Not Just A One Man Scandal

As you have probably already heard, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska has been indicted on 7 counts, involving his failure to report gifts and services that were given to him. While he await the verdict in this manner, it is never too soon to see who else can be taken down with Stevens.

No good scandal takes down just one man!

So, while Stevens is accepting gifts, valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars, who is Stevens giving his money to?

Like so many other politicians, Stevens has a Leadership PAC that allows him to raise more money and distribute it among his colleagues. And it looks like more than a few of his friends are currently campaigning for the Senate this year:

Norm Coleman of MN received $10,000
John Cornyn of Texas received $5,000
Elizabeth Dole of NC received $10,000
Mike Johanns of NE received $1,000
Mitch McConnell of KY received $7,500
Gordon Smith of Oregon received $10,000
And Steven’s PAC was even generous enough to give Ted Steven’s $5,000.
Read the complete list at Open Secrets: http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00331827&cycle=2008

Just for fun, lets looks at which one of these lucky recipients returned the money back to Stevens!

Norm Coleman’s PAC gave $5,000 to Stevens.
John Cornyn’s PAC failed to donate to Stevens.
Elizabeth Dole’s PAC failed to donate back to Stevens.
Mike Johanns is not a current officeholder and does not currently have an active PAC.
Mitch McConnell gave $10,000 to Stevens.
Gordon Smith gave $10,000 to Stevens.

This is a great way to fundraise. Since FEC law prevents your PAC from donating more than $10,000 to you own campaign, you can just donate money to other candidates and have their PACs give the money back to you! Genius!

**Note: All of this data is only for the 2008 cycle and can easily be viewed at OpenSecrets.org

Which candidate will be the first to rid itself of Steven’s money?

Who will Obama pick?

Obama’s all-important VP selection is endlessly being speculated about, so why not add my take to the mix? There seems to be a number of categories of candidates for him to choose from. However, each category comes with complications. Should he choose a woman? military commander? someone with foreign policy experience? a Washington DC outsider? There are pluses and minuses to each. Lets start with the Outsiders.

The most likely names on the Outsider list are Gov. Tim Kaine of VA, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of KS and former Senator Sam Nunn of GA.

If Obama wants anyone to back him up on foreign policy, Kaine and Sebelius won’t be his choice. I don’t know about you, but I was less than impressived with Sebelius’s Democratic Response to this year’s State of the Union Address. However, both are experienced governors who will have records of working across party lines. Nunn also finds his way into this category, but I question how a former Senator of 24 years becomes an Outsider.
While he does have experience in working to reduce the presence of nuclear material across the globe, a point that Obama likes to emphasize, it seems clear that he is only mentioned because he is believed to offer Obama a way to win Georgia in November, assuming Libertarian Bob Barr can attracted 5-8% of the vote in that state. Choosing Nunn would also inflame the GLBT community, where Nunn is remembered as the guy who ruined President Clinton’s attempt to allow gays to serve openly in the military. Nunn went so far as to record video of the barracks that our soldiers live in, showing how close they sleep to one another. This was supposed proof that gays could not sleep in the vicinity of straights without violating them? The GBLT community is a fundraising base that Obama is unlikely to want to further alienate.

The category of women overlaps. Here, the top choices seem to be Sen. Hillary Clinton, Governor Sebelius or maybe Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri? I haven’t seen McCaskill on too many lists, but she is from an important state and has proven to be a great campaigner on Obama’s behalf. The question that surrounds this category is: Can Obama get away with picking a woman other than Hillary Clinton? Will that cause Hillary supporter who are on the fence about supporting Obama to fall further away from Obama? Or maybe they will come to love the female choice? My guess is, if Obama chooses a woman, it won’t be Hillary. However, I don’t think he will choose a woman.

The scenario that changes this will be that McCain announces his choice first, and he selects a woman. Does this influence Obama?

In the category of foreign policy experience, Obama could choose from Senators Biden or Bayh. These two certainly aren’t outsiders. They both offer positive aspects to the campaign….but has Obama talked too much about the problems of Washington to bring them on board?

In the final category, military commanders with no political experience are probably seen as too risky. The experience of being on the campaign trail, being asked constant questions and always being watched and recorded is a unique one. Campaign gaffes could become a larger problem for this category.

So, in conclusion, I don’t know who Obama will choose as his VP. I wonder if he’s figured it out yet.

Why This Election Really Matters To Me

The National Journal wrote a great piece on the Presidential election’s implications on the Supreme Court.  One can’t help but notice that the more moderate and liberal justices are also the oldest.  The next president will undoubtedly be given the opportunity to fill a seat or two.

From the National Journal:

The liberal nightmare (and conservative dream) is McCain replacing one or more aging liberals with conservatives who proceed to overrule or hollow out Roe v. Wade and other liberal precedents; throw gay rights into reverse; discard the constitutional right to privacy; outlaw all racial preferences and school integration programs; narrow the reach of civil-rights protections for women, minorities, and disabled people; bless virtually unrestricted government funding of religious schools and sponsorship of crosses and other religious symbols on public property; stop shrinking and start expanding the death penalty; mow down gun control laws; roll back the four decisions since 2004 that have checked Bush administration efforts to expand presidential power in the name of fighting terrorism; and make it ever harder for consumers and workers to sue businesses.

The conservative nightmare (and liberal dream) is an Obama Court requiring taxpayers to fund essentially unlimited abortion rights throughout pregnancy; ordering all 50 states to bless gay marriage; expanding and perpetuating the use of racial preferences far beyond the 25-year phaseout suggested by the justices five years ago; prohibiting tuition vouchers for religious schools; stripping “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance; banning the death penalty; striking down the new federal wiretap law; expanding judicial oversight of military detentions, CIA interrogations, and perhaps other operations worldwide; opening the floodgates to big-dollar lawsuits against business; eroding property rights; and perhaps creating new constitutional rights to physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, and massive government welfare and medical care programs.

Senate Update: Will the Dems make it to 60?

Senate Dems are smiling in states that were thought to be competitive and even in states where Republicans may have felt safe.

 

In Nebraska, Democrat Scott Kleeb outraised Republican Mike Johanns in the last quarter.  While the difference was only $17,000 ($700,000 to $683,000), this must have shocked conventional wisdom.  Johanns is the ultimate insider.  He’s been governor and worked in the Bush White House.  Despite the fundraising success, Kleeb still has work to do in the polls.  The latest poll I have seen, puts Johanns up by 27 points, with a margin of error of 4.5%.  However, this poll is now a month old and Kleeb’s fundraising buzz could help close the gap.  I look forward to seeing the next poll. 

In Alaska, Democrat Mark Begich is challenging Ted Stevens.  Polls are showing that voters have grown tired of the 84 year old incumbent.  In the 2 latest polls, Begich leads by 8 points and 2 points.

July polling shows the Democrats holding and picking up a number of seats. It shows Democrats picking up seats in MN, VA, NH, CO, AK while holding their seats in NJ, SD, MI, LA, and IL