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18Nov/10Off

Uneasy House Democrats keep Pelosi as their leader

WASHINGTON -House Democrats gambled Wednesday they can return to power under the same leaders who just oversaw a 61-seat election loss, choosing Nancy Pelosi to remain their party chief when they become the minority in January.
Moderate Democrats pleaded for a change to show voters they understand the anger and unrest registered two weeks earlier on Election Day. And Pelosi didn't retain her leadership without a fight, defeating Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, 150-43, in secret balloting in a lengthy closed-door gathering on Capitol Hill.
In a contrast befitting the Nov. 2 election results, House Republicans kept Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as their leader without opposition, and he will become speaker in the new Congress. Eric Cantor of Virginia will retain the second-ranking party position, which will be majority leader, and Kevin McCarthy of California will be the party whip.
Boehner, who turned 61 on Wednesday, told his colleagues they will usher in "the dawn of a new majority," which he said will be "humbler, wiser, and more focused than its predecessors on the priorities of the people."
Pelosi, the nation's first female House speaker, will become minority leader when the 112th Congress convenes.
"She is the face that defeated us in this last election," declared Florida Rep. Allen Boyd, who was among those who lost re-election fights. However, Pelosi, who presided over big Democratic gains in the 2006 and 2008 elections, remains popular among the liberals who dominate her caucus more than ever. Dissident moderates could not find enough votes to force her aside.
In fact, the Democrats kept their entire leadership team intact despite election losses that President Barack Obama called "a shellacking." They elected Steny Hoyer of Maryland to keep the No. 2 post and Jim Clyburn of South Carolina to hold the third-ranking position, which will be renamed "assistant leader."
Pelosi and Clyburn are 70. Hoyer is 71. Cantor is 47, McCarthy 45.
Pelosi, a Californian, is a prodigious campaign fundraiser and tireless legislator known for listening to her colleagues but pressing them to stick with party leaders on key votes. Her supporters credit her for passing difficult, major legislation such as this year's health care overhaul.
Pelosi praised her lineup Wednesday. "It's a team that took us to victory in '05, in '06, and will take us to victory again," she said. "We extend the hand of friendship to the Republicans, we look forward to hearing their ideas on job creation and deficit reduction."
Some rank-and-file House Democrats said Pelosi pushed them too often to vote on controversial matters fated to die in the Senate. They contended she didn't appreciate the level of anti-Washington hostility in America.
Their anger grew this fall when dozens of GOP candidates assailed Pelosi in campaign ads that linked her to other Democrats.
Yet plenty of Democrats defended her on Wednesday.
"She did a good job of getting legislation through," said Barney Frank of Massachusetts. He downplayed the hubbub over Shuler's challenge, saying, "The focus on who is or who isn't the minority leader is a Washington insider issue."
But Shuler's level of support — plus an earlier 129-68 vote against postponing the election that Pelosi wanted to wrap up quickly — underscored the degree of discontent in a caucus that Pelosi had largely bent to her will in the past four years.
The next two years could be more challenging and less enjoyable for Pelosi and her allies. Republicans will control the House and will be able to filibuster almost any bill in the Senate. Obama has signaled he may seek compromises that could infuriate Pelosi's liberal supporters.
Shuler said his loss to Pelosi was expected but served as a warning that Democrats can't reject all Republican ideas all of the time. He and his allies said Shuler's 43 votes proved that the dissatisfaction with keeping Pelosi as leader extended well beyond the conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats, whose ranks were reduced to 24 in the Nov. 2 election.
"There was a lot of unrest in the room," Shuler said.
House Democrats were scheduled Thursday to hold a third straight day of closed-door meetings, which many members have used to vent their frustration and anger over their heavy losses. These rifts, if unresolved, could complicate the party's efforts to re-elect Obama and to win back the House majority in 2012.
Pelosi faces a potentially embarrassing public rebuke from at least some of her detractors on the first day of the new Congress in January. Shuler and the three centrist Democrats who nominated him to be leader — Reps. Larry Kissel of North Carolina, Mike Ross of Arkansas and Jim Matheson of Utah — said they would not vote for her when their turns come to rise and cast a ceremonial vote for speaker.
Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., said Wednesday's unsuccessful effort to postpone the party leadership elections reflected substantial angst among Democrats about how to rebuild.
"There's a lot of concern in the caucus about the direction that we want to go from here, and I think 68 votes shows significant concern," Cardoza said. "The caucus will continue to do a great deal of soul-searching."
Some lawmakers who voted for Pelosi did so with little apparent joy. "We got shellacked" in the midterm elections, said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. "We are not happy."
—
Associated Press writers Jim Abrams, Laurie Kellman, Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.
(This version corrects the location of the meeting to Capitol Hill, not the Capitol itself.)

