Omnibus includes $8B in earmarks

Republicans: Still Not Very Diverse.
Leslie Sanchez , author of Los Republicanos: Why Hispanics and Republicans Need Each Other , sees this year as a sign that the GOP is becoming more diverse: Overall, 14 African-Americans across the country are running as GOP nominees for Congress. As the Frederick Douglass Foundation has pointed out, if just three of them win, it would mark the first time since Reconstruction that more than two African-Americans from the Republican Party have served in Congress. And, as the Rutgers Center...

Tom Horner's big lies
In order for a Third Party Candidate to win the Governor's office in Minnesota he or she must draw sizable numbers of voters from both Democrats and Republicans. Otherwise he merely becomes a spoiler, splitting one unlucky Party and ensuring the election of the Candidate who carries his own Party's voters. As a former Staffer for a Republican Senator and a professional flack Tom Horner is spinning false tales about taxes and spending. He's hoping a public convinced that all politicians are...

Obama's Impact on the Democratic Party
Obama’s presence in the Oval Office has contributed to the most vibrant Grassroots Conservative Movement in a generation. His party is about to get thumped at the polls and lose its majority in one or both houses of Congress. The number of self-identifying Conservatives is on the upswing. And now this : In September, 34.6% of American Adults identified themselves as Democrats. Thats down nearly half a percentage point from a month ago, a full percentage point from two months ago, and...

Republican-Haters For The GOP
Tom Jensen identifies the key electoral bloc: Republicans in Congress are incredibly unpopular. And many of the party's Senate nominees across the country are too. Yet the party is still headed for a big Election year. The reason? About 20% of the country is unhappy with both sides- and they're leaning strongly toward the GOP. Our last National Poll found that 19% of voters both disapproved of Barack Obama's job performance and disapproved of the Republicans in Congress. Those folks are...

AR-02: What's Griffin's Problem With Working People?
Joyce Elliott, the Democratic Candidate for 2nd District Congress, led the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers when it struck over a contract dispute in 1988 when the average teacher made less than $22,000. This is very bad, Tim Griffin, her Republican opponent, says. In 2009, Tim Griffin made almost a half-million dollars working for Washington, D.C., political lobbying and consulting firms on shadowy causes, including one of the greasiest outfits formerly afloat, Freedom Works. He...

New policy mood data from Jim Stimson
UNC's Jim Stimson just updated his estimate of policy mood -- a measure of Public demand for more government across a range of issues that I frequently highlight here . Here's a graph showing his current estimates of yearly mood for 1952-2008 where higher values indicate greater Liberalism: The new data indicate that demand for more government in 2008 was at its highest level since 1992 (though not as high as the postwar peaks in the 1958-1968 period). With that said, however, it's...

DISCLOSE act obituaries are premature
Reports of the DISCLOSE Acts death are greatly exaggerated. Certainly, the current version is unlikely to recover from again falling one vote short of the 60 needed to obtain Cloture. But the upcoming Election is bound to breathe new life into the legislative effort to provide the American People with information about the flood of money -- much of it completely anonymous -- that is pouring into key races. The flood comes courtesy of the Supreme Courts shocking decision...

Meg Whitman looks to regain momentum in second debate
RESNO, Calif. — Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Meg Whitman had hoped Saturday’s debate in the heart of California’s Central Valley would showcase her economic credentials and help siphon the support of independent and Hispanic votes away from Democrat Jerry Brown. Instead, Whitman finds herself on the defensive and seeking to regain momentum with those voters after a tumultuous week in which she was forced to explain how she had an Illegal Immigrant housekeeper on the...

Obama promotes technology; GOP calls for tax cuts
Washington (AP) - President Barack Obama is promoting his administration's investments in Clean Energy technologies like wind and solar, arguing they produce jobs and are essential for the country's environment and economic security. In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, a month out from crucial Midterm Elections, the president also accused Republicans of wanting to scrap incentives for such projects. "That's what's at stake in this debate," the president said. "We can go back to...

Indiana GOP Fundraises Off Bayh's $500,000 Gift
Retiring Sen. Evan Bayh gave $500,000 to the Indiana Democratic Party, according to the Indianapolis TV station WISH, and now the Indiana Republican Party is using his gift to raise its own funds.

McConnell, Obama Duel Over Bush Tax Cuts, Jobs
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell used the GOP radio address Saturday to criticize Democrats for failing to extend the Bush-era Tax Cuts — “one of the largest Tax hikes in history” — before leaving town to campaign for the Midterm Elections.

Future of the Public Option Update
I've been convinced for a year now that the future of the Public Option was bright.  Liberal Activists love it, which means that Democrats are going to be pressed to support it in contested primaries.  It polls well generally, meaning that Dems will feel it's a relatively safe way to make liberal Activists happy.  And as a Bonus, the CBO loves it, which means that supporting a Public Option allows liberal Candidates to support spending or Tax Cuts and still claim that their...

Throwing Cold Water on Democrats' Strategy
President Obama and the Democratic establishment are increasingly turning to their Base voters in the hopes that getting them enthusiastic will help stave off Republican gains in November. But analysts at the Third Way Think Tank, a group with close ties to Democrats, argue that is a losing strategy. In a new memo , the Third Way says the electorate has shifted over the past two years, becoming more conservative. They say that even Candidates who are able to match Mr. Obamas turnout among...

