WASILLA, Alaska - At an 11:00 a.m. press conference today, Governor Sarah Palin announced that she would not seek a second term as governor. The governor continued, saying that by the end of the month she would resign from the governorship.
Nothing on the national news networks or news sites confirming the upcoming resignation.
Update 3:32: CNN is now saying she IS stepping down.
Gov. Sarah Palin will resign her office in a few weeks, she said during a news conference at her Wasilla home Friday morning.
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the Governor's Picnic at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks on Saturday, July 25, Palin said.
There was no immediate word as to why she will resign, though speculation has been rampant that the former vice presidential candidate is gearing up for a run at the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
New Jersey has always been considered to have one of the most powerful Governors in the nation, partially due the fact that the Governor position has been the only state-wide elected state official. Well, that has changed due to an amendment passed in 2006, and this year New Jersey voters get a chance to elect their first Lieutenant Governor:
The job holder's main duty would be to fill in for an absent boss and to take over if the term is not completed. The idea was to prevent a repeat of the scenarios when governors Christie Whitman and James E. McGreevey resigned, leaving the office to Senate presidents whom voters did not choose in a statewide election. ... Supporters argue the job can be a vital step to statewide office, particularly for women and minorities. And a study from 1980 to 2006 by the National Lieutenant Governors Association showed 65 of 197 governors -- 25 percent -- once had served as second-in-command. -NJ,com
Gov. Jon Corzine (D) and GOP candidate Chris Christie must name their running mates by July 26.
Of course, there have been a bunch of current or former Lt. Governors in the news recently. Govs. Jodi Rell (R-CT) and David Paterson (D-NY) are former Lt. Governors, and we're finding out more about Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer (R-SC) everyday.
And New York is a special case. With Paterson taking the Governor's slot, NY does not currently have a Lt. Governor. Why is that a real problem? Because the Lt. Governor gets a tie-breaking vote in the State Senate. And with no Lt. Governor, the State Senate is stuck in its current 31-31 state.
Not to mention the fact that before the current redistricting, there were an odd number of districts, which also would have prevented the current stalemate. So we won't mention it...
Now that the Minnesota election contest is finally history and Senator Al Franken has received his election certificate, it is time to think about what lessons can be taken from this marathon.
First, and this is mostly a Minnesota issue since other states handle things differently, there should be a process for seating a provisional winner while the parties wage eternal war in the courts. My personal belief is that one of the factors contributing to the refusal of the losing candidate to back down earlier was that the seat stayed vacant while the contest was being heard. I don't think the two national parties would have spent as much money supporting the legal fees of both sides if the seat had been provisionally-filled.
Second, as we saw in the New York house seat race this Spring, it is important to have folks at any place that ballots are being cast to challenge questionable ballots including questionably valid absentee ballots. Ultimately, what lost Coleman his arguments in court where the fact that he couldn't go back to absentee ballots which might have been erroneously accepted on election night. Once a ballot is deposited in the ballot box and mixed with other ballots, the only challenge that can be made to the ballot is regarding voter intent.
Third, as previously learned in the Washington election contest and vigorously applied in this race, it is better to over-challenge ballots than to under-challenge ballots. Until the canvassing board or the courts start reviewing ballots, you do not know how they are going to address certain issues. You might think you know the right rule, but you don't know the actual rule that will be applied.
Fourth, the local election officials matter greatly -- including election judges. If you are in a state where the party has influence over who gets picked as the Democrat election judge, do your best to get good people in that position. It will be the election judges that make sure that procedures are properly followed and that a good record is made of any problems that arise. Not all mistakes made on election night can be remedied later.
Fifth, optic scan ballots are much better than punchcards or touchscreens. They can be counted just as quickly, and they make a good record of voter intent (as confusing as that sometimes can be).
Sixth, we really do have a good election system in this country. Not perfect, we could do a much better job of making it easy to register and vote. However, in a 3,000,000 vote election with 300,000 absentee ballots cast and 10-12,000 ballots originally excluded, we had a swing of 300-400 votes before new absentee ballots were added to the mix (a .01% swing). In short, except in really, really close elections like Minnesota's, we can have a decent amount of confidence that the results are accurate.
I like Eric Holder, and this has nothing to do with his abilities as a lawyer nor within the Obama Administration. It's just that yesterday, he had emergency oral surgery for a cracked tooth. It cracked Wednesday night, and it was operated on yesterday.
