in the Statehouse is that the candidate is Tom Wiggans, a Kansas native and bioscience entrepreneur who recently returned to Kansas after living in California. An Olathe resident, Wiggans serves on the [...]
Whitehead, left, and May
ST. LOUIS — Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: City Democrats will gather this weekend to pick a nominee to replace a lawmaker who left office after pleading guilty to corruption charges.
This time, party leaders…
[...]Union Station helped anchor downtown revitalization
Blunt talking to Steelman about campaign?
Mistakes with government health care would be costly
A blogger wonders how much political capital was expended by the Democrats to pass a federal health care bill, Gov. Jay Nixon is set to go deer hunting, and when [...]
Credit The KC Blue Blog for finding this story that local Democrats are pushing big time: "The Warrensburg Daily-Star Journal has reported that Republican State Rep. Denny Hoskins has failed to pay over $20,300 in taxes since holding office." [...] From the AP:
Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan says she is both excited and concerned about House-passed legislation that would overhaul the nation's health care system.
But Carnahan, who is Missouri's secretary of state, declined to specifically say Tuesday whether she supports the bill.
Rep. Roy Blunt voted against the bill that Democrats [...]
A brand new Top 10 list from Politico -- their "10 best pickup opportunities among next year’s Senate contests."
The race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Kit Bond offers Democrats one of their strongest pickup targets, as Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan is almost certainly the strongest Democratic recruit [...]
This seems like a fairly obvious point, especially given the frustration from progressives (including me) over his vote on the House Democrats' health care bill, but Ike Skelton isn't exactly a pawn in some sort of leftist plot to destroy America.
This tweet from the News-Leader's Chad Livengood about the House Democrats' health care bill got my heart racing yesterday:
Under House health care bill, failure to buy insurance will become a felony w/ 5-year jail time: [tinyurl.com]
This makes about as much sense as saying there are new criminal penalties' [...]
By DAVE HELLING and DAVID GOLDSTEIN
The Kansas City Star
A pounded gavel, the votes, then four words: “The bill is passed.”
With that, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced narrow passage Saturday of historic legislation that would fundamentally change American health care for decades.
Democrats erupted in weary applause and cheers after a day-long [...]
In a vote completed moments ago, the U. S. House passed the health care bill by a 220 to 215 vote.
