• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 3rd on 14:02

    May 3, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 3rd from 14:02 to 18:15:

    • Dick Lugar: Obama ‘lacks vision’ on Afghanistan – The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Tuesday that President Barack Obama “lacks vision of success” in Afghanistan, fewer than 48 hours after Obama announced that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden.

      Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), who has been outspoken against American engagement in Libya, said the war in Afghanistan does not have a “strategic value,” after almost a decade in the region and with “al Qaeda largely displaced” from the country it once was concentrated in.

      =======

      That Obama does…..

    • President 2012: Mike Huckabee to Hold Washington Fund-raiser – Mike Huckabee isn’t making much noise these days about another presidential bid, but he’ll be in Washington Wednesday to raise money for his political action committee, Huck PAC, and to talk–very privately–about his 2012 intentions.

      The Capitol Hill fund-raiser will afford fans who can write a $1,000 check the chance to grill the former Arkansas governor about his drive to wage another campaign. In a voicemail message left this week with one potential donor, an organizer billed the event as “a small group discussing his potential run for president.”

      The event is being hosted by Rex Elsass, a Republican strategist who owns a political advertising company called the Strategy Group for Media.

      ======

      But, Huck cannot use the money for any Presidential run. So, the motivation remains unclear.

      Is he toying with the donors? Or is this a pre-emptive strike for the Presidency?

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 13th on 17:25

    March 13, 2011 /

    These are my links for March 13th from 17:25 to 17:33:

    • California Redistricting and the 2010 Census – Musical chairs in Congress – California's addition of 3.4 million residents over the past decade allowed it to keep its 53 congressional seats – but the more dramatic population shifts within the state all but guarantee that some comfortable incumbents are going to be out of office in two years.

      And at least one of those out-of-luck members of Congress is likely to come from the Bay Area.

      Tony Quinn, one of the state's pre-eminent analysts of politics and demographics, said it is hard to look at the numbers in official U.S. Census data released last week and not conclude that the Bay Area will lose a House seat through redistricting. Population has remained fairly flat in the Bay Area, while rising sharply in once-rural areas to the east – a pattern that is replicated in Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.

      "The loss of one (Bay Area) congressional incumbent seems likely," he said.

      ========

      The Dems will start eating their young soon in the Bay Area.

      With the new top two electoral system and geographically based legislative and congressional districts, there will be political upheal for both Dems and the GOP. Look for many incumbent retirements or forced relocations.

    • President 2012: What We Learned: Here Comes The Mitch – Daniels That Is – Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) is sounding more serious about a presidential campaign, and his "Meet The Press" appearance Sunday will give a telling hint of his intentions. And with a recent NBC/WSJ poll showing two-thirds of GOP primary voters more likely to back a candidate who puts more focus on the economy/deficit than gay marriage/abortion, his "social truce" isn't as unpopular with the base as the CW has suggested.

      ======

      I think ultimatley Mitch Daniels WILL run for the Presidency.

      To be honest, he knows the field is weak.

    • IN-Sen: Could Republicans Lose Major Party Status in Indiana? – WISH-TV reports a Democratic lawsuit challenges Secretary of State Charlie White's (R) status "on the ballot last November because his voter registration was allegedly false (a contention backed up by grand jury indictments.) If a judge rules in the Democrats' favor and White is disqualified, the Republicans would not receive the 10% of the vote in the Secretary of State race that is required to maintain major party status."

      Possible ramifications: "The lack of major party status would make the 2012 Senate race a convention battle rather than a primary for the GOP. Richard Mourdock's chances of upsetting Richard Lugar would be greatly enhanced in a convention."

      ========

      Sen. Richard Lugar would be toast and I doubt he wuuld run for re-election.

      I doubt he runs anyway.

  • Mitch Daniels,  Richard Lugar

    IN-Sen Video: Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels Supports Sen Richard Lugar for Re-Election But…..

    March 13, 2011 /

    Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    Why, of course, you would expect Mitch Daniels to endorse Indiana U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (towards the end of the video above). Mitch Daniels is a political protege of Lugar.

