Daily Political Wire 4-27-2010

George Wenschhof

President Obama expresses disappointment with the Republican vote yesterday to block Financial reform from moving forward - in what has become standard operating procedures from the GOP members in Congress, the vote yesterday was 57-41, This was three votes short of moving the Dodd bill forward for discussion and vote. FirstRead.com has more here.

This "No" vote will hurt Republicans as two-thirds of Americans in a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll said they favored finance reform.

This morning the President will meet with his bipartisan committee on deficit reduction and later today, will fly to Iowa to tour a wind turbine plant.

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Goldman Sachs Executives will face Senate questioning today - Lloyd Blankfein and others will be asked about the wheeling and dealing that took place and in particular; the trading of derivatives. Hopefully, the Finance Reform bill, when passed, will contain legislation which creates stronger regulations on the trading of derivatives as currently, there are little to no regulations surrounding the investment in derivatives. TPM.com has more here.

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Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) explains his hard stand on the Energy bill being considered prior to a Immigration bill - he has taken his lumps from the GOP back home for forging a tri-partisan bill along with Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). He also doubts an Immigration bill would pass this year. So, he is continuing with his demand to have the energy bill next in line and in front of Immigration as a bill to be considered by Congress. Otherwise, he will withdraw his support of the Energy bill. Politico.com has more here.

What has not been written about is the effort by former Vice President Al Gore to move the energy bill forward. Stay tuned....

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Illinois Senate race now leaning Republican - in the race to fill the Obama Senate seat to be vacated by appointed Roland Burris this Fall. The Cook Report moved the category to "Leaning GOP" from "Toss-Up". This, a result after the Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulias's family owned Bank failed recently. The question now is whether there will be an effort by Democratic leadership to replace Giannoulias. TheFix.com has more here.

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Florida Governor Charlie Crist (R) to make decision on Senate race this week - he is behind by double digits in the Republican primary to Marco Rubio according to recent polls. However, as an Independent, he wins a three way race with Democrat Kendrick Meeks and Republican candidate Marco Rubio. Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) showed switching to Independent can lead to a win. Stay tuned... TheHill.com has more here.

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