House takes a swing at healthcare law and extends student loan rates"Member of the of Congress took the high road on Friday to extends the low interest rates on subsidized student loans for another year but pays for that extension by killing a piece of the 2010 healthcare law, which prompted a veto threat from President Obama before the vote. Congress approved the Interest Rate Reduction Act in a 215-195 vote, this is one of the few time that a bill pass the House without truly getting a majority vote.
Although many Republicans came under fire by some conservative groups who believes that the government should stay out of the student loan business allowing it to be controlled by private industries, those Republicans and Democrats who voted for the bill had to put more emphasis on the interest of student instead of the status quot who they usually put ahead of everything. I think they did the right thing for millions of students across this great nation who will be owing twice as much in students loans than students in previous decade

Money, Love, and Congress

We’ve talked a bit about and around super PACs a few times this semester, often in reference to the Republican presidential nomination contest. Ezra Klein argues that super PACs might have their biggest influence in congressional elections:

Just as youth is wasted on the young, money is wasted on the rich. Money is least useful in contests where news coverage is most intense and opinions are most entrenched. How many people do you know who still aren’t sure what they think of Obama? Or are undecided about Romney? Probably not many.

But how many people do you know with a strong opinion on their congressman? Or on his or her challenger? Do you even have a strong opinion on your congressman? That’s the kind of “low- information” race where money can have a big impact.

Relationships

How close are Representatives to their constituents? Representative Tim Johnson of Illinois calls his constituents and talks to them personally. Calling one by one he averages about 4,000 a year. Johnson makes his own rules and tries to understand where the people are coming from.  He says, “I came to the conclusion that the problem with government is that they were too out of touch with people and had very little individual relationships.” This brings around to the idea of Fenno’s article “U.S. House Members in Their Constituencies: An Exploration” talks about the constituency, here we see that Johnson has an emotional and personal relationship with some of his constituents and this would help him get re-elected. Although he is retiring this year, he will not give up the relationship he has built until he is out of office.

Hello, Illinois

Student Loans and Attempts to Stop a Rate Increase

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/223757-house-to-vote-on-student-loans

This is an interesting article especially as students.  I know many of us are taking federal loans for our education and if you have been paying attentions rates are set to jump us to 6.8% late this summer.  It looks like an issue that can be workable for the currently split government.  I believe most leaders of either ideology believe that low cost student loans should be available to students so I wonder how quickly this will get resolved and it seems a great chance for credit taking.  Using funds from healthcare reforms "slush fund," may have an impact on future moves with Obamacare perhaps?  Interesting.

On John Edwards

Lawyers for the federal government are then expected to begin their case, arguing that nearly a million dollars that two wealthy donors gave to Mr. Edwards constitute illegal campaign contributions and were not, as he has claimed, aid from friends trying to help him hide an affair from his wife.

and

The government’s case is simple: Mr. Edwards knowingly accepted the money from the two donors and used it to keep information from the public that would have surely torpedoed his presidential campaign. Thus, the money was a campaign contribution and its use a conspiracy.

Edwards has been indicted on 6 felony counts (none of which are perjury):

• a conspiracy to accept and receive illegal payments
• false reports to the Federal Election Commission
• four counts of contributions which were in excess of federal limits

Senate

The struggles and hold-ups that have been keeping lawmakers from coming to agreement with a discretionary budget that would cut domestic and foreign aid by 28 billion. The House's decision to break away from the appropriations target has made things harder but with the support of key Republicans it is allowing the process to drudge on.

