Health care a wedge in primaries

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) set April 27 as the special election date for the race to fill the seat of Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), who resigned last night after the House health care vote. The election will take place on a different race from the regularly-scheduled July primaries in the Peach State.  Republicans should easily hold Deal’s district, which is one of the most conservative in the country.  Read More »

The top Republican on the House Oversight committee is demanding answers from the White House about whether it offered Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) a job to drop out of his state’s Senate primary. This time Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-Calif.) target is White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who said last week that he had “talked to people who have talked to others in the White House” and added that he was told “whatever conversations have been had are not problematic.”  Read More »

 Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is locked in a statistical tie with two challengers for the Republican Party's gubernatorial nomination, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll. Brewer, who assumed office when Democrat Janet Napolitano was appointed secretary of homeland security, currently takes 20 percent of the vote to state Treasurer Dean Martin's 21 percent and NRA board member Owen "Buz" Mills's 19 percent. A fourth candidate, former state GOP Chairman John Munger, trails with 10 percent of the vote.

Retiring Sen. Evan Bayh has been coy about his plans for that $13 million war chest, but his press secretary told the Evansville Courier & Press Bayh plans "to help the Democratic Senate nominee in Indiana and to help like-minded Democrats — people who want to get things done, who are practical and who want to reach out and forge principled compromises."

Even before the legislation passed late Sunday night, Republican state attorneys general were talking up the possibility of a legal challenge to components of the health care bill.  Not coincidentally, some of the AGs who are most enthusiastic about challenging the law -- including South Carolina's Henry McMaster and Florida's Bill McCollum -- are running for governor this year.  Read More »

The Boston Globe digs into state Treasurer Tim Cahill's campaign account and finds the Democrat-turned-independent has raked in more than $100,000 in donations since 2002 from donors linked to investment manager Michael Ruane, who handles a half-billion dollars in state pension funds allocated through a board Cahill chairs. Cahill told the Globe he had no qualms over the donations.

Within moments of House passage of the historic health care bill, Republican House and Senate challengers across the nation were quick to react and vehement in their responses—with many promising to work vigorously for repeal. Numerous challengers used the occasion to link their Democratic opponents to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Read More »

West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Nick Casey won't be taking sides in the primary battle between incumbent Rep. Alan Mollohan and state Sen. Mike Oliverio. "We like primaries," he said, "But when it's over with, you have to make sure you get back together and support the Democratic nominee."  Casey predicted Mollohan's experience would eventually give him the edge over Oliverio in the May 11 primary.

The top Republican on the House Oversight committee is demanding answers from the White House about whether it offered Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) a job to drop out of his state’s Senate primary. This time Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-Calif.) target is White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who said last week that he had “talked to people who have talked to others in the White House” and added that he was told “whatever conversations have been had are not problematic.”  Read More »

Retiring Sen. Evan Bayh has been coy about his plans for that $13 million war chest, but his press secretary told the Evansville Courier & Press Bayh plans "to help the Democratic Senate nominee in Indiana and to help like-minded Democrats — people who want to get things done, who are practical and who want to reach out and forge principled compromises."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee announced Friday it raised $4.6 million dollars during the month of February, edging out their Democratic counterparts in the latest fundraising round. That brings the GOP committee’s total haul during this midterm cycle to $51 million dollars. Senate Republicans still have $12.8 million dollars cash on hand to spend, without any debt.  Read More »

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has added his signature to a letter endorsing a unity event for Kentucky Republicans, to be held the weekend after his home state's May 18 Senate primary. The Kentucky Republican Party is circulating the letter as Secretary of State Trey Grayson and ophthalmologist Rand Paul escalate their fight for the Republican Senate nomination, but McConnell's endorsement of the message could help ensure that Paul will have the support of the Republican establishment if he emerges as the party's nominee.  Read More »

Pressure or no pressure, Steve Levy or no Steve Levy, Rick Lazio's running for governor -- and not taking in Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, his spokesman says. The key Shermanisn: "under no circumstances." Plus he slams Levy, who is expected to flip from D to R today, as a "liberal Democrat." “Under no circumstances will Rick Lazio be a candidate for Senate this year," says Lazio Spokesman Barney Keller.  Read More »