The reason I bring this to your attention is that I have a cracked tooth which is having non-emergency oral surgery this morning. In fact, by the time you read this, I'll likely be happily anesthetized. And yes, it REALLY HURTS... but there was work to do, and other responsibilities, that made me put off having it taken care of.
I'm not "better" than Eric Holder. Different people have different pain thresholds. (Think labor and delivery...)
It's just another opportunity to remind everyone of how important it is that we get everyone insured. Oral surgery isn't cheap, and may well be out of range for a minimum wage worker with no insurance. I couldn't imagine this level of pain, and no ability to permanently fix the problem. Cracked teeth just happen -- it's not that there is something someone does to cause the problem. You can't eat well, exercise and live healthy and definitely avoid the problem. Cracked teeth, like many other medical problems, are non-discriminatory.
I've pre-posted my Fourth of July post for tomorrow - get your cameras, quiz on Monday. I plan to spend the weekend sleeping off my surgery, with my new best friend, the ice pack.
DCW was an early Twitter adopter. We have an official Twitter feed, which you can sign up for on the right side bar, and Matt, Oreo and I also have personal feeds. We automatically send out all our posts on the official Twitter feed.
But that's just us. We see the value and the import of Twitter, and have thus been following with interest how Twitter has been reshaping media. To wit: #IranElection was the major source of information not just for regular folks, but also for the MSM. When Michael Jackson passed away last week, the MSM was reporting that he was in a coma, but TMZ posted the sad news, which was then Twittered around the world.
Because Twitter works best when one follows many people, many MSM members of Twitter are following bloggers and others who post a lot of news.
Yesterday, the power of Twitter smacked down the Washington Post in their attempt to create two levels of "news." It started with a piece in Politico. A lobbyist received a memo from WaPo about how it was going to start holding "salons" where, for $25,000 one could meet with members of the Obama administration, members of Congress, and even WaPo folks for "off the record access." Why? WaPo needs the money. Pure and simple.
Think about it, when a lobbyist provides a memo to a reporter because the lobbyist thinks there is an ethics problem....
Immediately, Twitter picked it up with the hashtage #Wapodeals. It went everywhere, and by the afternoon, WaPo, after stumbling and mumbling, canceled the salons.
Had the information not been Twittered, it would have stayed with the readers of Politico which, while a great read for political junkies, is not a household source for most "regular" people. Twitter leveled the playing field. And WaPo lost the ability to create news for those who could pay $25,000 for an evening, and those who could not or would not.
Joe likes Medicare Part D. Unlike everyone who has it, and the people looking to close the financially-sapping loophole that causes people to skip taking their necessary meds.
He seems to not understand that Medicare and Medicaid are two different programs, and the talk has not been about Medicaid rates...
By the way, click here to see CANDIDATE Joe support universal health care. Back when he actually was mostly a Democrat. I hope he's enjoying his time in DC since he's only got a few years left before Connecticut voters apply term limits to him.
That great duo from early in the decade is back together again, this time blocking one of President Obama's nominees:
Campaign finance mavens John McCain , R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold , D-Wis., are joining forces once again – this time to block President Obama’s nomination of labor lawyer John J. Sullivan to the Federal Election Commission.
If confirmed by the Senate, Sullivan would fill one of three Democratic seats on the evenly divided FEC, taking over from Democrat Ellen Weintraub, who continues to sit on the commission even though her term expired on April 30, 2007.
But the two senators, who succeeded in getting landmark campaign finance legislation enacted in 2002, have indicated that they will lift the hold only if Obama picks two more nominees to replace FEC Chairman Steven T. Walther, a Democrat, and commissioner Donald F. McGahn II, a Republican, whose terms ran out on May 1.
“Until the White House nominates replacements for the two other commissioners whose terms have expired, we cannot consent to Mr. Sullivan’s confirmation,” McCain and Feingold said in a joint statement. “The FEC is currently mired in anti-enforcement gridlock; the president must nominate new commissioners with a demonstrated commitment to the existence and enforcement of the campaign finance laws.” ... Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Obama has done nothing to live up to those promises, and praised the move by McCain and Feingold. Sloan said their hold likely has little to do with Sullivan. Rather, she said, the senators are “trying to force the president’s hand” on overhauling the agency and replacing McGahn, whom she called a force for campaign finance deregulation.
“I’m really glad they did it. The FEC is a disaster, it couldn’t be worse,” Sloan said. “[Obama] is letting Don McGahn run the place into the ground.” -CQ Politics
While it goes against our nature to not abuse any Senator placing holds on Obama nominations, getting McGahn off of the FEC as quickly as possible seems like a noble effort.
