1. CALL YOUR REPUBLICAN SENATOR NOW: Support Senator Jim DeMint’s Earmark Ban

2. Malicious Mendacity in the Tea Party Movement

3. Senators Secretive on DeMint Earmark Ban

4. Campaign Finance Law 120: Recount restrictions.

1. CALL YOUR REPUBLICAN SENATOR NOW: Support Senator Jim DeMint’s Earmark Ban

Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is offering an resolution next Tuesday during the first meeting of Senators serving in the 102nd Congress. The DeMint Resolution would be a statement that the Senate Republican Conference will not take earmarks for the next two years. RedState readers could be the difference between this resolution passing or failing. Consider this your call to action.Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.) is opposing this measure and whipping his members to beat back the effort by DeMint for a two year earmark moratorium. McConnell isn’t the only Senator calling other members to oppose this new conference resolution. Just look at the roster of Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee to see members working the phones to defeat this measure. Here is what I need you to do. Call your Republican Senator at 202-224-3121and ask him or her if she is going to vote for the DeMint resolution. If you don’t have a Republican Senator in your state and you want to help, adopt a Senator. If you want to call one of the new members, look up the phone number on the Senate website and give them a call.Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Malicious Mendacity in the Tea Party Movement

Here’s a rule of thumb — if engaging the tea party movement, focus on the local groups, not the big groups. Tea Party Express has one heck of an impressive track record this year at the national level and they need to be commended for that, but all things being equal it is the local groups that have the volunteers, get out the vote efforts, phone bankers, etc. And I think a number of the national group leaders would tend to agree.But here is another case in point for bypassing a lot of the national tea party groups. The Claremont Institute, a well respected organization that has one heck of a constitutional history course, is hosting an event for new members of Congress.The organization is being attacked by a tea party group as being filled with and held by “Washington Insiders.”For the record, the Claremont Institute is on the opposite coast of the United States from Washington and composed of some of the wingiest wingers in the entire wing-o-sphere.This handwringing about “Washington Insiders” is verging on paranoid.One tea party group is giving out the private cell phone numbers of freshmen congressmen to pressure them to avoid competing orientation programs, etc.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Senators Secretive on DeMint Earmark Ban

Next Tuesday, the Senate Republican Conference will vote on Senator Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) amendment to the conference rules to ban earmarks for two years. Some Senators are saying that they are going to hold their powder dry until they look at all the options on the table at the Conference next week. That is not what the rules of the Republican Conference envision and allow. All amendments to the rules must be shared a week before the meeting pursuant to conference rules. It is important to note that there is no rule that prohibits members from publicly announcing support or opposition to DeMint’s idea.According to Politico, the current vote total is very close with many members wavering.Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Campaign Finance Law 120: Recount restrictions.

Executive summary: the setup and funding of election recounts is affected, like virtually everything else in politics involving money, by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (otherwise known as the BCRA, otherwise known as McCain-Feingold*). The Federal Election Committee (FEC) has advised that aid by the national committees in the recount efforts be administered as per the following . . .Please click here for the rest of the post.