George Wenschhof
Yesterday, the Democratic National Committee voted on the 2012 presidential primary calendar - Iowa will keep it's first in the nation date as they can set their caucus to February 6. The next three states in February will be New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. The rest of the states can set their primaries no earlier than March 1. You can read more here.
The broader problematic issues of Superdelgates and the awarding of delegates to candidates by state highlighted during the 2008 Democratic primary went largely unaddressed.
Vice President Joe Biden also spoke yesterday at the DNC convention meeting in St. Louis firing up the crowd by saying Democrats will still control Congress after the mid term elections this fall. The NY Times has more here.
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Republican National Committee Short on Cash - embattled chair Michael Steele has the misfortune of reporting only 5 million cash on hand prior to the mid term elections while also reporting a debt of 2 million. Politico.com has more here.
The DNC reported having 10.8 million cash on hand with a debt of 3.5 million.
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Talks with Taliban in Afghanistan Underway - without giving specifics, said Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) who is chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is back from a trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan. You can read more here.
Presumably, the agreement would be for Taliban reintegration into Afghanistan society. This will be a difficult negotiation as the Taliban is a group of independent tribes across Afghanistan and into Pakistan who control various territory across those countries.
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Iran announces fueling of first nuclear power plant - designed for peaceful purposes and to produce electricity. It will take several months before the plant is operational. Iran has received UN sanctions for not being open with it's nuclear development programs. Reuters.com has more here.
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Arrest Warrant for Rape/Molestation issued for WikiLeaks.org founder Julian Assange - a Swedish tabloid is reporting the warrant has been issued and Assange is denying the charges on his "Twitter" page. MSNBC.com has more here.
Wikileaks.or recently released thousand of U.S. documents online pertaining to the Afghanistan conflict. They had announced plans to release another 15,000 documents within the next few weeks.
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Saturday, August 21, 2010
Daily Political Wire 8-21-2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Daily Political Wire 8-20-2010
George Wenschhof
Obama makes four recess appointments - a move made while Congress was on vacation. All four under level positions had been blocked by Republicans. Reuters.com has more here.
Many of the mid level administrative positions in government agencies are by presidential appointment, leading to the question as to why? Instead, they should be merit based and the thousands of these brown bag appointments discontinued.
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Today, Vice President Joe Biden will address the DNC - at their meeting in St. Louis at the Marriott Hotel. He will be rallying the troops prior to the mid term elections. The DNC sent out an email blast to supporters yesterday inviting them to tune in the watch Biden's speech beginning this morning at 10:50 AM ET by clicking on this link: http://my.democrats.org/VPSpeech.
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Israel-Palestine Peace Talks To Resume - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to make the announcement today. Both Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are expected to arrive in Washington September 2 to begin the direct talks. The NY Times has more here.
Border issues, the status of Jerusalem, the return of Palestinian refugees, and the security of Israel are some of the many issues to be discussed. U.S. Middle East Envoy George Mitchell has been the go between in the so-called "Proximity talks" between the two leaders and it was his efforts which led to the announcement of the direct talks.
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O'Malley-Ehrlich tied in Maryland Governor race - In a rematch of the close 2006 election won by Democrat Martin O'Malley. The latest Rasmussen poll has it O'Malley with 45% and Republican former governor Robert Ehrlich at 44%. Only 3% prefer another candidate and 8% remain undecided. Rasmussen.com has more here.
This poll reflects the uneasiness of voters today as registered Democrats in the state outnumber Republicans 2-1. The Independent voters unaffiliated with a political party may well determine the outcome of this race.
While the state has been spared the the nationwide 9.5% unemployment rate (Md. is at 7%), O'Malley has been hurt with the sloppy and ineffective roll out of slots which were suppose to help raise revenue for the state. Increased scrutiny of the less than effective Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development will also surely come as the campaign heats up.
However, Ehrlich has yet to detail any specifics on his proposals to help business and economic growth. Yesterday, he refused to acknowledge Maryland Democratic Party communications director Issac Salazar who had attended a Ehrlich event and tried to ask a question. The Baltimore Sun reported Salazar was trying to point out that it was during the Ehrlich administration that the fees for personal property returns required annually by small businesses, increased from $100 to $300. The Baltimore Sun has more here.
FirstRead.com has Maryland rated as leaning Democrat. In their top ten list of takeovers in Governors across the country, seven favored the Republican candidate. You can read more here.
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Obama criticizes Republicans for blocking aid to small business - he wants the senate to take up the proposal again when they reconvene. The bill which would increase lending to small business and reduce their taxes was unable to break a Republican filibuster - the vote was 58-42. TheHill.com has more here.
Unemployment which stands at 9.5% across the country, appears ready to jump as the summer is coming to an end and the mid term elections near - a difficult scenario for Democrats.
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