Uneasy House Democrats keep Pelosi as their leader

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3Nov/10Off

Jubilant GOP wins the House, falls short of Senate

WASHINGTON -Resurgent Republicans won control of the House and cut deeply into the Democrats' majority in the Senate in momentous midterm elections shadowed by recession, ushering in a new era of divided government certain to complicate the final two years of President Barack Obama's term.
House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner, voice breaking with emotion, declared shortly before midnight Tuesday that the results were "a repudiation of Washington, a repudiation of big government and a repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the people."
Obama monitored returns at the White House, then telephoned Boehner with congratulations in a call that underscored the power shift.
Incomplete returns showed the GOP picked up at least 59 House seats — the biggest party turnover in more than 70 years — and led for six more, far in excess of what was needed for a majority. Among the losers was Rep. Tom Perriello, a first-termer from Virginia for whom Obama campaigned just before the election.
On a night of triumph, Republicans gained at least six Senate seats, and tea party favorites Rand Paul in Kentucky, Mike Lee in Utah and Marco Rubio in Florida were among their winners. But Christine O'Donnell lost badly in Delaware, for a seat that Republican strategists once calculated would be theirs with ease. And they lost the nation's most closely watched race, in Nevada, where Majority Leader Harry Reid won an especially costly and brutal campaign in a year filled with them.
The GOP also wrested 10 governorships from the Democrats, Ohio and Pennsylvania among them, and gave two back, California and Hawaii.
In New York, Andrew Cuomo won the office his father, Mario, held for three terms. And in California, Edmund G. Brown Jr., was successful in his bid for a comeback to the governor's office he occupied for two terms more than a quarter-century ago.
Three Senate races were too close to call, including an Alaska campaign in which Sen. Lisa Murkowski ran as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary in September. The vote count also continued in seven governors' races.
The biggest win by far was the House, a victory made all the more remarkable given the drubbing Republicans absorbed at the hands of Democrats in the past two elections. Their comeback was aided by independents, who backed GOP candidates for the first time since 2004, by a margin of 55 percent to 39 percent. Women backed Democrats 49-48, after favoring them by a dozen points in recent elections.
The takeaways came in bunches — five Democratic-held seats each in Pennsylvania and Ohio and three in Florida and Virginia. Incumbents sent to defeat included two committee chairmen, Ike Skelton in Missouri and John Spratt in South Carolina, as well as Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, in Congress more than a quarter-century.
Democrats conceded nothing while they still had a chance. "Let's go out there and continue to fight," Speaker Nancy Pelosi exhorted supporters in remarks before television cameras while the polls were still open in much of the country.
But not long after she spoke, Democratic incumbents in both houses began falling, and her own four-year tenure as the first female speaker in history was doomed. She gave no indication of her own plans.
The White House said Obama had called Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and top Democrats as well as Boehner, and pledged to try and find common ground on the issues facing the country. Efforts to revitalize the economy top the list, and Republicans also campaigned calling for spending cuts to reduce deficits, extension of expiring tax cuts for all and repeal of Obama's cherished health care bill — all areas ripe for confrontation in the months ahead.
For her part, Pelosi issued a statement saying, "We must all strive to find common ground to support the middle class, create jobs, reduce the deficit and move our nation forward."
With unemployment at 9.6 percent nationally, interviews with voters revealed an extraordinarily sour electorate, stressed financially and poorly disposed toward the president, the political parties and the federal government.
Sen.-elect Paul, appearing Tuesday night before supporters in Bowling Green, Ky., declared, "We've come to take our government back."
About four in 10 voters said they were worse off financially than two years ago, according to exit polls and pre-election surveys. More than one in three said their votes were an expression of opposition to Obama. More than half expressed negative views about both political parties. Roughly 40 percent of voters considered themselves supporters of the conservative tea party movement. Less than half said they wanted the government to do more to solve problems.
Republicans were certain of at least six Senate pickups, including the seat in Illinois that Obama resigned to become president. Rep. Mark Kirk won there, defeating Alexi Giannoulias.
Democratic Sens. Russell Feingold in Wisconsin and Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas were turned out of office. In addition, Republicans scored big in races for Democratic seats without incumbents on the ballot. Former Rep. Pat Toomey won a close race in Pennsylvania, North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven won easily there, and former Sen. Dan Coats breezed in a comeback attempt for the Indiana seat he voluntarily gave up a dozen years ago.
Democrats averted deeper losses when Gov. Joe Manchin won in West Virginia — after pointedly distancing himself from Obama — for the unexpired portion of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd's term, and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was victorious in Connecticut, dispatching Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Sen. Barbara Boxer was elected to a fourth term in California, overcoming a challenge from Carly Fiorina.
The GOP gubernatorial gains came after a campaign in which their party organization spent more than $100 million, nearly double what Democrats had.
Among the incumbents who fell were Ted Strickland in Ohio, defeated by former Rep. John Kasich, and Chet Culver in Iowa, loser to former Gov. Terry Branstad.
In California, former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. was elected to the office he held for two terms more than a quarter-century ago.
In a footnote to the brutal politics of the campaign, Republican-turned- independent Lincoln Chafee was elected governor of Rhode Island. Obama campaigned in the state in the campaign's final week. But he declined to endorse the Democratic candidate, Frank Caprio, out of what the White House said was respect for Chafee, who had endorsed the president in his own presidential race two years ago.
A Republican takeover of the House would usher in a new era of divided government after two years in which Obama and fellow Democrats pushed through an economic stimulus bill, a landmark health care measure and legislation to rein in Wall Street after the near collapse of the economy in 2008.
Paul's triumph in Kentucky completed an improbable rise for an eye surgeon making his first race. He drew opposition from the Republican Party establishment when he first launched his bid, then struggled to adjust to a statewide race with Attorney General Jack Conway.
Rubio, also running with tea party support, won with 49 percent of the vote in a three-way race in Florida, months after he forced Gov. Charlie Crist to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent. Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek ran third.
But a third tea party-backed candidate, O'Donnell, who went from a virtual unknown to primary winner to fodder for late-night comedians in the span of a few months, lost overwhelmingly to Democrat Chris Coons in Delaware. Republicans had counted on taking the seat from the Democrats early this year, but that was before O'Donnell defeated veteran Rep. Mike Castle in a September primary. Democrat John Carney easily won the seat that was Castle's for nearly two decades.
Not all the Republican newcomers were party crashers.
In New Hampshire, Republican Kelly Ayotte won a Senate seat, defeating Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes. Former Bush administration official Rob Portman won a seat in Ohio, and Rep. Jerry Moran won in Kansas and Rep. Roy Blunt in Missouri.
Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont was re-elected to his seventh term and Barbara Mikulski her fifth. New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand also won, as did Sen. Ron Wyden in Oregon and Boxer in California In Hawaii, Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye was elected for a ninth time to the seat he has held since 1962.
Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who won a second term in South Carolina, has been working to establish a nationwide standing among conservatives. He was instrumental in supporting tea party challengers in several primaries this spring and summer at a time the GOP establishment was backing other candidates.
In Alabama, Sen. Richard Shelby was re-elected easily, as were Republican Sens. Tom Coburn in Oklahoma, Richard Burr in North Carolina, John Thune in South Dakota, Johnny Isakson in Georgia, David Vitter in Louisiana, John McCain in Arizona, Chuck Grassley in Iowa and Mike Crapo in Idaho.
—
AP writers Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland, Rasha Madkour in Miami, Wayne Parry in Bayville, N.J., Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, N.J., Mike Glover in Des Moines, Iowa, Thomas J. Sheeran in Parma Heights, Ohio, Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis, Deepti Hajela in New York and Mark S. Smith in Washington contributed to this report.

