The House of Representatives on Friday is expected to hold two votes on U.S. action in Libya. One will fail and one will pass. House GOP leaders are hoping that the Democratic-controlled Senate will take up the one that passes. …
Senate
McConnell: Obama Has ‘Made It Worse’
Last month, for this story in the dead-tree edition, I asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell if defeating President Obama is still his No. 1 priority. “Yeah, sure. I think every Republican in the country would like to elect a Republican president,” McConnell told me. “But that’s next year. The question this year is: what …
Q&A: Mitch McConnell Explains How to Get a ‘Really Big Deal’ on the Debt Ceiling
One day after Congress rejected a $2.4 trillion increase of the federal borrowing limit without preconditional spending cuts, House Republicans are visiting the White House on Wednesday to negotiate directly with President Obama …
Obama Picks a New Commerce Secretary. Maybe He Shouldn’t Have.
President Obama has chosen a new commerce secretary, former Edison International CEO John Bryson. He sounds like a good choice, a solid businessman with a public policy background and a strong green streak. But you know who would …
Congressional Silliness Over the Memorial Day Recess
Republicans, it seems, really didn’t want the Senate to break for Memorial Day recess. Really, really, really didn’t want them to. Twenty House Republicans sent their leaders a letter asking them not to approve any adjournment measure sent over by the Senate – the Senate’s adjournment is usually OKed by the House as a matter of …
Kerry’s Emerging AfPak Role: Precursor to Secretary of State Gig?
In recent years, John Kerry seems to have settled into a new role in the Senate. The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee finally got a major chairmanship at the helm of the Foreign Relations Committee. And he’s been in the …
Boxer v. Fiorina Debate
Senator Barbara Boxer and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who is challenging the California Democrat for her job, had their first debate last night. Fiorina, I thought, did surprisingly well but that may be due to my incredibly low expectations of her. As the L.A. Times notes, Boxer did well at holding Fiorina’s feet to the …
Tim Pawlenty Sure Looks Like a Presidential Candidate
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty hasn’t announced he’s running for president, but his recent actions regarding health care reform certainly seem to suggest he is.
Today, the governor signed an executive order prohibiting state offices from applying for voluntary federal grant programs created by the Affordable Care Act – unless they …
And the Winner Is…
Anyone hoping for a sign that the anti-establishment fever has peaked got mixed messages from Colorado’s Senate primaries Tuesday night.
On the Democratic side, establishment favorite Michael Bennet won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, beating out former Colorado House speaker Andrew Romanoff with 54% of the vote with 77% of …
Today’s Races
Today’s Tuesday and that means voting. Colorado, Connecticut and Minnesota are holding primaries and Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial races holds a run off. By tonight we’ll know if another incumbent scalp, that of Colorado’s Michael Bennet, has been claimed or if the throw-the-bums-out mentality this cycle is abating somewhat. Here’s a …
Perhaps The Best Senate Race In America: Following The Fun In The Florida Sun
Ah, Florida: Scarface, Disney, Golden Girls, Seinfeld’s parents, Tiger, Elian, Crockett, Tubbs, sugar, swamps, spring training, LMFAO, oranges, chads, (Jimmy) Buffett, Marino, Lebron and so much more, including one of the most exciting Senate races in the country this cycle, a three-way match up between conservative wonder boy Marco …
The Latest Macaca: Ken Buck
Since George Allen’s infamous utterance of the word macaca, any statewide campaign or Party that can afford it has sent minions to tail their opposition in the hopes of replicating that scandal. Sometimes these moments have an impact, sometimes they don’t: Trey Grayson’s video trove of Rand Paul slip ups did little to slow Paul’s …
A Tallahassee Trap?
Our Miami-based colleague Tim Padgett files this report on a very savvy Charlie Crist:
At first glance, Tuesday looked like a bad day for Florida Governor Charlie Crist. He’d called the Florida legislature back to Tallahassee to consider placing an initiative on the November ballot asking voters whether offshore oil drilling
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