Daily Democratic Wire 2-19-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, President Obama is in Nevada stumping for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - seems the polls show everyone who is running against Harry Reid in the lead at the moment. the President and Harry Reid will appear together at a town hall meeting in Henderson. Obama will later attend a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce meeting where he will discuss a new 1.5 billion program to help states hit hardest with Housing problems. It will be funded through the TARP (bailout) bill and yes, Nevada is one of five states to receive funding. TPM.com has more here.

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Next week Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) to release Senate version of bill to regulate finance industry - In what should have been one of the first bills passed after the financial collapse in 2008, it has been held up by intense lobbying by Wall Street and the Banking industry. The House already has passed legislation which includes a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, championed by the Obama administration. let's see if this is a watered down bill or if it still has some teeth in it. TheHill.com has more here.

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Democracy for America leads push for "Public Option" - they have been urging their membership to call their Senators and have them pledge to support the public option as part of any health care reform bill. Their strategy would be to then use reconciliation (51 votes needed instead of 60) as a means to pass in the Senate. So far 17 of the Democrat Senators have signed on. Democrats have 59 votes in the Senate when Independents Sanders (Vt.) and Lieberman (Conn.) vote with them. Lieberman is a no on "public option and Sanders is a yes so 50 of the remaining 57 Democrat Senators would have to agree. So, don't count on it, even though the far left is getting excited. You can read more here.

You also have to wonder about the timing of this action as the much ballyhooed bipartisan health care summit pushed by President Obama is scheduled for February 25, 2010.

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Senator Evan Bayh replacement process made even more difficult for Democrats - the lateness of the date of Evan Bayh's decision to not seek reelection ensured no other candidate could meet the required signatures to make it on the primary ballot. That leaves the selection to the Indiana state Democratic Party - just one problem, they can not make the selection until after the May 4, 2010 primary.

Further complicating the selection process are two Democratic Representatives currently on the ballot for reelection; Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill. They are both considered leading contenders to be picked by the state Democratic Party, but they can not appear on the ballot as a Representative if they want to be considered for the Senate seat. The Indianapolis Star has more here.

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Democratic and Republican Senate Campaign Committees report record donations for January - and their is a major recession going on? The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) reported 5.1 million in contributions with 13 million cash on hand and 833,000 debt. The National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) reported taking in 5 million in January and 10.65 million cash on hand. Politico.com has more here.

Campaign Finance Reform, anyone?

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