Friday, June 30, 2006

Kean Campaign Proudly Slings Mud

Matt Leonardo, the campaign manager for Tom Kean Jr. recently likened Kean's attempts to portray Menendez as corrupt to the charges against former presidential candidate John Kerry's military record.

"The similarity between the Swift boat ads and this movie — you have two individuals who have told stories for a political purpose and the facts just don't jibe," Mr. Leonardo said. "And these two individuals were able to get away with telling it their way for more than a decade and a half. I would say it's very similar in that way."


Wow. At least Bush tried to distance himself from such sleazy tactics.

Via The New York Times.

NY Times Discredits Kean

Via Blanton's and Ashton's, Tom Kean Jr.'s advertising team has encountered a problem with the New York Times and the Washington Post, both of whom have inside information on plans that Kean intends to launch a "swift boat like" campaign against Menendez, insinuating that he was part of a corruption scandal that rocked Union City nearly 30 years ago.

Where's the Civic Duty?

The Montclair Town Council recently had a meeting on the municipal budget, Baristanet reports. However, only one man, Phil Read, cared to come to the meeting to discuss the proposed measures that could add an average of $200 to the bill of every homeowner in Montclair.

It's a shame that more residents aren't involved in routine local affairs, despite their oftentimes boring nature. The most important government is usually the closest one.

Montclair Municipal Clerk. Check it out.

Menendez Holds Lead, Ohio Looking Good

Here's a breakdown of the most recent polls done on close senate races in the country. The Menendez-Kean showdown was appropriately at the top of the list, and according to the Quinnipiac poll conducted two weeks ago, Menendez leads Kean 43%-36%.

Probably the most noteworthy poll was the one that showed Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) ahead of incumbent Senator, Mike DeWine, 48%-39%!

Here's a link to Brown's website. He looks like a worthy candidate to support, even if you live in New Jersey.

"Democrats Better Equipped," Says Nation

The Democratic Party has a 16 point lead over the Republican Party in a poll asking voters which party was better equipped to tackle the nation's most urgent challenges.

In the generic congressional poll, Democrats lead Republicans 49% to 35%. Unfortunately, people with Republican incumbents in their districts do not feel the same way.

Via Political Wire.

Newt Gingrich Challenges Edwards on Poverty

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich challenged John Edwards to a debate on "how to help the poor," while making a tour through North Carolina the other day. Gingrich said that he'd be delighted to have a dialogue with Edwards on how to truly help the poor, as opposed to merely "talking about helping the poor."

Somehow Gingrich's idea of helping the poor didn't work when he was one of the most powerful men in Washington.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Supreme Court Says "Gerrymander Whenever"

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tom DeLay's redistricting plan that pushed four Democratic incumbents out of office two years ago and made the Texas delegation Republican.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Mike Ferguson Facing Competition

New Jersey's 7th district has been labled a battleground by many political experts, and it recently cracked the National Journal's top 50 competitive Congressional races (including senate) of 2006, coming in at 47th. However, the top tenth isn't good enough. Only 9 incumbents lost House elections in 2004, and 5 of them were Texas Democrats in gerrymandered districts. It's important for progressives in Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon, and Union to educate their friends about Mike Ferguson's record.

57% Want Withdrawal Resolution

Congress has failed twice in the last week to agree to a resolution calling for some type of plan to withdrawal from Iraq. However, the American public is at odds with the 60 Senators who voted down the ammendment offered by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI). In a recent poll, 57% of Americans expressed support for some type of withdrawal plan for U.S. troops in Iraq.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Arrested for Universal Health Care

According to the campaign for Ned Lamont, Tom Swan, Lamont's campaign manager was arrested in an early 90's protest outside the office of Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT). The arrest happened after Lieberman called Capitol Police, who dragged Swan and the other protesters away. They had been picketing to show opposition to Lieberman's successful efforts to help kill universal health care legislation.

Check out Lamont's new campaign ad that discusses Lieberman's position on the Iraq War.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

A Do-Nothing Congress

Via Political Wire:

"The Republican-controlled Congress seems to be struggling lately to carry out its most basic mission: passing legislation," writes the Washington Post.

Too true. The GOP has so far only pushed for bills that have little to no chance of passing. However, as the Washington Post puts it "GOP leaders pushed legislation known to have little or no chance of eventual enactment but also known to appeal to conservative voters, whose turnout is crucial to the party's success."

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Jon Stewart Poisoning Democracy

According to Richard Morin, a Washington Post columnist, Jon Stewart, the anchor of the satirical news show, The Daily Show, is partly responsible for poisoning America's youth. Matt Stoler has more.

In all fairness, Morin doesn't speak out against Stewart. However, the implication is that Jon Stewart is participating in a needless rabble rousing campaign against the establishment.

The results showed that the participants rated both candidates more negatively after watching Stewart's program. Participants also expressed less trust in the electoral system and more cynical views of the news media, according to the researchers' article, in the latest issue of American Politics Research.


In conclusion, Jon Stewart celebrates democracy while Richard Morin fears it.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Chafee and Whitehouse Neck and Neck in R.I

Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), widely considered the most liberal Republican in the Senate, has a very realistic chance of defeat this November at the hands of the Rhode Island Democratic Party, which decided that no amount of Bush appeasement could go unpunished in their state.

Rhode Island, despite being one of the most progressive states in the nation, has a history of popular Republican politicians, including the late John Chafee, Lincoln's father. Nevertheless, in a sharp rebuke to the administration's policies, Rhode Island voters currently give Chafee only a 49% approval rating, a long with a 44% disapproval rating.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The Most Popular Senator

According to SurveyUSA's latest polls on senate approval and disapproval ratings, Kent Conrad (D-ND) is by far the most popular member of the U.S. Senate. Conrad, a progressive from a conservative state, has a 75% approval rating and a 19% disapproval rating.

Conrad, in contrast to fellow plains Democrat Tom Daschle, keeps a relatively low profile in the press. Nevertheless, he is a consistent supporter of the Democratic agenda in social, economic, and foreign policy. He voted against the Iraq war, opposed Bush's tax cuts, and is an advocate for the pro-choice movement. These are three issues that Democrats from conservative states have often caved into, believing them to represent political suicide. However, Conrad's consistency seems to have assured the people of North Dakota that their senator works for values that they can relate to.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Senate Races

Daily Kos has the approval and disapproval ratings of the hottest senate ratings here.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) seems to be having a hard time turning the corner in his race against State Senator Tom Kean Jr. Kean, who has omitted the "Jr." from his name in hopes to be mistaken for his father, Tom Kean, the former Republican governor of NJ, seems to have inheritated very few of the moderate stances that made Sr. one of the most popular politicians in Garden State history. Menendez is currently sitting on a 39% approval rating and a 39% disapproval rating.

To move on to better news, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) seems destined for defeat this November, as his disapproval rating (57) has a comfortable lead over his approval rating (37). Although many Democrats are skeptical of challenger Bob Casey's stance on abortion, it goes to show that Republicans have pathetically little ground on economic policy.

Waxman Introduces Safe Climate Act

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) plans to introduced the Safe Climate Act in the House. The legislation aims to reduce greenhouse emissions by 2% through 2020, and 5% afterwards through 2050.

The bill will unlikely become law, as the current congress and president have welcomed reactionary environmental policies with open arms.

Nevertheless, as Matt Stoler, at MyDD explains, "if any legislator signs onto this or introduces it in the Senate, people will begin to believe that the Democratic Party is ready to govern again."

Friday, June 16, 2006

Test Post

Hopefully this will be the final destination for the BlueWave blog!