Schools Out for Summer

Okay, school isn't out quite yet, you still have Final Exams to grind through. Good luck with that. And thanks all of the great blogging this Spring. I look forward to seeing many of you in Party Politics or Elections, Markets, and Networks next year. Have a nice Summer.

Democrats Trying to Re-Define 'Moderate'

YAY!....Last Post! I found this article pretty interesting....but a group of new Democrats called the New Democratic Coalition are hoping to tip the scales back to the Democratic party in fall by trying to appeal to more independent and moderate voters. They will vote left on social issues but go towards the center for issues concerning the economy and business. Although they are a diverse group of individuals, they have had a hard time establishing themselves while not always voting with the party. Many critics say they are more orientated toward themselves then their constituents. Dems winning back house

House Armed Services Vote Bans Gay Marriage on Military Bases

Do Republicans every get it at all?"On the same day that President Obama threw the weight of the White House in support of gay marriage, defense lawmakers in the House banned the practice from taking place on U.S. military bases". If the poll show that 50% of American want to see people treated fairly I don't understand why Republican always go against the Americans people doing thing they want to do.  I feel very frustrated when these leader think our voice doesn't matter.

FCC Takes Calls to Pull Fox's Broadcast Licenses 'Very Seriously'

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski testified Wednesday that his agency takes calls to cancel Fox's broadcast licenses "very seriously". Again nothing really me now a day especially the extreme views Fox broadcasters constantly feed into the American. It is one thing to disagree with someone but it is even worse to take it to the extreme like Fox News does.

When you constantly oppose everything someone stance for whether good or not, your run out of options and desperate measures overtake common sense that is why I am not surprise by Fox News or News Corp. hacking  people's phones in the United Kingdom.

Increased polarization for GOP Senators

This article references the primary loss for former GOP Senator Dick Lugar.

The article discusses how vote history can be used against a candidate by both his own party and by the opposing party come election time.  It also delves into the topic of insider/outsider, saying that Lugar was probably negatively affected by the fact that he appeared to be an insider.  The need for large incumbent war chests is discussed.

Lugar was attacked for not physically living in Indiana for the last 35 years, and conducting business from a Virignia home and hotels.  Although, I can definitely see how this can be turned into an attack on a personal note it is interesting to note that the voters may not actually be 'throwing the bums out' they may just be throwing whomever looks at them wrong out.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76078.html

Mourdock says he hasn't decided on backing McConnell as GOP leader

A day after Mourdock defeated Sen. Dick Lugar in a Republican primary, the Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock said he hasn't decided whether to support Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). This doesn't come as a surprise to me because it is a prime example of pig lining, one big name Republicans with extreme views get replace with another Republican with worse extreme views. There is no actual time for these leaders to meet voters in the middle because they are constantly pull to the right or left  by their individual and political ideologies.

GOP shies away from offering healthcare reform alternative

Republicans might not offer a comprehensive plan to replace President Obama’s healthcare law if the Supreme Court strikes it down this summer. This is a prime example of how one party tries to make political gain over another by demonizing their accomplishment, the healthcare bills is not perfect as is but is one step closer to improving America expensive healthcare system that continue to raise each year for no concrete reasons but profit. I don,t understand why our politicians and political system is so polarized, the American people should not have to suffer because politicians can't get along to do the job they were send to do in Washington. 

Many GOP members to Vote on Replacing Defense Cuts

Many of the same Conservatives that voted against the debt ceiling hike are going to be voting to restore $75 billion in defense funds that were carved out as "savings," on the GOP side during that debate. This flies in the face of the "budge hawk," image the a lot of these M.C.s potrayed in order to get elected in the mid-term. It will be interesting to see if constituents see through this at all and begin to punish them for reneging.

Student Loan Saga Rages on in Senate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is telling the GOP that they need to accept the compromise offered by Democrats on the issue of doubling student loan rates this summer. Of course the Dems plan closes tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans and has no chance in garnering support from Republicans.

Dick Lugar's Future/ Future of Senate

Earlier in the semester I posted an article about long-time incumbent Dick Lugar on Indiana so I found it very interesting that one of the tactics that his campaign is using in his primary election is that without Lugar, the Republicans will lose the seat and lose control of the Senate. I find it interesting in the use of the median voter theorem to explain to constituents that Lugar is the only hope against Joe Donnelly's more moderate voting history and that it's a strategic vote for the party to vote for Lugar in the primary.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-lugar-gop-cant-get-senate-majority-without-him-20120507,0,7443037.story

Paul Ryan is Blowing Up

The New York Times has a long profile on Paul Ryan. The best line in the article:

Grover Norquist, the Republican strategist who heads Americans for Tax Reform, said in an interview that he did not expect Mr. Romney to lead as president. He just wants him to sign the bills that put Mr. Ryan’s vision into practice.

There's also a short video profile of Ryan focusing on his role as a leader of the Republican Party but also talking about his love of shoving his arm into the maws of catfish.

Of course, no political celebrity can be without an Internet meme in 2012, see: Hey Girl, It's Paul Ryan as Ryan joins the ranks of the recently parodied Hillary Clinton.

Insight in the workings of congress

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/29/intel-gatekeeper-the-case-file-on-senator-dianne-feinstein/

Backlash over security agreement

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/01/inhofe-fires-off-on-obama-over-trip/

Sen Inhofe is not happy about the President's trip to Afghanistan.

House Republicans Do Not Have A Plan To Pay for Bush Tax Cuts

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/224677-republicans-no-offsets-for-extending-bush-rates

This article is about the lack of "offset," cuts to spending that Republicans have planned in order to pay for a potential extension of Bush-era tax cuts.  These are a great example of expiring legislation that is put in place to potentially push a third dimension issue into future elections.  This should be a real hot button issue as we approach November and should be a clear contrast issue between Democrats and Republicans across the entire spacial model.

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