Senate gets bi-partisan

$ in politics

article

This article (see above link) is about how lobbying had generally went down this quarter, but 8 of the "biggest of the big lobbying powers"went over what they have ever spent ever. One company mentioned was Google. Google was in the mid 2000s a mid range lobbying power but now are considered "elite."The article also noted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Allen West (FL-22) Web Style

Allen West (FL-22) Web Style

Florida Congressman Allen West Web style      

·          http://west.house.gov/ : A mix of national and local, Blue color scheme

Allen West for U.S. Congress

·         http://www.allenwestforcongress.com/ : Focuses on national issues, Grey/Yellow Color Scheme

Florida Senator Marco Rubio Web Style

·         http://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/ : Some local issues but mostly focuses on national issues, Blue/grey color scheme

Florida Senator Bill Nelson Web Style

·         http://billnelson.senate.gov/ : Almost entirely national focused, with “Florida News” as local, Blue color scheme

Congressman West’s official U.S. House page falls into a mixed category based on the Gulati article. At the tope there is a banner that reads Congressman Allen West Representing the 22^nd District of Florida with himself superimposed over the Florida coastline. This is followed by access of social media such as facebook, youtube, twitter and flicker. His page is then sectioned off into Media, Constituent Services, Committees & Legislation, and Contact Me which includes a map of the Florida district. He links to national issues such as Health Care and the debt as well as local issues and photos from local events and meetings. West does not paint himself as an insider or outsider on this website. Allen West does have a personal website that is being used for campaign for reelection. It focus is mostly on hot button national issues such as the economy and national Health Care. The site also of course focuses on gaining help for the campaign and getting donations.

                Both of West’s web pages stay neutral and even use colors I have never seen before such as grey and yellow. Compared to the Florida Senate websites of Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), West’s also matches those websites in both style and mix of national and local issues. I would say that both Senator Bill Nelson’s and Senator Marco Rubio’s sites focuses on national issues much more on National issues then local issues. Allen West’s pages as well as Marco Rubio’s are definitely more engaging and interactive then Bill Nelson’s as they have slideshows and photo galleries then provide additional information to constituents. It seems that in Florida, despite the typical Red color scheme used by Republicans, blue and grey are standard issue for both Republicans and Democrats.  Both Senate pages have images of the Senators in meetings giving more of an insider feel to them while West’s focuses on local meeting and events.  

This leads me to believe that Florida prefers an image of neutrality on colors, since none really kept with the typical color schemes, and wanted to show some kind of a balance between national and local issues. Allen West’s sites avoided images of him in meeting in Washington and focused more on local and state issues so as to not convey he’s a Washing ton insider. I also find it worth mentioning that Allen West’s web site is similar to Marco Rubio’s in many ways and I feel he covers and appeals to voters on many of the same issues, so perhaps a path to Senate it something West has in mind.

Latham Makes a $1.5 Milliion T.V. Purchase

The Hill says this reserve of air time is a reflection of the power of newly spawned Super Pacs but as we have talked about this could be a reflection that he is running against a strong opponent. The Hill also missed the theory of diminishing returns for an incumbent. It would be interesting to do the same analysis for Latham's new district as I did with the 4th to see if this new district is really a "swing" district. The 4th had been called competetive but my research has found the voting record in house races very partisan.

House clears highway bill with pipeline mandate, thwarts Obama

House Republican defies the White House veto threat and pass a legislation to extend funding for the Keystone XL pipeline until Sept. Although president Obama already Vail to use his veto power, House Republican and some Democrats get together in support of the legislation. Because major bill most be pass with bi-partisan support, House republican see this measure as a winner strategy to present their case to voter. Also member who voted in favor of the bill is on record and if president veto the bill which I think he will, Republican can argue that the president is out of touch with American who are paying high price for gasoline

House Republicans continue to demand greater transparency from the White House even though it has been more than three years into Obama Presidency. To me those demand are all about the
Republican party tying to frame the president in a negative way to score some political point. This is a prime example of how our leaders have become so polarize with party Id instead of trying to make the lives of people who voted them into office better.
 I am very disappointed to that member of Congress spend much of their time trying to win political points instead of working together to solve the country problem, I say this because if member of Congress give the Obama administration C- when it came to providing government documents to the public, what grade would they give to the previous administration D+ or D-? The previous  administration wasn't any better.

