Today is Saturday, July 31, 2010


How bloggers, lobbyists can cover Congress from home

Back in the 1970s and 1980s when I was editor of Modern Healthcare and had one and then two reporters working for me in our Washington bureau, I pined to be there. I wanted to dig for stories that I knew we were missing and not breaking. I couldn't do that from our Chicago office, but now that would be possible, thanks to the Internet and increasing transparency in Congress. 

In How to cover Congress without leaving home, Kelly McBride reports on how a few left wing bloggers are using technology to get ahead of their competitors who are covering Congress on the ground. Her article is must reading for anyone who's trying to follow important legislation for an employer, trade association or a blog.

Even with the new technology, covering Congress or a state legislature is as hard as it's ever been. You have to read bills, testimony, letters, articles blogs and anything else, including books, that will help you understand, say ObamaCare, and cap and trade bills. This takes time, but for wonks, it can be a lot of fun, especially when you uncover nuggets that you can use to advance a story or cause or to stop a bad amendment or bill. LINK: How to cover Congress without leaving home. By Kelly McBride.

Tea Party ‘bible’:The Star Fish and the Spider

The Starfish and the Spider supposedly is must reading for politicians trying to understand the power of the Tea Party and how it may self-destruct, according to Kenneth P. Vogel. Read his story and then download the book to your Kindle or Kindle reader.

Tea Party, 9-12 and similar groups get their power from their leaderless decentralization. If they accept national leaders and start running candidates, they'll be easy targets for the major parties.

 

Politically incorrect Ken Buck losing to Jane Norton?

Ken Buck's politically incorrect complaint about a few birthers who gave him hard times at Tea Party events and his allegedly sexist quip about Jane Norton's high heels may cost him the GOP's Aug. 10 Senate primary, according to an unnamed pollster cited by a Washington Post political blogger.

Birthers say President Obama wasn't born in the U.S. and isn't legally qualified to serve as president, but most Americans discount their claim and, like Buck, don't want to hear anymore about it.

Of course, I've been predicting that Buck's high heels quip could cost him, especially because Norton came up with a great ad that implies that Buck is sexist because he made the dumb joke. That Norton has joked about her gender in the campaign apparently hasn't softened the negative impact of his comment or of the ad. And that the Norton campaign made the ad using an unattributed film clip without the permission of its owner, http://www.peoplespresscollective.com, probably isn't on voters' radar screens. The Buck campaign is making a big issue of the web site's complaints about how Norton improperly used its clip, but so far, it's an insiders' debate.

How Buck's complaint that a few people who attended Tea Party events were disruptive could hurt him is a bit hard to understand. The complaint may be a problem for Buck because it initially looked like he was calling everyone involved with Tea Parties dumbaxx "birthers." 

Most curious is that WaPo's The Fix would report the results of a poll conducted by an unnamed pollster. That pollster is saying that Norton leads Buck by five percentage points. Who the pollster is and works for and how and when the poll was conducted are not reported by Chris Cillizza who writes The Fix.

However, the poll results have some credibility in light of the latest Rasmussen Reports' poll. It shows Norton with a nine point lead over appointed Obama Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet, compared with Buck's six-point lead. But Buck has a six-point lead over Bennet's primary challenger, Andrew Romanoff. Norton leads Romanoff by four percentage points. Both primaries look like toss-ups.

So while I've been saying that it appears that Norton has the momentum and that Buck is on defense, I'm not ready to declare Norton the winner of the primary. This mildly negative personality contest is still a toss-up until we get better information or until the primary is held.

LINKs:

Colorado primary provides fireworks a-plenty. By Chris Cillizza.

Norton attack ad [film clip] improperly taken from Peoples Press Collective video. 

Election 2010: Colorado Senate. By Rasmussen Reports.

Ad blasts Scott McInnis’ plagiarism

If Colorado Republicans and Scott McInnis think that Coloradans won't hear about his plagiarism until he is defeated in the primary or general election or until he drops out, they need to watch this ad from Colorado Freedom Fund five times. The ad isn't great, but it shows how the Democrats will deal with a plagiarist. h/t ColoradoPols.

The ad stresses the importance of integrity in government. That's the point I'm trying to make. 

What I don't agree with is that the ad concludes that McInnis is a "typical politician." No, the reason that he's in trouble is that he has shown that he's more unethical than anyone who's run for governor in this state for decades. He's not typical. He's a sorry outlier.

