Daily Democratic Wire 3-10-2010

George Wenschhof

President Obama has a busy day - see schedule in post below - a trip to St Louis, Missouri will highlight the need for health care reform. He will speak at St. Charles High School as he continues to take his case to the voters outside of Washington D.C. Tonight, he will speak at a fundraiser for Senator McCaskill. Time.com has more here.

Some Health Care Reform bill notes:

The Congressional Budget Office is expected to release figures for the president's revised health care reform bill within the next couple of days. Then, vote counting in earnest will begin in the House with a goal of passing the Senate bill by the House happening next week.

Afterward, the real fun will begin as the House sends to the Senate revisions to the passed bill with the Senate using the "budget reconciliation" process with a simple majority to pass the House amendments.

The man who will get the most attention will be Alan Frumin who is the Senate Parliamentarian. Look to see the Republicans ask for rulings from him on every House submitted amendment. Interestingly, it is Vice President Joe Biden who could play the most important role in the process. Number one, if there is a tie vote in the Senate, he is able to cast a vote to break the tie and second, the Vice President has the ability to override the Senate Parliamentarian.

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Israel announcement of building permits for 1600 new homes in disputed East Jerusalem threatens peace process - speaking of Vice President Joe Biden, he is in the Middle East for what was to be the announcement of "proximity talks" to begin between Israel and Palestine, brokered by Middle East Envoy George Mitchell. AP has more here.

Upon Biden's arrival in Israel yesterday, the news was released about the new approved building in disputed areas, which in effect, was a thumb in the eye of the U.S. as the details of the "proximity talks" had been worked on for some time.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has told the Palestinians that they deserve a "viable" independent state with contiguous territory. Let's see is Biden can be successful in convincing Palestinian leadership to move forward with the peace talks when he meets with them today.

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Economy recovery over the past year stronger than Republican pessimists claim - one year after stocks had hit their post financial crisis low, they have risen 58%. They are up 48% since Obama took office. 300,000 new jobs are expected in the month of March.

“You have to give them -- along with the Federal Reserve - - a lot of credit,” said Joseph Carson, director of economic research at AllianceBernstein LP in New York. “A year ago, there was panic, as well as concern. And a lot of the expectations were not only that we were going to have declines in activity but they would stretch all the way to 2010, if not 2011.”

You can read the entire Bloomberg.com article here.

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DCCC announces first 13 members of coveted "Red to Blue" Program - the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, chaired by Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) used this successfully two years ago. They provided 26 million to candidates who had shown their ability to effectively fund raise in their district and run competitive campaigns. CNN.com has the list here.

In Maryland, two (1st and 6th) of the eight congressional districts are weighted toward Republicans, with the other six districts strong Democrat. In the 2008 election, Democrat Eric Kratovil won in the 1st district aided by an open seat, a strong campaign and the funding which came his way by being included in the "Red to Blue" program. This seat is sure to be targeted by Republicans this year so look to see Kratovil receive DCCC support.

Over in the Maryland 6th district, three time Democratic candidate Andrew Duck has never shown the ability to effectively fund raise and while newcomer in the race, Democrat Casey Clark has shown stronger fund raising capability than Duck, he has yet to get his campaign in high gear. Do not look to see the 6th district Democratic candidate receive the coveted "Red to Blue" designation in this election. Even though long term Republican Representative Roscoe Bartlett has been ineffective.

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Glen Beck and Fox News fail miserably in trying to taint Democrats with Massa mess - the rabid conservatives had latched on to one of what would be many comments made by the ex NY Representative Eric Massa. Within minutes of Massa appearing on Beck's show, Massa had already admitted Democrats had not forced him out because of his vote on health care. This leaving Beck empty handed and embarrassed with him saying several times he was sorry he invited him. Massa ended up by saying the one thing Americans should rally around is campaign finance reform, not exactly what Beck was looking for or a belief of the right wing conservatives. The Washington Post has more here.

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