- Minnesota: This is pretty neat. In the video at right, MSNBC’s terrific Rachel Maddow references a post of mine at MyDD.com discussing the need for state Supreme Court Justice Christopher Dietzen to recuse himself from Norm Coleman’s appeal because he is a Norm Coleman donor. I’m one of the “intrepid Googling monkeys” to whom Maddow makes reference. I don’t think I’m bragging to say that I was voted in my high school graduating class “Most Likely to Be an Intrepid Googling Monkey.” As a Rachel Maddow fan and regular viewer, I’m very happy to have helped fill 21 seconds of Maddow airtime.
- California: Senator Barbara Boxer will report a decent Q1 haul of $887,483 bringing her cash-on-hand to $4.6 million.
- North Carolina: A decision from Democratic state Attorney General Roy Cooper regarding a 2010 Senate challenge to Republican freshman Richard Burr will reportedly come “very soon.” Please, please, please run, Roy! Two polls (Civitas, Public Policy Polling) already have Attorney General Cooper leading Burr. If you haven’t already, give Attorney General Cooper’s campaign office a ring at 919-832-4312 and leave a message encouraging him to run for Senate. Speaking of Burr, the freshman Republican is not the steady hand that should manage our nation’s fiscal matters:
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) says when the financial crisis began he encouraged his wife to withdraw all the cash she possibly could from their local bank.During a speech on the economy last night, Burr related his immediate reaction the week the crisis began.
“On Friday night, I called my wife and I said, ‘Brooke, I am not coming home this weekend. I will call you on Monday. Tonight, I want you to go to the ATM machine, and I want you to draw out everything it will let you take,” Burr said, according to the Hendersonville Times-News. “And I want you to tomorrow, and I want you to go Sunday.’ I was convinced on Friday night that if you put a plastic card in an ATM machine the last thing you were going to get was cash.”
If everyone acted like Republican Richard Burr did in that moment of crisis, it would have guaranteed economic catastrophe. I can’t fathom why Burr would share this story with people out loud! Let’s hope Attorney General Cooper gives North Carolinians a not-insane alternative to Richard Burr.
- Florida: Republican former state House Speaker Marco Rubio will report a Q1 take of $250,000. While this is much less than what many other Senate candidates are reporting this quarter, it actually, truth be told, isn’t too bad a number given that many Republican donors in Florida are probably keeping their wallets closed until Gov. Charlie Crist decides what he is going to do regarding the 2010 Senate race. In a related story, conservative blogger Erick Erickson of RedState says that he has confirmed with “impeccable” sources that Rubio will run for Senate in 2010 regardless of what Gov. Charlie Crist does. It had been suggested that Rubio would simply switch to a gubernatorial run if Crist opted for a Senate bid rather than gubernatorial re-election. Is Rubio playing a game of political chicken with Crist to see if he backs down? If Rubio makes good, he will be a serious thorn in Crist’s side. Stay tuned.
- Pennsylvania: The NRSC gives an obligatory endorsement of Arlen Specter, clarifying that the committee will back the incumbent even though Specter is not as conservative as some would like.
- Fun stuff coming from Public Policy Polling tomorrow:
We’ll have our release on the North Carolina Senate 2010 picture and also look at what Minnesotans think about the Senate race now that a court in the state has declared Al Franken the winner.As long as we were polling Minnesota we took an approval rating on its one current Senator, and it looks like Amy Klobuchar has a very good shot at finding herself on the top of this chart. Very popular.
- In Oregon, progressive organizers are offering a counter-event to a local “tea party.” If you’re in Portland, Oregon, tomorrow, join the “H & R Block Party.” Have any of you heard of other counter-tea-party events going on?
Personally
I think Coop is in. His consultant sure sounds like his putting together a campaign plan to sell him. I sure hope I’m right. RedState is also saying that Rubio is in. Hope that’s right as well and that he somehow beats Crist in the Republican primary.
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