Republicans Dangle a Highway Bill to Get Another Shot at the Keystone

The House passed a Highway Bill that will extend funding through September but they have tied it to the Keystone XL pipeline which Pres. Obama has promised to veto. According to the article the bill passed with bi-partisan support therefore House Republicans see this as a 3rd dimension to add to the debate and try to push a wedge issue into the Democratic Party. If House Dems support the bill then the Pres. is just out of touch in theory and if the Pres. were to sign a bill with the Keystone in it this would turn off a lot of the Democratic base which views environmental issues as very meaningful. Interesting move, personally I am almost 100% that Pres. Obama will veto this piece of legislation. It would appear that many Dems in the House got on board because they want to see the bill in a Senate House conference.

Disagreements over future tax bill within Republican Party

Since August, when the budget difficulties really started to hit the fan, I have seen several articles that hint at the possibility that freshman Republican MCs are putting ideology before re-election.  This creates an interesting party dynamic that might cause difficulty in building voting coalitions between moderate and extreme fiscal conservatives.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75275.html

Just Another Political Science Convention

James Warren covered this past weekend's Midwest Political Science Association annual meeting for The Atlantic and summarizes some interesting research.

Redistricted? Yes. Re-Stated? Maybe.

Washington state Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz:

Dennis Kucinich has to decide what his legacy is going to be. Will he be remembered as a principled member of Congress or the narcissist who lost two Congressional races in two states the same year?

Meanwhile, Dennis Kucinich claims that voters are "urging [him] to run."

A great many other members of Congress have simply chosen to retire.

Polarization of Parties

Thought this was an interesting article and similar to what we went over in class covering the political polarization of current politics. Charting data in the computer and then analyzing trends both parties are on two sides of the extremes which makes compromising on important issues harder

Polarization

More Push for the Buffet Rule

In this video, Obama speaks out in support of the Buffet tax rule and urges Congress to as well. He notes it is time for a change away from "trickle" down economics and into something better for the people. I wonder what the outcome will be? Will this be voted in by Congress?

In Wisconsin The Lines Have Been Re-Drawn

Re; Re-districting

Federal judges re-drew the lines for the south side of Milwaukee's Assembly Districts 8 & 9. Last month a three-judge panel ruled that the maps crafted by Republican lawmakers violated the voting rights of Latinos. To dilute their voting power, Latino voters were divided into two Assembly districts, instead of being concentrated into one district where they could have more influence on an election.  Republican lawmakers continue to assert their re-disticting maps are fair.

Allen West is Calling Names Again

Today Republican Congressman Allen West called about 80 members of the House in the Democratic party "card-carrying Marxists." I am unsure of what West's motivations are, perhaps he felt that his constituency back at home in Florida would enjoy some hardline red meat conservative comments? At this stage of the game all the House Democrats could be Communists but while in the minority it really should not matter to West or anyone else who understands how the legislative process works.

The portion of this artice that I enjoyed the most and made me laugh was the section where CNN decided to get a statement from the Communist Party of the USA chair! lol What is she going to say? "Yes Mr. Reporter, everyone of them is a Pinko Commie Bastard."??? Silly season in reporting.

Budget/Keeping the House

Obama's budget plan for $3.6 trillion was unanimously voted down by both Republicans and Democrats 414 - 0. With Obama's approving ratings down could this be Democrats attempt to not lose the House? With the upcoming elections the districts that Democrats have to either maintain or win back are in the air with Obama's lack of likability I believe having an effect on them.

House Easily Rejects Obama Budget

Rick Santorum drop out of the Republican race for the White House

I was really surprise that Rick Santorum drop out of the Republican race for the White House so early, I guest he felt that his chances of getting the number of delegates needed to win the Republican primary wasn't  possible base on the math, therefore the best he could do to preserved his political future is leaving the race with some dignity. I think he did the right for his political future considering how the second running always become the favorite in the next presidential circle.    