    Daniels had his first experience in politics while still a teenager when, in 1968, he worked on the unsuccessful campaign of fellow Hoosier and Princeton alum William Ruckelshaus, who was running for the U.S. Senate.[8] After the campaign Ruckelshaus helped Daniels secure an internship in the office of then-Indianapolis Mayor Richard Lugar. In 1971, Daniels worked on Lugar’s re-election campaign and then joined his mayoral staff. Within three years, he became Lugar’s principal assistant. After Lugar was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976, Daniels followed him to Washington, D.C. as his Chief of Staff.[15]

    Daniels served as Chief of Staff during Lugar’s first term (1977–82); and, during this time, he met Cheri Herman, who was working for the National Park Service. The two married in 1978 and had four daughters; they divorced in 1993 and Cheri married a second husband. Cheri soon divorced her second husband and remarried Daniels in 1997.[6]

    In 1983, when Lugar was elected Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Daniels was appointed its Executive Director. Serving in that position (1983–84), he played a major role in keeping the GOP in control of the Senate. Daniels was also manager of three successful re-election campaigns for Lugar. In August 1985, Daniels became chief political advisor and liaison to President Ronald Reagan.[15]

    Daniels even met his wife as a result of his service with Lugar. But, note what Daniels specifically said under the radar:

    Daniels said that he never intervenes in primary elections, admires Lugar, hedged on whether he would appear with Lugar (i.e. campaign with him) and implied that perhaps Lugar deserves another term – “if he wants it.”

    Sounds to me that in a subtle way, Mitch Daniels is telling his old mentor that it is time to retire and NOT want to run for re-election.

    But, make no mistake about it, Mitch Daniels WILL do ads for Senator Lugar if he runs for re-election.

  • Richard Lugar,  Richard Mourdock

    IN-Sen Video: Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock Announces Race Against Sen Richard Lugar

    March 3, 2011 /

    Republican Senator Richard Lugar is in trouble against Richard Mourdock. 

    Barring an unexpected decision to retire before November 2012, Lugar will face Indiana voters for the sixth time as the incumbent. He recently raised an estimated $400,000 from one event and has amassed a campaign warchest in excess of $2.3 million. Expect that total to swell in coming months.

    He’s also raised something else – the hackles of Indiana Tea Party members and a primary challenger, Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

    According to the conventional wisdom, Lugar’s seniority, establishment connections, well-funded campaign treasury, and easy access to sympathetic national media coverage should make him a shoo-in for a seventh term.

    Don’t count on it. Lugar made  a big mistake by claiming last year that the Tea Party needed to “get real.” He might as well have put on a dunce cap because such remarks often hint at the very attitudes of overweening pride of incumbency and blindness to genuine voter dissatisfaction that have driven many a respected incumbent into retirement – think Tom Daschle, Jim Wright, Tom Foley and Robert Bennett.

    Saying things like that is how you become the latest installment of that old, familiar Washington story – former senator.

    My bet is that Lugar retires within the next six months.

  • Richard Lugar,  Richard Mourdock

    IN-Sen: GOP Grassroots Dumps Sen Richard Lugar as Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock Launches Primary Challenge?

    February 21, 2011 /

    Republican Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock Addresses Indianapolis Tea Party

    It certainly appears so.

    Indiana State TreasurerRichard Mourdock will launch his primary challenge to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) on Tuesday with the support of a majority of both the state’s 92 Republican county chairmen and its state party executive committee, he told the Fix in a recent interview.

    “I feel bad that he’s going to be humiliated by this list,” Mourdock said.

    Mourdock added that he believes Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) and Rep. Mike Pence (R), the party’s two leading figures in the Hoosier State, are going to stay neutral in the primary — though Daniels, who was Lugar’s campaign manager three different times, has already committed to voting for the senator.

    That such a large contingent of the party establishment should come out against or withhold support from an incumbent senator is highly unusual and reflects the difficult path ahead for Lugar in advance of the May 8, 2012, primary fight. It also suggests there is a clear path to victory for Mourdock.

    Senator Richard Lugar’s time has passed and he is too moderate for the Indiana electorate.

    Time for Lugar to retire – and save face, otherwise he WILL be beaten in a GOP Primary election.

  • Mike Delph,  Richard Lugar,  Richard Mourdock

    Video: IN-Sen: Lugar Tells the Tea Party to “Get Real”

    February 8, 2011 /

    Facing a certain primary challenge, you would think that Indiana Senator richard Lugar would be more conciliatory?

    Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) chided Tea Party activists in his state, telling them to “get real” about their opposition to the New START treaty. 

    Lugar, who voted for the treaty’s ratification late last year, dismissed the Tea Party’s criticism of his vote. He’s expected to face a primary challenge from the conservative, activist movement. 

    Lugar has been a big-spending moderate Republican for decades – not exactly a Tea Party favorite. Democrat Senator Evan Byah bailed out of re-election in 2010 because of the changing political climate (more red) in Indiana and my bet is that Lugar won’t be around for the general election in 2012.

    Lugar has repeatedly irritated the tea party in recent months. He was one of just five Republicans to support Elena Kagan’s nomination for Supreme Court, he spearheaded a compromise on the new START nuclear arms treaty during the lame duck session, he opposed a ban on earmarks and he called for a renewal of the assault weapons ban after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) last month.

    But it hasn’t been just his votes. Lugar’s words have done little to quell the brewing opposition. During a breakfast with reporters last month, Lugar appeared to dismiss tea partiers as people who are angry because they or someone they loved has lost their job, and he said the movement lacked clear goals, relying instead on “large cliches”.

    Who will challenge Lugar? 

    Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock

    Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock will announce a primary challenge to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) on Feb. 22, according to an e-mail from a Mourdock supporter.

    Ted Ogle, the 6th district chairman for the Indiana Republican Party and Bartholomew County Republican Party chairman, said in an e-mail to supporters that he spoke with Mourdock on Friday morning and learned of the state treasurer’s plans. He said he will be endorsing Mourdock.

    “He will be announcing Feb. 22 his run for US Senate in a primary against Senator Lugar,” Ogle said. “With respect to Senator Lugar, Richard is my friend. For what it’s worth I will be announcing my support that same day.”

    State Sen. Mike Delph has also been mentioned as a potential Lugar primary opponent.

  • Richard Lugar,  Tea Party

    Video: Indiana GOP Senator Richard Lugar to Renew Assault Weapons Ban

    January 17, 2011 /


    Conservative academic and political commentator John Lott in this video discusses large gun clips and the 2004 expired Assault Weapons Ban

    Senator Richard Lugar knows a Tea Party sponsored primary challenger is coming, yet he continues to push the RINO button.

    Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) this weekend called on Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.

    Lugar is the first GOP senator to call for increased gun control following the Tucson tragedy that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. But Lugar, who supported the initial 10-year-long assault weapons ban when it passed in 1994, said he’s not optimistic about the chances for passing gun control legislation this Congress.

    “I believe it should be, but I recognize the fact that the politics domestically in our country with regard to this are on a different track altogether,” Lugar told Bloomberg Television’s Al Hunt Jan. 14.

    Lugar also noted the increase in ammunition sales since the shootings, which he suspected was out of fear that Congress might pass far-reaching gun control legislation in wake of the tragedy.

    But, regardless, Lugar will push for the ban – even when he knows a bill has little or no chance of passing the GOP controlled House.

    Nonetheless, Lugar is going out on a limb by expressing his support for bringing back the now-defunct assault weapons ban – especially because local Tea Party activists have promised to field a primary challenger for the six-term senator. Lugar has a reputation for working across party lines in the Senate, and his support for gun control legislation would likely put him at odds with a more conservative GOP challenger.

    Lugar also said in the Bloomberg interview that a Tea Party challenge is “not one that I welcome, but nevertheless, this is a democracy.”

    If a Tea Party challenger plays it RIGHT, Lugar will NOT be renominated by the GOP in 2012.

  • Richard Lugar,  Tea Party

    IN-Sen: Tea Party Challenge to Sen. Richard Lugar in 2012?

    January 5, 2011 /

    Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., left, and the committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., take part in a news conference, on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010, after the Senate’s ratification of the New START Treaty

    Count on it.

    Fettig and Boyer originally requested the meeting as representatives of Hoosiers for Conservative Senate, an organization of roughly 60 Tea Party groups formed to find a conservative primary challenger to Lugar, or force his retirement.