Former Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman, who flirted with her own Senate bid for a good portion of last year, will be hosting events with her old rival Roy Blunt Friday. The Blunt campaign confirmed the congressman will be appearing at string of business roundtables in St. Charles, Rolla, Springfield and Joplin. While contemplating a run for Senate against Blunt last year, Steelman once called him just "another white guy in a suit," but now Blunt could use Steelman's support to rally the conservative base in his fight against Democrat Robin Carnahan.  Read More »

In the Florida Senate race, a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll released Thursday offered a new suggestion that Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek could be competitive in a general election race with former Republican state House Speaker Marco Rubio. According to the poll, Rubio would lead Meek by only one point, 41 percent to 40 percent. Fifty-seven percent of voters said they have no opinion of Meek, while Kos notes "Rubio is now well into net-negative territory," with 29 percent of voters saying they had a favorable impression of him and 36 percent saying the opposite.  Read More »

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) set April 27 as the special election date for the race to fill the seat of Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), who resigned last night after the House health care vote. The election will take place on a different race from the regularly-scheduled July primaries in the Peach State.  Republicans should easily hold Deal’s district, which is one of the most conservative in the country.  Read More »

West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Nick Casey won't be taking sides in the primary battle between incumbent Rep. Alan Mollohan and state Sen. Mike Oliverio. "We like primaries," he said, "But when it's over with, you have to make sure you get back together and support the Democratic nominee."  Casey predicted Mollohan's experience would eventually give him the edge over Oliverio in the May 11 primary.

Former Republican state treasurer Joe Malone joined the race for Rep. Bill Delahunt's open seat Sunday, telling supporters: "We need new people in Washington." Malone joins state Rep. Jeff Perry and accountant Ray Kasperowic in seeking the GOP nomination. State Sen. Robert O'Leary is in the race on the Democratic side and Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating is also expected to run.

State Rep. Rick Berg has won the endorsement of the North Dakota Republican Party to challenge nine-term Democratic Congressman Earl Pomeroy this fall.Berg defeated Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer by over a two-to-one margin, winning 972 votes to Cramer's 442 at the party's convention in Grand Forks.  Read More »

On the eve of the health-reform vote, the Susan B. Anthony List will run television ads in the districts of undecided House Democrats demanding that the members not “pay for the deaths of unborn children.” The pro-life group is spending $250,000 to run ads beginning Friday night and lasting through the weekend in the districts of Reps. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), Chris Carney (D-Pa.), Baron Hill (D-Ind.), Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) and Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.).  Read More »

Former Idaho Rep. Bill Sali announced Friday he won't try to reclaim the House seat he lost to Democrat Walt Minnick in 2008. Sali made his announcement at the Idaho Capitol in Boise and endorsed state Rep. Raul Labrador's campaign for his old seat. Labrador is running in a GOP primary against veteran Vaughn Ward, a former McCain campaign official who's been designated as a top challenger by the National Republican Congressional Committee.  Read More »

West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall's reluctance to say how he'll vote on health care reform legislation has touched off a fierce back-and-forth between the veteran congressman and his Republican challenger. Losing patience with former state Supreme Court Justice Spike Maynard's attacks on the issue, Rahall struck back Thursday, sarcastically invoking a locally infamous lunch the jurist held with a coal industry CEO whose company had a case before the court Maynard sat on.  Read More »

 Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is locked in a statistical tie with two challengers for the Republican Party's gubernatorial nomination, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll. Brewer, who assumed office when Democrat Janet Napolitano was appointed secretary of homeland security, currently takes 20 percent of the vote to state Treasurer Dean Martin's 21 percent and NRA board member Owen "Buz" Mills's 19 percent. A fourth candidate, former state GOP Chairman John Munger, trails with 10 percent of the vote.

Even before the legislation passed late Sunday night, Republican state attorneys general were talking up the possibility of a legal challenge to components of the health care bill.  Not coincidentally, some of the AGs who are most enthusiastic about challenging the law -- including South Carolina's Henry McMaster and Florida's Bill McCollum -- are running for governor this year.  Read More »

The Boston Globe digs into state Treasurer Tim Cahill's campaign account and finds the Democrat-turned-independent has raked in more than $100,000 in donations since 2002 from donors linked to investment manager Michael Ruane, who handles a half-billion dollars in state pension funds allocated through a board Cahill chairs. Cahill told the Globe he had no qualms over the donations.