Spencer Bachus Web-Style

Spencer Bachus (AL – 6) Web Style

Gulati Home Page Webstyle

            Spencer Bachus

·      Bachus.house.gov – Mixed of national and local

·      Spencerbachus.com – Neutral

Richard Shelby (Alabama Senator)

·      Shelby.senate.gov – Mixed of national and local

Jeff Sessions (Alabama Senator)

·      Sessions.senate.gov - Local

Congressman Bachus’ official house website definitely falls into the mixed category according to Gulati’s article.  On the top left are: a picture of a plantation-style home and the official seal of Alabama.  Flanking the title, on the right, is a picture of Spencer himself super-imposed over The Capital building.  The rest of the main page includes links to many of Bachus’ issue positions and a widget that allows the user to view a Google map of the boundaries to Alabama’s 6^th district.  A moving slideshow dominates the main page, which includes photos and links involving Spencer Bachus' activities. These photos are a mix of both DC images and local images.  A menu near the top of the page does provide a list of constituency services under the heading “Helping You”.  Bachus is neither portraying himself as an insider or an outsider with this webpage.

      Bachus does not have an obvious personal website.  His Twitter account only lists bachus.house.gov in the links section.  The only other website I was able to find, that was not overtly run by a PAC, was www.spencerbachus.com.  Although this is a re-election website, it appears, at least at first glance, to be run by Bachus’ campaign manager.  This website falls strictly under Gulati’s neutral imagery category.  The only images are a picture of Spencer dressed in business-casual attire set to a backdrop of the American flag.   The links from the main page all appeared to be efforts to either elicit help with the campaign or to increase re-election constituency support.  For example, several articles were about endorsements won by Bachus and at least one was an article stating that a judge did not believe Bachus violated any laws concerning his ongoing insider trading investigation.

Both of Bachus' websites take a very neutral stance on the insider/outsider continuum.  Additionally, both websites are not dominated by the red Republican colors that one might suspect for a congressman that represents an exceptionally conservative district.  This trend of neutrality seems to be consistent with Alabama Senator Richard Shelby.  Shelby’s Senate webpage has a large Alabama state flag as his background, but at the same time the foreground shows a picture, stamped with the seal of the United States, of Shelby sitting inside The Capital building.  Jeff Sessions’ website however, is very skewed towards local/state “outsider” imagery.  The masthead includes a massive picture of what I am assuming is the USS Alabama.  The first link on his navigation bar is to “Constituent Services”, and the only other major images are Sessions posing with some construction workers and the seal of Alabama.  Session’s official site, unlike the other two Republicans Bachus and Shelby, is dominated by a red color scheme.  Interestingly, Sessions is the only one of the three whose Twitter avatar is not a portrait.  It is instead what appears to be his Senate seat, which would qualify as an “insider” image.

In conclusion, representatives of Alabama generally seem to prefer a balance between outsider and insider imagery.  Gulati’s findings seemed to suggest that Republicans do not favor insider or outsider, so these websites are consistent with that finding.  Bachus is doing a good job emulating Alabama’s Senators, should his intention be to one day attempt to reach for the next level.

Battle for Senate??

Is it possible that the Republican party can win back the Senate? Republicans think that it is a possibility and know that taking control is critical.

The Battle for Senate

Political ads distorting their opponent actual words

This political ads ran by Democrat incumbents Alan Grayson campaign against Republican challenger Daniel Webster for the 8th Congressional district in Florida 2010 midterm election during a time when the Democrats were facing a political catastrophes especially incumbents and anyone associated with the Democrats. Rep. Alan Grayson completely distorted his Republican Challenger Daniel Webster words saying we had a radical Taliban agenda that he wanted to imposed on American which was not true. He also said that Challenger Daniel Webster wants to make divorce illegal, prohibit alimony to adulterous wife, voted to deny abuse women health care and their right to divorce their abusers, force abuse women to have their children's whether rape or not.
Daniel actual word was to his wife telling her not to pick the word in the Bible that say she should summit to him, but she should pick the once she can do. Also as regard to the freedom we enjoyed today he said it is not actually free because many lost their lives for us to have such freedom, but his words were taking out of context earning top place in the Worst political ads of 2010.  He is right about everything he said, I don't why political parties often used their opponent wrongly for political gain, but it work.