Jubilant GOP wins the House, falls short of Senate

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31Oct/10Off

Obama makes last campaign stop in pivotal Ohio

CLEVELAND -President Barack Obama made Ohio his final campaign stop Sunday in the tumultuous midterm elections, trying to help hard-pressed Democrats in a state that could prove crucial to his re-election hopes in two years.
Republicans see Tuesday's vote shaping up as a stern public rejection of two more years of Democratic control on Capitol Hill.
"Obviously the other side is enthusiastic," Obama said as he ordered pancakes, eggs and turkey sausage, to go at the Valois Cafeteria in Chicago, before departing for a rally in Cleveland with Vice President Joe Biden. "We've got to make sure our side is, too," he told reporters in the noisy cafe full of surprised diners.
While Obama said he felt good about Democrats' chances if their supporters turn out in large numbers, Sarah Palin said the message that voters were ready to send to his party was anything but palatable: "You blew it, President Obama. We gave you the two years to fulfill your promise of making sure that our economy starts roaring back to life again," said Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor.
Obama carried Ohio easily in 2008, and Democrats once had high hopes of re-electing Gov. Ted Strickland this year and taking the Senate seat being vacated by Republican George Voinovich. But with the recession barely losing its grip in the state and the president's approval ratings sagging, Democrats have all but given up on the Senate race and are desperate to save Strickland and several imperiled House members.
Cleveland was the last of Obama's four weekend stops, after visiting Philadelphia, Connecticut and Chicago on Saturday. All are generally friendly locations for Democrats, and the White House strategy is to fire up core voters who may feel despondent in this GOP-trending year.
Republicans are confident of picking up more than 40 House seats, which would give them the majority, but a GOP Senate majority seemed less likely. Republicans also expect to pick up numbers among governors.
"What the American people are looking at and they're saying is, 'The Obama policies aren't working. We need new policies, we need an economic-growth agenda,'" said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association. "If Republicans win, that's what it will be, a repudiation of Obama's policies."
Democratic leaders tried to play down the potential losses. They pointed to tightening races and tried to focus on campaign promises by many Republicans that they say will repeal Obama's health care law and roll back other initiatives.
"This is a choice, a clear choice, not a referendum," said Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine, who was on hand in Cleveland. "They have a political and partisan agenda, which they've had from Day One. We're the problem-solvers trying to get this nation going after a lost decade that they created."
A Strickland loss to Republican John Kasich would have many ramifications beyond the state. Ohio will lose two House seats because of the 2010 census, and its governor will help oversee a redistricting process that may be fiercely partisan. Governors also can direct substantial political resources to the presidential contender of their choice.
Should Obama lose Ohio in 2012, it would make it all the more important for him to win other highly contested states such as Pennsylvania and Florida.
Illinois is the largest recipient of last-minute money for get-out-the-vote efforts from the Democratic National Committee, and Ohio is fourth. Of the nearly $2.7 million being transferred to state parties, $950,000 went to Illinois, $470,000 to Florida, $325,000 to Pennsylvania and $300,000 to Ohio.
Top Republicans say it's too little and too late.
The DNC aired a new ad featuring Obama that warns of record cuts in education and rollbacks in financial accountability if Republicans take control of Congress.
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele dismissed concerns of government gridlock if GOP lawmakers refuse to compromise with Democrats on issues such as deficit spending and taxation.
"With the Republican majority in the House or Senate or, hopefully, both, we're not going to compromise on those things," Steele said.
In many races, large numbers of voters have made their choices. In Ohio, where Democrats could lose up to six House seats, more than 721,000 votes have been cast. California officials already had in hand almost 2.5 million ballots, and Florida officials had almost 1.7 million.
More than 13.5 million votes had been cast early, either at ballot boxes that opened early or by mail. Four years ago, during the last nonpresidential election, some 19 million people voted before Election Day.
Kaine and Barbour appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Palin was on "Fox News Sunday," while Steele was on CNN's "State of the union."

Obama makes last campaign stop in pivotal Ohio

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3Oct/10Off

What Homecoming Means to Alabama A&M Students and Alumni

Saturday is a big day for Alabama A&M University.

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29Sep/10Off

Obama both rallies, scolds Dems in campaign trip

MADISON, Wis. -Buck up. Stop whining. And get to work.
Clearly frustrated by Republicans' energy — and his own party's lack of enthusiasm — President Barack Obama scolded fellow Democrats even as he rallied them Tuesday in an effort to save the party from big GOP gains in the crucial midterm elections. In the final month of campaigning, he's trying to re-energize young voters, despondent liberals and other Democrats whose excitement over his election has dissipated.
"It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines," the president declared in a Rolling Stone magazine interview. He said that supposed supporters who are "sitting on their hands complaining" are irresponsible because the consequences of Republican congressional victories could be dashed Democratic plans.
He gave an example during a backyard conversation with New Mexico voters, arguing that Republicans would reverse the progress he's made on education reform and student aid. "That's the choice that we've got in this election," Obama said, underscoring the stakes of Nov. 2.
Later, at an outdoor rally at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, the president urged thousands of students to stay as inspired and involved in this election as they were two years ago.
"We can't let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn't care enough to fight," he said to loud applause.
It was the first of four large rallies planned for the campaign homestretch as the president tries to rekindle some of his 2008 campaign magic and fire up young supporters and others who helped elect Obama but who Democrats fear may stay home this fall. Top lieutenants Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine and Cabinet members also fanned out on other college campuses to call party foot soldiers to action.
At Penn State University in State College, Pa., Biden noted he was criticized a day earlier in New Hampshire for urging Democrats to "remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives."
"All I heard when I got here in Happy Valley was the roar of lions. Folks, it's time for us to roar," Biden said, pressing his audience to knock on doors, make phone calls and commit to vote.
With the elections looming, the White House and Democratic Party are focused primarily on trying to compel their core voters — liberals and minority groups — as well as the ideologically broad coalition that helped elect Obama in 2008 to participate in the first congressional elections of his presidency.
They have little choice.
Midterm contests largely turn on which party can get out more of its backers. And polls show that Republicans are far more enthusiastic this year partly because of tea party anger. Also, polls show Democrats can't count on independent voters who carried them to victory in consecutive national elections.
Mindful of that and armed with polling, the White House has started arguing that voters who backed Obama in 2008 must turn out for Democrats this year because the GOP wants to undo what the president has accomplished.
"We are focused on motivation, not laying blame or pointing fingers, because the consequences for sitting this election out could be disastrous," said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director.
White House aides said House Republicans "Pledge to America" last week made it easier for Obama to do something he's been trying for weeks: to frame the election as a choice between Democrats' ideas and Republicans' proposals. By signaling plans for deep spending cuts in popular areas such as education, officials said, the GOP pledge presented an opportunity for the White House to remind voters, and particularly the base, what's at stake in November.
Aides say Obama was trying to underscore those stakes in his interview with Rolling Stone, and the final-stretch strategy — in everything from rhetoric to events — is to underscore that midterm elections have consequences.
"People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up," Obama said in the interview. "Bringing about change is hard — that's what I said during the campaign."
"But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place," Obama said.
He was speaking to all Democrats, including first-time voters in 2008 and liberals who have complained that Obama sacrificed his campaign promises on health care and national security for legislative compromise.
Democratic-leaning groups have largely been missing from the TV airwaves this fall as GOP-aligned organizations pummel Democratic House and Senate candidates with attack ads. Seeing allies outspent 6-1, White House aides recently decided to use that disparity to compel their base to vote.
Several Democratic strategists privately fear that the strategy to motivate Democrats with sternness could backfire partly because it runs counter to Obama's carefully cultivated hopeful, uplifting image. There's also some concern that it could further alienate liberals and other Democratic critics who don't think Obama has done enough to pursue issues important to them.
"It's not helpful," said John Aravosis, the editor of the progressive AMERICAblog.com. "The base is depressed and they're depressing it even more, and it's not clear why."
Said DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas: "They wouldn't be in this predicament if they delivered on their campaign promises, rather than waste the last two years putting bipartisanship above action."
Obama's tough-love comments came just days before more than 300 liberal groups planned to participate in a rally on the National Mall on Saturday.
During the three-day trip, Obama also was trying to counter the notion that he's out of touch as well as sway undecided voters with a series of backyard visits — in Albuquerque, Des Moines, Iowa; and Richmond, Va. — that give him time to explain his policies in everyday settings. He's recently embraced this form of intimate-but-televised event to defend and explain his record on the economy, health care and other topics.
—
Sidoti reported from Washington.

