National Journal Online

Labor Giant Backs Candidate Meek

From this morning's Earlybird: • In Florida, the AFL-CIO "gave Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek its full endorsement," the Palm Beach Post reports.

Posted: Monday, May 24, 2010 - 8:48am

Monday's Starting Lineup

Good Monday morning. Breaking this morning, CT AG Dick Blumenthal (D) is trying a new tactic: Apologizing for his statements on serving in Vietnam, the Hartford Courant reports. That's a dream come true to GOPers hammering Blumenthal's honesty, who now believe the CT SEN race is in play.

Here's today's Starting Lineup, previewing the people who will make a difference in politics today:

Posted: Monday, May 24, 2010 - 7:13am

Bonfire Of The Inanities

Updated at 12:11 p.m. on May 24 .To hear leading conservatives tell it, the specter of book banning looms large in the United States.Book-banning fears helped convince the Supreme Court to throw out the decades-old prohibition on direct corporate campaign spending earlier this year. Now free s

Posted: Monday, May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Line-Item Veto Gets Hearing Wednesday

A line-item veto proposal unveiled by the White House today will get a hearing on Wednesday, reigniting a long-smoldering debate over Congress' power of the purse. President Obama 's proposal, which would allow presidents to send up a package of spending cuts targeted at earmarks and other small-

Posted: Monday, May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Learning From Pennsylvania

When all the votes were tallied in Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate primary last week, challenger Joe Sestak defeated incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter by an 8 percentage point margin, 53.9 percent to 46.1 percent. Read more and comment on this column at Pollster.com . The final round of pre-

Posted: Monday, May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

How Much Should Candidates Court The Web?

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is advising his party's candidates to spend big on new media campaigns this fall. It's a bold suggestion that could result in unprecedented victories -- or waste precious campaign resources, ad buyers say.In an interview with PBS NewsHour earlier

Posted: Monday, May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Buck Wins CO GOP Nod

With ex-LG Jane Norton (R) skipping the CO GOP convention, Tea Party favorite Weld Co. DA Ken Buck (R) easily won the majority of the GOP delegates in attendance on Saturday, affirming his momentum heading into the Aug. 10th primary.

Buck's surge among delegates prompted Norton, national GOPers' favored candidate, to take a pass on the convention and instead directly petition her way on to the ballot, a choice some viewed as a slight to the activists of the party.

Posted: Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 11:04pm

Money Isn't Everything

Oh, the irony.

Last spring, the NRCC spent $552K on befhalf of NY Assemb. Jim Tedisco (R), and the National Republican Trust PAC spent an additional $820K. Rep. Scott Murphy (D) won that race.

This fall, the NRCC spent $897K on the confused race to replace Army Sec. John McHugh in NY 23. Rep. Bill Owens (D) beat a GOPer and a Conservative Party candidate.

Posted: Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 1:03pm

Djou Wins HI-01 Special; Hanabusa Surprises With Second

Honolulu Councilor Charles Djou (R) defeated 13 other challengers, including state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa (D) and ex-Rep. Ed Case (D), to win a special election to replace ex-Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI 01). Djou led Hanabusa 40-31%. Case followed with 28%.

Posted: Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 12:10am

Cuomo Jumps In NY GOV Race

NY AG Andrew Cuomo (D) used a web video on Saturday to announce his expected bid to replace Gov. David Paterson (D), equating Albany with Wall Street and saying both need fixing.

"Manhattan's Wall Street debacle is matched only by Albany's State Street debacle. Our state government in Albany is disreputable and discredited," Cuomo said. "New York State is upside down and backwards; high taxes and low performance."

Posted: Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 9:24am