http://youtu.be/YLVhttp://youtu.be/YLVCR05VdDA

analysis from Rep. John Olver and Senator John Kerry

The official websits for Rep. John W. Oliver and Senator John Kerry are compeletly different, although both individuals represents the citizens of Massachusetts at the federal level. Rep. John W.Olver website which says "proudly serving the people of Massachusetts 1st district" is very personal. These word are very specific targerting the people of the 1st district because they are the people he represent in Congress. The use of such logo allowed rep. John W. Olver to show some personal connection to his district and to those whom he serve.  Although he is an elected mrmber from the state of Massachusetts, he has more to gain from the 1st district then the rest of the state therefore he most have personal connections with those he represent if he want to stay in office. Also his website show disrtict one as the focus point and his homestyle shows him speaking to people in small town in district 1, not the entire state.
Nevertheless, Senator John Kerry offical website is very broad showing that he represents the entire state of Massachusetts. He dose not have the luxuries to campaign in only one district on his website like rep. John Oliver because every citizens of Massachusetts are his constituencies. His website is very broad because it most appeal to all his voters. His homestyle shows him talking to people across the ststes.

          

Chris Murphy's Webstyle

Chris Murphy is definitely trying to illustrate his strong home style on his website. The congressman from Connecticut posts pictures of himself with scenic, nature backgrounds from the Connecticut area while also showing himself being more hands on with his approach to the working class in his district. There are pictures of him with the working man, with children and doesn't really show any Washington photo's. There is an emphasis on representing the 5th district as appose to representing a general party in the government. 

The two members of the Senate from Connecticut are Joe Lieberman (who is retiring) and Richard Blumenthal. I found Lieberman's site to be a little vain and also slightly boring. Every image that pulls up on the Lieberman website is a close up of the Senator with random gestures on his face (from laughing to his serious tough face). It would appear he wants an image of the Big Man in the White House getting things done as appose to being a Connecticut guy.

Blumenthal, on the other hand, has a definitive man in Washington appeal to his website. Though his website goes on to mention payroll tax cuts in Connecticut there is much imagery of the Senator in Washington as appose to his home state.

I would also like to rank the three men in the category of, "How much Blue is on their homepage"

1. Leiberman (boat loads of blue)

2. Blumenthal (enough blue to prove a point)

3. Chris Murphy (believes in brown)

All and all it seems Murphy has an agenda of working with the middle class and making it an important issue. Lieberman has a much bigger agenda such as the stance on Iran and don't ask don't tell policies. Blumenthal is more concerned with the lowering of taxes and apparently is against on line piracy which loses me.

Blumenthal also has the most boring website with Lieberman having a well crafted homepage that is the easiest to access and surf.

Take the Money and Run for Office

Last week Ira Glass's This American Life devoted it's entire program to the United States campaign finance system focusing on congressional elections. Some of the episode contains data analysis performed by a political scientist (Lee Drutman), a nod toward the much welcomed trend of data journalism. Results of the data analysis are interspersed with clips of members of Congress telling stories which support the results. It's a powerful discussion. The episode wraps up with a joint interview of John McCain and Russ Feingold talking about their disgust with Citizens United.

The podcast version of the radio broadcast is available to stream at the link above and I recommend listening to the whole thing. It is worth your time. The This American Life blog has also posted an extended version of the McCain-Feingold segment along with a transcript.

female insiders and outsiders

What was interesting to me about Gulati's research on politician's websites was the observation of more female democratic politicians having the "outsider" style of website where as republican female politicians tended to have more of the "insider" style. 

I am researching Jackie Speier of California's 12th district for my project so I scanned her website for the outsider style since she is a Dem and it was very apparent. Local pictures and images that aren't "national" were everywhere to be found. I decided to continue comparing her website to other female Democrats and had similar findings.

I then briefly researched female republican representatives from California for the "insider" website style and was surprised at my findings. I couldn't necessarily tell GOPs and Dems a part by their website. The female republican representatives I browsed had mostly local images, few having anything directly relating to Washington.

This was very interesting to me since it went against Gulati to a certain extent, but then again I only did a very small comparison. Below, links to various female democratic and republican leaders are included.

