DSCC

Keith Olbermann Highlights "Demon Sheep" and DSCC Petition

Arjun Jaikumar

MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann highlighted Carly Fiorina's widely-panned "Demon Sheep" petition on his show Friday...and promoted the DSCC petition requesting that Ms. Fiorina continued making MORE web videos.

Speaking of which, have you signed the petition yet?

The Retread-Recruiting Republican Caucus

Arjun Jaikumar

How do we bring real change to Washington? If you subscribe to twisted Republican logic, it’s by recruiting the same people who have been Washington GOP insiders for decades (and helped guide us into economic collapse during the Bush administration).

We’ve now got former Senator-turned-lobbyist Dan Coats to go along with former House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, Bush lieutenant Rob Portman, career Washington politician Mark Kirk, and 40-year professional politician Michael Castle.

They seem to be taking the “Party of No New Ideas” label a bit too seriously.

Reactions to Chris Coons Entering Senate Race

Arjun Jaikumar

The DSCC welcomes New Castle County Executive Chris Coons to the U.S. Senate race in Delaware.

Mr. Coons’ candidacy has already met with heavy praise from several corners. Vice President Joe Biden, Democrat of Delaware:

Vice President Joe Biden predicted Tuesday that New Castle County Executive Chris Coons will "surprise the devil out of" election watchers in the contest for Biden's old Senate seat in Delaware.

DSCC chairman Robert Menendez:

Chris Coons has an impressive record of shaking-up government, cutting wasteful spending, and working with local businesses to create jobs. With Chris's entrance into the race, Delawareans will face a choice between a proven reformer who has created an engine of economic growth and a longtime Washington insider who has voted with the special interests.

Heck, even Republicans find him impressive:

A senior Delaware Republican told Morning Score that Coons should be an energetic, well financed candidate, and indicated that the GOP plans to spotlight Coons’s record on fiscal issues in New Castle County.

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Senator-Turned-Lobbyist Dan Coats To Make Comeback?

Arjun Jaikumar

In true GOP fashion, the Republicans have decided that their standard-bearer in Indiana should be a guy who retired from the Senate because he preferred fighting for big banks over serving the people, and is now trying to buy back into the game.

Former Sen. Dan Coats, the GOP’s purported recruit in Indiana, was in fact lobbying for Bank of America just as they took $15 billion of taxpayer bailout money in 2008.

Now that big banks have had their payday, however, Coats thinks he can travel back through the revolving door to the Senate (as fellow Republican Senate candidates Rob Portman, Marco Rubio and Jane Norton are doing). True, he left Indiana ten years ago, but that’s just a formality, right?

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Those Who Know Fiorina Best...

Arjun Jaikumar

Those who know Carly Fiorina best are lining up behind her Democratic opponent, incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer.

The PAC for Fiorina’s former company Hewlett-Packard (she was ousted as HP CEO in 2006, when she was given $21 million to go away) has made the maximum donation of $10,000 to Senator Boxer’s campaign, despite the fact that Fiorina is considered the front-runner to oppose Sen. Boxer in November.

Boxer has received the maximum $10,000 from Hewlett-Packard's political action committee toward her re-election, including $3,000 in the last quarter of 2009, her campaign reported today. HP's PAC gives to congressional candidates "who share HP's public policy views," using donations from employees rather than corporate funds, according to HP's Web site.

Apparently Hewlett-Packard employees want to make sure Carly Fiorina doesn’t bring the same kind of disastrous leadership to the Senate which she once brought to HP.

Orlando Sentinel Smacks Down Charlie Crist

Arjun Jaikumar

The Orlando Sentinel has a scathing article on Florida Governor Charlie Crist, now running for Senate in an attempt to evade blame for the state's budget crisis.

...More than three years after entering office, he has accomplished nothing other than being liked.

OK, that's not too good...but what else does the Sentinel have to say?

He would leave the state bare of reserves...He is creating one huge mess for the governor who will follow him.

Hm, that's pretty bad. But they save the best for last:

Politicians of both parties are desperate for an adult to be in charge...The governor of Florida has become irrelevant when it comes to governing Florida. He has gone from lame duck to Daffy Duck.

Ouch!

Vitter Blocking The President’s US Attorney Appointment: The Plot Thickens

Arjun Jaikumar

The controversy around David Vitter’s attempt to block President Obama’s appointee as US Attorney in Shreveport, LA has increased in the wake of the much publicized arrest of four men trying to break into Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office.

Bringing the charges against the four men was Jim Letten, the U.S. attorney in New Orleans and a holdover Bush Administration appointee. One of four arrested Monday in the alleged plot was Robert Flanagan, the son of Bill Flanagan, a career prosecutor who is the acting U.S. attorney in Shreveport, La.

A week ago, President Barack Obama nominated Stephanie Finley for the U.S. attorney's post in Shreveport.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is blocking Senate action on Finley's nomination and Obama's other nominees for federal justice system posts in Louisiana until he hears from the White House whether Obama will let Letten keep his job, Vitter's office said Wednesday.

Given the serious nature of the allegations and the connections of the accused to the Western District US Attorney’s office, why does David Vitter continue to obstruct the appointment of critical law enforcement officers?

And what is it about Jim Letten that is so important to Vitter that it necessitates blocking those key appointments?

While Ayotte Backs Citizens United, Her Hometown Paper Slams It

Arjun Jaikumar

On the heels of Kelly Ayotte’s ill-advised public support of the Supreme Court’s much-publicized support in Citizens United v. FEC, the Nashua Telegraph (Ayotte’s hometown paper), excoriates the decision.

For the majority, the ruling hinged on whether campaign spending was a form of free speech. Ultimately, Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas decided the answer to that question was yes.

We don’t share that sentiment. We do not believe our Founding Fathers had corporations or unions doling out millions of dollars to influence federal elections in mind when they were crafting the First Amendment.

Rather, we wholeheartedly agree with Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote in his dissenting opinion that the court’s ruling “threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation.”

Ayotte’s support of the Court’s decision in Citizens United places her well outside the mainstream of New Hampshire and of the country, and her own hometown paper reinforces this.