Democratic Chatter 12-7-2008

George Wenschhof Bio

President-elect Barack Obama announces retired General Eric Shinseki as Secretary of Veterans Affairs - Obama made the announcement on NBC "Meet The Press" in an interview yesterday with Tom Brokaw. "Meet The Press" will air today. Shinseki, from Hawaii, argued more troops were needed in Iraq after the initial invasion much to the chagrin of the Bush administration. The Chicago Tribune Swamppolitics.com has more here. Obama is scheduled to hold a 2:00 PM ET press conference today on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

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Democrat William Jefferson loses reelection in Louisiana - the indicted Jefferson was considered by many to be the Democrats version of Republican Alaska Senator Stevens. Two Congressional seats in Louisiana held delayed elections yesterday due to Hurricane Gustav with light voter turnout reported. In the 2nd district, nine term incumbent Jefferson lost to Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao.

The 4th district race was an open seat and was another extremely close vote between Democrat Paul Carmouche and Republican John Fleming. Fleming led by only 356 votes with over 90,000 votes cast. TheHill.com has more here.

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Vice-President elect Joe Biden will be a welcome change from "Darth Vader" Dick Cheney - Biden is expected to restore the position as an adviser to the President and the tie-breaker in the Senate. Unlike Cheney who attended Republican senate caucus meetings, Biden does not plan to attend Senate Democratic caucus meetings. Politico.com has more here. 44 days to go before the 44th President and Vice-President are sworn in - can't come soon enough.

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Cost of admission to Congress goes up - There are 435 House seats up for election every two years. This time in the 2008 election, 252 of the winners spent more than 1 million in their Congressional race. This is 27% higher than in 2004 when 199 of the winners raised over 1 million. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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