Midday Open Thread
Posted by admin | Posted in Politics | Posted on 31-01-2010-05-2008
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- Can you tell if someone is a Democrat or a Republican, just by looking at them? Shockingly, a says that it may be possible to do just that.
- In another example of the fairly strange recent phenomenon of people dropping out of races on the doorstep of an election (see: Scozzafava, DeDe), Illinois Senate candidate dropped out of the Democratic primary and endorsed state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. The election is this Tuesday, and Meister was well behind in the polls, so the impact of his endorsement is a bit murly.
- Speaking of the Illinois primaries, began a series looking at those races on Friday night that is definitely worth a read. The series continues later today, so check back.
- DS kicks off a multi-parter on the changes at NASA with , which concludes with some entertaining political conflicts forced on Texas conservatives.
- Talk about a frosty welcome! Parker Griffith is getting smacked around by county committees back home. He is facing a Republican primary from which he may not emerge. On top of all that, Congressional Republicans have been “” to cobble together some committee assignments for their newest member.
- In a week where one of his Congressional teammates declared his career “done”, Nevada’s preeminent political analyst, , examines the landscape. He sees an opening for the Senate Majority Leader, but not a huge one.
- More on the subject of , from the keyboard of Greg Sargent:
Zinger of the day: Frank Rich says Harry Reid is the “face of Democratic fecklessness in the Senate.” Again: Pass the health bill, and Dems get a thousand articles about the new law. Fail to pass it, and they get a thousand columns about how feckless they are.
- Some might make an argument for Tiger Woods (although fewer people might after his November escapades), but an argument can easily be made that the most dominant athlete in his/her discipline in the contemporary era is none other than . Federer scored his 16th Major title today with an impressive straight-sets victory over Britain’s Andy Murray at the Australian Open.
- Today is the deadline for campaigns to submit their Year-End fundraising reports to the FEC. One eye-popper already in the books: embattled GOP incumbent actually spent more than he took in during the final quarter of 2009. His cash-on-hand is just barely over 0K, which will mean that whomever emerges from the Democratic primary will not have much ground to make up.
- As plans for a civilian trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York have apparently gone awry, WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs wanted to make clear on CNN today that Mohammed would “” nevertheless, though he was less clear about whether it would occur in a civilian trial or a military tribunal.
CNN, during the same program, announced that Candy Crowley will be the replacement for John King on their Sunday morning State of the Union program.
- Chuck Todd, Political Director of NBC News, uses Twitter to define the term in the modern era:
Defining “bipartisanship.” WH believes it’s about legis w/something for BOTH parties; GOP argues for passage of JUST what THEY agree with.
Given the recent interviews with GOP luminaries that make it clear that the only health care reform they’ll support is a wholesale capitulation of the Democrats to a Republican bill, it is hard to dispute Todd’s assertion here.