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Award-winning author and blogger Andy Schmookler has thrown his hat into the ring for the Sixth District Democratic Party congressional nomination. Schmookler, 64, said he wouldn’t be running for Congress “if these were normal political times,” but the Harvard and Cal-Berkeley grad and NPR and PBS commentator sees in the recent policy drift in Washington…
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A group of 16 moderate Democratic senators, led by Mark Udall of Colorado, today sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, urging him to prevent a shutdown of the federal government that would hurt our country’s still-fragile economy and distract from the need to work together to address greater, long-term fiscal challenges. The senators…
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Over the past several weeks, there has been great speculation, poor reporting, and gross misrepresentation of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s positions on pension reform and collective bargaining. The erroneous claims have traveled through the blogosphere and grabbed the attention of mainstream media. Unfortunately, due to little or no fact-checking, ALEC’s positions and activities have…
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By the time you read this column, you will have had an opportunity to see the proposed district boundaries for the House of Delegates, State Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives. I write this column amidst much concern, angst, and fear among incumbents and potential candidates as rumors have been circulating about what the districts…
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The good news for Republicans – Barack Obama is testing weak in the national polls. The good news for Barack Obama – Republicans are testing even weaker. “Obama’s numbers continue to tell the same story. Voters aren’t all that enamored with him right now, but when they look at him, and then they look at…
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Where I break with Libertarians – the economy. The stuff about keeping government out of my private life, I’m there. (Which is where I break with so-called conservative Republicans, who think it’s not only OK but encouraged for government to tell you every little thing you should be able to do in your private life.)…
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“Big Bird needs to be pushed out of the nest.” That’s from Colorado Republican Doug Lamborn, who is leading the push in the Republican House to defund public broadcasting once and for all. Interesting tactic from the GOP: trying to talk up how the public can’t afford and doesn’t need public broadcasting in today’s media…
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Tim Kaine has the solid support of Democratic primary voters in the early, early runup to the 2012 U.S. Senate race. The former governor and current chairman of the Democratic National Committee was the choice of 53 percent of those polled by Public Policy Polling late last month. Congressman Bobby Scott and former congressmen Tom…
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A new Public Policy Polling survey of Virginia Republicans has George Allen well out in front of a potential field of GOP contenders for the 2012 U.S. Senate nomination. Allen, a former U.S. senator and Virginia governor, was the top choice of 67 percent of the Republican voters surveyed by PPP last week. State Del….
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The legislative process is not unlike a sporting event: one interest versus another. Complicated by the fact that many issues do not break down as simply as two competitors or two teams against each other, the playing field is broad with many teams competing together at the same time with some competitors working together in…
