Election Wrap

Reid says he can work with Republicans, Tea Party and Rand Paul
In a rare, live television interview Wednesday, a visibly weary Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who handily won Reelection in a hard-fought race against a Tea Party Candidate, said he was ready now to work with Republicans, including those from the upstart, Grassroots movement that nearly brought him down. "We've got to start working together ... Legislation's the art of Compromise," Reid told "Today" host Meredith Vieira. Reid said he watched Tea Party Republican Rand Paul's victo...

ABC: Bristol Aided by Tea Party - Bristol Palin - Fox Nation
Palin, the daughter of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, survived a seventh week on the Walt Disney Co. network's show Nov. 2, the night Republicans gained at least 60 House seats. The 20-year-old was saved by viewers' votes after her Viennese waltz received the judges' worst score. Ex-Los Angeles Laker Rick FOX got the hook, based on the lowest combined tally. "There's a strong popular movement behind Sarah Palin at the moment and she's receiving a lot of support from the Tea Party," Conrad G...

Palin Video Brags on Victorious Candidates She Backed, Ignores Losers
In a New video, Sarah Palin ballyhoos the winning Candidates that she endorsed in the Midterm Elections, but ignores those, such as Delaware's Christine O'Donnell, who fell by the wayside. "Based on what I'm seeing, there is more than enough reason to have faith in America," she says in the one-minute video, sponsored by her Political action Committee, SarahPAC. "I'm confident and I am hopeful because this is our movement, this is our moment, this is our morning in America." A Politics Daily ca...

Judge sets deadlines in polar bear listing case
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A Federal Judge has given the Interior Department a Dec. 23 deadline to explain why Polar Bears were listed in 2008 as a "threatened" Species instead of the more-protective "Endangered." The written order issued Thursday by Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., follows an October hearing on multiple Lawsuits challenging the "threatened" listing. The Polar Bears' status has implications for issues ranging from national Climate Change legis...

More than 40 groups urging Texas House members to replace Speaker Joe Straus and his team with more conservative lawmakers
More than 40 groups urging Texas House members to replace Speaker Joe Straus and his team with more conservative lawmakers 06:33 PM CDT on Thursday, November 4, 2010 By ROBERT T. GARRETT / Austin Bureau [email protected] AUSTIN — Dozens of conservative groups are urging House members to replace Speaker Joe Straus and his Leadership team with more conservative lawmakers. Heads of more than 40 groups, ranging from anti-tax and Tea Party organizations to home schoolers and anti-abo...

‘Voting for a Paycheck’: How the Right’s Narrative Trumps Workers’ Interests - Working In These Times
"Voting for a Paycheck"—a front-page Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article largely built around a Tea Party rally in my hometown of Racine, Wis. where Unemployment peaked at 16.7% earlier this year—drove home a critical lesson for labor in today's Elections. The lesson: working people cannot effectively fight for their political interests in the absence of Media that can actively help the voting public decode the torrent of deceptive messages pouring out from the Right's massive Media e...

Republican plan: No compromise with the Democrats
WASHINGTON — Republicans on Thursday began plotting strategy for the next Congress by vowing to be unified and relentless in their insistence that this year's Health Care overhaul be repealed and that most Domestic Spending be frozen or Cut drastically. The GOP, which gained at least 60 seats in the House of Representatives and six in the Senate in Tuesday's election, showed no appetite for Bipartisan cooperation. "The mandate for Change is directed at the other guys," ...

Alaska rival's rebuke curdles Palins Tea Party triumph
Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent, Postmedia News · Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 WASHINGTON — Is it really Sarah Palin’s Alaska? Senator Lisa Murkowski doesn’t think so. In the substantial wake of this week’s U.S. Midterm Elections, the Hottest Political feud to explode does not involve President Barack Obama and Republicans leaders in Congress. The fight is between Ms. Palin, the former Alaska Governor and Tea Party heroine, and Ms. Murkowski, a longtime rival w...

Alaska rival's rebuke curdles Sarah Palins Tea Party triumph
Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent, Postmedia News · Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 WASHINGTON — Is it really Sarah Palin’s Alaska? Senator Lisa Murkowski doesn’t think so. In the substantial wake of this week’s U.S. Midterm Elections, the Hottest Political feud to explode does not involve President Barack Obama and Republicans leaders in Congress. The fight is between Ms. Palin, the former Alaska Governor and Tea Party heroine, and Ms. Murkowski, a longtime rival w...

Nanny-state liberals ban Happy Meals in San Fransisco
Liberals in San Fransisco, California, issued a ban on the popular Happy Meal - a favorite among Children.  The ban was put in place by the board of supervisors, partly because McDonalds uses toys to entice Children to consume the high-calorie Food. The ordinance was approved on Tuesday by an 8-3 vote. In addition to limiting toy giveaways with high-calorie food, it requires restaurants provide servings of fruits or vegetables with each Meal. Fast-food giant McDonald's expres...

Obama pledges to work with Republicans
WASHINGTON — After leading his Party to the worst Midterm drubbing in 72 years, President Obama all but conceded Wednesday that he's lost touch with the American People. "There is an inherent danger in being in the White House and being in the bubble," Obama said at a White House news Conference. "The responsibilities of this office are so enormous, and so many People are depending on what we do," he added. "In the rush of activity sometimes, we lose track of the ways that we connected ...

