#rsrh My personal recommendations for the TX Primaries.

The primary is today in Texas, and as the title says: I have some suggestions for you.  I’m putting them here because although I do not expect that RedState would particularly object to the first two, I am in point of fact making a recommendation in a Democratic primary, and RS has a policy of not helping out liberal Democrats unless we really, really need to.

Anyway: Continue reading #rsrh My personal recommendations for the TX Primaries.

#rsrh Noticed something interesting about these RCP race rankings.

Essentially, that they’re not really all that, well, volatile.  Here’s a partisan breakdown of what RCP considers to be the most at-risk House and Senate races:

10 15 25
D R D R D R
House 4 6 7 8 12 13
Senate 7 3 11 4

RCP also ranks this year’s gubernatorial elections, but there are only eleven of them anyway (thus making a Top Ten list kind of meaningless).  So, let’s look at the Congressional results: Continue reading #rsrh Noticed something interesting about these RCP race rankings.

RS at CPAC: Sarah Steelman (R CAND, MO-SEN PRI).

Sarah Steelman is one of the candidates running for the Republican nomination for Senate in Missouri – which is, of course, a prime nomination to have, considering that sitting Senate Claire McCaskill is widely expected to be a prominent member of the next wave of Democratic politicians slated to die the political True Death for the greater glory of Obamacare.  We spoke for a bit at CPAC about the race, and about the fact that it was Sarah’s first CPAC:

Sarah’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

RS at CPAC: Ted Cruz (R CAND, TX-SEN PRI).

Ted Ctuz is an old friend of RedState, of course: so we made sure to spend a couple of minutes talking about the race, how the ongoing redistricting dispute in Texas is making everybody’s elections difficult, and about CPAC generally.  And if you’re wondering why a Texas federal Senate race would be affected by redistricting, it’s because nobody really wants to have three primary dates this year.  Anyway, we chatted for a bit:

Ted’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

RS at CPAC: Richard Mourdock (R CAND, IN-SEN PRI).

This particular interview with Richard – we’ve talked with him before about the race – is of interest for another reason: Dave Weigel of Slate happened to reference it in his day-in-the-life article about Richard Mourdock at CPAC.  I don’t have any actual beef with Weigel’s reporting of anything that I was involved with – I did ask those questions, more or less, and I was ready to get started on the entire interview rodeo – but it may prove instructive to see the difference between the interview, and the way Dave described it.  Nothing pernicious, but interesting.

Said interview is below:

…and Richard’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

RS at CPAC: Dan Bongino (R CAND, MD-SEN PRI).

One of the interesting things about CPAC is, of course, that you can meet a whole lot of different candidates.  Below was my conversation with Dan Bongino, who is a former US Secret Service agent now running for Senate in Maryland against Ben Cardin – and if you don’t remember who Ben Cardin is, don’t worry. Cardin’s an amazingly generic Senator who, on his good days, aspires to be as memorable as Herb Kohl.

Anyway, Dan and I talked a bit about CPAC and the race below:

Dan’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

President Obama to flip-flop on recess appointment?

CNN is just now reporting that the President plans to recess appoint Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Such a recess appointment was previously assumed to be impossible, given that: the assumed minimum length of time is three days; and the Senate is deliberately meeting every two days in order to prevent recess appointments during that time period.  The Hill helpfully notes (via @RBPundit) that the three-day limit is actually from the Clinton era: they also note that Obama’s then Solicitor General noted the three-day rule during Supreme Court arguments (Politico gives the case as being New Process Steel, L.P. v National Labor Relations Board).  That his administration is now going to reverse themselves on this should come as a surprise to nobody; neither should it be a surprise that this administration apparently has absolutely no awareness whatsoever that their actions will have consequences that will make Democrats curse this White House for the next thirty years.

That’s pretty much it, except for one final note: ever hear of “unanimous consent,” Mr. President?  No?  Well, you will.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

 

Keystone showdown looms: is Harry Reid a Senator, or Barack Obama’s Lap Dog?

Here’s the background: the current hot topic of conversation in domestic politics right now is whether or not to extend a temporary payroll tax cut.  It’s currently an object of some controversy on the GOP side, largely because it would involve effectively another 180 billion in spending; Democrats were in fact kind of gleeful about that, given that it promised to give Republicans a bit of a problem between specifically choosing between less spending and lower taxes (two things that have been long-term fiscal conservative goals).  Unfortunately for the Democrats, they aren’t the only ones that can give their opponents uncomfortable choices: Speaker John Boehner made a deal where the tax cuts would be bundled up with provisions towards hastening the development of the ethical oil Keystone Pipeline.  This reportedly will ensure that the tax cuts will pass the House.

The problem here is that the White House has decided that it would rather pander to homophobic, racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, and anti-democratic conflict oil regimes abroad – and those regimes’ radical progressive allies at home – than to produce jobs for working class Americans (even the ones that work for private sector unions).  The White House has thus announced that it will veto the bill (via @davidhauptmann) if it passes the Keystone jobs program language.  Speaker Boehner has already made it clear that he’s aware of the threat, and is not allowing it to affect House business. Continue reading Keystone showdown looms: is Harry Reid a Senator, or Barack Obama’s Lap Dog?

Cloture vote today on gun-grabbing, pro-lifer-hating Caitlin Halligan.

I got tipped this one by the Rick Perry campaign: surprised that I didn’t see this before.  Halligan is up for a judicial appointment to the US Circuit Court of Appeals for DC, and she’s… well, read [for some reason, the link didn’t work the first time]:

Ms. Halligan’s confirmation has been vigorously opposed by the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, and Committee for Justice. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously rejected her confirmation earlier this year. In 2003, as Solicitor General of New York, Halligan attempted to hold gun manufacturers liable for criminal acts committed with handguns. She filed briefs in federal court arguing for the unconstitutionality of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which the National Rifle Association described as providing “essential protection…for the Second Amendment rights of honest Americans[.]”

Halligan also filed an amicus brief in arguing that federal RICO laws should be used against pro-life groups. She repeatedly attempted to hijack the federal court system in order to impose her own political beliefs on the general public.

Halligan’s hostility to civil rights and life issues is in fact fairly well-documented; and the cloture vote is todayCall your Senator if you want him or her to stand tough on this one.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

RS Interview: Gary Glenn (R CAND, MI-SEN Primary).

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to speak with Gary Glenn, who is president of the American Family Association of Michigan and one of the primary candidates in next year’s Senate race in Michigan against sitting Senator Debbie Stabenow.  Gary is actively seeking the Tea Party vote and has been endorsed by Mike Huckabee: we spoke with him for a bit on the race.

Gary Glenn’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)