Headlining the self-proclaimed “conservative Woodstock”: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
It’s an appropriate venue for the newly minted TV star – the run-up to the Searchlight event has fueled enough drama for a daytime soap. One of the major plotlines is the emergence of a “Tea Party” candidate who, established tea party groups now fear, could split the state's conservative vote against Reid and hand the Democrat a victory. (Check out our story in Thursday's paper.)
How worried are the tea party followers? Tea Party Express released an online ad this week denouncing Jon Scott Ashjian, whose candidacy has also been challenged in court.
As a candidate, Ashjian is a mixed bag. He’s articulate and well-groomed, but is also saddled with debt – including a $200,000 IRS lien – and a lawsuit-checkered business record.
This week, the Nevada State Contractors Board revoked his license, which officials said also bars him from contracting work in California, Arizona and Utah.
If tea party drama is your thing, read on for excerpts from an interview last week with Ashjian, in which....
At the White House, the signing ceremony looked like a victory party as President Obama delivered on the signature promise of his campaign for change. As he signed the historic healthcare bill, Obama was flanked by Vicki Kennedy, widow of the late Edward Kennedy, who had called this the cause of his lifetime, and by ordinary Americans who wrote to him or campaigned with him on the issue.
"Everyone who voted against passing health insurance reform ... will have to explain to voters why they stood up with the insurance industry," said Service Employees International Union spokeswoman Lori Lodes.
On the right, tea party activists are rallying conservatives for a repeal drive against "the socialist healthcare vote." And they are gearing up for November -- registering new voters, launching political action committees, running attack ads against Democratic incumbents who said yes to change.
"They chose not to listen to what the people want," said Debbie Dooley, co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party. "We, the
people, will have our say in November." Gina Loudon, a founder of the St. Louis Tea Party, added that she has been deluged with calls from folks who wanted to get involved. "This has absolutely awoken a giant," she said.
Conservatives may have the easier hand. They will be lobbing money and muscle against a candidate while backing an opponent. For liberals, the challenge is to oppose fellow Democrats while finding third-party alternatives.
Mindful of the terrible price paid by others who did support the bill at
great political risk, they are planning rallies for "yes"-voting
lawmakers whose districts voted for Republican John McCain. "First thing
we want to do is take the time to thank those who took the tough vote,"
the AFL-CIO's Karen Ackerman told the Hill. "This is not a one-time
appreciation rally. We will let them know that we stand with them."
-- Johanna Neuman
Photo: President Obama signs the healthcare reform bill on March 23, 2010, with Marcelas Owens of Seattle (foreground left), Vice President Biden, Vicki Kennedy (just to the right of Biden), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (in brown) and Majority Leader Harry Reid (to right of Pelosi). Credit: Associated Press
Now, Catholic bishops are working to torpedo the healthcare reform effort, providing the tipping point against historic reform, with all the implications that has for President Obama's presidency and Democrats' chances of holding the House.
Archbishop Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement noting the Catholic Church's long track record of providing and advocating for more equitable healthcare. But he urged lawmakers to defeat it, saying that, "regrettably," because the Senate bill does not contain a firewall against abortion as the House bill did, "the cost is too high; the loss is too great."
The bishops do not speak for all Catholics -- Pelosi herself being the prime example. But the drumroll of opposition from anti-abortion groups -- including Americans United for Life, which is running a $350,000 ad campaign aimed at eight Democratic lawmakers who supported Stupak's amendment -- may be one reason the speaker has gone to a new tactic -- the "deem to pass" option. [Updated at 10:55 a.m.: Under that still-being-negotiated scenario, the House would not have to vote directly on the Senate bill, only acknowledge it as part of a rule that allows lawmakers to consider the new Senate version.]
And by November, the manner of passage may seem less important than the achievement. After all, the public already suspects Congress of shenanigans. This is process, not substance, the stuff of sausage-making that defines the art of legislating.
