On the heels of his successful campaigning for Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln, helping her return from the dead to eke out a primary victory earlier this month, Bill Clinton has become very popular. The former president has over a hundred requests from congressional candidates on his desk. He’s especially in demand in the South and …
Domestic Policy
The Bottleneck on the Hill
Here’s a story from me about the bottleneck of bills accumulating in the Senate as more and more vulnerable Dems balk at additional spending. If getting through $50 billion in emergency aid to stave of furloughs of teachers, firefighters and police will be tough, it’s hard to imagine the Senate pushing through big ticket items like …
Morning Must Reads: Tough Sell
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
–Obama’s oval office address last night was not exactly a crowd pleaser. He pulled off the optics fairly well, but the jumble of military metaphors was awkward and the substance was torn between two competing visions. Those looking for detailed marching orders on how to Plug The Leak Now were thrown off by …
Teacher Layoffs
I’m generally in favor of President Obama’s efforts to prevent massive layoffs of public employees at the state and local level. But–you knew a “but” was coming, right?–there have to be some strings attached. I’m not sure Charles Lane is right that this isn’t as bad as it seems. The pain won’t be distributed equally. The districts that …
Deal on Rolling Back Citizens United?
Politico is reporting that House Dems have reached a deal with the National Rifle Association on legislation that would force groups and businesses to disclose top donors if they chose to run ads or send out mass mailing in the final months before an election. The legislation is in response to the Supreme Court decision in Citizens …
Morning Must Reads: Primetime
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Obama departs on a whirlwind tour of the Gulf Coast today with stops in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida before delivering his first Oval Office address to the nation Tuesday night. Reportedly included in the speech: a case for comprehensive energy and climate legislation, including some …
You Betcha, Moonbeam
In his first television ad of the general election, Jerry Brown makes it clear he’s running again Sarah Palin Meg Whitman.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDhyvwsOaPM&]
Morning Must Reads: Beck and Call
YURI GRIPAS / AFP / Getty Images
–With the scale of the crisis still coming into focus, Obama has summoned BP bigwigs for a meeting.
—Barney Frank says the so-called “Volcker Rule” that would restrict proprietary trading at big banks will definitely be included in final financial reform legislation and that Democrats are …
Whither Now Derivatives?
For anyone interested, tune in C-SPAN3 right now to watch the conference on the financial regulatory reform bill live. The House and Senate versions are already very similar but the largest sticking point remains language authored by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln requiring banks to spin off their in-house …
Morning Must Reads: In the Water
REUTERS/Lee Celano
–The Wall Street Journal reports Blanche Lincoln still has good leverage for her derivatives plan, but it will be tough for the spin-off measure opposed by the White House, the Fed, the FDIC, Volcker, Geithner, et al. to remain unchanged in conference.
–In his upcoming Times Sunday mag piece, Matt Bai finds …
Morning Must Reads: Nature of the Contest
Danny Johnston/Associated Press
–Jay has a nice break down of Tuesday’s results.
–A White House official gets a bit overexcited at Lincoln’s win and sticks a finger in labor’s eye.
—Marc Ambinder writes Arkansas’s lessons lie in the nature of the contest, not the outcome.
–Bill Clinton will be a much sought after …
Morning Must Reads: “Whose Ass to Kick”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–It’s Super Duper Primary Tuesday with contests in 12 states coast to coast including run-offs in Arkansas and Georgia.
— A Washington Post/ABC News poll finds only 29% of Americans plan to support their representative in November. Maybe that’s why turnout is expected to be low today …
National Politics and State Realities at Odds
Kevin Sack has an illuminating piece in the New York Times on the conundrum that politicians – especially Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats – face while trying to balance a fiercely partisan political climate against the woes of a sagging economy. Case in point: Medicaid, one of the most expensive programs in every state in the …