Obama both rallies, scolds Dems in campaign trip

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29Sep/10Off

Obama both rallies, scolds Dems in campaign trip

MADISON, Wis. -Buck up. Stop whining. And get to work.
Clearly frustrated by Republicans' energy — and his own party's lack of enthusiasm — President Barack Obama scolded fellow Democrats even as he rallied them Tuesday in an effort to save the party from big GOP gains in the crucial midterm elections. In the final month of campaigning, he's trying to re-energize young voters, despondent liberals and other Democrats whose excitement over his election has dissipated.
"It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines," the president declared in a Rolling Stone magazine interview. He said that supposed supporters who are "sitting on their hands complaining" are irresponsible because the consequences of Republican congressional victories could be dashed Democratic plans.
He gave an example during a backyard conversation with New Mexico voters, arguing that Republicans would reverse the progress he's made on education reform and student aid. "That's the choice that we've got in this election," Obama said, underscoring the stakes of Nov. 2.
Later, at an outdoor rally at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, the president urged thousands of students to stay as inspired and involved in this election as they were two years ago.
"We can't let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn't care enough to fight," he said to loud applause.
It was the first of four large rallies planned for the campaign homestretch as the president tries to rekindle some of his 2008 campaign magic and fire up young supporters and others who helped elect Obama but who Democrats fear may stay home this fall. Top lieutenants Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine and Cabinet members also fanned out on other college campuses to call party foot soldiers to action.
At Penn State University in State College, Pa., Biden noted he was criticized a day earlier in New Hampshire for urging Democrats to "remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives."
"All I heard when I got here in Happy Valley was the roar of lions. Folks, it's time for us to roar," Biden said, pressing his audience to knock on doors, make phone calls and commit to vote.
With the elections looming, the White House and Democratic Party are focused primarily on trying to compel their core voters — liberals and minority groups — as well as the ideologically broad coalition that helped elect Obama in 2008 to participate in the first congressional elections of his presidency.
They have little choice.
Midterm contests largely turn on which party can get out more of its backers. And polls show that Republicans are far more enthusiastic this year partly because of tea party anger. Also, polls show Democrats can't count on independent voters who carried them to victory in consecutive national elections.
Mindful of that and armed with polling, the White House has started arguing that voters who backed Obama in 2008 must turn out for Democrats this year because the GOP wants to undo what the president has accomplished.
"We are focused on motivation, not laying blame or pointing fingers, because the consequences for sitting this election out could be disastrous," said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director.
White House aides said House Republicans "Pledge to America" last week made it easier for Obama to do something he's been trying for weeks: to frame the election as a choice between Democrats' ideas and Republicans' proposals. By signaling plans for deep spending cuts in popular areas such as education, officials said, the GOP pledge presented an opportunity for the White House to remind voters, and particularly the base, what's at stake in November.
Aides say Obama was trying to underscore those stakes in his interview with Rolling Stone, and the final-stretch strategy — in everything from rhetoric to events — is to underscore that midterm elections have consequences.
"People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up," Obama said in the interview. "Bringing about change is hard — that's what I said during the campaign."
"But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place," Obama said.
He was speaking to all Democrats, including first-time voters in 2008 and liberals who have complained that Obama sacrificed his campaign promises on health care and national security for legislative compromise.
Democratic-leaning groups have largely been missing from the TV airwaves this fall as GOP-aligned organizations pummel Democratic House and Senate candidates with attack ads. Seeing allies outspent 6-1, White House aides recently decided to use that disparity to compel their base to vote.
Several Democratic strategists privately fear that the strategy to motivate Democrats with sternness could backfire partly because it runs counter to Obama's carefully cultivated hopeful, uplifting image. There's also some concern that it could further alienate liberals and other Democratic critics who don't think Obama has done enough to pursue issues important to them.
"It's not helpful," said John Aravosis, the editor of the progressive AMERICAblog.com. "The base is depressed and they're depressing it even more, and it's not clear why."
Said DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas: "They wouldn't be in this predicament if they delivered on their campaign promises, rather than waste the last two years putting bipartisanship above action."
Obama's tough-love comments came just days before more than 300 liberal groups planned to participate in a rally on the National Mall on Saturday.
During the three-day trip, Obama also was trying to counter the notion that he's out of touch as well as sway undecided voters with a series of backyard visits — in Albuquerque, Des Moines, Iowa; and Richmond, Va. — that give him time to explain his policies in everyday settings. He's recently embraced this form of intimate-but-televised event to defend and explain his record on the economy, health care and other topics.
—
Sidoti reported from Washington.

