Productive Congress?

This article talks about how Congress has actually been productive, even though it may not be obvious. The reason for this is because they accomplished quite a bit with just one bill, and essentially took care of a fare amount of business real quick. This is pretty interesting since there isn't much bipartisanship going on in Congress these days.

Obama Faces the GOP

This is an interesting article and clip about President Obama trying to "reach across the isle" to Republican congressmen just days after giving his State of the Union address. It's funny, at least in the movie clip, to see how friendly the congressmen are when they shake Obama's hand at the end...

-Chris Jenkins-

Interesting process for selecting a candidate

I thought it was interesting how this "progressive" group is searching for a candidate to replace an incumbent Democratic Congressman.

Just checking

just wanted to insure this is set up..

moderate stance issues

This sounds like what we were talking about in class, how does congress get it's collective act together. Moderate stance here sounds like a huge problem for the Dem's considering the up-coming mid term elections. This article from the Wall Street Journal Illustrates the issues surrounding both houses and within the Democratic Party. What is interesting is the differences between the houses and the party.

RNC Considering Ideological Purity Test

As we discussed in class today, there can be conflicts between moderate members of a party and those who are firmly liberal/conservative.

Recently we have seen Democrats struggle to find consensus between the more conservative blue dog Democrats and liberal Democrats while working on health care reform.

The Republicans are also dealing with this debate. This New York Times blog discusses how the Republican National Committee was considering a purity resolution that would force those seeking Republican support to undergo a test to prove that they are conservative enough for the party.

Is Wisconsin Warming up with a Top Tier Challenger?

As one can see in the polls, weak challengers have not polled well in past months when considering a race for Senate against Sen. Russ Feingold. However, when considering Tommy Thompson as a challenger, polls indicate that the Republican, former-governor may have the name recognition needed to give Feingold a heated battle for the Senate seat in 2010. While Thompson has not announced a run for Senate, according to an interview with Politico.com, he has not ruled it out.

This is a very interesting topic when considering the quality of challengers and 2010 Midterms.

Welcome to Spring

It's 2010. Time to get ready for the midterm elections. More soon.