Blue Dog Pushes to Drop Pelosi From Leadership
By Patrick O'Connor As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi mulls her future, conservative Democrats in the House are pushing her not to run for Democratic Leader in the new Congress. Rep. Jim Matheson , a Utah Democrat who co-chairs the conservative Blue Dog Coalition, thinks some turnover is in order following such dramatic losses for his Party. “This was an Earthquake of an Election,” Mr. Matheson said. “When you suffer this kind of loss, you’ve got to shake up your leadership.” More than

The Message of the Election
I like Megan McArdle's take: DNC Chairman Tim Kaine explained, a GOP takeover of the House may be "a message from the American public." But it's not a rebuke of Democratic policies, he suggested. It's a message about the need for Bipartisan cooperation--that "everybody's gotta work together." When we win, it's a mandate. When they win, it's some sort of complicated message about Bipartisanship and the tricky optics of modern governance. I haven't...

Tuesday's election a missed opportunity for Republicans
The GOP may have triumphed in the House, but they failed to capture the Senate, and now they're playing the blame game. "Candidates matter," said South Carolina's senior Senator, Lindsey Graham . "It was a good night for Republicans but it could have been a better one. We left some on the table." Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott agreed: "We did not nominate our strongest Candidates." He said if Republicans had nominated establishment candidates Mike Castle , Sue Lowden and Jane Norton in...

Boehner: Voters want spending cuts
Published: Nov. 4, 2010 at 7:23 PM House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-OH, speaks as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, looks on during a Press Conference after Republicans wrested control of the House from Democrats in yesterday's election on Capitol Hill in Washington on November 3, 2010. Boehner will likely become the next House Speaker. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. John Boehner, the front-runner to be House Speaker, said Thursday there a...

GOP gives HuffPo fits: Thats the spirit!
Currently the rather familiar-sounding headline on HuffPo as of 7:30pm, November 4: Yeah, you read it here first at 3a.m., November 3: You know what they say: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! Here’s what GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell said that has the progs in fits: Barely an hour after President Barack Obama invited congressional Republicans to Post-election talks to work together on major issues, the Senate’s GOP leader had a blunt message: His party’s main ...

Send Me Money
Well, you could. George Soros will not. I e-mailed him when I heard that all liberal/progressive blogs are funded by him, but he didn't even bother to answer. If I turned snake tail and started ranted and raving anti-feminist crap I'd be rich in about two minutes. Just saying. There is a deeper point to these grumblings. Blogging is hard work (heh!) and on this side of the aisle mostly uncompensated hard work. I stayed up the election night, studying and learning and NOT writing on anything unti...

Obama pledges to work with Republicans
WASHINGTON — After leading his Party to the worst Midterm drubbing in 72 years, President Obama all but conceded Wednesday that he's lost touch with the American People. "There is an inherent danger in being in the White House and being in the bubble," Obama said at a White House news Conference. "The responsibilities of this office are so enormous, and so many People are depending on what we do," he added. "In the rush of activity sometimes, we lose track of the ways that we connected ...

Can The GOP Really Wait Until Next Year To Shut Down The Government?
Those who think the Republicans in the House and Senate have several months to get organized are seriously misreading the political Tea leaves. Even though the smaller Senate GOP minority and House Republican majority won't officially be in place until January, the leadership will be facing a very difficult decision over federal Spending in less than a month when the the current continuing resolution -- which is funding all federal agencies and departments that operate with annual appropriation...

Boehner: Americans Expect Washington to Stop All The Tax Hikes
In sit-down interviews with ABC’s Diane Sawyer and Fox News’ Bret Baier, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) talks about Republicans’ commitment to listening to the American People and going to work on their priorities: creating Jobs, cutting Spending, and making Congress more accountable to the People it serves. Specifically, Leader Boehner told Baier that this week’s events make it clear the American People want us to “stop all the Tax hikes and Cut Spending,” w

With GOP House takeover, it's 'now or never' to pass 9/11 bill
WASHINGTON - The Democrats' election slaughter in the House will doom the 9/11 Health bill if the Senate can't pass it in the last few weeks of a Lame-duck session, legislators told The News. "Right now, it's now or never for the 9/11 bill," said Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.), who soon will head the House Homeland Security Committee. "If we're not able to pass the 9/11 bill in the Lame Duck, I think the reasonable conclusion is it's dead," added Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens). The reason is simple: ...

About War Room
Let's be clear why Mitch McConnell, the Senate's Republican leader, decided less than 48 hours after the Midterm results were announced to deliver a Speech to a Right-wing organization reiterating his previous statement that the GOP's top priority should be President Obama's defeat in 2012: He's feeling the heat from the Tea Party. "Over the past week," McConnell said Thursday morning at the Heritage Foundation, "some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority o...

Perry sits down with Meredith Vieira
Gov. Rick Perry, promoting his new book, was on the “Today” show this morning for an interview with Meredith Vieira. He was supposed to be on at the top of the show, but an emergency Qantas landing pushed back his segment to 8:40 a.m. Vieira introduced him as “one of the Republicans who could be a prime contender in the race for the White House in 2012.” She first asked whether Tuesday’s election results were a repudiation of the Obama Administration, an embrace of ...

Assembly GOP dumps leader after election loss
Sacramento, CALIF. — Republicans in the state Assembly have chosen a Bakersfield lawmaker to lead them next year after losing a seat in this week's election. The minority Caucus selected Assemblywoman Connie Conway on Thursday. She is the first woman to serve as Assembly Republican leader since 1981. The 50-year-old replaces Assemblyman Martin Garrick of Carlsbad, who led his Caucus for less than a year. Republicans will hold 28 of the 80 Assembly seats when new members are sworn in nex...

Israel Ortega: Hispanic conservatives triumph in Tuesday's election
It seems like the political obituaries describing the demise of conservative support among Hispanics need to put on hold after this year's Midterm Elections. Republicans scored a trifecta by securing victories in Florida by electing Marco Rubio to the U.S. Senate, and in Nevada and New Mexico by sending Alberto Sandoval and Susana Martinez, respectively, to the governors' mansions. Perhaps most surprisingly, Republicans can now count on three prominent Hispanics holding statewide offices while...