Council for a Livable World

Senate Republicans are currently engaging in a concerted and damaging effort to weaken governance and government by blocking highly qualified appointees. One such blatant example involves Philip Coyle who has been appointed by  President Obama to…

Nervous Democrats Eye May Special Elections

Politico is reporting that Democratic strategists are nervous about upcoming special elections in Hawaii and Pennsylvania.  Both seats have been held by Democrats for years – Neil Abercombie in Hawaii, who is running for Governor (not Senate as originally posted – sorry for the typo – Guy) and the recently deceased John Murtha in Pennsylvania.  Democrats fear that circumstances unique to these congressional districts could spur Republican wins next month.  If that were to happen the national media might portray the elections as indications that there is a nation-wide anti-Obama mood, which might lead to widespread Democratic losses in November.

In Hawaii, fears of a Republican victory in a Democratic seat are spurred by a contested Democratic field in an election where a candidate can win with the plurality of the vote.  The candidates in the race are Democratic State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, Democratic ex-State Rep. Ed Case and Republican businessman Charles Djou.  Hanabusa enjoys the support of Sens. Akaka and Inouye as well as EMILY’s List and organized labor.  However, recent polls show Case with a lead.  Democratic strategists worry that Case and Hanabusa will split the Democratic vote allowing Djou to emerge as the victor.  Recent days have seen reports that the DCCC is signaling support for Case and encouraging others to drop their support of Hanabusa in his favor.

In Pennsylvania there is a fear that John Murtha won election yar after year by virtue of his personal popularity while the congressional district on its own trended toward Republicans.  McCain carried Murtha’s disctrict in the 2008 elections – one of the few districts that went for Kerry in 2004 that he won.  The Democratic candidate is Mark Critz, a former McCain staffer.  Strategists worry that in an anti-incumbent mood, Critz may be seen as a Washington DC insider, allowing Republican businessman Tim Burns to eke out a narrow victory.

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Top Target, Top Fundraiser

Freshman Democratic Rep. Betsy Markey is one of the Republican party’s top House targets this cycle.  She was even singled out recently by Sarah Palin as one of the top twenty Democrats to beat.  Markey’s support of health care reform, cap and trade and the economic stimulus while representing a battleground district have made her a lightning rod for Republican attacks.

In spite of, or perhaps because of, this attention form the hard right, Markey is raising the kind of serious campaign cash she needs to stay competitive an turn back a Republican challenge.  Markey’s latest FEC reports show her raising $505k in March, $355k in just the last ten days.

Markey is now sitting on $869k in her campaign accounts, compared to her Republican opponent, Cory Gardner’s $383k.

Markey needs to keep up this kind of pace to stay competitive for November.   You can support her here.

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Rangel Primary Challenger Keeping It In The Family

New York Rep. Charlie Rangel will face a challenger in the Democratic primary.  Adam Clayton Powell IV announced his candidacy last week.  If the name seems familiar, it is because Rangel’s seat was held for years by Powell’s father, Adam Clayton Powell III, before he was unseated by Rangel in the 1970 Democratic primary.  Powell is likely to criticize Rangel for his recent brushes with the House Ethics Committee.

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And Now My Wife Is Comin’ After Me

We blogged a few weeks ago that retiring Rep. Dennis Moore’s (D-KS) might run to replace him.  Stephene Moore has since confirmed the rumors and declared herself a candidate for the open seat.  This is widely seen as a good development for Democrats, as Mrs. Moore is viewed as the current front-runner.

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Scandal in Sestak Seat

In the open seat created by Rep. Joe Sestak’s (D-PA) decision to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary, the Democratic candidate is crying foul over the Republican’s nomination petitions.

State Rep. Bryan Lentz (D) has ex-U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan’s (R) nomination petition drive a “bush league conspiracy.”  Lentz claims that many of the signatures on the petitions Meehan submitted to qualify for the race are fake.  Lentz also claims that the signatures of campaign workers and volunteers appear multiple times and on petitions they admit never having signed.  Although state officials are already looking into the matter, Lentz wants it referred to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Meehan’s attorney called the allegations “theater of the absurd” and claims the DoJ has no jurisdiction in the matter.

It is unlikely that Lentz will succeed in getting Meehan disqualified from the ballot.  It is more likely that the allegations are aimed at painting Meehan as a corrupt political insider – an association that could be particularly damaging this election cycle.  Press reports indicate Lentz may be meeting with some success.  The Delware County Daily Times cited Meehan’s “reputation for  integrity” and asked, “Does Meehan want to be linked in the public mind to a culture of political corruption?”

Last evening, I attended the National Symphony Orchester at the Kennedy Center at which they played Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony No. 8.

Fitting, because the U.S.-Russian nuclear reductions treaty called New START announced by President Obama and cabinet officials on March 26 is not quite finished either.

The 20-page treaty has been completed as is the associated protocol. The many detailed pages of annexes laying out verification procedures and the complete explanation of the treaty – called article-by-article analysis – are not quite done.

But Presidents Obama and Medvedev will head to Prague on April 8 to sign the agreement – or should I say the Finale: Allegro moderato.

