Will Economic Recovery Trump Political Extremism in 2012?

Will economic recovery trump political extremism in 2012?

Mississippi voters on Tuesday, Nov. 8, rejected the so-called “Personhood Amendment” that would have declared that life in the Magnolia State begins at conception, while Ohio voters repealed a law that Republican Gov. John Kasich signed in March that severely curtailed collective bargaining rights for the state’s public workers by a 2-1 margin. Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, who spearheaded the passage of the state’s controversial Senate Bill 1070, is poised to lose his seat in a recall election.

The answer to the fore mentioned question is obviously in the eyes of the beholder—a social conservative could make the argument that President Barack Obama is an extremist because his administration no longer defends the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court, while a liberal feminist may conclude that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is an opportunistic misogynist because four women have accused him of sexual harassment while he headed the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. A Rasmussen poll last month showed that 84 percent of likely voters rank the economy as their top issue going into the 2012 election cycle, compared with only 52 percent who described immigration as a very important issue. The country’s unemployment rate remains at nine percent.

It’s the economy, stupid!

Poll: Democrats Are More Liberal, Less White Than Republicans

A new Gallup analysis finds that Democrats tend to be more liberal and less white and religious than Republicans.

Thirty-seven percent of Democrats whom Gallup interviewed between June 1 and Aug. 30 described themselves as liberal, compared to only six percent of Republicans who were polled during the same period.

Thirty-six percent of Democrats were non-white—including 19 percent who were black and another 14 percent who were Latino. Twelve percent of Republicans were non-white—including 19 percent who were black and another 14 percent who were Latino. Another 52 percent of Democrats rarely or never go to church, compared to 40 percent of Republicans who attend religious services weekly.

These demographics are generally the same as those that Gallup found among prospective voters between Jan. 2 and March 31, 2008. The general election is slightly less than a year away, but Gallup predicts that it will show the same voting patterns that existed in the 2008 cycle.

Republican Presidential Candidate Threatens to Boycott Florida Orange Juice Over Primary Date

Long-shot Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger is threatening to boycott Florida orange juice if the state does not reschedule its GOP primary.

"Voters need time during the coming months to fully vet all eleven serious Republican Presidential candidates," said Karger in a letter he sent to Gov. Rick Scott, House Speaker Dean Cannon and Secretary of State Kurt Browning on Wednesday, Oct. 19.

Florida officials threw the Republican presidential nomination process into disarray earlier this month when they announced that they would hold the state's primary on Jan. 31. Nevada Republicans announced that they will hold their caucuses on Jan. 14, while New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said last week that he could not rule out a December primary.

"Florida would potentially rob American voters of two months of campaigning which only helps the frontrunner," said Karger, who described Florida's move as "ill-conceived" and "un-American." "As one of these candidates for president, I cannot sit idly by while the state of Florida threatens the entire selection process.

Gays and lesbians were among those who boycotted Florida orange juice after Anita Bryant successfully led an effort to repeal then-Dade County's anti-discrimination ordinance in 1977. "I was involved in the Anita Bryant inspired Florida Orange Juice Boycott in 1978, and am keenly aware of the economic pressure that boycotts wield," said Karger.

Karger said he will officially launch the boycott if Florida officials do not reschedule the primary by Nov. 1.

Poll: 64 Percent of Americans Blame Washington for Bad Economy

Following last night's Republican kerfuffle in the desert, a new poll finds Americans are more than twice as likely to blame Washington for the country's economic problems than Wall Street.

Sixty-four percent of Americans who responded to the Gallup/USA Today poll on Oct. 15-16 said they blame the federal government for the country's sluggish economy. Only 30 percent of respondents said financial institutions on Wall Street are to blame.

New Hampshire Officials Considering December Primary

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said on Wednesday, Oct. 12, that the Granite State could hold its primary as early as Dec. 6 if Nevada Republicans do not agree to hold their caucuses on or after Jan. 17.

New Hampshire law requires that the state to hold its primary at least seven days before other state. Nevada Republicans announced last Wednesday that they will hold their caucuses on Jan. 14. This move prompted Iowa Republicans to announce that they could potentially hold their caucuses before the end of the year.

"The dates of Tuesday, December 13th, and Tuesday, December 6th are realistic options, and we have logistics in place to make either date happen if needed," said Gardner in his strongly worded statement. "Candidates have been campaigning here, and elsewhere, for months, and it is about time we begin the next stage of the presidential nominating process."

Romney Peppered with Marriage Questions at N.H. Town Hall

Those pesky New Hampshire voters peppered former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with questions about marriage for same-sex couples during a town hall in Hopkinton late on Monday, Oct. 10.

