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White House hopes to snap a losing streak in today’s Bennet-vs.-Romanoff primary in CO… Also in the state, it’s Norton vs. Buck, as well as McInnis vs. Maes… In CT, it’s Lamont vs. Malloy in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, and it’s Fedele vs. Foley in the GOP race for governor… In MN, it’s Dayton vs. Kelliher… And in GA, it’s Handel vs. Deal… Haley Barbour drops mail in IA… The House votes on the $26 billion in state aid this afternoon… Profiling CO-4… And Bill Clinton stumps for Sestak.
*** White House tries to snap a losing streak: Since winning the White House, President Obama hasn’t experienced much success when he’s dipped his toes into the electoral waters. Last year, the two Democrats he campaigned for, Jon Corzine in New Jersey and Creigh Deeds in Virginia, both lost. In January, another Democrat he tried to save in Massachusetts’ special Senate election, Martha Coakley, met a similar fate. And in May, the Democrat he was backing in Pennsylvania’s Senate primary, Arlen Specter, went down to defeat. (Even when the White House tried to distance itself from a Democrat it thought was about lose, Blanche Lincoln, she pulled off the upset and won.) Individually, each of these losses was explainable and not really a White House responsibility. Still…
*** Bennet vs. Romanoff: That’s why today’s Democratic Senate primary in Colorado between incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet (whom Obama has endorsed) and former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (whom Bill Clinton has endorsed) is important for the White House. Simply put, they NEED a win, and that’s why Obama has campaigned for Bennet and why he called into a tele-town hall for the senator last week just days after polling showed Romanoff was surging. The other reasons why the White House and the DSCC want Bennet to win is because he has more money and organization -- Romanoff, after all, had to sell his house to finance his campaign -- and because a Romanoff win would allow the Darrell Issas of the world to resuscitate the White-House-offered-Romanoff-a-job-to-keep-him-out-of-the-race storyline.
*** Norton vs. Buck and McInnis vs. Maes: But perhaps the best -- and most competitive -- Senate primary in Colorado today isn’t on the Democratic side. Instead, it’s the GOP race between establishment favorite Jane Norton and opponent Ken Buck. The C.W. is that the race is now even, after a series of gaffes by Buck (like saying that Coloradoans should vote for him because he doesn’t wear high heels). The party in DC wants Norton and sees her as the more electable candidate and the one most prepared for the fall campaign. Buck, like Romanoff, is playing the role of the insurgent. The other Republican primary in Colorado to watch is the gubernatorial contest between former front-runner Scott McInnis, who’s been plagued by a plagiarism scandal, and Dan Maes, who has warned that programs boosting bicycle riding are a threat to freedom. Privately, we’re hearing that Republicans want McInnis, so they could potentially switch horses to find a stronger candidate to face Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) in the fall; a Maes victory dashes those smoke-filled-room plans. Most balloting in Colorado is done by mail, and those ballots must be turned in by 9:00 pm ET.
*** Lamont vs. Malloy and Fedele vs. Foley: The other states holding key contests today are Connecticut, Minnesota, and Georgia. While Linda McMahon’s campaign is receiving much of the national attention in Connecticut, she’s expected to cruise to victory in the primary. But the real competitive races are the ones for governor -- the Dem contest between 2006 Senate nominee Ned Lamont and former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, and the GOP primary between (among others) former Bush ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele. A final Quinnipiac poll showed Lamont at 45% and Malloy at 42% among likely primary voters, while it had Fedele at 38% and Foley at 30%. Polls in Connecticut close at 8:00 pm ET.
*** Dayton vs. Kelliher and Handel vs. Deal: Meanwhile, the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Minnesota -- featuring former Sen. Mark Dayton and state House speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher -- is a big test for the new leadership at Emily’s List, which is backing Kelliher. The organization under its previous leadership had a terrible track record in primaries, but a wholesale change in staff and philosophy has since taken place. A Kelliher victory would be a BIG feather in the cap of the new team. That said, Dayton has spent an ENORMOUS amount of his own money so it won't be easy for Kelliher. The winner of the Democratic field, which also features former state House leader Matt Entenza, will take on presumptive GOP nominee Tom Emmer. In Georgia, there’s the gubernatorial run-off between former Secretary of State Karen Handel (whom Palin campaigned for yesterday) and former Rep. Nathan Deal. Polls in Georgia close at 7:00 pm ET, and they close at 9:00 pm ET in Minnesota. *** CORRECTION *** We said above that Emily's List has had a terrible track record in primaries. That is not correct; we should have said it has had a terrible track record in some key general election contests.
