Democratic Chatter 3-22-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

President Barack Obama will appear tonight, on CBS "Sixty Minutes" - it will be broadcast at 7:00 PM ET. The president continues to defend Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in the interview. ThePage.Time.com has some excerpts from the show here. If Geithner's roll out this week of his plan to deal with toxic assets of banks flops, he is gone and the president is saying he accepts his resignation with regret...

The President and his family are spending the weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat near Thurmont, Maryland. They will return to D.C. Monday morning.

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RNC raises more funds than DNC in February - The Republican National Committee, chaired by Michael Steele raised 5.1 million in February. While, the Democratic National Committee, chaired by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine raised 3.3 million. The DNC also has the 13 million email list from the Obama campaign. Grumbling is already happening among Democrats over the unusual part-time arrangement of Governor Kaine as DNC chair. Politico.com has more here.

It remains a mystery why the Obama administration was in such a hurry to replace Howard Dean as DNC chair. It was Dean's 50 state strategy which aided the success the Democrats experienced as they won the White House and gained majorities in the House and Senate. Dean was also passed over for any position in the Obama administration.

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Employee Free Choice Act receiving scrutiny - expect discussion on this bill also known as the "card check" bill to heat up over the next few months. Costco, Whole foods and Starbucks have offered a compromise proposal which would move from 50% to 70%, the number of employees required to have signed a authorization card to form a union. Stay tuned as this bill will be hotly debated. TheHill.com has more here.

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Decision due this week on Minnesota Senate race - nearly five months after the election, Judges are set to rule on the Senate race trial between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. After a mandated state recount Franken was certified as the winner by 225 votes out of 2.9 million cast. The loser of this trial could still appeal to the state Supreme Court and ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Minnesota is short one Senator. The Washington Post has more here.

Look to see efforts made to streamline legal remedies in regard to election disputes as voters are denied of representation as the legal due process works it's way through the system.

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