Obama both rallies, scolds Dems in campaign trip

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17Sep/10Off

Dems to voters: You may hate us, but GOP is worse

WASHINGTON -With just six weeks to avoid a possible election catastrophe, Democrats are trying to limit the damage with a closing argument that's more plea than platform: We know you voters are furious with us, but just let us explain why the Republicans would be worse.
The strategy requires an autumn influx of voters willing to view the election as a choice between two imperfect parties — and imperfect candidates on each ballot line — rather than as a chance to slap the Washington establishment that the public seems to dislike so deeply.
But the Democrats admit the Republicans have a big emotional advantage with voters who are fed up with high unemployment, soaring deficits and what many see as an arrogant Congress and administration that rammed a revolutionary health care plan down their throats.
If voters keep burning with the throw-the-bums-out fever that animated so many primaries, Democrats would be likely to lose more than 40 House seats, costing them the majority and positioning Republicans to block virtually any Obama initiatives in the next two years. Losing the Senate majority, which would require a 10-seat Republican gain, is less likely.
Democratic candidates want to convince these voters that no matter how much they hate the status quo, they would be worse off under a Republican Party that hasn't learned from its mistakes and is lurching ever harder to the right.
"This needs to be a choice, not a referendum" on the Democratic-led Congress and Obama administration, said Erik Smith, a Democratic campaign adviser.
President Barack Obama, campaigning for a Senate contender in Connecticut Thursday, said of Republicans: "All they are going to be feeding us is anger and resentment and not a lot of new ideas. But that's a potent force when people are scared and they're hurting."
Democrats already have given up on keeping several seats, including a House seat in Tennessee and a Senate seat in North Dakota. Party insiders aren't quite in full panic mode. But they are intensely debating how to frame the final message, which candidates to help with last-minute spending, and where to best focus ground troops.
Senate campaign officials said they have made no final decisions about how to allocate money, but Democrat Brad Ellsworth is no longer airing TV ads in his bid to hold the Indiana Senate seat left open by retiring Democrat Evan Bayh. Republican nominee Dan Coats leads in polls there.
Ellsworth spokeswoman Liz Farrar said her campaign will resume TV ads at some point. "Voters in Indiana have not seen or heard the last of Brad Ellsworth," she said.
Eric Schultz of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee would not discuss aid to Ellsworth, but he said, "We have to make a lot of spending decisions in the next 45 days."
For Democratic House candidates, triage is already under way. The Washington-based party headquarters recently cut off aid to Brett Carter, seen as having little chance to hold the Tennessee House seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Bart Gordon.
Financial reports show House and Senate candidates have raised nearly $1.2 billion in this election cycle, well ahead of the pace for previous contests. Overall, Democratic and Republican candidates have raised nearly equal amounts. But the Democratic Party, including its state affiliates, has a 3-2 fundraising advantage over the GOP and its affiliates.
Helping close the gap is a web of conservative groups that have spent millions of dollars to help Republican candidates. Among the most prominent is American Crossroads and its allied groups, created under the direction of former Bush political strategist Karl Rove and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie.
What's more, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce aims to spend up to $75 million on the election, mostly for Republicans.
Organized labor plans to spend $100 million or more for Democrats. The AFL-CIO has pledged to spend more than $50 million, and the Service Employees International Union has a $44 million political budget. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which is also pledging millions to assist Democrats, has been airing ads in key battlegrounds.
In a possible bright spot for Democrats, national party officials say they will spend $50 million for on-the-ground organizing, sending out volunteers to contact voters and targeting "persuadable" people. That includes 15 million to 20 million who voted for the first time in 2008, when Obama inspired many young and minority voters.
GOP House campaign spokesman Paul Lindsay says that every poll shows far more intensity among Republican voters than Democrats, so his party may not need to pour as much money into labor-intensive get-out-the-vote efforts.
Obama remains a relatively popular president, certainly compared to Congress, and he recently transferred $4.5 million from his presidential campaign account to Democratic House, Senate and gubernatorial efforts. He plans campaign stops in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada, all of which have competitive Senate and/or gubernatorial races.
National Democratic officials, meanwhile, are sparring over how best to frame their argument in the final six weeks. A chief dispute is how to respond to the tea party's remarkable success, capped by Tuesday's Delaware Senate Republican primary. Insurgent Christine O'Donnell stunned political pros by defeating longtime lawmaker Mike Castle, a moderate.
Veteran Democratic consultant Chris Kofinis was drafting a memo Friday urging candidates and party officials to boost their efforts to portray the GOP as a party hijacked by extremists with unorthodox ideas such as dismantling Social Security. Democratic candidates should woo two crucial groups — persuadable independents and disillusioned liberals — by highlighting the threat of "a radical, extreme fringe that will control and does control the Republican Party," Kofinis said in an interview.
So far, Obama and other top Democrats are sticking more closely to a different theme: If voters return Republicans to power, they say, it will bring back Bush administration policies that led to the financial near-collapse of 2008-2009. This past-is-prologue warning depicts veteran Republican lawmakers, such as House Minority Leader John Boehner, as unrepentant Bush loyalists and entrenched lackeys of wealthy special interest groups.
Obama likes to warn voters against returning the government's car keys to those who "drove us into the ditch" in the first place.
Kofinis thinks the tea party gives Democrats a better, more forward-looking opening. "I don't think the Bush argument works," he said. "No one knows who Boehner is."
Democratic candidates should marry the two messages, not choose between them, says Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who oversees the party's efforts to win House seats. Tea party nominees, he said, "represent Bush economic policy on steroids."
Establishment Republicans such as Boehner already want to loosen regulations on Wall Street, the workplace and other areas, Van Hollen said. Libertarian-leaning tea party activists will push them even further.
Matt Bennett, vice president of the Democratic-leaning group Third Way, cites polls showing that most voters, despite an overall anger with the establishment, support Democrats on many specific issues, such as tax cuts for the wealthy. Democratic House and Senate candidates, he said, should constantly tell voters "there's only two choices, there's no other."
Specific issues will hardly matter, however, if Democrats can't persuade middle-of-the-road voters to calmly weigh the ramifications of lashing out at the party in power.
"The most important thing Democrats can do is unnationalize the election," said Democratic strategist David DiMartino. "In every state and every district, it has to be a choice between them and us. Our policies are more popular than theirs."
—
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Liz Sidoti contributed to this report.

Dems to voters: You may hate us, but GOP is worse

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15Sep/10Off

Big night for tea party: O’Donnell wins Delaware

-It's tea time in America.
Conservative Christine O'Donnell pulled off a stunning upset over nine-term Rep. Mike Castle in the Republican Senate primary in Delaware Tuesday, propelled by tea party activists into a November showdown with Democrat Chris Coons. After a primary season shaped by economic pain and exasperated voters, the grass-roots, anti-establishment movement can claim wins in at least seven GOP Senate races, a handful of Republican gubernatorial contests and dozens of House primary campaigns, and it influenced many others.
In the fight for New Hampshire's Republican Senate nomination, a second insurgent trailed in vote counting that was still going on Wednesday. After lagging in early returns, former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte moved ahead of Ovide Lamontagne with a lead of roughly 1,000 votes, with results tallied from 85 percent of precincts. Ayotte was backed by establishment Republicans and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; Lamontagne, a former chairman of the state Board of Education, campaigned with the support of tea party activists.
In New York, tea party ally Carl Paladino dealt another shock to the GOP establishment, defeating former Rep. Rick Lazio in the race for the party's nomination for governor. Paladino will face state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the prohibitive favorite.
The Delaware outcome reflected the energy and enthusiasm of the tea partiers, but O'Donnell also enters the race against Coons as an underdog, putting GOP control of the Senate further out of reach. Former George W. Bush political adviser Karl Rove told Fox News Channel, "This is not a race we're going to be able to win."
Speaking at an Elks Lodge in Dover, Del., O'Donnell thanked Sarah Palin for her endorsement as well as the Tea Party Express, a California political committee that spent at least $237,000 to help her defeat Castle, a moderate and a fixture in Delaware politics for a generation.
"Never underestimate the power of 'We the People,'" said O'Donnell, who predicted the general election campaign would focus on jobs and rising national debt. "'We the People' will have our voice heard once again in Washington, D.C."
Her victory set off a round of accusations and fingerpointing inside and outside the GOP.
Republican Party officials who saw Castle as their only hope for winning the Delaware seat once held by Vice President Joe Biden made clear they will not provide funding for O'Donnell in the general election. The Republican state chairman, Tom Ross, has said O'Donnell "could not be elected dogcatcher," and records surfaced during the campaign showing that the IRS had once slapped a lien against her and that her house had been headed for foreclosure. She also claimed — falsely — to have carried two of the state's counties in a race against Biden six years ago.
In Minneapolis, former President Bill Clinton said the Republican Party is pushing out pragmatic voices in favor of candidates that make former President George W. Bush "look like a liberal." Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said in a statement that O'Donnell harbors "extreme views on the economy, health care, and women's and reproductive rights."
The victories by O'Donnell and Paladino are the latest evidence of the influence of the tea party movement, a loose-knit coalition of community groups that advocate limited government, tightfisted spending and free markets.
Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who was aided by spending by the Tea Party Express, became an overnight Republican star in January when he claimed the seat held for decades by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Brown's win set the stage for a year of outsider candidates, and the tea party has scored prominent primary election wins in Utah, Nevada, Kentucky, Colorado and Alaska.
But can they win in November?
O'Donnell and other tea party candidates have called for an abrupt turn toward austere government, and the question will be how far voters want to go to reshape Washington.
The movement's spirited rallies have attracted tens of thousands of people, and they've made their presence felt at the polls: Republican turnout in the primary season has well outpaced Democratic. Even in races where the tea party has been less visible, its influence is evident in candidates' arguments. In the California race for governor, Democrat Jerry Brown is depicting himself as a tax-cutter who keeps his eye on the bottom line.
But for all its enthusiasm, the tea party has elevated sometimes unpolished or flawed candidates who — in some cases — will be more vulnerable in November, particularly in states or districts that are more moderate. The movement has also opened fissures with the GOP establishment. In Alaska, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who was defeated by tea party favorite Joe Miller, is considering a write-in candidacy and says the Alaska Republican party was "hijacked" by the Tea Party Express, which she calls an "extremist group." The committee, based in California, endorsed Miller and ran ads supporting him.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada once appeared headed for near-certain defeat in the state that has the nation's highest unemployment, but he's now running even with tea party favorite Sharron Angle, a Republican who wants to phase out Social Security for younger workers, opposes abortion in all cases, including rape and incest, and would break up the federal Education Department.
In Colorado, Republicans tried to get their nominee for governor, tea party favorite Dan Maes, to quit the race after embarrassing missteps. He's claimed he worked as an undercover police officer in Kansas — statements that have not been corroborated by authorities — and he once suggested that a Denver bike-sharing program is part of a U.N. conspiracy to control American cities.
For the GOP, the tea party "is a mixed blessing," said Bill Whalen, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution.
The movement's voters are energized but "anyone but Sharron Angle would have Harry Reid dead to rights. Abolishing the Education Department, it's a little too much," Whalen said.
The loosely connected movement, which took shape in early 2009 in reaction to bailouts and rising government debt, has no central organization that endorses candidates. There are thousands of local chapters, some of which are tethered to national groups.
Tea party candidates have been aided by support from conservative political committees that share the movement's limited government, free market agenda, including the Tea Party Express, FreedomWorks, Club for Growth and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund.
The financial arm of the Tea Party Express — the Our Country Deserves Better PAC — has spent about $1.6 million in advertising and mailings in a handful of races, including $237,000 in Delaware. It pumped $588,000 into the GOP primary in Alaska to lift Miller over Murkowski.
The Tea Party Express' biggest investment has been in Nevada, where it has spent $790,000 on Angle's behalf. It also spent about $350,000 in Massachusetts to help Brown win.
—
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington and Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.

