Category: Elections

Franken Wins, Coleman Concedes

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The Minnesota Supreme Court declared that Al Franken won, and Norm Coleman conceded:

Democrat Al Franken won Minnesota’s disputed U.S. Senate seat as a loss at the state Supreme Court prompted Republican Norm Coleman to concede.

“I congratulate Al Franken” on his victory, Coleman said at a news conference outside his home in St. Paul. “Sure I wanted to win,” the Republican said, though he said further litigation would damage the state’s unity.

The fact that Coleman conceded indicates that he’s going to run for governor, because it was clear that the RSCC would have continued funding challenges all the way to the Supreme Court.

He knew that if continued the challenge from here, that he would not be able to be elected dog catcher in Minnesota.

But really, it’s all about him, Al Franken.

Note to Self: Read Murray Waas

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Seriously, this guy is the best investigative reporter of my generation.

This time, he shows how the Bush administration leaked the fact that there was an investigation of Republican Congressman Rick Renzi the day after a wiretap warrant was approved:

In the fall of 2006, one day after the Justice Department granted permission to a U.S. attorney to place a wiretap on a Republican congressman suspected of corruption, existence of the investigation was leaked to the press — not only compromising the sensitive criminal probe but tipping the lawmaker off to the wiretap.

Career federal law enforcement officials who worked directly on a probe of former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) said they believe that word of the investigation was leaked by senior Bush administration political appointees in the Justice Department in an improper and perhaps illegal effort to affect the outcome of an election.

At the time of the leak, Renzi was locked in a razor-thin bid for reelection and unconfirmed reports of a criminal probe could have become politically damaging. The leaked stories — appearing 10 days before the election — falsely suggested that the investigation of Renzi was in its initial stages and unlikely to lead to criminal charges.

Note that if they had gotten permission to wire tap a Congressman, criminal charges are nearly a slam dunk, and the US attorney pursuing the investigation of the now-indicted Renzi was one of those purged by Bush and His Evil Minions™ for insufficient political loyalty.

BTW, it appear that the leaker may have been Alice Fisher, who was a recess appointment by President Bush as Assistant Attorney General in charge the Criminal Division of the DoJ.

She is the only assistant AG in that position who has never tried a criminal case.

Un-dirtyword-believable.

New York State Senate Tied Again

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Senator Hiram Monserrate, he’s the one who slashed his girlfriend’s face, not the one who took thousands of dollars of illegal campaign contributions and laundered money
, has returned to caucusing with the Democrats, because the old Dem Senate leader has been replaced.

So, it’s a 31-31 tie, and there is no Lieutenant Governor to break the impasse, that was Paterson pre-Eliot Spitzer, and quorum is 32, and the Dems are refusing to enter the chamber.

This is also in court, and the judge is looking for a compromise here, and so is refusing to rule, but he’s being optimistic. He’s going to have to rule.

Iran in Turmoil

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Steve Clemons, who knows about this stuff, has been talking to a number of his sources about what is going on in Iran, and that there is a real possibility of political assassination on both sides, along with levels of violence not seen since the early days of the Islamic revolution there.

Meanwhile, the Guardian is reporting that there are over 100,000 protesting the election in Terhran, despite it being banned by the Interior Ministry and that Iran’s “Supreme Leader”, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has now ordered an investigation into allegations of vote fraud, which seems to be quite a climb down for him, as he certified Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory only hours after the polls closed, as opposed to the 3 day period normally required.

Iranian Election Goes Pear Shaped

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There are some pretty good indications of vote fraud, at least according to Juan Cole.

He thinks that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is in control of the Interior Ministry, massively juiced his vote at the expense of his nearest rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Cole’s argument, and I find it persuasive, is that the vote tallies are almost completely lacking the regional, ethnic, and class divides that have heretofore been a fixture in Iranian elections.

The results appear to be a crude and hurried fraud, which may very well because clerical authorities expected Ahmadinejad to win outright, and were caught flat-footed.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?!?!?!?

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It appears that two “Democratic” State Senators in New York State just switched sides, and may have handed over controll of the State Senate to the ‘Phants.

There are elections in 2010, and it’s pretty clear that the Republican Gerrymandering of the State Senate had already run into its limits, but I gotta figure that the knives are really out for Governor David Paterson now, because he, and his staff, are supposed to be all over this sort of stuff.

FWIW, there are rumors that this is about anti-gay bigotry, and the fact that the Senate would pass a gay marriage bill, but this story seems to indicate that it’s just an old fashioned, and legal, political payoff, with positions promised in exchange for votes.

Attorney General Cuomo, you need to go from “no plans”, to, “Yes, I am running.”

As an aside, I think that having a federally court imposed redistricting in 2011 or so would be better than letting the Republicans Gerrymander again.

