Tag: Congress

Murphy Defeats West Again as Board Misses Deadline

Trish
Current but soon to be former Rep. Allen West

Despite a judge’s refusal to grant a recount to Rep. Allen West (GOP/Tea-Fla.), a partial recount of the early votes only is under way, as of Saturday morning, Nov. 17.

The colorful (read: “nut case“) tea party congressman lost to Democrat Patrick Murphy by about 0.6 percent. Florida law requires that a candidate lose by 0.5 percent or less to trigger a full ballot recount. But when the governor of the state is Rick Scott, himself a tea party champion, anything can happen.

Updates available after the jump

[…]

Two Vile Tea Partyists, Allen West and Joe Walsh, Defeated – But a Third, Michele Bachmann Clings to Power

Jon Ponder

Financial Times:

[The] House will remain under control of Republicans, who also added a seat, increasing the majority they won in 2010.

Republicans picked up two House seats in North Carolina and beat a Democrat in Kentucky, as they looked to widen their advantage.

Analysts watched to see if conservative Tea Party candidates continue to gain stature in this election, or if disillusionment among voters over gridlock in Congress takes its toll on their movement. Tea Party stars such as Allen West, of Florida, and Joe Walsh, of Illinois, were defeated and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota remained locked in a tight race.

Reports this morning indicate that Bachmann has won reelection.

Senate Adds Record Number of Women

Jon Ponder

Voters responded to the Republicans’ War on Women by sending more troops into the field. Women elected to the U.S. Senate yesterday include senators-elect Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc.; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; and Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska.

Sen.-elect Baldwin will be the first openly gay U.S. senator, and Sen.-elect Hirono will be the first Japanese native to serve in the upper body.

If we’ve got the count right, that means there will be 20 women in the Senate in 113th Congress. Technically, that still leaves a deficit of at least 31 women members in the world’s most exclusive club, but it is progress nonetheless.

CNNMoney: Obama is Now Officially a Job Creator

Trish

Newly released employment numbers show two things.

1. Pres. Obama is a job creator.

2. Mitt Romney needs a new strategy.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The U.S. economy now has more jobs than it did when the president took office in January of 2009.

Economist: ‘The stimulus did what it was expected to do. We are on a path to recovery.’

With the addition of Friday’s fairly strong jobs report, plus upward revisions over the last couple of months, there are now 194,000 more jobs than there were in January of 2009, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And the number could be even higher once more expected revisions are released. Last month, the Labor Department released a statement saying it likely under-counted jobs created in much of 2011 by around 386,000. Those are preliminary figures that could still change when the final data is released in February.

But by either measure, Obama can now be called a job creator.

“The stimulus did what it was expected to do,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, referring to the $787 billion package of spending and tax cuts pushed through by the president in early 2009. “We are on a path to recovery.”

So Much for the Rumors — Bloomberg Endorsed Obama

Trish

bloomberg

You heard the speculation this week that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to let Obama assess places destroyed by Hurricane Sandy because he is rooting for Mitt Romney and didn’t want to give the president any photo ops. Looks like the rumors were wrong.

Bloomberg, who had previously said that he would not make a public endorsement in the 2012 race, apparently changed his mind after New York was pummeled by Hurricane Sandy…

Bloomberg’s endorsement comes as momentum for Obama seems to be building as the race ends

“The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast — in lost lives, lost homes and lost business — brought the stakes of Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief,” Bloomberg wrote.

“We need leadership from the White House — and over the past four years, President Barack Obama has taken major steps to reduce our carbon consumption, including setting higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks,” the mayor continued. “His administration also has adopted tighter controls on mercury emissions, which will help to close the dirtiest coal power plants…which are estimated to kill 13,000 Americans a year.”

He then went on to praise President Obama’s “Race to the Top” education initative, his defense of a woman’s right to choose, and his support for marriage equality, noting that “I want our president to be on the right side of history.”

But, Bloomberg added, it’s not just that he likes Obama. It’s also that he doesn’t like Romney.

[…]

Republican Tax Policies Added the Portion of the 47% Who are Poor

Trish

Kim Dixon at Reuters:

Mitt Romney has distanced himself from his remarks lamenting the nearly 47 percent of Americans who do not owe federal income taxes, but his fellow Republicans helped engineer the very tax breaks that have put many in that category. And little change is expected soon.

Economist: ‘There is some degree of disconnect between complaining about the 47% and yet supporting the policies that brought it about’

A key reason: The breaks in question – the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit – are based on core Republican philosophies of encouraging work to lift people out of poverty, Republican aides and many conservatives say.

The number of Americans not owing federal income taxes has been growing since the mid-1980s, and the increase largely stems from expansion of these two tax credits – championed by Republicans from conservative economist Milton Friedman to former President Ronald Reagan.

“It is absolutely true – there is some degree of disconnect between complaining about the 47 percent and yet supporting the policies that brought it about,” said economist Alan Viard of the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

The income credit began under Republican President Gerald Ford and was significantly expanded by Reagan. The child credit doubled to $1,000 under Republican President George W. Bush.

Read the full story.

Waiting Game: Longest Ballot Ever Presented to Florida Voters

Trish

17

Number of minutes it will take to read a general election ballot in Florida, where the state legislature has added 11 constitutional amendments for voters to consider. All amendments are deceptively worded and written by the Republican-led body, and all received a thumbs-down from the League of Women Voters. Thanks to the 3,000 words on the ballot, the longest lines in history are expected at the polls. No doubt voters who can’t wait more than an hour or two will give up in frustration.