Big night for tea party: O'Donnell wins Delaware

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8Sep/10Off

Obama firm, won’t yield on tax hike for wealthiest

CLEVELAND -Politically weakened but refusing to bend, President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that Bush-era tax cuts be cut off for the wealthiest Americans, joining battle with Republicans — and some fellow Democrats — just two months before bruising midterm elections.
Singling out House GOP leader John Boehner in his home state, Obama delivered a searing attack on Republicans for advocating "the same philosophy that led to this mess in the first place: cut more taxes for millionaires and cut more rules for corporations."
Obama rolled out a trio of new plans to help spur job growth and invigorate the sluggish national economic recovery. They would expand and permanently extend a research and development tax credit that lapsed in 2009, allow businesses to write off 100 percent of their investments in equipment and plants through 2011 and pump $50 billion into highway, rail, airport and other infrastructure projects.
The package was assembled by the president's economic team after it became clear that the recovery was running out of steam. There was a political component, too: With Democrats in danger of losing control of the House in November, Obama is under heavy pressure to show voters that he and his party are ready to do more to get the economy moving and get millions of jobless Americans back to work.
However, none of Wednesday's proposals, nor Obama's call for allowing tax rates to rise for the wealthiest Americans, seems likely to be acted on by Congress before the elections, reflecting the battering Obama and congressional Democrats have taken in public opinion polls.
Obama made one of his strongest appeals yet to allow the tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush — in 2001 and 2003 — to expire at the end of the year on schedule, but just for individuals earning more than $200,000 annually or joint filers earning over $250,000. The changes would affect dividend and capital gains rates and various other tax benefits as well as income from wages and salaries.
The president's strategy — pushing for legislation to save some tax cuts but not all — carries its own risks. Since all the tax breaks would expire automatically at the end of the year if Congress failed to act, that could result in sweeping increases for taxpayers at every income level — a major blow to recovery hopes and a colossal dose of blame for voters to parcel out to lawmakers and the White House.
Some influential Democrats, and Obama's own former budget director, Peter Orszag, have suggested a compromise might be necessary — one to temporarily extend all the tax cuts, perhaps for a year or two — given the current election-year animosity between the two parties.
But in his remarks in Cleveland, Obama strongly signaled he wasn't about to sign off on any such deal.
"Let me be clear to Mr. Boehner and everyone else. We should not hold middle class tax cuts hostage any longer," the president said. The administration "is ready this week to give tax cuts to every American making $250,000 or less," he said. It was a slight misstatement of his own position, since the $250,000 would apply to household income. The threshold for individuals would be $200,000
White House officials said Cleveland was picked as the speech site expressly because Boehner, who probably would become House speaker if Republicans take back control of the chamber in November, laid out his party's economic agenda here in a fiery Aug. 24 speech.
At that time, the Ohio Republican called for Obama to fire key economic advisers and to support an extension of all the Bush tax cuts.
Boehner kept up the attack on Wednesday. "If the president is really serious about focusing on jobs, a good start would be taking the advice of his recently departed budget director and freezing all tax rates, coupled with cutting of federal spending to where it was before all the bailouts, government takeovers and `stimulus' spending sprees," he said after Obama spoke.
Earlier, Boehner was even more specific on ABC's "Good Morning America," saying Congress should freeze all tax rates for two years and pare back federal spending to 2008 levels. The deep recession began in December 2007.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs noted that keeping the Bush tax cuts in effect just for two more years would represent a change from past calls by Boehner to keep them in place permanently.
"My question for him is: Are they abandoning the permanent or are they going with the two-year plan? I've seen him saying permanent so many times that I tend to believe that," Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One. "That's his plan and I think that continues to be his plan."
Republicans, and some Democrats, argue that the fragile state of the economy makes this a poor time to raise taxes on anyone — and that increases could stifle wealthier people's appetite for spending.
Obama argued that the rich are more likely to save additional money than spend it. And he said the struggling U.S. economy can't afford to spend $700 billion to keep lower tax rates in place for the nation's highest earners.
That $700 billion is what the nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates it would cost the Treasury to continue tax cuts for top earners over 10 years. What Obama wants to do would cost just over $3 trillion over the same period, the panel estimates.
The debate over the Bush tax cuts is an unwelcome one for dozens of vulnerable Democratic incumbents just weeks before Election Day. Already, a handful of Democrats in conservative or swing districts, such as Reps. Gerry Connolly in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and Bobby Bright in southeastern Alabama, have come out publicly for extending all the cuts — at least temporarily.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., engaged in a tight re-election battle, said he "would not support additional spending in a second stimulus package" and that any new initiatives such as Obama's infrastructure package should be paid for with leftover funds in the $814 billion stimulus package passed last year.
Still other embattled Democrats, wary of alienating middle-class voters, are siding with Obama. In central Ohio, for example, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy has said the tax cuts for higher earners should be repealed but middle-income people should see no tax increases.
Obama acknowledged recovery had slowed noticeably, with unemployment hovering just under 10 percent.
"The middle class is still treading water, while those aspiring to reach the middle class are doing everything they can to keep from drowning," he said.
Polls have shown a steady slippage in Obama's approval ratings and an accompanying rise in Republican prospects for winning House and Senate seats in November. That has chipped away at Obama's leverage to get things done in Congress.
—
Tom Raum reported from Washington. AP Writers Stephen Ohlemacher and Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report.

