Jobs, health care, energy, deficits, Afghanistan, the general war on terror – all these are things that Congress should be working on. Indeed, Democrats are endlessly telling us that whatever priority they have cooked up, must be passed right now! But when the Senate is actually scheduled to be in session – purportedly addressing your concerns – they are delaying official business to let Arlen | Read More »
When Arlen Specter switched parties back in April, he realized that some of his former supporters might regret having donated money to someone who was no longer a Republican. He made a concession: “Upon request, I will return campaign contributions contributed during this cycle.” That could wind up being a costly promise. Specter has raised $11 million this cycle, and only has $7.5 million on | Read More »
When the Democrat leaders in Washington were negotiating Arlen Specter’s party switch, they were eager to assure him that they would do all in their power to ensure him a clear path to the Democratic nomination for Senate. It’s becoming clear that in doing so, they promised something far outside their power to deliver. In the 2010 race for U.S. Senate, by a 63/28 margin | Read More »
Can you guess where this picture was taken? I’ll give you a hint: although you may never have heard of them, Kaufman and Klobuchar are exceedingly junior Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They sit far from the dais – often in folding chairs, or on shared benches. They’re not allowed to grab food from the buffet; they have to brown-bag it and sit | Read More »
It seems there aren’t really any convictions Arlen Specter won’t sell in order to help him win reelection. According to his new colleague Tom Harkin, Specter realizes that he’s toast in a Democratic primary if he doesn’t kiss labor’s ring that he was wrong about Card Check: A spokesperson for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the lead sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, confirmed today | Read More »
A writer at Huffington Post makes precisely the points I expected they would: In this past election, we won the fight for a Democratic majority. We now need to win the fight for a progressive majority who will stand up for the interests of the American people over the corporate lobbyists and their millions in campaign contributions…
It was not that long ago – just a few hours in fact – that Arlen Specter proudly told President Obama ‘I’m a loyal Democrat. I support your agenda.’ And so Specter did – all the way up until his first vote as a Democrat. Today Specter cast his first vote in opposition to one of Obama’s top priorities – a measure Democrats favored to | Read More »
Yesterday Arlen Specter said that despite his switch to the Democratic party, he would not be changing his position on Card Check. It doesn’t seem as if Card Check backers are taking him seriously though. Despite his comments yesterday – which were widely portrayed as a strong statement against the bill – they’re pushing harder than ever: But [Specter] left himself some wiggle room when | Read More »
Arlen Specter is clearly trying to do what it takes to win his primary race against Pat Toomey. It’s hard to imagine him defending Rush Limbaugh – even in this halfhearted way – otherwise. It also suggests that he’s not expecting to be running in an open primary next year, and is instead planning to win a majority of Republican votes. Howard Stern: …that crackpot | Read More »
According to Roll Call, the primary Senate sponsor of the Card Check bill has begun to reach out to Republicans on possible compromise legislation: With Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) refusing to back a controversial union organizing bill, Senate Democrats have tapped Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) to begin preliminary discussions with a handful of moderate Republicans to try to come up with a new plan for | Read More »
It’s being reported by multiple outlets, and the word reportedly comes from close associates: Pat Toomey has begun telling friends that he will run for U.S. Senate against Republican Arlen Specter in 2010. Two sources said they spoke with the former Lehigh Valley congressman this week and were told that he’s made up his mind about a repeat challenge of the five-term incumbent in next | Read More »
I’m here at CPAC, where I’ve had the opportunity to meet briefly with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell to talk over current issues. After a strong speech (which you might ultimately be able to find here), McConnell addressed questions from several bloggers. To me, the most notable answer from McConnell came in response to a question from Fausta – when she asked his thoughts on | Read More »
CNN’s Political Ticker reports that with Ted Kennedy apparently unavailable for a Senate vote tomorrow, Harry Reid is trying to line up one more Republican to vote for the Democrat spending bill. The concern is that without Kennedy, the bill has only the minimum number of votes required to pass: 60. And the three GOP supporters had made clear that their support was conditional on | Read More »
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