Daily Political Wire 7-20-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, President Obama meets with British Prime Minister David Cameron - the first visit to the white House from the newly elected Prime Minister. there is certainly lots to talk about, starting with BP. The BP Gulf oil spill will be the largest spill ever to hit the United States. in addition, what role, if any, did BP play in the release of the Lockerbie Bomber Baset al-Meghani? You can read more here.

There's more on the agenda like the world economy, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and what to do with Iran?

Britain has long been a U.S. ally so a scolding is not in order.

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Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan to receive Judiciary Committee vote today - the Senate committee is expected to vote along the same lines as they did with Sonia Sotomayor. The vote will either be 12-7 with all Democrats voting for and all Republicans voting against or Republican Lindsey Graham (S.C.) will vote for as he did with Sotomayor.

Kagan is expected to win nomination by the Senate within the next couple of weeks.

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Unemployment Benefits expected to pass Senate today - President Obama waited until the day before (yesterday) Carte Goodwin was to be sworn in as the new senator from West Virginia to blast Republicans for using the filibuster to block passage of the bill. At 2:30 today, Vice President Joe Biden will swear in Carte Goodwin to replace the late Senator Byrd, giving the Democrats the 60 votes needed to secure passage of the bill.

Continued obstructionism by Republicans in Congress, especially in regards to bills which would help those unemployed in need, will not help them win the seats needed in November to retake majorities in the House and Senate.

Late yesterday, the West Virginia state legislature approved a special election to fill the seat with the primary to be held on August 28 and the General election to fall on the same November 2 date as the regular elections. Mr. Goodwin's tenure will be short as popular Governor Joe Manchin is expected to announce today he is running for the seat. The candidate elected will serve the remainder of the term until 2012.

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New Gallup Poll shows voters prefer Democratic controlled Congress 49% - 43% - a sign the Republican Party obstructionism and strategy of saying "No" to everything is backfiring as the mid term elections near.

Expect Democrats to hammer home the Republican policies under the George W. Bush administration that put the country in the economic state it is in and ask the voters "do you want to go back to the policies that put you in this ditch or continue to move forward with the policies that are helping us to climb out of this hole".

Case in point is an ad just released by the Democratic National Committee.



Independents now favor Republicans by only 4 points 43%-39%. Gallup.com has more here.

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Georgia Primary Today - Chris Cillizza, as usual, is on top of it. In the race for the nomination for Governor, he believes Republican Secretary of State Karen Handel will win in a crowed field, but not receive 50% of the vote. thus, a August 10 runoff election will be held.

On the Democratic side, former Governor Roy Barnes is favored to win easily. He is also expected to win in the General Election.

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