Obama firm, won't yield on tax hike for wealthiest

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29Aug/10Off

W.Va. Gov. Manchin wins Dem primary for US Senate

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -Popular Gov. Joe Manchin won the Democratic nomination Saturday and will face GOP primary winner and wealthy businessman John Raese in the race to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Robert C. Byrd.
Raese defeated a crowded field of Republicans and becomes part of the GOP quest to dismantle the Democratic Senate majority, which they are clinging to as high unemployment and the slow economic recovery take a toll on their political prospects this fall.
In Louisiana, scandal-tainted Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter appeared poised for an easy primary victory over two little-known challengers. He has already been more focused on his likely November matchup with Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, who also had two primary opponents.
Vitter survived a 2007 prostitution scandal after he admitted an unspecified "serious sin" after his phone number appeared in the records of a Washington prostitution ring. He has also shrugged off fresh questions about his judgment in allowing an aide to remain on his staff for more than two years after a violent attack on a woman police identified as his ex-girlfriend.
With little competition from his own party, he and Melancon are engaged in a war of attack ads.
The campaign manager for Vitter's best-known primary opponent, retired state Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor, says Republicans encouraged Traylor to get into the race because they feared another scandal was lurking. But Vitter appeared strong against him and little-known Republican Nick Accardo.
The primary in West Virginia was hastily called after Byrd, a 92-year-old Democrat elected to a record ninth term in 2006, died June 28. The state Legislature decided on a primary date about two weeks later and gave candidates just four days to register and about a month to campaign.
Manchin's support from coal and utility industries — which have provided more than a quarter of the $1.2 million he has raised since declaring his candidacy last month — may help him overcome national GOP attempts to paint him as a liberal who will side with President Barack Obama's administration.
Obama lost West Virginia in 2008, and his energy and environmental policies are deemed anti-coal in the nation's second-largest coal producing state. Democrats desperately need to hold the Senate seat in West Virginia, a state that Republican nominee John McCain won handily with 56 percent of the vote.
The 60-year-old Raese, who lost to Byrd in 2006, has been pumping money into a television and radio ad campaign to bolster his name recognition and to declare he won't be a rubber stamp for Obama's agenda.
Raese owns a steel fabricating business, a limestone company and is part owner of a statewide radio network and Morgantown newspaper. He defeated recent U.S. House candidate Mac Warner and a pool of unknowns including a cement contractor, a certified public accountant, a substitute teacher's aide, a gas company supervisor, a lawyer and a few retirees.
Mountain Party candidate Jesse Johnson is also vying for the seat in November.
—
Associated Press Writer Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this report.

W.Va. Gov. Manchin wins Dem primary for US Senate

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25Aug/10Off

McCain wins renomination, novice shines in Fla.

WASHINGTON -Veteran Sen. John McCain sailed to nomination for a fifth term Tuesday over an Arizona challenger with tea party support, but big-spending political novice Rick Scott beat an insider in Florida's Republican gubernatorial primary as voters split on the merits of establishment candidates vs. outsiders.
In other big-name races, Rep. Kendrick Meek prevailed for Florida's Senate Democratic nomination over upstart Jeff Greene, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska hoped voters would reward political experience as she faced a spirited Republican primary challenge 10 weeks before the general election. She was in a surprisingly close race with about a third of the vote counted.
Nominating contests in five states — Vermont also was voting, and Oklahoma held GOP runoffs — highlighted dominant themes of this unpredictable election year, including anti-establishment anger and tea party challenges from the right. But the early results indicated that if there was a single pattern to the night, it may have been the lack of one.
Just two years after reaching the pinnacle of the GOP establishment as the party's presidential nominee, McCain found himself facing a stiff Senate primary challenge by ex-radio host and former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, who tried to tap into anti-Washington sentiment coursing through the electorate. So, McCain spent more than $20 million and aggressively cast Hayworth in a negative light.
It worked, and McCain, who has never lost a statewide race, comfortably won the Republican nod in his home state. He now enters the general election as the heavy favorite to win a fifth term.
"This was a tough, hard-fought primary," McCain said at a victory party — and he quickly looked to the fall campaign. "I promise you, I take nothing for granted and will fight with every ounce of strength and conviction I possess to make the case for my continued service in the Senate."
In the extraordinarily bitter GOP race for Florida governor, Scott's financial might and criticism of his opponent as a typical tax-raising politician proved too much for Bill McCollum, the state's attorney general and a former congressman with the support of national party leaders in Washington.
Scott, who made a fortune in the health care industry and spent $39 million of it blanketing the state with TV ads, will face Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer who sailed to the Democratic nomination. The race is certain to be one of the most hotly contested gubernatorial contests this fall.
Equally nasty was the Democratic Senate nomination fight in Florida. Meek toppled Greene, a big-spending real estate tycoon whose links to boxer Mike Tyson and former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss drew headlines. The four-term congressman will compete against Republican Marco Rubio, who easily secured the GOP nod, and Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican who is running as an independent, in November.
The general election campaign got under way immediately.
"Floridians want leaders who will fight for them all the time, not just when it helps their own political career or advances an extreme philosophy," Meek said after his victory, poking at both Crist and Rubio without naming them.
Crist, in turn, called for "independent leadership" and "not the same old partisan politicians who have brought the people's work to a halt." It was a not-so-subtle suggestion that his opponents were just that.
And the tea party-supported Rubio slapped at his rivals, saying: "If you like the direction that America is headed, if you think Washington is doing the right things, then there are two other people that are going to be on the ballot, and you should vote for one of them."
The tea party's clout was on the line in several states.
Like McCain, Murkowski of Alaska worked to overcome a challenge from a candidate backed by the fledgling coalition that questioned her conservative credentials. She faced Sarah Palin-endorsed Joe Miller, an attorney. And like McCain, Murkowski would virtually ensure her re-election with a primary victory; no Democrat is considered a serious challenger.
In Vermont, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, first elected in 1974, coasted to renomination for what is likely to be a new term in November. A five-way Democratic primary for Vermont governor was too close to call; the victor could win the seat currently held by a Republican.
Also Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, the Republican who signed the tough law designed to crack down on illegal immigration, cruised to nomination for a new term.
Tuesday's primaries played out before a backdrop of persistently high unemployment, voter disillusionment with Republicans and Democrats alike, and low job-performance standings for both Congress and President Barack Obama.
In previous contests earlier this year, voters have shown both a readiness to fire veteran lawmakers and a willingness to keep them.
The tea party has had mixed success. It won big in Nevada, Kentucky, Colorado and Utah GOP Senate contests but lost just about everywhere else.
But no matter Tuesday's outcomes, there was no question that the tea party has provided an enormous dose of enthusiasm to the GOP heading into the fall campaign. And that's dangerous for a dispirited Democratic base.
Arizona Republicans also held contested primaries to challenge incumbent Democratic Reps. Gabrielle Giffords, Ann Kirkpatrick and Harry Mitchell. And the House seat being vacated by retiring Republican Rep. John Shadegg attracted 10 Republican hopefuls, including Ben Quayle, son of former Vice President Dan Quayle.
In an indication of voter dissatisfaction in both parties, Florida Democratic Reps. Allen Boyd, Corrine Brown, Kathy Castor, Ron Klein and Suzanne Kosmas, and GOP Reps. Cliff Stearns and Vern Buchanan all faced primary challengers. But all the incumbents either secured their nominations or were on the verge of winning.