At least they're gone
Democrats have lefttown without passing a Budget or any appropriations bills, nor have they answered the questionAmericansin every Tax bracket are asking: What will my taxrate be comeJanuary 2011? The focus for Democrats now is not on legislating, nor on touting their unpopular accomplishments, but rather on Attack Ads calling into question the personal records of their Republican opponents taxes, business dealings, Divorce proceedings. It isn't likely to be so effective,...

The Obamacare Follies
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, aka ObamaCare, turned six months old on September 23. Hardly anybody celebrated the occasion, and it isnt hard to figure out why. Last spring President Obama promised Democrats that supporting the new entitlement would turn out to be a political winner. But, like a lot of Obama promises, this ones turned out to be a bunch of baloney. ObamaCare is less popular than it was on the day it was born, and it wasnt popular then, either....

The War on the Young
Last week, in an effort to limit the damage to Congressional Democrats in Novembers Elections, President Obama set out in pursuit of the Youth Vote, traveling to several college campuses to rally the Young Activists who were so important to his Presidential Campaign. What I want to do is just to speak to Young People directly and remind them of what I said during the Campaign, he told reporters on Monday.  But rather than listen to the president talk about what he said two years...

The people's work or ramming through an agenda?
An announcement that Congress plans to convene following the Nov. 2 election is either necessary to pass much-needed Middle Class tax relief that Republicans have blocked. Or it's an attempt by Democrats to force through unpopular Legislation as part of a Lame Duck session. "For the past two years, Democrats have made a habit of ignoring the will of the American People in order to advance their Big Government agenda," U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., said in a statement. "Now their leadership is...

What Are Superdelegates?
With a close Democratic race for the presidential nominee, the role of delegates and super delegates could become increasingly more important leading up to the Democratic National Convention in August. Former Democratic Strategist David Sirota and political legal analyst Stanley Brand explain why superdelegates are important. Copyright © 2008 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required. MICHEL MARTIN, host:...

Lower-income U.S. families see government more favorably: survey
NEW YORK | Fri Oct 1, 2010 4:03pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lower-income American families rate government policies more favorably than those of higher-income brackets, according to a survey released on Friday showed. This disparity in views between different income groups in the latest Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers could play a role in the November 2 Elections and change the political landscape in Washington. In September, 23 percent of households with an annual...

Obama promotes clean-energy technology
W ASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is promoting his administration’s investments in Clean Energy technologies like wind and solar, arguing they produce Jobs and are essential for the country’s environment and economic security. In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, a month out from crucial Midterm Elections, the president also accused Republicans of wanting to scrap incentives for such projects. "That’s what’s at stake in this debate," the president...

Emanuel Makes Departure Official
By LAURA MECKLER European Pressphoto Agency Barack Obama hugs Rahm Emanuel after announcing that Mr. Emanuel has resigned as White House Chief of Staff and will be replaced by Pete Rouse. In early 2006, when then-Sen. Barack Obama was denying any interest in running for president, Pete Rouse was quietly writing a plan to guide the campaign.   Rahm Emanuel Departs White House 2:47 Former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel left his post at the White House today to return to Chicago, where...

Well deserved kudos for the Recovery Act
WELL DESERVED KUDOS FOR THE Recovery Act.... There's a certain awkwardness that comes with defending last year's Stimulus, and not just because polls tend to find it unpopular. On the one hand, we see entirely legitimate criticisms from the left about the need for the Recovery Act to have been much bigger. On the right, we see complaints that the Stimulus was a bad idea because ... well, whatever it is Conservatives are unhappy about now. But the White House's defense of the Economic...

Obama hails departing Rahm Emanuel, the #$&@)* tough guy who chokes up anyway (SFW)
Rahm Emanuel, the savyy, rough-talking top aide to President Obama , left his White House job today to return to what every Windy City pol regards as the Big Leagues, the nation's No. 3 city where he'll seek to become head of the long-dominant Democratic machine that he once served as a go-fer. He must register his candidacy by Nov. 22. Obama gave his longtime political friend a send-off full of bounteous praise (see full text and video below), and what sounded like a mayoral...

Top Five Examples Of Dems Running Scared From Nancy Pelosi (VIDEO)
It's too early to predict the outcome of the 2010 Elections, but one thing we know for sure: If Democrats lose their majority in the House, Nancy Pelosi will not be Speaker anymore. That's certainly one of the reasons that she doesn't bat an eye (publicly, at least) when vulnerable and conservative Democrats run from her on the Campaign Trail. "Sometimes Washington gets used to a rubber-stamp Congress which was the very homogeneous Congress of the Republicans," Pelosi said on PBS last night....

Obama charges up young voters at concert/rally
Washington — Grasping for the electric energy that propelled him to the White House, President Barack Obama whipped up young supporters at a rally Thursday night, where the boisterous crowd tried to shout down any talk of an "enthusiasm gap" among Democrats. "I'm back here today just in case you've forgotten what it feels like to change the country," Obama called out to a sold-out crowd of 3,000 at a Democratic National Committee Fundraiser at DAR Constitution Hall. "It was always going...