ABC News reported that Romney tried to dodge a question from a woman who said she was raised by two men and was offended by his assertion that children fare better when they are raised by man and a woman. “That’s really offensive to me and I just want to know why you feel it is not right for my dads to be able to walk down the aisle,” the woman reportedly said before a clearly uncomfortable Romney immediately sought to move onto another question.

Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in New Hampshire since Jan. 1, 2010, but Republican lawmakers are poised to try and repeal the law that Gov. John Lynch signed in 2009.

Lynch announced last month that he would not seek re-election.

Nevada Republicans Schedule Jan. 14 Caucuses

A couple of headlines grabbed my attention earlier this morning at Union Station while waiting for my train to Philadelphia.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio bluntly said at a political forum here in Washington, D.C., late on Wednesday, Oct. 4, that he would not seek the Republican vice presidential nomination in 2012. The Associated Press quoted the Cuban American lawmaker as saying he did not run for the Senate "to have a launching pad for another job."

In other news, Nevada Republicans announced late on Wednesday that they will hold their caucuses on Jan. 14. This move could prompt New Hampshire officials to schedule the first-in-the-nation primary as early as Jan. 3, while Iowa Republicans could hold their first-in-the-nation caucuses before the end of the year.

Stay tuned!

Illinois Congressmembers to Hold DOMA Hearing in Chicago

Three Illinois congressmembers are scheduled to hold a hearing at Chicago City Hall on Friday, Oct. 7, on the impact of the federal Defense of Marriage Act on same-sex couples.

Congressmen Mike Quigley and Luis V. Gutierrez and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky are expected to hear testimony from four gay and lesbian couples and two legal experts. The hearing will take place a week after House Republicans tripled the cap on the amount of money a private lawyer can receive for defending DOMA. The Obama administration announced in February that it would no longer defend the Clinton-era statute in federal court.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held its own hearing on DOMA in July.

House Republicans Triple DOMA Defense Cost Cap

Democrats blasted House Republican leaders on Tuesday, Oct. 4, for tripling the cap on the amount of taxpayer money a private lawyer they hire to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act can receive.

Paul Clement would not have been paid more than $500,000 for defending DOMA under the original contract into which House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders had entered. The cap has now been raised to $1.5 million.

“News of the increased payments to DOMA attorneys reached me today, ironically, during a Republican-chaired hearing on a Balanced Budget Amendment, in which Republicans were addressing the apparent need to cut Social Security benefits and programs for the poor,” said New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler. “Clearly, discriminating against LGBT Americans is a greater priority for them than providing for the welfare of seniors or children.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders joined LGBT rights groups that blasted the increase as hypocritical.

“There seems to be no limit to how much taxpayer money the House Republican leadership is willing to spend to keep this discriminatory law on the books,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “At a time when budgeting is the watchword in Washington, Americans will be rightly aghast at this boondoggle for right-wing lawyers.”

Poll: Majority of Americans Blame Obama for Economy

A new Gallup poll indicates that more than 50 percent of Americans blame President Barack Obama for the country's economic woes.

Fifty-three percent of Americans blame Obama for the state of the economy, while 69 percent of respondents said former President George W. Bush is responsible for the current economic malaise in the country. Obama has a 42 percent approval rating in Gallup's daily tracking poll on Thursday, Sept. 22.

Gallup also found that 62 percent of registered voters would definitely vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. Fifty-four percent said they would vote for Obama, while 53 percent would support Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Campaigning on the End of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Will the end of 'don't ask, don't tell' prove a campaign issue in 2012?

President Barack Obama signed the repeal bill into law late last year, so it would appear in his best interest to point that out to skeptical LGBT donors ahead of the presidential election. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has already done so, citing the end of "the discriminatory 'don't ask, don't tell' law" as one of her legislative accomplishments in a fundraising appeal she sent to supporters earlier on Monday, Sept. 19.

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is among the six Republicans senators who supported the repeal bill. Log Cabin Republicans will honor Brown and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who also backed the measure, at their national dinner in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday Sept. 20. Elizabeth Warren announced her Senate campaign on Sept. 14.

Congressmen Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) asked Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Sept. 15 to postpone the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell,' but appears as though this plea will fall on deaf ears. The vast majority of Americans remain focused on the economy, jobs and the national debt. The question of whether gays and lesbians can openly serve in the military does not factor into this bread and butter equation.

In other words, it appears unlikely that the sky will fall onto the campaign trail or anywhere else for that matter on or after Sept. 20.

AP: Turner Defeats Weprin

The Associated Press has declared that Republican Bob Turner has defeated New York State Assemblyman David Weprin in the race to succeed former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

With roughly 70 percent of precincts in New York's Ninth Congressional District reporting as of late on Tuesday, Sept. 13, Turner defeated Weprin by a 53-47 percent margin.

Weiner resigned in June after lewd pictures and text messages he tweeted and sent to women became public.

