• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2010-04-16

    • Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is stepping up her role in supporting Senate colleague Barbara Boxer's re-election bid.

      Feinstein, who is up for re-election in 2012, will chair Boxer's campaign.

      A release announcing the leadership role plays up the collaboration between the two Democrats.

      "Senator Boxer and I make a great team for California," Feinstein said in a statement. "That's why I'm so proud to chair Senator Boxer's campaign. Barbara is a proven and effective leader for California, and our strong partnership is essential in creating jobs and turning our economy around."

      "We've built a strong working partnership, and I want to make sure we continue working side by side as an effective team for California," Boxer added.
      ++++++++
      Boxer is in trouble. First Obama comes to town to raise Boxer some money and now DiFi.

      But, will it help?

    • What needs to be said is that Erick has allowed his dislike for McConnell to get in the way of his judgment. And jeopardizing one's credibility as an honest broker because one doesn't like someone else in office and twisting oneself into knots to make arguments for a libertarian over a mainstream conservative to support that isn't the path to redemption. It's the path to looking like a DC hack willing to pander to the base that likes Sarah Palin to achieve a selfish end. Certainly Erick is free to support Rand Paul over Trey Grayson. But if he has to rely on cheap stunts and not sound arguments to do it, I believe it's fair to question both his judgment and his motivation on the issue.
      ++++++++
      Dan has a point here especially with Erickson's DC gig with CNN.
    • A group calling itself California Citizens for Ethics in Government put out a press release Thursday saying that it had filed an official complaint with California Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office over Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore’s “apparent usage of paid state staff in his U.S. Senate campaign.”

      Citing “a recent news story” about two current or former members of DeVore’s Assembly staff who also work for his Senate campaign (which almost certainly was the The Watchdog’s recent story about that very topic), the press release cites the government code that makes it illegal for government officials to devote public funds to their own use and quotes the group’s president, Bob Davis, as saying, “We believe the Attorney General must investigate this incident to ensure taxpayer funds are not being used in a federal campaign.”
      ++++++
      Probably not associated with the Fiorina campaign but Trevino has some questions to answer

    • Combining its own race-by-race calculations with the results of national polls, The Cook Political Report officially projects a Republican gain of 30 to 40 seats. I suspect that the GOP will do even better if the trend over the past seven months continues.

      On the other hand, the Intrade electronic markets give Democrats a 56 percent chance of holding the House. The views of other experts vary as well. Most political scientists who have weighed in tend to think that Democrats will suffer serious losses but retain control. Analysts who look at individual races and then add "macro" national dynamics to the mix, however, largely expect Democrats to have real trouble hanging on.

      Despite all of this disagreement over whether the House will flip, there is pretty much of a consensus in the political community that President Obama's chances of getting re-elected will rise if his party loses the House or Senate. (In my book, the latter is quite unlikely.)
      ++++++++
      House control will flip

      (tags: barack_obama)
  • Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore,  Tom Campbell

    CA-Sen: Hewlett Packard Says Carly Fiorina Being Unfairly Criticized in Russian Bribes Flap

    Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and California U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina addressing a San Diego National Tax Day Tea Party Protest in San Diego yesterday

    What Hewlett-Packard is saying is that U.S. Senate opponents of Fiorina, Tom Campbell and Chuck DeVore are full of shit in their criticism.

    Hewlett-Packard Co., facing a European bribery probe over a 2003 computer contract, said former Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina is being unfairly criticized for being in charge during that time.

    “To suggest that Carly Fiorina, or any other senior executive in Palo Alto then or now, was knowledgeable of these alleged activities is wrong and not supported by the facts,” David Shane, a company spokesman, said in an interview. “The facts have clearly demonstrated that the criminal investigation is focused on alleged activities that took place seven years ago in Germany and Russia by regional employees.”

    Prosecutors in Germany are investigating possible corruption linked to the Palo Alto, California-based company’s 35 million-euro ($47.3 million) sale of computers to Russia when Fiorina was CEO. They are examining whether Hewlett-Packard paid bribes to win the contract, Wolfgang Klein, a spokesman at Saxony’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office, said this week.

    Hewlett-Packard, the world’s biggest maker of personal computers, hired law firm Linklaters LLP in December 2009 to help with its internal investigation, Shane said. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is assisting Linklaters. The company said the computer contract in question was signed and approved seven years ago.

    But, you know, you have to expect this type of campaign crap from Campbell who is smarting from his exposed association with convicted Islamic terrorists  and Chuck DeVore who has so little money in the bank for his campaign that he has reached desperation time for anyone to notice him.

    So, this is real a non-story in this race except for the whining from Tom Campbell and Chuck DeVore who both cannot seem to understand the facts of the investigation.

    And, these guys want to be United States Senators?


  • Barbara Boxer,  Day By Day

    Day By Day April 16, 2010 – Breathe

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Since health care reform or Obamacare has passed, President Obama must now start to pay back the constituencies that helped elect him and his Democratic Party majority in Congress.

    Let’s see:

    • Climate Change/Global Warming
    • Gay and Lesbians and Transgenders
    • Illegal Immigration
    • Nuclear disarmament

    Those are just a few of the groups that Obama must appease and rally round to win the November election cycle.

    Watch the news.

    Previous:

    The
    Day By Day Archive

  • Twitter

    @Flap Twitter Updates for 2010-04-16

    Powered by Twitter Tools