DEMS

Doris Matsui her site

Lynn W. her site

Nancy Pelosi her site

Barbra Lee her site

Jackie Speier her site

Anna G. Eshoo her site

Zoe Lofgren her site

GOP

Mary Bono Mack her site

Connie Conway her site

Shannon Grove her site

Linda Halderman her site

Diane Harky her site

Simple is Good: Jared Huffman

This is an ad for Jared Huffman who is running for the open 2nd Congressional district in California. This ad stood out to me for it's simplicity. He is standing in front of a beautiful Harbor which plays into "home-style" campaigning. There aren't any gimmicks, just him, a clean blue shirt and the harbor. He talks about the importance of job creation, ending wars and reducing the deficit. The "zooming in" from 0:17-0:23 seconds and 5:01-5:08 is nice dramatic touch.

Marcy Kaptur's Web Style

The home page of Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kapturs’s official website is fairly dull and boring. She uses national images; she is pictured in a dull blue suit with the Capitol building in Washington, and a flag blowing in the wind behind her. The US. House of Representatives seal is in the corner. Her official website conveys the image that Marcy is all business. This goes along with Guliatis findings about how women, Democrats, as well senior members of congress, all qualities that pertain to Mrs. Kaptur, will often present themselves as insiders. Marcy’s campaign website is more colorful, red, white and blue, but mostly blue. Marcy is even wearing a pink suit, and the only symbol used is a flag. Official Website

Schock's Presentation of Self

Aaron Schock's website most definitely portrays a local representation or "Washington Outsider."  A visitor to the website is immediately met with a wallpaper background of Schock dressed casually in a cornfield (complete with a wind turbine) interacting with a presumable constituent.  As Gulati depicts, Schock's website is consistent with the majority of Republican web presentations.  Schock's site remains relatively neutral as far as images and color scheme, but in a district that hasn't elected a democrat in almost 80 years I don't think he is too worried about it.http://aaronschock.com/

Ed Perlmutter's Website

Gulati describes there congressman can be grouped into three groups national, local, or neutral. Ed Perlmutter’s website has a more local look to it but he does slip some national feel to it as well. The first impression Perlmutter makes that he wants to hear the people and wants to help. He shares in his pictures that he cares about his constituents. Showing pictures with families and different groups of individuals.  His Website also shows that he has an outsider feel to it having the back of the people within his district before Washington. The page show that his ideology is democrat by the color it is blue.  The page also lets people navigate in getting to know their representative and showing them that he wants to help.
Ed Perlmutter

Bachmann and MN Senators Web Style

http://bachmann.house.gov/

Michelle Bachmann’s web page surprised in several ways. One in the way that it only includes very little red in the color scheme and includes much more yellow and a purple like color. I was thinking this may be an attempt to use the local sports teams color to make the website seem less political and more that Bachmann is just another average Minnesotan. Every single one of her photos and videos right now is about her public stance on how terrible she believes “Obamacare” is. There is also a direct link on the front page to the tea party caucus and shows her Tea Party movement affiliation.

http://www.franken.senate.gov/

Al Franken’s website includes a color scheme closer tied to the Democratic party and is laid out very similar to the Star Tribune’s (the Minneapolis-St. Paul newspaper) website. Al’s website focuses more on what Al’s done as Senator it appears than what he opposes or supports with Obama.

http://klobuchar.senate.gov/

Amy Klobuchar’s website actually uses a similar color scheme to that of Bachmann’s website but the font is much smaller and there is a lot more things on the home page. The website seems very bland and quite frankly that seems spot on because Klobuchar has been known to be a boring candidate when running for the Senate.

