Daily Political Wire 11-17-2010

George Wenschhof

Pelosi expected to win House Democratic Leadership position today - in spite of the drubbing Democrats received in the mid term elections when they lost at least 60 seats in the House. The Washington Post has more here.

Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi held a closed door meeting with the Democratic caucus. It was an opportunity for many to sound off on their concerns on the future direction of the Democratic Party.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll released yesterday showed 45% of Democrats surveyed wanted Pelosi to remain as Leader and 47% wanted her to be replaced. The more conservative "blue dog" Democrats lost heavily in the mid term elections making Pelosi's more liberal base stronger and her reelection as Minority Leader a certainty.

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Republican Senator Jon Kyl (Az.) puts damper on passage of START - he wants to delay consideration by the senate until after the new Congress is sworn in next year. Interestingly, CNN/Opinion Research released a poll yesterday showing 73% of Americans support ratification of the nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

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So much for Cooperation in Washington - President Obama had previously announced he had invited the leaders of the new Congress to the White House for discussions and dinner tomorrow. Unfortunately, the Republicans did not RSVP. Voters are pessimistic consensus will result from this meeting according to a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University. The poll showed 73% did not feel cooperation would result from this meeting.

The meeting has been rescheduled for November 30. TheHill.com has more here.

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Who will be the 2012 GOP Nominee for President? - over twelve possible candidates received votes in a poll conducted by Gallup. The highest percentage of support received was 19% by former Governor Mitt Romney. Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee each received 16% and Newt Gingrich received 13%. Gallup.com has more here.

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GM increases shares offered in IPO Today - the government stake in the company could be cut in half from 60% to 31% if the initial offering goes as planned today. While many republicans complained of the government bail out of General Motors, the move seems to be paying dividends. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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Lisa Murkowski Claims Victory in Alaska senate race - even with subtracting out the disputed ballots from the Joe Miller campaign, she has a lead of over two thousand votes. A first, for a write in candidate to win a U.S. senate seat and a blow to Sarah Palin's influence. Palin had backed tea party favorite Joe Miller and has a long standing feud with Lisa Murkowski. Politico.com has more here.

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Bipartisan Policy Center Offers Deficit Reduction Plan - the plan co-authored by former Republican Senator Pete Domenici (N.M.) and former Clinton administration Budget director Alice Rivlin. The plan would reduce deficits by 5.9 trillion from 2012 to 2020.

One part of the plan includes a one year period, beginning next year of no social security tax which would they believe would spur job creation as the current 12.6% tax split by employers and employees would be waived. Unfortunately, the social security program, already beset with under funding, would lose 650 Billion in just one year. The NY Times has more here.

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