Daily Political Wire 7-26-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, President Obama celebrates the 20th anniversary of the American's Disability Act - from the White House, the president will highlight the benefits an estimated 50 million Americans have received as a result of this bill. Access to employment housing and communication have improved for the lives of many disabled Americans. You can read more here.

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McCain Spending Big to win reelection in Arizona - the Senator who was the Republican nominee for president in 2008, has already spent 16 million from various committees associated with his campaign.

His Republican primary challenger; J.D. Hayworth has spent a fraction of that amount and in spite of hoping to capitalize on Arizona "immigration fever", has dropped far behind McCain in recent polls. Chris Cillizza has more here.

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House adjourns until after Labor Day at the end of this week - will any new bills be introduced and passed? How about the upcoming Rangel (D-NY) Ethics committee trial? You can read more here.

We'll know soon enough as the Ethics Committee announces Thursday the charges against Rangel. Expect a deal on Censure or for Rangel to maneuver to delay the trial so it does not take place before the General Election on November 2. House rules prohibit a trial taking place within 30 days of an election.

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Howard Dean calls Fox News "Racist" - yesterday, he labeled the charges when discussing the recent Shirley Sherrod situation. He blamed Glen Beck and Fox News for not vetting the film which, as everyone now knows, only contained part of the story. Politico.com has more here.

His accusation may be on point, however, everyone involved from the Agriculture Secretary to the NAACP rushed to judgement on a story surrounding race relations in America.

What the story proves, is we as a country, still have a ways to go in understanding and communicating regarding the issue of race.

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Startling News reports show Pakistan Spy Services helping Afghanistan insurgents - some 92,000 intelligence reports have been posted on www.wikileaks.org

The New York Times has a good read here and here.

In addition to spending billions on the Afghanistan war, the U.S. sends a billion a year to Pakistan. So, it would appear U.S. money is being spent on both sides of the conflict. If true, this adds to an already questionable effort by the U.S. in the region. It certainly calls for immediate review of U.S. foreign policy and strategy in the area.

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CNN to profile top 100 House races - in an interesting approach with 100 days left to the General election on November 2, CNN will profile each day a different House race which they feel falls into the top 100 to watch.

Today, it is the Wisconsin 7th district where Representative David Obey (D) is retiring, which makes this an open seat. You can read more here.

All 435 seats in the House are up for election and Republicans hope to have a net gain of at least 39 seats so they can regain the majority currently held by Democrats.

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