*** Barbour drops mail in … Iowa: Politico’s Martin reports that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, is dropping mail introducing himself to Iowa Republicans. “The piece encourages recipients to sign up for updates on Barbour’s website, a means of building a list. The governor is planning to raise money later this year in Iowa for GOP gubernatorial candidate Terry Branstad and, officially, the piece is only aimed at 2010. ‘We can't wait until 2012 to start taking our country back,’ Barbour writes on the mailer. ‘We need to elect conservative governors and members of Congress in 2010.’” You can look at the emerging GOP 2012 field this way: the establishment (Romney, Barbour), the new faces (Pawlenty, Daniels, Thune), the evangelicals (Huckabee and Santorum), and the cable TV personas (Palin and Gingrich). The Republican who is best able to own two or three of these categories will probably be your 2012 Republican nominee.
*** The House returns: Beyond today’s primaries and speculation about 2012, the House -- after coming back from its interrupted recess -- today votes on the $26 billion in state aid that the Senate passed last week. Per NBC’s Luke Russert, the vote is slated to occur between 1:00 pm ET and 3:00 pm ET. After the likely passage, the legislation will go to President Obama’s desk for his signature.
*** 75 House races to watch: CO-4: The Democratic candidate in this race will be one-term incumbent Betsy Markey, and her GOP opponent will be state Rep. Cory Gardner. McCain grabbed 50% of the vote in this district in ’08, and Bush got 58% in ’04. As of July 21, Markey had $1.5 million in the bank, and Gardner had $734,000. Markey voted for the stimulus, cap-and-trade, and health care. Cook rates the race as a Toss Up, while Rothenberg has it Lean Republican.
*** More midterm news: An American Crossroads poll, conducted by GOP pollster Glen Bolger, shows GOP candidates on in 13 key Senate contests leading their Democratic opponents by a combined 47%-39% margin… In Kentucky, the Paul campaign has threatened legal action against GQ, Greg Sargent reports (but the campaign has yet to deny what’s in the GQ article)… And in Pennsylvania, Bill Clinton today stumps for Joe Sestak.
Countdown to WA and WY primaries: 7 days
Countdown to AK, AZ, FL, and VT primaries: 14 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 84 days
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President Barack Obama, and his handlers had better realize, and realize quick that the best thing that can possibly happen for his presidency and his party is the DEFEAT of his favorite horse, unelected Senator Michael Bennet in Colorado. There is no stronger supporter of populist democratic government than Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. If Obama wishes to oppose Romanoff's political momentum, he is whistling past his own political grave. For the sake of our nation's future, Coloradans, please send Andrew Romanoff to the general election, and to the US Senate.
Let's see....
Colorado has been californicated over the last 15 years...so the dems got that one.
Connecticut...northeastern state...thats a slam dunk for the dems.
Minnesota...they elected freakin' Franken as senator...'nuff said.
Georgia...their still weirded out over the girlie dance pres. carter did when that rabbit attacked him back in the 1970's...
yep...we will continue to be screwed.
BTW - this is what's coming starting 2011:
Title IX Revenue Provisions—Subtitle A: Revenue Offset "(Sec. 9002) Requires employers to include in the W-2 form of each employee the aggregate cost of applicable employer-sponsored group health coverage that is excludable from the employee's gross income (excluding the value of contributions to flexible spending arrangements)."
Starting in 2011—next year—the W-2 tax form sent by your employer will be increased to show the value of whatever health insurance you are provided. It doesn't matter if you're retired. Your gross income WILL go up by the amount of insurance your employer paid for. So you'll be required to pay taxes on a larger sum of money that you actually received. Take the tax form you just finished for 2009 and see what $5,000.00 to $15,000.00 (however much you pay for health care) additional gross income does to your tax debt.
Gee Comrade, you haven't been here to post your phony Title IX accusation for a while. The purpose of that is only to track who has employer-provided health care and eventually account for excise tax on plans that cost more than $27,500/year initially, indexed for inflation. Can't you do better than a lie that can be debunked as easily as going to snopes.com ? http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/HR3590.asp
Comrade JohnB - the Des Moines politburo has missed your usual weekly socialist diatribe - they figured you've been training to be a teacher at comrade obuma's re-education camps by watching those North Korean propaganda films.
...you can now go add D batteries to your obuma 'shrine' and go entertain yourself...
I appreciate your admission of wrong even though it comes in the form of a personal insult instead of a correction.
Thanks for playing.
Comrade...Comrade....once you publicly admit your socialist ideology then people will know from where you derive your opinions.
If obuma & the DNC would admit the same, at least we could say, "For once, they have told the truth!"
OBAMA has destroyed this country. Freddie and Fannie today need another $4Billion to bail it out again in just in this quarter. The $26 Billion being passed today could have been avoided if the Unions would have given up a little in this economy. The real agenda is OBAMA wants union votes.