Rep. Steve King Iowa's 5th and Web Sites for the Greatest Generation

Rep. Steve King of Iowa's 5th has a very little web style or web presence.
At first glance all the colors are blue on both his campaign and
congressional site which seems to be a very unusual message to send
since both King and his constituency tend be very conservative. Each
opens with a small pop-up showing King at a podium speaking in an
attempt to reflect his strength and power but all of these images are
shown with no Washington D.C. Iconic monuments in the background.
The only backgrounds of note in any of the images on either of King's
sites are of Iowan farms, country side and wind generators. This is
clearly an attempt to portray himself as a Washington outsider
focused more on his district than on his power in Washington D.C. No
matter how closely you analyze either of King's web pages neither of
them seems very different which is evidence that may lead one to
believe that King's constituency may not care a whole lot about his
“web style.” Rep. King can be found in multiple video clips
proclaiming his district to be the eldest in all of the U.S thus it
would stand to reason that the majority of these older folks in far
flung rural Western Iowa may not even have consistent access to the
world wide web. Both pages do open up with a banner that addresses
Steve King's number one priority which is repealing Obamacare which
is often a fun talking point for elderly people who ironically depend
on socialized medical healthcare provided via the federal government.
I conclude that both the “plain Jane,” minimal look of King's sites plus the
bashing of healthcare reform are signs that King's district is elder
and very conservative. If he were seeking to appeal to his party and
marginal supporters that may not even show up on election day he
would be attempting to engineer a more complex web presence that
reflected his very conservative ideology but because he is safe he
does not have to spend the time or money. If so King's approach is
appropriate because a candidate should not waste their resources on
activities and investments that are not going to accomplish the goal
of advancing future victories.

Republicans shift away from marriage to concentrate on salient issues

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74661.html

Republican leadership has decided to keep legislation about marriage off of Congress' floor.  The author believes this may be a political strategy due to the fact that moral issues have taken a back seat in the national eye to fiscal issues.

It would be interesting to look at whether or not individual districts are actually shifting their stance on gay marriage or if there is just a national shift.

CBC Wants Better Laws to Protect African Americans from Guns?

The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing for a committee that will investigate the laws that have been evoked in defense of George Zimmerman after shooting Treyvon Martin. This proposed commission would look into economic disparity which continues to plague the African American community and analyze the statistics behind the large numbers of boys and men who have been killed before their time.

This whole situation is horrible for everybody involved. Clearly Zimmerman's community felt threatened by the recent rash of break-ins and anyone who lives in Metro Milwaukee and relate to property theft but at the same time the Sanford Police have previously attempted to hide 911 tapes from the public and sweep the affair through the system as quickly and quietly as possible. Was George Zimmerman attacked? Perhaps the only person who could ever 100% corroborate that story is dead.

So what can be accomplished at this point by the CBC in trying to form this committee? I worry it furthers the divisive politics and images that encouraged the circumstances under which Treyvon Martin's death occurred. I think that the CBC often goes undistinguished by the majority of people from the Democratic Party as a whole. This could be a wedge issue that the Republicans jump all over to attempt to tear away some Caucasian votes from the Democrats . I am also not 100% sure that outline of research for this potential committee has not been attempted previously. CBC Democrats usually do not have to worry about their reelection safety because their districts are going to vote for them with or without a committee but other democrats in split districts or where gun rights are accepted by both ideologies this proposal could be detrimental.

This is what our(Wisconsinites) senator said...

“Today, I'm happy to announce my full support and my endorsement of Governor Romney to be the next president of the United States." I just thought you all might be interested in this bit of information. Sen. Johnson said he wasn't intending on supporting anyone but was persuaded by Romney through various conversations they had had.

redistricting redistricing redistricting.

This article describes the newly created competitive districts that have been formed due to the drawing of new lines. This is a topic we discussed in class and I think this article is a great example of how manipulating the lines may result in a completely new election. The last paragraph on the first page of the article explains how this particular map was constructed.

Oh, the Buffett Rule

This article speaks to Obama's pressure on Congress to pass the "Buffet Rule" and strive for economic fairness in the United States. The article suggests that Republicans believe this is a "gimmick"being pulled by Democrats to reel in voters. Although I am probably the farthest from Republican, I have a similar vantage point. When it comes to money, both Republican  and Democratic politicians  tend to be wealthy and I tend to believe there really isn't a dichotomous ideology per party on this subject. This concept is reflected in the article when it mentioned that two republicans voted for the rule and four Dems voted in opposition.