Who's behind Colorado Freedom Fund? Outraged conservatives? Democrats going for the kill? A secret Republican gang? Betrayed supporters?

My guess: Someone who wants to convince McInnis to get out is sending him a message he might be able to understand.

LINK:

Scott McInnis' plagiarism. Colorado Freedom Fund ad on YouTube.

Tom Tancredo looks like a casual governor

Tom Tancredo's debut as a formal candidate for governor went off without a hitch. He dressed retired casual.

He sounded like a traditional gubernatorial candidate—with a sense of humor.

Indeed, at his announcement press conference, he did a better job of explaining his platform and agenda than any of the Republicans or Obama Democrat John Hickenlooper ever have explained theirs.

Tancredo came across as authoritative, knowledgeable and a man who's been in the public spotlight for a long time.

He's finally capitalizing on his 10 years in the state legislature, his years in Congress and his unsuccessful 2008 campaign for president. Nothing phases him, and he has fun.

As he has for years, Tancredo spoke about his continuing efforts to protect Colorado workers and taxpayers from illegal immigrants. He said that Colorado taxpayers pay some $250 million to pay for the infrastructure required to support illegal immigrants. And that, he pointed out, is more than the state's budget deficit.

While promising to roll back taxes that Governor Bill Ritter and his fellow Democrats enacted as fees, Tancredo also said that Colorado's businesses should not expect hand outs.

They should expect fair treatment, he said.

His platform is on his web site, and I've reproduced it and commented on it in a previous post. 

LINKs:

Tom Tancredo posts his platform for jobs, modernizing government, securing Colorado. The Business Word, 7.29.2010.

Tom Tancredo for Governor.

Tom Tancredo would support Jane Norton if she won primary

Tom Tancredo said after his announcement press conference today that he could support Jane Norton for Senate if she beats Ken Buck in the Aug. 10 primary. 

When I asked about supporting Norton, Tancredo turned with a sigh, and said 'Yeah." And that wasn't with an exclamation point, but it drew a laugh. Tancredo supports Buck in the primary. 

He said he continues to support all Republicans he' has endorsed for down ticket offices, and none have asked him to withdraw his endorsements.

Tom Tancredo posts his platform for jobs, modernizing government, securing Colorado

Gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo has posted a modestly ambitious plan for making Colorado a strong and prosperous place to run a business and raise a family.

His four-point agenda for Creating Jobs looks like a good conservative, pro-business, pro-worker platform. Unlike Scott McInnis, Tancredo is intellectually honest about how little power a Colorado governor has when it comes to creating jobs. That is, a governor has no power over the nation's fiscal or monetary policies or its labor laws, environmental laws or international trade agreements. The plan with my comments in italics:

1. Restore the business sales tax exemptions that were eliminated by the Ritter "Dirty Dozen" Tax hikes, the Senior Homestead Exemption, and roll back the mill levy freeze.
2. Repeal the job-killing Business Personal Property Tax. This probably would bring more than enough new jobs to Colorado  to cover the lost tax revenues, and it would encourage much more capital investments in the state.
3. Revisit and revise harmful Ritter-era regulations, including the restrictive new oil and gas regulations. Colorado's regulations favor huge companies that have staff who deal with such regulations. The Ritter regulations are anti small business and small employer. They discriminate against small, Colorado-based exploration and production companies and drive them to other states.
4. Protect American workers (and help honest employers ensure that their employees are legally in the country) through the use of a mandatory workplace verification system such as E-Verify. Every honest employer is for this plan. Employers who exploit underpaid illegals and the lawyers, educators, health workers and social workers who profit from helping illegals oppose fixing the system. Illegal immigrants distort American labor markets in favor of unscrupulous employers and against under paid American workers.

His four point agenda for Modernizing Government (instead of Fiscal Conservatism as posted yesterday) looks conservative, but not all independents will go for it. My comments are in italics:

1. Build a "zero- based" budget. Lots of politicians have proposed this over the years. I don't know that any legislatures ever went along. Colorado has a weak governor form of government, and I doubt this is doable.
2. Restore the limit on state spending. This is a really broad statement. Would this be done in cooperation with the General Assembly or by ballot initiative?
3. Achieve cost savings by contracting with the private sector, where appropriate, to carry out certain state services. This makes a lot of sense provided that the state retains the powers and hires the talent needed to ensure that private contractors improve the quality of state services while containing or reducing expenses. Today, we contract out road building and other construction services in ways that encourage over building. Contractors are major contributors to Colorado's political campaigns, and they contribute to the candidates who they think will spend the most money on their services and will hire them.
4. Refuse federal dollars that come with unsustainable, long-term state spending commitments or harmful federal mandates. Nice and idealistic but a not totally practical plan. If we don't take our dollars from the Fed, New York, Illinois and other unionized and nearly bankrupt states get them. Tancredo needs to explain which dollars he would take and which he wouldn't. The General Assembly may not go along.