The serious side: Charlie Rangel was interviewed about health care reform by MSNBC and said:
"Everyone knows that people around the table are stealing, but they don't want to turn each other in if they're going to have to pay the full penalty," said Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Asked in an interview on MSNBC what he meant by stealing, the New York Democrat replied, "I mean stealing."
He later specified big pharma as an example.
Now, the Congressman is right. The thievery of big phrarma knows no bounds. And before you talk about how they need to cover drug development costs, tell me about it AFTER you list out the multi-million dollar expenditures on the execs, boards, advertising campaigns and especially how much they spend developing drugs for "conditions" that didn't exist until there was a drug created for them.
However, I can't resist the associated snark. And I apologize in advance. It's all in how you define "theft." If you don't pay your taxes, is that "stealing" from the Federal government, or just gaming the system? What about unpaid parking tickets? Pots and kettles.
After Senator Franken was certified, a lot of people cheered "60" and a lot of other people worried the caucus wouldn't hold.
Bernie Sanders has a solution. A good, working, solution. He gave an interview to HuffPost where he said:
"I think that with Al Franken coming on board, you have effectively 60 Democrats in the caucus, 58 and two Independents. I think the strategy should be to say, it doesn't take 60 votes to pass a piece of legislation. It takes 60 votes to stop a filibuster. I think the strategy should be that every Democrat, no matter whether or not they ultimately end up voting for the final bill, is to say we are going to vote together to stop a Republican filibuster. And if somebody who votes for that ends up saying, 'I'm not gonna vote for this bill, it's too radical, blah, blah, blah, that's fine.'"
How simple, how elegant.
This gives the opportunity to those Democratic tools of corporate America Senators who would never vote for a certain piece of Democratic legislation to still stand with the majority of Americans their party.
In other Bernie Sanders news, he has placed a "We Need Single Payer" petition on his website. You can view information on his Single Payer bill, and why Single Payer is the best option here.
It's been coming a long time. We knew in December that California would start issuing IOUs instead of cash in February, which they mostly avoided by moving the budget gap into the following fiscal year, which began yesterday. After days and nights of negotiations, today the IOUs begin in earnest. Here it is:
Chiang was set to print 28,742 IOUs starting at 2 p.m., said Garin Casaleggio, a spokesman for the controller. The initial warrants, which total $53.3 million, will go primarily to people who are expecting state income-tax refunds.
In addition, IOUs will go to contractors and the neediest of Californians. Interest could hit $3 billion over 30 years. That is, when you get an IOU from the state, they have to pay you interest. What can you do with them? Bank of America and Golden 1 Credit Union will accept the scrip, at least through 10 July.
The state is constitutionally required to pay schools and bond holders first. State employees, retirees and businesses that provide Medi-Cal and In-Home Supportive Services also must be paid in cash.
Those state employees already get two unpaid furlough days a month, and it looks like it will rise to three, which would be a effectual 14% salary cut.
A state appeals court panel clouded the budget picture further Tuesday with a ruling that could cost the state nearly $3.5 billion. The judges in the 3rd District Court of Appeal said that since 2007, gasoline-tax funds intended for mass transportation had been improperly diverted by the governor and lawmakers to cover other expenses.
If you want to get angry at these legislators who cannot do their jobs, take a look at this list of cars that California bought for their legislators which cost over $40,000. Each.
In a letter outlining the details, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said their revised plan would cost dramatically less than an earlier, incomplete proposal, and help show the way toward coverage for 97 percent of all Americans.
The two senators said the Congressional Budget Office put the cost of the proposal at $611.4 billion over 10 years, down from $1 trillion two weeks ago. The revising also "virtually eliminates" an earlier forecast that the proposal would cause many companies to drop coverage for their workers, they said.
You can read the original bill here, and view the mark-up sessions here. the Chairman's Mark outlining many of the changes summarized in the letter can be viewed here.
It answers to Obama's points in his letter to Kennedy and Baucus in early June.
This is very different from the Baucus bill coming out of the Finance Committee. This one is dedicated to providing health care for all, and will, according to the letter, cover 97% of all Americans. There is an employer mandate, with fines for companies not providing health insurance to both full time and part time employees, and an exemption for companies employing fewer than 25 people. There is OF COURSE a Public Option, because this bill is directed at patients and other American human beings instead of towards the benefits of the health care industry.