The executive committee of the state's Conservative Party endorsed former Rep. Rick Lazio for governor Saturday, a day after Democratic Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy announced he was running for governor as a Republican. Levy has said he'll seek the nomination of the Conservative Party, too, and no Republican candidate has ever won the governorship without the backing of the Conservatives.

Illinois state Sen. Susan Garrett is among the top candidates to become her party's candidate for lieutenant governor, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday. Democrats have been searching for a running mate for Gov. Pat Quinn since the winner of the lieutenant governor nomination, pawnbroker Scott Lee Cohen, withdrew amid allegations of domestic abuse. Garrett, who could potentially give Quinn a boost among women voters, said she has spoken with Quinn and his chief of staff and submitted an application for the post.  Read More »

Steve Levy announced his candidacy just now in Albany, backed by fairly serious New York Republican figures, including the last nominee for governor, John Faso, and the State Party Chairman, Nixon son-in-law Ed Cox. His announcement focused repeatedly on "politics as usual" and "business as usual" and on a pledge to cap spending and bring "fundamental change. Levy promised to "open up the closed doors, take charge."  Read More »

The New York Times mentions in passing a remarkable element of newly-minted Republican Steve Levy's campaign for New York Governor: He's being advised by former John McCain aide John Weaver. The Levy campaign marks a remarkable comeback for Weaver, ousted by McCain and by Rick Davis when their attempt to build McCain into the candidate of the Establishment ran out of cash and energy in 2007.  Read More »

Fox News host Sean Hannity will be doing a fundraiser next month for Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, a campaign spokesperson confirmed. Kasich mentioned the April 15 fundraiser with Hannity Thursday on the Bill Cunningham radio show after the host said that Hannity will be coming to Cincinnati for a tea party event that day. A former Fox News host and past fill-in host on “The O’Reilly Factor,” Kasich has attracted some criticism in the state for appearing on Fox more than he's appeared before the statehouse press corps.  Read More »

With sweeping health care reform almost a reality, another battle is about to begin to define what it means to a skeptical public. Whether it is the Democratic definition that prevails or the Republican one, the outcome will have huge consequences for the 2010 midterm election and ultimately for President Barack Obama’s chances of reelection in 2012.  Read More »

Even before debate on the health care bill concluded — and even with some members remaining mum on their positions in the final hours — it was already clear that the polarizing House votes Sunday will have a profound effect on reelection campaigns across the nation. Some members of Congress will end up with primary challenges as a result. Others may have signed their own political death warrant.  Read More »

Within moments of House passage of the historic health care bill, Republican House and Senate challengers across the nation were quick to react and vehement in their responses—with many promising to work vigorously for repeal. Numerous challengers used the occasion to link their Democratic opponents to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Read More »

House Democrats, who have endured months of draining debate and attacks from tea party activists, including a derisive serenade from a group of protesters on a patch of grass outside the chamber Sunday, were more relieved than overjoyed after Sunday evening's vote — and many may have been casting votes, on a warm spring night, for their own political extinction.  Read More »

Shortly after the House passed the Senate version of the health care bill, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) sent out a release saying he'll introduce legislation this week to repeal it. DeMint dubbed the bill "President Obama's government takeover of health care." In a statement he said that, "unless this trillion-dollar assault on our freedoms is repealed, it will force Americans to purchase Washington-approved health plans or face stiff penalties."  Read More »

While AFSCME and other groups pour cash to protect endangered pro-reform Dems, Americans United for Change is targeting one very high profile Tea Party Republican. AUFC is spending $100,000 on a TV ad trashing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) "for making an example of her for voting against giving her struggling constituents access to the same kind of health insurance she enjoys so well as a Member of Congress."  Read More »

Republican campaign committees out-raised their Democratic counterparts across the board last month, bringing in a total of 17.41 million to the Democrats $15.77 million. That's a wider advantage than the GOP posted in January, when Republican committees outraised Democrats by a margin of about $20 million t0 $19 million.   Read More »

State Rep. Rick Berg has won the endorsement of the North Dakota Republican Party to challenge nine-term Democratic Congressman Earl Pomeroy this fall.Berg defeated Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer by over a two-to-one margin, winning 972 votes to Cramer's 442 at the party's convention in Grand Forks.  Read More »