    Lugar and a pair of staffers discussed a range of federal issues, including the role of earmarks and the Federal Reserve. Fettig and Boyer objected to Lugar’s sponsorship of the DREAM Act, his support for the ratification of the START nuclear arms treaty during the lame-duck session of Congress, and his votes to confirm Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

    Mark Hayes, a spokesman for Lugar, was in the room and acknowledged that “not everybody is going to agree with everything” the senator has done in his long career.

    But, Hayes told CNN, “[Lugar’s] preference is to sit down and have a conversation, to understand where they’re coming from, and really to point out the high degree of similarities, for the most part, on a lot of different issues. It was a good conversation.”

    Fettig called Lugar “likeable” and “a lovely human being,” but said Lugar should prepare for a Tea Party challenge.

    “We weren’t swayed,” he told CNN. “We equated it to going out on a football field, shaking hands, flipping the coins, and game on. He wants to win, and we want to win.”

    Hoosiers for Conservative Senate is convening a “Road To Retirement” event in Indianapolis on Jan. 22 in Indianapolis, where organizers hope that an array of Tea Party groups can unite around one Republican candidate to challenge Lugar in the May 2012 primary.

    Fettig named state Sen. Mike Delph and Treasurer Richard Mourdock as challengers who could earn the Tea Party group’s blessing.

    Richard Lugar has grown too “RINO” Left on too mnay issues for the conservative red state of Indiana. He will be replaced as the Republican nominee in 2012.

    Wonder if South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint’s PAC and/or Club for Growth will involve themselves?

  • Bob Corker,  GOP,  Johnny Isakson,  Lamar Alexander,  Mike Crapo,  Mike Johanns,  Richard Lugar,  Thad Cochran,  Tom Coburn

    Lame Duck Senate: Which Republicans Sold Out? Melt the Phones After Christmas

    December 22, 2010 /

    US Senator John Kerry (D-MA) (R) and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) (C) smile as they depart together after a news conference after the Senate ratified the START nuclear arms reduction treaty at the US Capitol in Washington, December 22, 2010

    Too many and they will be held accountable by the Tea Party and conservative activists in their next GOP Primary elections.

    With the new Republican power in Washington, it is doubly important to keep a close eye on the doings of GOP Senators and Congressmen to spot those who are straying from orthodoxy, seduced by power and the insider clubiness that characterizes Washington.

    In the Lame Duck session, we want to draw attention to six Republican U.S. Senators who voted with the Democrats on a key issue. We should all bear their apostasy in mind and, in particular, make them mindful of the possibility of primary challenges to their re-nomination.

    Two Senators, in particular, deserve to have primary challengers take them on in 2012 — Tennessee’s Bob Corker and Mississippi’s Thad Cochran. Both men voted for the START treaty which conceded a permanent edge in nuclear weaponry to Russia. While the Treaty provided for equal and reduced stockpiles of strategic warheads, it did nothing to address the vast piles of tactical nuclear warheads held by the Russians. The Russians have 10,000 of these battlefield nuclear weapons piled up in the stockpile while we have only a few hundred.

    In addition, START’s preamble blocks the U.S. from developing missile defenses, now especially important in light of North Korea’s and Iran’s expanding capacities.

    Both Corker and Cochran face re-election in 2012. They should both be challenged for the nomination by men who put our need for national security above appeasing the Russians. Having suppressed democracy, wiped out free speech, taken over all the media, nationalized their oil and energy industry, invaded Georgia, enabled the Iranian nuclear program, and tried to establish a natural gas monopoly in Europe, what else does Putin need to do before Corker and Cochran realize that appeasement won’t work?

    Bob Corker’s vote for START probably stems from the insider-old boy network on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on which he sits. Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who also voted for START, sits alongside him on the Republican minority on the committee. Led by Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking GOP member on the panel, all three voted for START. Unfortunately, Isakson is not up for re-election until 2016. When he does come up for re-election, we hope that the citizens of Georgia’s Republican Party hold him to account.

    Lamar Alexander, also of Tennessee, backed START and faces re-election in 2014.

    In a previous column, we called attention to the defections of Republican Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Mike Crapo of Idaho from the ranks of fiscal conservatives. Both Coburn and Crapo voted for the recommendations of the Bowles-Simpson Deficit Reduction Commission which recommended cutting the deductions for home mortgages and charitable contributions by two-thirds for most taxpayers and urged the enactment of almost $1 trillion in new taxes.

