Can the Tea Party Govern?
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While most of the media's attention to the tea party has focused
on Senate candidates like Sharron Angle in Nevada, Rand Paul in
Kentucky, and Ken Buck in Colorado, even if they are all elected,
they will be backbenchers, probably in the minority. While this will
give them the freedom to rant and rave about anything they want--free
of the responsibility for bearing the consequences of what they are
demanding--there are other races where actions, not words, will be
required. In particular, there are multiple tea party candidates
running for governor,
and if they win, they will be forced to either scale back their
rhetoric or try to carry it out. It is one thing to say you favor
tax cuts, but something totally different to enact tax cuts as
governor when state law requires a balanced budget and every attempt to
cut some spending item is met with massive resistance from one group
or another.
Among the key laboratories where we may discover how tea party
candidates would govern are Minnesota, where Tom Emmer (R), an uncompromising
conservative has a decent shot to succeed Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN),
Another is Illinois, where Bill Brady (R) wants to cut the minimum wage
in a state where labor has a lot of clout and such a move would unleash
strikes all over the place.
Yet another testbed is Maine, where businessman and gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage (R) is raging
against the federal government--in a state long dependent on the federal
government for subsidies and military bases.
It will be interesting to see how long the rhetoric lasts if any of
these or their ideological brethren have to actually balance budgets
and deal with highly uncooperative state legislatures in some cases.
California Govrnor's Race Upended by Maid
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On Tuesday, the California gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman (R) and Jerry Brown had a televised
debate. Whitman came out strongly for punishing employers who hire illegal aliens. The next day,
her own former maid, Nicky Diaz Santillan held a tearful press conference saying that she has worked
for Whitman for 9 years, was an illegal alien, and Whitman knew it. Whitman claimed that she didn't
know that her maid was illegal until the summer of 2009, at which time she fired Diaz Santillan.
However, Diaz Santillan's attorney, Gloria Allred then said that Whitman knew the maid was illegal
and she could prove it by releasing a letter from the Social Security Administration to Whitman
notifying her that Diaz Santillan was illegal. Whitman responded that she never got any such letter
because the maid always brought in the mail and must have kept the letter. When Allred released
the letter as promised, the bombshell hit: it contained a handwritten message in her husband's
handwriting telling Diaz Santillan to fix the problem. This means that Whitman's husband knew that
the maid was illegal and it is hardly believable that he never mentioned this to his wife.
Whitman's response to the bombshell was to stop talking about the maid and the fact that knowingly
hiring an illegal alien is a crime, but instead to
attack
Allred and Brown for bringing up the subject. She also offered to take a polygraph test. If she does and
passes, her credibility may be restored, but if she refuses to take it or insists on using her house
polygrapher, or fails the test, she is going to take a huge hit, probably enough to hand Brown the
keys to the governer's mansion (again--as he was governor from 1975 to 1983).
Poll: Romney and Palin are the Early 2012 GOP Favorites
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While the midterms aren't even over yet, some forward-looking people are already
interested in the 2012 presidential contest. Accordingly, Gallup ran a
poll
of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents asking who they wanted as their
presidential nominee in 2012. Former governors did well, with Mitt Romney coming in
first at 19%, Sarah Palin came in second at 16% and Mike Huckabee came in third at 12%.
Following them were Newt Gingrich at 9%, Ron Paul at 7% and Haley Barbour and Tim Pawlenty tied
at 3%. In the past, early polls are mostly about name recognition and don't mean a lot.
List of Wealthiest Members of Congress Published
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Many people wonder why Congress often passes laws that favor the
rich but the answer is simple: large numbers of senators and congressmen
are fabulously wealthy. An example is the big fight currently going on
about extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Many in Congress care
passionately about this issue because it affects their own tax bill.
Roll Call has compiled a
list
of the richest members of Congress, the top 10 of which are given below.
The information has been gleaned from disclosure forms the members are by
law required to fill out. However, due to the nature of the questions,
certain assets do not have to be reported, so the list is not entirely
correct. For example, while members have to list the value of their
stocks, bonds, and real estate, they don't have to list the value of
any sports teams they happen to own, so Sen. Herb Kohl's ownership of
the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks (worth $230 million) doesn't count. Nevertheless,
the list is a real eye opener. The amounts in column 3 are given
in millions of dollars.
1 |
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) |
$188 |
Ketchup (via wife) |
2 |
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) |
$160 |
Car alarms |
3 |
Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) |
$153 |
Audio systems (via husband) |
4 |
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) |
$81 |
Oil (inherited from grandfather) |
5 |
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) |
$74 |
Radio (via father-in-law) |
6 |
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) |
$70 |
Mobile phone licenses |
7 |
Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) |
$56 |
Web hosting, online florist |
8 |
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) |
$55 |
Car dealerships |
9 |
Sen. Frak Lautenberg (D-NJ) |
$50 |
Electronic data processing |
10 |
Sen. Dianne Feinsten (D-CA) |
$48 |
Investment banking (via husband) |
Today's Polls: AK CA FL KY NH WA WI AK-AL CA-44 NJ-03
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Alaska |
Scott McAdams |
19% |
Joe Miller |
30% |
Lisa Murkowski |
41% |
Sep 24 |
Sep 25 |
Craciun Research |
Alaska |
Scott McAdams |
28% |
Joe Miller |
43% |
Lisa Murkowski |
18% |
Sep 23 |
Sep 27 |
Ivan Moore Research |
California |
Barbara Boxer* |
42% |
Carly Fiorina |
35% |
|
|
Sep 19 |
Sep 26 |
Public Policy Inst. of |
Florida |
Kendrick Meek |
18% |
Marco Rubio |
46% |
Charlie Crist |
33% |
Sep 23 |
Sep 28 |
Quinnipiac U. |
Kentucky |
Jack Conway |
38% |
Rand Paul |
49% |
|
|
Sep 29 |
Sep 29 |
Rasmussen |
New Hampshire |
Paul Hodes |
35% |
Kelly Ayotte |
50% |
|
|
Sep 23 |
Sep 29 |
U. of New Hampshire |
Washington |
Patty Murray* |
47% |
Dino Rossi |
48% |
|
|
Sep 28 |
Sep 28 |
Rasmussen |
Wisconsin |
Russ Feingold* |
42% |
Ron Johnson |
54% |
|
|
Sep 29 |
Sep 29 |
Rasmussen |
AK-AL |
Harry Crawford |
32% |
Don Young* |
65% |
|
|
Sep 23 |
Sep 27 |
Ivan Moore |
CA-44 |
Bill Hedrick |
49% |
Ken Calvert* |
38% |
|
|
Sep 24 |
Sep 26 |
PPP |
NJ-03 |
John Adler* |
42% |
Jon Runyan |
39% |
|
|
Sep 24 |
Sep 28 |
Braun Research |
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