There is a huge set of differences between the two bills. I hope that Senators read both before they vote on either. At least that they read President Obama's letter and realize one bill has a public option, and the other does not.
THE PRESIDENT: Good to see you guys. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, Northern Virginia. Thank you very much. What a wonderful welcome. And I'm so grateful to all of you for taking the time to be here.
A couple of quick acknowledgments. First of all, I want to thank President Templin and Chancellor DuBois for their wonderful hospitality. We are grateful to both of them.
We've got some extraordinary elected officials -- a few that I want to mention. First of all, you've got one of the finest governors in the country, who also is doing a great job as DNC chair. Please give Tim Kaine a big round of applause. (Applause.) Part of the reason Tim is such a good governor is because he took notes while being lieutenant governor to the former governor and now senator for the state of Virginia, an outstanding public servant, Mark Warner. (Applause.) And three outstanding members of Congress: Bobby Scott, Jim Moran, and Gerry Connolly -- thank you so much, guys, for the great job you do every day. (Applause.)
So I know there's all kinds of stuff Valerie was explaining. Don't worry, she's in charge, so she'll organize us. I just want to give a few remarks at the outset, and then we'll save most of the time for questions.
First of all, it's wonderful to be here in Annandale, and I'm looking forward to answering questions about what is obviously one of the most important issues facing American families, American businesses, and the American government. But before I begin, I just want to say a few words about where we are as a nation and where we need to go.
We noted yesterday the latest poll from New Hampshire, which showed Rep. Paul Hodes (D) beating former Sen. John Sununu 40-34. Well throw that poll into the garbage:
Former Sen. John Sununu will not be running for the New Hampshire Senate seat of retiring Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), according to a statewide GOP source familiar with his thinking. ... Sununu’s decision not to make a political comeback now draws attention to Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, who is being wooed by Gregg to run for the seat and is seriously considering a candidacy.
Businessman Fred Tausch is also a potential candidate, and he has spent money on statewide television and radio blasting President Obama’s fiscal policies — in the run-up for a prospective campaign.
Welcome to the first edition of the 2010 DemConWatch House Forecast, a summary of the best House forecasts.
House Forecast: 253.6 (-3.4)
The House Forecast is an average of the projections of the Democratic held seats in the 2011 House.
This early in the cycle, only two of our sources, Cook Political Report, and Rothenberg, have issued House Forecasts so far, and they average out to a net loss of 3.4 seats for the Democrats in the House. Note that with the large majority the Democrats currently have, Democrats would gladly trade a single digit loss in the House for a pickup of 2-3 seats in the Senate.
But it remains early in the cycle. Swing State Project lists 44 Representatives who might still decide not to run for reelection, either due to retirement or deciding to run for another office. If half of them move on, and half of those seats are competitive, another 10 seats could see significant battles next year.
Another issue is that, with redistricting coming in 2012, challengers are looking at whether it makes sense to run now, or possibly wait until 2012 to see how their district is reshaped, or even if it exists at all!
Here's The Fix's list of the top 10 seats most likely to switch (All seats show up on our chart except DE-AL):
10: CA-44 (R currently) - Dems just fell short of a big upset here in '08. 9: MS-1 (D) - Childers won this in the '08 Special Election, but Obama got only 38% here. 8. AL-2 (D) 7. PA-6 (R) - Will Gerlach (R) even stick around to run? 6. NY-23 (R) - With McHugh departing to be Secretary of the Army, the Special Election will be a tossup. 5. MD-1 (D) 4. NH-1 (D) - Rep. Carol Shea Porter (D) will have a tough fight. 3. DE-AL (R) - Assuming Castle retires or runs for Senate. 2. ID-1 (D) - The toughest Democratic hold in this really red district. 1. LA-2 (R) - This district is way bluer than ID-1 is red. The only question is, who wins the Dem primary?
The House Forecast for each source gives Democrats 1.0 seats in a race that is projected Solid/Likely (D) for the Democrat, 0.8 seats for a Democrat-Lean (DL), 0.5 seats for a a Tossup (T), 0.2 seats for a Republican-Lean (RL), and obviously 0 seats for a solid/likely (R) Republican seat.
The House seats are sorted by the likelihood of the seat being won by a Democrat, so the most solid Democratic seats are at top, the most solid Republican seats are at the bottom, and the Tossups are in the middle. Only those seats that have at least one of the rankings showing the seat as Lean or Tossup are shown.