The treaty is important movement to reducing the limits on strategic nuclear weapons by about 30%.  It is a step towards the President’s non-proliferation goals and begins a reset in U.S. and Russian relations that deteriorated during the George W. Bush Administration.

The treaty enhances U.S. security by verifiably reducing U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles and ensuring a stable and predictable U.S.-Russian nuclear relationship.  

When the Executive Branch announced the reconfigured missile defense for Europe last year, it let the information leak out in the worst possible way that led to misinterpretation of its decision and embarrassment.

It clearly has learned its lesson – the hard way – after both the missile defense decision and the dragged out health care debate. It has to explain its policies in the best possible light at the beginning, the middle and the end of the debates as well as afterwards because opponents are always looking to paint the worst pictures (death panels for grandma and caving in to the Russians).

This time the announcement was made by the President as well as the Secretaries of State and Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

I do not know many of the details, but there was an organized and systematic effort to reach out to key Senators of both parties, former officials whose endorsement of the treaty will help its passage through the Senate, national security reporters and columnists, nuclear experts and bloggers – including Plutonium Page’s Page van der Linden .

There was a long period when the Administration and sympathetic Senators held their fire and left the field open to Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona and his various stink bombs about the treaty, but that’s over.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry put out a press release saying:  “We can’t squander this opportunity to reset both our relations with Russia and our role as the world leader on nuclear nonproliferation. This is a major commitment by both countries to reduce their nuclear arsenals and an important step in solidifying our relationship with Russia. Let’s get it done.”

Equally important, the Committee’s ranking Republican Richard Lugar added:  “I also look forward to working with Chairman Kerry to begin scheduling hearings and briefings for the Foreign Relations Committee so that we can work quickly to achieve ratification of the new treaty.”

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin called the treaty announcement “welcome and much anticipated news” and promised “hearings on the national security aspects of the treaty and how it will be implemented.”
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Lots of other Senators added their voices to the composition, including Casey, Franken, Kaufman, Majority Leader Reid and Shaheen.

It will take a similar effort throughout the ratification debate led by our conductor Obama, concertmasters Clinton, Gates and Mullen, and the rest of the orchestra.

As we know, to slightly mix my musical metaphors, the opera is never over until the fat (excuse me, outsized) person sings.

The Obama Administration announced today that negotiations for the text of the most significant nuclear reductions treaty between the United States and Russia in decades are complete. President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will sign the agreement on April 8 in Prague, Czech Republic.

The announcement was made at a White House press conference earlier today.

Council for a Livable World welcomes the announcement that the “New START” (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is complete. Reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the two countries that currently possess more than 95% of those remaining in the world is a key step forward in advancing the bipartisan nuclear security agenda that President Obama outlined in Prague in April 2009.

With his domestic victory earlier this week, a stronger President on health care is a stronger President to move forward this nuclear security agenda.

Over the coming months, we at the Council, in partnership with our sister organization, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, will work with the Administration and with Congress to educate our elected officials and the general public about the need for nuclear reductions. We look for a Senate vote on the treaty this year. Keep checking back for key updates and news developments!

NRCC Outraises DCCC

As FEC fundraising reports for February roll in, the National Republican Campaign Committee has outraised the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – the first report in qjuite some time where they have done so.  The NRCC reported raising $5.1 million to the DCCCs’ $4.4 million.  The DCCC still dwarfs the NRCC in cash-on-hand however, $19.8 million to $6 million.

It will be interesting to see how the Democrats’ victory on health care reform affects both parties’ fundraising.  As the health care vote only happened at the end of March, however, we probably won’t see this reflected until April numbers are reported.

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 A Special Day in Georgia

The special election to replace retiring Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) will be held on May 11th.  This will be an all-party election, with the winner requiring 50% +1 to win.  If there is no winner in that election, a run-off will be held June 8th.  This is a heavily Republican district, with little chance of a Democrat prevailing.  However, with 11 Republican candidates in the race, and a “resign to run” rule that candidates cannot hold any other office while running, the special has set off a dairy chain of elections to fill the seats being left open by the Republican candidates.

Florida Tea Party
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) won a narrow victory over incumbent Rep. Ric Keller (R) in 2008.  He was already a Republican target when he was quoting as saying the Republican health care plan was to “die quickly.”  He then became a top target and was widely attacked on conservative talk radio.  He hasn’t been shy about taking on high profile targets since then.

Perhaps because of his aggressive tactics, or perhaps because of his large campaign warchest, Republicans have had a hard time recruiting a top level candidate to run against him.  They have been left instead with a number of political unknowns.  Republican chances of launching a serious challenge to Grayson may have been further undermined with one of those candidates, former hospital administrator Peg Dunmire quit the Republican party to run an independent Tea Party campaign, possible further dividing the conservative vote against Grayson.
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Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night

Despite local GOP leaders selecting businessman Tim Burns as their candidate in the special election to fill the seat left open by deceased Rep. John Murtha in PA-12, Burns’ rival for the nomination refuses to back the candidate.  Bill Russell, the 2008 candidate for the seat, stated, “I still think I am the best candidate to take over in the 12th. So I’m going to vote for myself as a write-in.”

It is not clear that Russell could pose a serious threat to Burns, but it is undoubtedly frustrating to Republican leaders that they do not have a clear field in what is already a tough race for them.