-- Johanna Neuman
Photo: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) attends a Capitol Hill healthcare rally sponsored by pediatric physicians and MomsRising.org on Monday. Credit: Getty Images
As soon as the NCAA men's brackets were announced, Kentucky's Republican secretary of State was up with an Internet ad assailing his opponent in the Senate primary -- Rand Paul. Not because he's the son of presidential candidate Ron Paul, the darling of Libertarians everywhere, or because he has never held public office before, but because he's a graduate of Duke Medical School. Take a look.
The basketball rivalry between the University of Kentucky and Duke dates back at least to 1992, when Christian Laettner's shot at the buzzer gave Duke a 104-103 win over Kentucky in what some still call the greatest college basketball game in history. Laettner, still reviled in the Blue Grass State, is not on the ballot. So candidates in both parties are trying to tar each other with the dirt of Duke affiliation. The subtext, always popular in American politics: Duke is for elitists, Kentucky for real folks.
Paul, an eye surgeon making his maiden run for office, tried to make light of the slur. "Well, I guess that might be a real issue if you're running for student council," he said in a statement. "It's especially funny watching my Harvard-educated opponent complain about where I went to medical school."
All of this might be part of the silly season in politics, but University of Kentucky political science professor Donald Gross thinks the attacks could actually change hearts and minds. "Many Big Blue fans have horrible memories about Duke," he told KentuckySports.com. "It could make a difference to some Kentucky fans."
John Potter, the latest in a long line of Postmasters General stretching back to Benjamin Franklin in 1775, let it slip to reporters in Washington Tuesday that his financially-squeezed Postal Service was pondering an end to Saturday mail delivery.
Because that news release was mailed, it just arrived this morning. No, just kidding. However, because the economy move involves the post office and the average American doesn't like surprises except for "The Bachelor," the Saturday cutback wouldn't actually arrive until next year.
Even then it requires congressional approval. And watching how inoperable a Congress with lopsided majorities has been on healthcare legislation during the last year, the postal service cuts would likely be even further delayed.
And, let's be honest now. Watching Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid these past several months leading into a crucial....
Two photos in the news this morning. Relax! Neither has anything to do with healthcare:
Not that many of us are seeing many of these $50 bills these days.
But in case you ever do, how do you feel about subbing out the picture of the 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant, for the 40th president, Ronald Reagan? A North Carolina representative, Patrick McHenry, has introduced a bill to replace Grant's visage with Reagan's.
Let's see:
A short-term wartime Army Air Corps captain or a general? A lifeguard who reportedly saved dozens of lives or a wartime Army officer responsible for thousands of deaths? A one-time Democratic union activist from Illinois or a career Union Army graduate of West Point from Ohio?
The first divorced president (who married two actresses) or the one who married the daughter of a slave owner after four years of wooing?
A man who sold cigarettes or one who smoked cigars? A young man nicknamed Dutch by his father or a soldier nicknamed Dudy by his wife?
A Republican who headed the U.S. government at the end of the Cold War or a Republican who headed the U.S. Army at the end of the Civil War?
Both men liked horseback riding. Both men were diligent writers of personally revealing letters, especially to their wives.
Both men's names now adorn numerous landmarks: A Washington airport, an aircraft carrier and California freeway for No. 40 and for No. 18, a Chicago lakefront park where the...
In any event, Perry has been pounding her as a Washington politician who has lost touch with constituents in Texas. Check out this TV ad from his campaign.
With the election Tuesday and polls showing her trailing by double digits, Hutchison has been channeling her true Texan. Over the weekend, Hutchison rode horseback through downtown Houston, in black Wranglers, shiny black cowboy boots and a black cowboy hat, for the city’s annual Downtown Rodeo Parade. In fairness, she's done this before, but somehow one of the most popular politicians in the state -- Hutchison got 4 million votes in 2000 -- looked a bit desperate.
The whole thing is a bit sad. Hutchison wanted to run for governor in 2006, but party insiders talked her out of a bruising inter-party battle. Now, the rift between them has exposed fissures within the GOP, with the first former President Bush and most of his allies backing Hutchison, making for strained relations with Perry.
