Daily Democratic Wire 2-23-2010

George Wenschhof

President Obama's health care proposal well received - while nut cases like Republican Eric Cantor (R-Va.) continue to rail against the proposed thousands of pages bill, others have taken the time to read the 11 page proposal posted online by the President and feel it should be moved forward.

Providing health insurance for 30 million Americans currently without it, reining in excessive rate increases by insurance companies, helping the elderly pay for their medicine and doing away with preexisting conditions exemptions for coverage are but a few of the positive steps taken. The NY Times has a good read here.

By the way, do the Republicans have a health care reform proposal?

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Some cracks appearing in the "Party of No"? - yesterday, 5 Republicans joined 57 senate Democrats in voting to move the 15 Billion Jobs bill to a vote. Republicans continue to be obstructionists and require 60 votes to move any bill forward for a vote. Newly elected Scott Brown (Mass.) was one of the five Republican senators to vote with the Democrats. TheHill.com has more here.

Maybe Brown realizes he wasn't elected to just say "no".

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RNC Chair Michael Steele's spending spree belies Republican Party platform of less spending - Steele has managed to upset the very donors who contribute to the Republican Party with his free wheeling spending. According to Politico.com compared to the fiscal year 2005 spending by the Republican National Committee, a year before the last mid term elections. Steele has used two times as many charted flights, three times the number of sedan contractors and meal expenses has risen from $306,000 to $599,000. You can read the article here.

So much for fiscal restraint by the Republican Party.

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Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) hangs tough in reelection bid - a Quinnipiac poll shows him with a five point lead over Republican challenger John Kasich. Strickland is ahead 44% to 39%. Ohio is a swing state which voted for Obama in 2008. You can read more on the poll results here.

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