    Coburn and Crapo only announced their intention to endorse the Commission report after they had been re-elected on November 2, 2010.

    Here is the vote on New START.

    So, who are they:

    • Richard Lugar of Indiana – 2012
    • Thad Cochran of Mississippi – 2012
    • Bob Corker of Tennesses – 2012
    • Johnny Isakson of Georgia – 2016
    • Lamar Alexander of Tennessee – 2014
    • Tom Coburn of Oklahoma – 2016
    • Mike Crapo of Idaho – 2016
    • Mike Johanns of Nebraska – 2014

    Time for conservatives to re-evaluate support of these incumbent Senators and replace them.

    Here is their contact information. Give them a call after Christmas and let them know what you think of their sell-out.

    Thad Cocheran, Mississippi

    Washington Office
    United States Senate
    113 Dirksen Senate Office Building
    Washington, D.C. 20510-2402
    202-224-5054 / 202-224-5054

    Jackson Office
    190 East Capitol St.
    Suite 550
    Jackson, Mississippi 39201
    601-965-4459 / 601-965-4459

    Bob Corker, Tennessee

    Washington, D.C.
    United States Senate
    Dirksen Senate Office Building
    SD-185
    Washington, DC 20510
    Main: 202-224-3344 / 202-224-3344
    Fax: 202-228-0566

    Memphis
    100 Peabody Place, Suite 1125
    Memphis, TN 38103
    Main: 901-683-1910 / 901-683-1910
    Fax: 901-575-3528

    Mike Crapo, Idaho

    Washington, DC
    239 Dirksen Senate Building
    Washington, DC 20510
    Phone: (202) 224-6142
    Fax: (202) 228-1375

    Idaho State Office
    251 East Front Street
    Suite 205
    Boise, ID 83702
    Phone: (208) 334-1776
    Fax: (208) 334-9044

    Tom Coburn, Oklahoma

    Washington D.C.:
    172 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
    Washington, DC 20510
    Main: 202-224-5754
    Fax: 202-224-6008

    Tulsa:
    1800 South Baltimore
    Suite 800
    Tulsa, OK 74119
    Main: 918-581-7651
    Fax: 918-581-7195

    Oklahoma City:
    100 North Broadway
    Suite 1820
    Oklahoma City, OK 73102
    Main: 405-231-4941
    Fax: 405-231-5051

    Lamar Alexander, Tennessee

    Washington Office
    455 Dirksen Senate Office Building
    Washington, DC 20510
    Phone: (202) 224-4944 / (202) 224-4944
    Fax: (202) 228-3398
    TTY: (202) 224-1546

    Memphis Office
    Clifford Davis-Odell Horton Federal Building
    167 North Main Street, #1068
    Memphis, TN 38103
    Phone: (901) 544-4224 / (901) 544-4224
    Fax: (901) 544-4227

    Johnny Isakson, Georgia

    United States Senate
    120 Russell Senate Office Building
    Washington, DC 20510
    Tel: (202) 224-3643 / (202) 224-3643
    Fax: (202) 228-0724

    One Overton Park, Suite 970
    3625 Cumberland Blvd
    Atlanta, GA 30339
    Tel: (770) 661-0999 / (770) 661-0999
    Fax: (770) 661-0768

    Richard Lugar, Indiana

    306 Hart Senate Office Building
    Washington, D.C. 20510-1401
    (202) 224-4814 p
    (202) 228-0360 f

    Southern Indiana

    101 NW Martin Luther King Boulevard
    Room 122
    Evansville, Indiana 47708
    (812) 465-6313 p
    (812) 421-1883 f

    Northeast Indiana

    6384 A  West Jefferson Boulevard
    Covington Plaza
    Fort Wayne, Indiana 46804
    (260) 422-1505 p
    (260) 424-1342 f

    Central Indiana

    1180 Market Tower
    10 West Market Street
    Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
    (317) 226-5555 p
    (317) 226-5508 f

    Northwest Indiana

    175 West Lincolnway
    Suite G-1
    Valparaiso, Indiana 46383
    (219) 548-8035 p
    (219) 548-7506 f