• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2009-11-10

    • The motion of the ocean aside, here's a quick guide to some Democratic House members that Republicans believe are genuinely vulnerable in a year when President Obama isn't on the ballot. (Note: isn't it interesting how this formulation admits that, were Obama to be on the ballot, some of these folks wouldn't be as vulnerable?) Even though the NRCC hasn't recruited challengers in all of these districts, they've begun to target the incumbents in radio ads and through auto-dial calls in an effort to both test how vulnerable these Democrats are and begin to soften them up if they aren't. There are potentially vulnerable Dems not on this list, but I'm sticking to the races where the GOP has spent the most money (on TV, on polling, on recruitment) so far.
      (tags: GOP)
    • The typical argument for ObamaCare is that it will offer better medical care for everyone and cost less to do it, but occasionally a supporter lets the mask slip and reveals the real political motivation. So let's give credit to John Cassidy, part of the left-wing stable at the New Yorker, who wrote last week on its Web site that "it's important to be clear about what the reform amounts to."

      Mr. Cassidy is more honest than the politicians whose dishonesty he supports. "The U.S. government is making a costly and open-ended commitment," he writes. "Let's not pretend that it isn't a big deal, or that it will be self-financing, or that it will work out exactly as planned. It won't. What is really unfolding, I suspect, is the scenario that many conservatives feared. The Obama Administration . . . is creating a new entitlement program, which, once established, will be virtually impossible to rescind."

      (tags: Obamacare)
    • One of Congress's foremost champions of abortion rights said on Monday that the Senate did not have the votes to add a more restrictive anti-abortion amendment to health care reform legislation.

      Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said that 60 votes would be needed to strip the current health care bill of its abortion-related language and replace it with a version resembling that passed by the House of Representatives on Saturday. And, in an interview with the Huffington Post, the California Democrat predicted that pro-choice forces in the Senate would keep that from happening.

      "If someone wants to offer this very radical amendment, which would really tear apart [a decades-long] compromise, then I think at that point they would need to have 60 votes to do it," Boxer said. "And I believe in our Senate we can hold it."

      (tags: abortion)
    • In a new USC/LA Times poll released today neither former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina or Irvine Assemblyman Chuck DeVore are known by most in the GOP.

      Some key findings:
      Name recognition: Boxer: 88 percent; Fiorina: 29 percent; DeVore: 19 percent. Fiorina just announced her candidacy last week but it’s been known for months that she’s running.

      Who’s winning in GOP primary: Neither of them. The poll shows Fiorina and DeVore tied at 27 percent each with a whopping 40 percent undecided.

      Six in ten of voters, the LA Times reports, said they didn’t know enough about either GOP hopeful to have an impression of them.

    • Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid found his health reform efforts seriously complicated Monday by the explosive issue of abortion, as key centrist senators said they wanted to see airtight language in the bill blocking federal funding for the procedure.

      Abortion threatened to derail a House health reform bill Saturday, and now it’s standing in the way of Reid’s attempts to get 60 votes as well, with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) saying he wants to see language as restrictive as the House’s in the Senate bill.

      If the language isn’t clear in prohibiting federal funds for abortion, “you could be sure I would vote against it,” said Nelson, who met with Reid on Monday.

  • Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore

    Carly Fiorina Wins San Diego County Republican Party Straw Poll

    Screencap from the San Diego County GOP website

    Flap has been sitting on this for a few hours but finally have confirmation that Carly Fiorina, indeed, won last night’s San Diego County Republican Party Straw Poll over Chuck DeVore.

    This is a straw poll and a bit of a fundraiser but my sources within the Fiornia campaign tell me that her campaign did NOT buy any votes, i.e. when offered to purchase ballot packages they declined. Sources also tell me though that Chuck DeVore’s campaign DID buy tickets and thus votes.

    So, either DeVore did not buy enough votes (remember how he manipulated the last faux straw poll), had little support of the San Diego GOP and/or Fiorina had overwhelming support.

    In any case, in the first match up since Carly declared her candidacy, she won.

    By the way, in the California Governor’s race, Meg Whitman beat Tom Campbell and Steve Poizner.


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  • Barbara Boxer,  Carly Fiorina

    Carly Fiorina Mocks Senator Barbara Boxer With “Call Me Barbara” Website

    From Carly Fiorina’s CallMeBarbara.Com website

    Carly Fiorina has come out swinging at incumbent California U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. You remember the flap.

    Remember GOP U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina’s observation last week that “I can take a punch, and I can throw a punch” in the campaign ring?

    Ding!

    Round 1 has begun against incumbent U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, with Fiorina’s newest ad and effort to tag the Democratic incumbent in that new CallMeBarbara.com website.

    Carly’s camp, headed by campaign manager Marty Wilson, is clearly aiming to keep front and center that less-than-shining moment when she told Brigadeer General Michael Walsh to “call me Senator.” Not to mention raise questions about Boxer’s record in office.


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  • Obamacare,  Polling

    Obamacare Poll Watch: Most American Voters Continue to Oppose Legislation

    Although the House passed a health care reform bill this past weekend, most Americans continue to oppose the legislation.

    Over the weekend, Democratic leaders spoke of an historic moment as health care reform legislation passed the House of Representatives. But that legislative victory failed to significantly move public opinion.

    The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now favor the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. Most (52%) remain opposed.

    Only 25% Strongly Support the plan while 42% are Strongly Opposed.

    Support for the plan has remained essentially unchanged for months.

    The House bill which was passed by a few votes is going nowhere in the U.S. Senate and I doubt the Senate will be able to pass ANY comprehensive bill this year or next.

    If the Congress wants to pass ANY reform legislation, they will have to start over and begin an incremental reform with bipartisanship.

    Think this will happen?

    Doubtful…..


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  • Afghanistan,  Barack Obama,  Day By Day

    Day By Day November 10, 2009 – The Drone Wars

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    The White House has floated a trial baloon with President Obama agreeiing to send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan – bring to about 100,000 in Afghanistan. I say a trial baloon because NOW the Obama Administration is denying it.

    The White House has issued the following response to this story, attributed to White House National Security Advisor James Jones:

    “Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false. He has not received final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national security team, and he has not made any decisions about resources. Any reports to the contrary are completely untrue and come from uninformed sources.”

    So, what is it going to be?

    President Obama has dragged his feet on a troop deployment decision, putting more Americans at risk in a bloddy war.

    Mr President, time to fish or cut bait.

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