And if that weren't enough, a third candidate in the race -- Wharton County Republican Chair Debra Medina -- has become the darling of the "tea party" movement, tripling her standing in the polls in recent weeks. Should she pull enough votes from Perry to rob him of a 50% majority, the top two candidates would face a runoff, which most see as Hutchison's last chance to win the governor's mansion.
If she loses, it's a warning sign to other incumbents that, in the face of an angry electorate, even Republicans are vulnerable.
The bipartisan summit at Blair House today is garnering a lot of media and public attention. Billed as either the last hope for healthcare reform or as marvelous political theater (complete with high-level negotiations over the shape of the table and the menu for lunch), the six-hour marathon brings Democrats and Republicans, President Obama and congressional leaders, together to try to find common ground.
Since they left the White House, Bush has become a model former president, for the most part staying out of view, careful not to offer gratuitous advice from the sidelines to....
After months of what sure looks like political gridlock in the nation's capitol despite voters having handed majority control of all three political institutions to Democrats back in 2008, almost three-out-of-four Americans today say "Washington right now is broken."
Even more amazingly, one out of four Americans still haven't been fully convinced that the nation's capitol is broken.
Actually, a new Rasmussen Reports Poll finds 73% see DC as broken while only 15% disagree. Twelve percent, who've been watching the Weather Channel or catching up on "The Sopranos" DVD's, aren't really sure.
Only 13 months and two days after Democrats lead by Barack Obama rode up Pennsylvania Avenue with....
The sad saga of legislative overkill began in 1885, when Congress made George Washington's birthday a federal holiday. Actually POTUS 1 was born on Feb. 22, but in 1968, Congress mandated that all federal holidays should be celebrated on Mondays, so three years later Congress officially got around to moving Washington's birthday to the third Monday of the month.
At one point, Congress debated combining Washington's birthday with that of another revered president, Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12. The bill failed, but the instinct was quickly adopted by marketers -- and most Americans. Sort of like a grass-roots tea party.
Of course, in some places -- such as Virginia -- today is still officially George Washington's birthday. The commonwealth likes its history without embellishment. And in Alabama, Presidents Day honors George Washington and -- drum roll -- Thomas Jefferson.
No matter which presidents are being honored, auto dealers, department stores and other retailers have no trouble identifying what day it is -- this is a day to advertise and sell everything from toys to mattresses. And what could be more fitting than good old American free enterprise as a way to honor the 44 presidents of the United States, or the first and third ones, or the first and 16th?
Well, they've played Big Game XLIV. And this time the South won the war.
But it was such a historic, life-changing moment for everyone that they'll have another one next year anyway.
More importantly, however, maybe some of you remember this huge pre-game fuss over the extremely controversial anti-abortion ad that Focus on the Family was secretly conspiring with CBS to inflict on the nation during the Super Bowl. Many groups, which had not seen the ad, demanded that CBS ban it. But the network proceeded.
The commercial was about the decision by Pam, the Florida quarterback's mother, against some medical advice to keep her fetus now known as Tim Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner. And her choice portrayed in the ad underwritten by the conservative Colorado Springs pro-family group that opposes abortion was somehow threatening to the ability of any other woman today to obtain an abortion under the Roe vs Wade Supreme Court decision.
Well, in case you were otherwise occupied during the game ads, here are the awful ads. First, the serious one. Then, the humorous one. See what you think.
WARNING: These videos contain graphically affectionate images such as a grown son hugging his mother from behind.
Now, the second one:
Well, the nation is still standing.
On a similarly light side, here's the behind-the-scenes story of how they kept the surprise of the joint Super Bowl ad appearances of Jay Leno and his CBS rival, Dave Letterman.
The ruling is potentially the second body blow to Democrats this week. President Obama is talking today about the need to put some limits on banks, blasting Wall Street for its excesses.
But the Supreme Court ruling makes corporations a new force for pro-business interests in the upcoming elections. And coming two days after Republican Scott Brown's
stunning upset in winning the Senate seat in Massachusetts, the decision is cheering Republicans.