Does the Tea Party Actually Matter?

Is the Tea Party a Ponzi scheme?

More than a few progressive Democrats may have already come to this conclusion, but Republican presidential candidates who participated in last night’s debate in Tampa certainly went out of their way to curry favor with Tea Party voters. Some had more at stake than others.

“I know we can do so much better in this country,” said Minnesota Congressman Michele Bachmann in her introduction. “That’s why I’m the chief author of the bill to repeal Dodd-Frank, the bill to repeal Obamacare. And that’s why I brought the voice of the Tea Party to the United States Congress as the founder of the Tea Party Caucus.”

Bachmann described herself as “the leading voice in the wilderness of Washington all summer” against raising the country’s debt ceiling, but Texas Gov. Rick Perry continued to take more wind out of her sails as he fended off attacks from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Congressman Ron Paul on the economy, taxes, Social Security and immigration. She found her Tea Party mojo, however, when she blasted Perry over his executive order that requires HPV vaccines for girls as young as 11.

“I’m a mom. And I’m a mom of three children. And to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong,” said Bachmann. “That should never be done. It’s a violation of a liberty interest.”

Rhetoric and strategic one-liners aside, last night’s debate raises the obvious specter of whether the Tea Party will emerge as a tangible force in 2012. Voters will obviously answer this question at the ballot box, but today’s special election in New York’s Ninth Congressional District for could potentially prove a harbinger of things to come.

Does Huntsman Signal the Return of the Moderate Republican?

Does former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman signal the return of the moderate Republican?

He and the seven other Republican presidential candidates certainly clashed on the economy, jobs, Social Security and other bread and butter issues during last night’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., but Huntsman provided a potentially uncomfortable reality check for his more well-known GOP opponents who actually need to court mainstream voters to defeat President Barack Obama.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum seemed an oddly placed sidebar to the Texas-sized showdown between Congressman Ron Paul and Texas Gov. Rick Perry—the Emergency Alert System alerting Washingtonians that the District of Columbia and surrounding areas were under a flash flood warning actually pre-empted Santorum’s comments on immigration. Romney tried to sow his own Tea Party bonafides while refusing to explicitly own the populist label.

"If we're going to win in 2012, we've got to make sure that we have somebody who can win based upon numbers of the math that will get us there," said Huntsman, referring to Perry’s comments about climate change and evolution. "And by making comments that basically don't reflect the reality of the situation, we turn people off."

The next debate will be in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 12.

Those Gotcha Questions

It was apparently a night for gotcha questions!

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich certainly let his displeasure with his former Fox News colleagues known during last night’s Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa. The thrice-married social conservative’s scorn aside, the spectacle that took place at Iowa State University proved somewhat interesting and even entertaining for this native Granite Stater who watched it unfold from his parents’ home in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann arguably proved she does have a titanium spine as she deflected pointed questions about her personal life and defended her record against former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appeared rather presidential as he tried to rise above the intra-GOP fray that unfolded on the Ames stage, although his assertion at the Iowa State Fair earlier in the day that “corporations are people” and his support for a Constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman confirm questions about his convictions. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum should have looked in the mirror before he criticized the Iranian government for trampling the rights of gays and women.

The debate was equally as newsworthy for those who did not participate—most notably former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Perry will make his presidential aspirations official in a speech he is scheduled to deliver in South Carolina on Saturday, Aug. 13. Palin’s national bus tour will roll into the Hawkeye State just in time for the Iowa Straw Poll.

Should we anticipate even more gotcha questions from those annoying journalists in the coming days and weeks?

You betcha!

Specter leaves GOP

Senator Arlen Specter's announcement earlier today he plans to seek re-election as a Democrat is the latest evidence the Republican Party remains in the arguable political wilderness in Washington and in other areas across the country.

Specter, who was one of three Republicans who backed President Obama's economic stimulus package earlier this year, said in a statement he feels the GOP had moved too far to the right.

"I have been a Republican since 1966," he stated. "I have been working extremely hard for the Party, for its candidates and for the ideals of a Republican Party whose tent is big enough to welcome diverse points of view. While I have been comfortable being a Republican, my Party has not defined who I am. I have taken each issue one at a time and have exercised independent judgment to do what I thought was best for Pennsylvania and the nation."

Specter acknowledged his decision to back the stimulus package caused tension within his caucus. And GOP leaders were quick to respond to his defection.

“Senator Specter didn’t leave the G.O.P. based on principles of any kind," Republican Party Chair Michael Steele said as reported in the New York Times. "He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. Republicans look forward to beating Senator Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don’t do it first.”

Specter's decision is almost certainly an extremely welcome development for Congressional Democrats and the White House itself. The GOP's reputation remains in tatters after last November's election. And Specter's defection will almost certainly contribute to their continued turmoil. Stay tuned!