Daily Political Wire 4-21-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, President Obama meets with senate leaders to discuss Supreme Court nominee - in less than two years, the president will have nominated replacements to almost one third of the Supreme Court.

President Obama is already talking with potential nominees and the list includes judges and politicians - Diane Wood, Merrick Garland, Sidney Thomas, Leah Ward Sears, Elena Hagan, Jennifer Granholm, Janet Napolitano, and Martha Minow. You can read more here.

President Obama intends to name nominee by May 26 - that is the date he nominated Sonia Sotomayor a year ago which allowed time for the senate to confirm prior to their August recess. TheHill.com has more here.

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Democratic Party committees out raise Republican counterparts in First Quarter - the following figures are in millions and are the all important cash on hand: DNC - 14.7, RNC - 11..4, DSCC - 17, NRSC - 15, DCCC - 26, NRCC - 10

Take note in the in the House races where republicans are hoping to gain over 40 seats to retake the majority, the DCCC chaired by Maryland Representative Chris Van Hollen has almost a 3-1 money advantage over the Republican committee.

The Washington Post has a must read out today on how both political party committees spend almost two-thirds of the money raised on administrative costs and not the candidates - an eye popping statistic and one more reason serious campaign finance reform needs to move forward in America. You can read the article here.

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Republican Leaders begin to backpedal on finance reform - after President Obama continues to use his bully pulpit to outline the need for reform and what is actually in the bill as opposed to the latest myths put forward by the Republican Party. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) also gave perhaps one of his best speeches on the floor of the senate yesterday and expressed how Republicans have failed to negotiate in good faith. TPM.com has more here.

Now, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is saying we are close to an agreement. Stay tuned....

Meanwhile, get ready for more major legislation on the way - on Monday, Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) will finally introduce a energy bill to the senate.

Next month, President Obama hopes to see a immigration reform bill be introduced in the senate by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Obama reportedly recently discussed the immigration bill will Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.). The Wall Street Journal has more here.

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After health care reform bill passes, another bill is being introduced to limit premium increases - seems this important aspect was not covered by the massive legislation on health care which was just passed. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calf.) has presented a bill to the Senate Health Committee chaired by Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). Ironic, this was not included in the bill which was passed, as it was the 21-45% premium increases which were being reported that fueled support for passage of health care reform legislation. The NY Times has more here.

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Florida GOP and Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio being investigated by IRS on use of GOP issued credit cards - this can't help Republicans at this point in the mid term elections. At issue, is the possible use of credit cards issued by the Republican Party for personal use. TheHill.com has more here.

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