McCain wins renomination, novice shines in Fla.

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21Jul/10Off

Fired Ag worker mulls job offer after WH apology

WASHINGTON -The White House did a sudden about-face Wednesday and begged for forgiveness from the black Agriculture Department employee whose ouster ignited an embarrassing political firestorm over race. She was offered a "unique opportunity" for a new job and said she was thinking it over.
With lightning speed, the controversy moved from Monday's forced resignation of a minor U.S. Ag official in Georgia to Tuesday's urgent discussions at the White House amid a rising public outcry and then to Wednesday's repeated apologies and pleas for Shirley Sherrod to come back.
Sherrod said she resigned under White House pressure after the airing of a video of racial remarks she made at an NAACP gathering about events that transpired more than two decades ago. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said repeatedly on Wednesday that the decision had been his alone.
"I asked for Shirley's forgiveness and she was gracious enough to extend it to me," he said after reaching her by telephone.
Sherrod, in a phone interview with The Associated Press, said, "They did make an offer. I just told him I need to think about it."
The controversy threatened to grow into more than a three-day distraction for Obama's administration, with important midterm congressional elections nearing and partisan feelings already running high. President Barack Obama said nothing publicly about the developments while administration officials tried to simultaneously show his concern and to distance him from the original ousting.
It all began with the airing of a video on a conservative website of Sherrod's remarks about not doing all she could to help a white farmer. After she was told to resign — with the NAACP declaring its approval — the situation grew more complicated when the rest of the edited video was released by the NAACP and Sherrod insisted her remarks were about reconciliation, not the stoking of racism.
By Wednesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was apologizing to Sherrod "for the entire administration" and saying that officials did not know all the facts when she was fired and should have investigated more. He said he didn't know if the president would talk to Sherrod himself.
The president had been briefed, Gibbs said, and "he talked about the fact that a disservice had been done, an injustice had happened and, because the facts had changed, a review of the decision based on those facts should be taken."
Said Vilsack, who also met with the Congressional Black Caucus, "This is a good woman. She's been put through hell. ... I could have done and should have done a better job."
"Shirley and I talked about a unique opportunity at USDA," he said. "With all that she has seen, endured and accomplished, it would be invaluable to have her experience, commitment and record of service at USDA. I hope she considers staying with the department."
"I accept the apology," Sherrod said on CNN after watching Gibbs talk to reporters on television. But she said the apology took too long.
Sherrod, appointed to her job last July, was asked to resign after conservative bloggers posted a video of her saying she didn't initially give a white farmer as much help as she could have 24 years ago, when she was working for a farmers' aid group. Sherrod said she used the story in her speech to the NAACP to promote racial reconciliation and that the edited video distorted her remarks.
Like the administration, the NAACP reversed its stance on Sherrod and called for her to be rehired.
The incident was the latest in a series of race-related brouhahas to garner national attention since Obama became the nation's first black chief executive.
A year ago, Obama convened a "beer summit" at the White House between a black Harvard scholar and the white police sergeant who arrested him after a confrontation at the black man's home. The president also faced criticism over nominating to the Supreme Court judge Sonia Sotomayor, who had once remarked on the virtues of having a "wise Latina" on the bench. And there are complaints about the Justice Department's handling of allegations that New Black Panther Party members threatened voters at a Philadelphia polling place on the day Obama was elected.
Black leaders piled on Wednesday in criticizing Sherrod's ouster. The Rev. Jesse Jackson called on the administration to apologize and give Sherrod her job back. The Congressional Black Caucus, with 42 members of Congress, called for Sherrod to be reinstated immediately.
However, the Rev. Al Sharpton said black leaders should refrain from calling for an apology from the Obama administration, saying that creates the impression that black leadership is fractured. "We are only greasing the rails for the right wing to run a train through our ambitions and goals for having civil and human rights in this country," Sharpton said.
The episode comes as the NAACP and the conservative tea party group have been trading charges of racism.
The two-minute, 38-second clip posted Monday by BigGovernment.com was presented as evidence that the NAACP was hypocritical in its recent resolution condemning what it calls racist elements of the tea party. The website's owner, Andrew Breitbart, said the video shows the civil rights group condoning the same kind of racism it says it wants to erase. BigGovernment.com is the same outfit that gained notice last year after airing video of workers at the community group ACORN counseling actors posing as a prostitute and her pimp.
In the clip posted on BigGovernment.com, Sherrod described the first time a white farmer came to her for help. It was 1986, and she worked for a nonprofit rural farm aid group. She said the farmer came in acting "superior" to her and she debated how much help to give him.
"I was struggling with the fact that so many black people had lost their farmland, and here I was faced with helping a white person save their land," Sherrod said.
Initially, she said, "I didn't give him the full force of what I could do" and only gave him enough help to keep his case progressing. Eventually, she said, his situation "opened my eyes" that whites were struggling just like blacks, and helping farmers wasn't so much about race but was "about the poor versus those who have."
The story moved from the Internet to Fox News Channel on Monday night. Host Bill O'Reilly showed a brief portion of Sherrod's speech where she talked about withhholding "the full force" of her efforts.
"Wow," O'Reilly said after the clip aired. "That is simply unacceptable and Ms. Sherrod must resign. The federal government cannot have skin color deciding any assistance." Fox's Sean Hannity aired the same short snippet of Sherrod's speech and said that "this was racist."
"This was at an NAACP dinner and this was racist," Hannity said.
By Wednesday, Fox's focus shifted to accusing the Obama administration of rushing to judgment.
People who knew Sherrod were quick to defend her, including the wife of the white farmer whom she discussed in the speech.
"We probably wouldn't have (our farm) today if it hadn't been for her leading us in the right direction," said Eloise Spooner of Iron City, Ga. "I wish she could get her job back because she was good to us, I tell you."
In the full 43-minute video, Sherrod tells the story of her father's death in 1965, saying he was killed by white men who were never charged. She says she made a commitment to stay in the South the night of her father's death, despite the dreams she had always had of leaving her rural town.
"When I made that commitment I was making that commitment to black people and to black people only," she said. "But you know God will show you things and he'll put things in your path so that you realize that the struggle is really about poor people."
Sherrod said officials showed no interest in listening to her explanation when she was asked to resign. She said she was on the road Monday when USDA deputy undersecretary Cheryl Cook called her and told her to pull over and submit her resignation on her Blackberry because the White House wanted her out.
"It hurts me that they didn't even try to attempt to see what is happening here, they didn't care," Sherrod said.
—
Online:
Full video posted by NAACP:
http://tinyurl.com/23jqz95

Fired Ag worker mulls job offer after WH apology

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