Daily Political Wire 5-3-2010

George Wenschhof

Yesterday, President Barack Obama toured the Gulf coast area threatened by what promises to be the largest oil spill disaster - he has directed all U.S. resources to contain the spill while making sure he and staff always mentions BP is picking up the bill. You can read more here.

If an inverted tunnel apparatus planned to be deployed over the well head in the coming weeks does not work, it could be months before a second shaft could be drilled to eliminate the current spillage estimated to be 5000 barrels of oil per day.

Time will tell whether there were adequate mechanisms in place to avoid such a disaster. Meantime, it certainly appears the price of shrimp, crabs and oysters will go up along with the rate of unemployment in the Gulf coast region. We can only hope that other wildlife and sensitive environmental areas will be protected by the Booms and other measures used to contain to what amounts to be a gigantic oil slick.

How this horrific event affects the passage by Congress of a Energy/Climate bill remains to be seen. Stay tuned...

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In case you missed any of the Sunday morning "Talking Heads", here is a video from Politico.com

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Republican Charles Djou leads Hawaii Special election to replace Neil Abercrombie (D) - in another example of Democrats hurting themselves. TheFix.com has more here. The special election allows for multiple candidates from the same party to be on the ballot and two Democratic candidates are splitting the vote, allowing Djou to presently lead in the polls.

In a recent Honolulu Advertiser poll, Djou (R) has 36%, with former Representative Ed Case (D) 28% and state senate president Colleen Hanabusa with 22%. Attempts by the DCCC to back Case have been twarted by Hawaii two Democratic U.S. senators Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka who support Hanabusa.

The result? - a Republican candidate leading in a district won by Obama with 70% in 2008. If the Republican wins, expect the spin to be "the voters wanted more fiscal responsibility, etc....", instead of "Democrats beat themselves".

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