Tens of Millions of these dollars are going to go to pay the Union Pensions. Grow Up Navy Veteran. The physical irresponsibility of this OBAMA Leftest Government is going to kill AMERICA if it has not already not done so. Democratic Unions UGH.
Too many people without jobs as a result of a failed stimulus package. Never works to spend what a Government does not have or a person does not have.
Disabled Vet Nam Veteran that just found a teaching job after five years looking.
Congratulations on finding work. But please, don't enforce your whacked out political agenda on those poor children.
All this pre-game trash talk will be irrelevant once the ball is kicked off on November 2. Based on all polls, it will be a blowout.
THE POTUS IS A DOFUS!
PuCkiE
I talked with many "moderate" people, the one thing that still sticks with me is being told that all Americans are scum and that American women are all whores, not worthy of introducing to their families. You really should get out of Chicago for a while. Go to Saudi and talk with a few people see what they think of you. It should be a requirement all young Americans live in another country, just to see what its like. Whining and crying will not keep them from tossing you in a hole and stoning you to death.
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You have confirmed my suspcions. You are even dumber than I thought since you don't know what a moderate is. Stoning people is not a representation of moderation.
To Feisty, IR, Beverly, neighbors Dennis and Pietro, Auntie, Joanna in Pa, Nash, Houston, Bev, and the many others who I've enjoyed reading over the last couple of weeks....thanks for the hard work and the incredible posts, but this sh!t today sickens me. If you've found another place to exchange ideas, Id love to know where it is, because this site has become polluted to the point where it should be declared a superfund site.
I'll be working for the good guys this fall, and know you will too.
Thanks GE!
Don't leave... that's what the right wing nitwits are hoping for! To take over a wonderful site like FR and turn it into Hatapaloooza!
I say don't give em an inch! Thanks for reading!
GE in GC - Thanks from me too! (assuming you did mean me and not JoAnna Smith - we get mixed up a lot somehow). To be honest, I've been taking a bit of a break from here myself lately, for much the same reason. I can only say I agree with Feisty that we hope you'll stick around - there are a lot of good people on here in addition to those you've mentioned, and I'm still holding out hope that the sane voices on both sides will eventually prevail here - it's been a great site for a long time, and these "attacks" seem to come and go. Please hang in with us!
After the big health care "ram down", any pretense of bipartisanship or changing the tone in Washington rings hollow. Enjoy your little moment in the sun, lefties, the pendulum is headed back in the other direction. There was one magic moment though -- the Jackie Robinson moment -- O.K. fine, we are over it now. From here on out, it is all about fiscal responsibility and leadership.
Greg, too bad we didn't have any that in the Bush administration when the VP says that "Deficits don't matter". How can there be bipartisanship on healthcare reform when one side spreads the kind of groundless and fear-mongering lies about the issue that the Republicans did? remember "Death Panels", Pull the Plug on Grandma", and "healthcare is a greater danger to the nation than any terrorist in any country" claims by Palin, Grassley and Foxx? Is that your definition ofa bipartisan discussuion?
Nice,
The Republicans are like fruit cocktail .you never no what kind of fruit that comes out of there mouths?
Republicans .I have not heard you say we can't wait until November?........I think you are saying oh crap November is coming.
demitrix
What all of you are forgetting is that Police, Education, Fire Fighters are a State & Local Issue. It is not the Federal Government's responsibility to fund these programs in any way shape or form.
In November, the majority of voters, (the ones that really count and decide) will let you know if they think that as you say: """"" Police, Education, Fire Fighters are a State & Local Issue."""""
The White House has had to focus on so many issues since taking office that the mission statement is unclear and the benefits to the public at large for the policies has been lost to all the background noise. It didn't help the this Administration has knee jerk to the GOP on race issues which they should have known would always be played. A vacation is a good thing time to think and reflect. Quite being defensive and be aggressive to the gains. Stop being define by the opposition who want them to fail and that means America has failed to pull itself out of lost of confidence in it's future. Go back and tap the energy from your base they are still there waiting. Time to beat them at their own game.
I think a better headline would be "loser tries to stop losing streak". What Obama needs is one of those inflatable escape chutes. Hit the rose garden running and never look back.
Want to lower food stamp benefits? Send the illegals back where they came from. Want to lower health care costs? Stop treating illegals on the taxpayers dime. Want more jobs? Send the illegals back where they came from instead of letting them take our jobs. Want to lower crime rates? Send the illegals back where they came from. Seems simple doesn't it. But oh no, you want to keep the illegals coming into this country and punish people who are successful.