Wednesday Tidbits
Kentucky: The filing deadline elapsed yesterday at 4pm and ten people filed for the 2008 Senate race. Two Republicans filed: incumbent Mitch McConnell and political unknown Daniel Essek. Sadly, no Larry Forgy. Eight Democrats filed. The five lesser known names that are expected to bring up the back of the pack are Dr. Michael Cassaro, James Rice, Kenneth Stepp, David Williams, and David Wylie. The three bigger names expected to vie for the Democratic nomination are Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Horne, businessman Greg Fischer, and two-time gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lunsford. Much more analysis to come very soon.
Maine: Gerald at Turn Maine Blue is also questioning what Susan Collins spent her time doing while Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He runs through the schedule of hearings from Committee, a significant amount of it dealing with committee "business" and nominations, and he concludes his post:
As reports of incredible amounts of waste in Iraq increased in the media, one wonders why Collins held just one hearing on the reconstruction efforts there (and that to just to get a briefing on SIG Bowen's 2006 report) and none on the assistance our government was giving to the fledgling Iraqi state (either direct aid or through private contractors).
There is only one reason that I can think of why Collins refused to, in her own words, "expose and eliminate wasteful spending" in Iraq: she chose not to.
The question is then: Why?
I hope we'll find out the answer to that question. In the meantime, I await response from Collins' staff to my recent e-mail.
Minnesota: MN Blue translates for us Norm Coleman's response to the State of the Union. (Basically, Smilin' Norm is desperately hoping for somebody to throw him a rope.) Meanwhile, Al Franken is everywhere.
John Edwards should be lauded for the vigorous campaign he waged, in which he brought important issues to the forefront and advocated for those who too often lack an advocate. Will he endorse before February 5? We'll see. So on the Democratic side, it's Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. On the Republican side it's Mitt Romney or John McCain (...or Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul). For the Dems, it seems that Hillary has the poll numbers but Barack has the momentum. For the GOP, John looks strong; but, if Mitt can convince Republicans that it's a two-person race and that he's the "better conservative," he has a shot to pull it out.
2 Comments:
I have commented on the KY races on my blog.
A moment on the Presidential debate. Hillary's great strength going into Tues. is that many of these states allow early voting. Look what that did for her in FL (where the delegates don't count): Most of those who made up their minds in the last week voted for Obama, with 51% of those saying that the Kennedy endorsements played a role. But because of the early voting--long before the SC bounce or Kennedy endorsement, Obama lost in a big way. (Plus, Clinton broke her pledge not to campaign in FL.)
So, Obama has cut Hillary's lead nationally from 20 points to 6 points in 10 days. In CT, he's now dead even. In MA, he's only slightly behind--and he's even only 12 points behind in New York! But early voting could nullify much of that.
Obama has to keep the delegate count close on Super Tues. and has to win enough states outright to show he still has momentum. Then he can continue to move up following Tues.
Edwards' endorsement would help as would one from Bill Richardson--but if they don't come soon, they won't have time to help before Tues.
Back to Senate races.
This link will show you why grassroots KY Dems, as opposed to the party bosses and hacks, are furious at the entrance of Lunsford into the race against McConnell--and Gov. Beshear's near endorsement of him. We want a real Dem like Andrew Horne; we might settle for Greg Fisher--but we despise Lunsford and for good reason!
http://blueinthebluegrass.blogspot.com/2008/01/bruce-lunsford-is-mitch-mcconnells.html
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