Trying Not to be Reelected

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David Paterson just vetoed a pension protection bill for police and fire fighters, indicating that the profoundly unpopular governor actually believes that Andrew Cuomo’s statement that he, “has no plans,” to challenge him in the primary actually means something, so he’s heading hard right to have a better position against Giuliani in the general.

“Has no plans,” and he’s decided to piss off the police and fire unions, and go full Neanderthal, just as he did when he was finally strong armed into raising taxes on the wealthiest people in New York.

It’s a great way to lose a primary in New York state, particularly when nature abhors a vacuum, which means that there almost certainly be a mainstream challenger to Paterson if Cuomo sticks to his statement and does not run.

My guess here is that Cuomo is giving the accidental governor enough rope to hang himself here.

Minnesota Gov Pawelenty Not to Run for 3rd Term

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What’s going on here is that this will be a bad cycle for incumbent governors, with tough budget choices to make, and so he gives that a miss by doing this, and can focus on a run for President.

Additionally, it minimizes the political damage of his refusal to certify Al Franken’s election as Senator, which he will do in order to shore up his support with the base.

He has made a statement, but note the weasel here, “If the court directs me to sign that certificate, I will.”

The translation here is that if the court does not explicitly order him, he won’t sign until Coleman goes all the way up the chain to the Supreme Court, but if it does, he has no choice.

The Next Right Wing Phony Sh%$ Storm

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It appears that the only people in the United States who are lamer than Code Pink, the “New Black Panther” Party (NBPP), have once again put their foot in it.

They stationed some of their people outside a polling place in uniforms and one of them, Samir Shabazz, was carrying a baton and brandished it, and the Civil Rights division of the DoJ filed a civil suit against them for voter intimidation, which they have now dropped, after review by Obama appointees.

They took it to court, and got a default verdict, which is not surprising, since the NBPP doesn’t have the resources for lawyers, and a permanent injunction against Mr. Shabazz from being within 100 yards of a polling place with any sort of weapon.

The NBPP drops Shabazz like he was a Plutonium milkshake, and then issues a condemnation of any sort of voting suppression, and the DoJ drops the case.

Then some of the “professionals staff” in the Civil Rights Division complained to the Washington (Moonie) Times about this.

Why the Moonie Times? Because these were Bushies burrowed into the division, and they wanted to show that it was “those n*gg*rs” who were suppressing the vote, not the ‘Phants in Texas, Alabama, etc., who were doing so with back door poll taxes.

So, Bush and His Evil Minions™ purge the Civil Rights Division, burrow political hacks to replace them, try to show that the problem is black people trying to vote, and then complain to their mouthpiece when the adults come in and fix it.

Expect this to be wall to wall on Rush, Hannity, and O’Falafel tomorrow.

Sestak to Challenge Specter in Primary

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TPM has broken the story that Rep. Joe Sestak intends to challenge Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Senate primary:

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is privately telling supporters that he intends to run for Senate, TPMDC has confirmed.

It appears that all that is left is discussions with his family, who I figure are pretty much onboard, or it would not have gone this far.

I think that the family thing is largely a smokescreen for him pulling out if Rahmbo (Barack) pushes too hard.

This is an interesting race. Sestak is by no means a particularly liberal Congressman, but his pressure has already pushed Specter closer to the Democratic mainstream.

I support his bid for a number of reasons:

  • Spector is a weasel, and a primary challenge will force him to appeal to the Democratic Party base, particularly to labor.
  • Spector is a weasel, and even if he weren’t this “clearing the decks” for incumbents is bad for the party and for the nation. It creates a sense of entitlement among incumbents.
  • Specter is a weasel.

In any case, I have added the “Draft Sestak” fund campaign to my Act Blue Page.

Let There Be Contested Primaries

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Barack Obama must be listening to Rahm Emanuel again, because he just successfully pressured Rep. Steve Israel to drop out of the New York primary race against Kristen Gillibrand.

I guess we see yet another case of incumbent protection.

I do not know whether or not Gillibrand would win in a real contested primary. She probably would, she is a prodigious fund raiser.

What’s more, she seems to be moving a little to the left now that she is representing the state of New York, as opposed to just her Neanderthal district.

But none of that earns her, or any candidate, the right to a primary without a meaningful challenger.

It’s a Chu-Chu Race

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But not between locomotives. Judy Chu won the special election to replace Hilda Solis in California’s 32nd Congressional district, but did not get an absolute majority, and Betty Tom Chu was the highest finishing Republican, so they, along with Libertarian candidate Christopher Agrella face off in a runoff in runoff on July 14, Bastille Day.

And, yes, it appears that the two Chu’s are distantly related.

In any case, it is a solidly Democratic district, so Judy Chu should likely be the next Representative from CA-32.