Securing Colorado is the agenda everyone's waiting to see. It looks great to me. I think it will appeal to most conservatives who aren't trying to exploit illegal immigrants' low wage demands, and a lot of independents will like the plan. Republicans who want to see this plan implemented must help the GOP take back the legislature and elect Tancredo. The plan:

1. Implement tough new Arizona-style interior and employer enforcement laws.
2. Withhold state funds from local governments that enact so-called "sanctuary policies"
3. Oppose providing taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants.
4. Audit state and local government compliance with state immigration laws.

LINKs:

Tom Tancredo for Governor.

Tom Tancredo will speak Friday to Republicans of Highlands Ranch breakfast

Tom Tancredo will speak to the Republicans of Highlands Ranch on Friday, July 30.

Time: 6:45 a.m.

Place: Southridge Recreation Center, 4800 McArthur Ranch Road, Highlands Rance

Breakfast: $10.

RVSP: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 303-933-3292.

Original topic, Amendment 42. But you know Tom!

Tom Tancredo’s web site is up

Tom Tancredo for Governor.

The web site's still a work in progress. But you can see what Tom will be running on. The main headline is:

Tanc Tough; "This is our culture-fight for it. This is our flag-pick it up. This is our country- take it back." - Congressman Tom Tancredo.

I'd like that line to read:

Tanc Tough; Integrity in Government, Straight Talk, Less Spending, Lower Taxes, Balanced Budgets, Security, Great Education, Good Health Care, Sensible Environmentalism 

He has links for:

• Jobs
• Fiscal conservatism
• Secure Colorado

Here's what I hope he will say about:

Jobs: I will make it attractive for businesses and nonprofits to create and bring jobs to Colorado. And I will eliminate and rewrite silly and costly regulations. We will make it easier and less expensive for the state to administer regulations. It should not cost businesses a fortune to create and keep jobs in Colorado. Employers are not our enemies. They create jobs.

Fiscal Conservatism: I will rewrite laws and regulations in Colorado so that we can cut the cost of running our state government by 25%. We will not only balance our budget, but also shrink it. We will enforce the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and we will not raise any taxes or fees. Labor unions will not milk Colorado's taxpayers or run our state. I will reverse the executive order that unionized employees of the state of Colorado. Increased liberty and fewer regulations will return freer markets and prosperity for all to Colorado.

Secure Colorado. I will increase Colorado's security by enforcing all of our laws. We will make sure that illegal immigrants are not taking our jobs and draining our schools and hospitals of scarce resources. Denver no longer will be a sanctuary city. Colorado will not become a sanctuary state if I become governor. Criminals will stay in jail.

Scott McInnis is to 2010 GOP as Nixon was to 1976 GOP: A disaster

Possibly too many Colorado Republicans are in denial about Scott McInnis, and they are imploding.

The party's leaders and too many activists are more worried about beating Governor-elect John Hickenlooper than about the future of Colorado. They want to elect Scott McInnis even though it is clear that he lies, blows off clients and voters, delivers much more to top contributors than to constituents and doesn't care or know much about the issues.

What today's GOP apparently isn't getting is that McInnis is to the 2010 GOP as President Richard Nixon was to 1976 Republicans. He's a disaster.

He is setting up the GOP for losing not only the governor's race, but every other down ticket race. Worse, he's setting up the GOP for years in the whining gallery.

After Nixon, we got Jimmy Carter, the worst president in history. Only Ronald Reagan was able to save the country and the party from having to live down Nixon's Watergate longer than it did. It's very unlikely that a once-in-lifetime Republican will come along to save the GOP from McInnism. The state's GOP bench doesn't have a Ronald Reagan in the wings.

Both Hickenlooper and Tancredo will hammer away at McInnis' ethical record. They'll mock his earmarking, his service to contributors and the way he plagiarized and blew off the Hasan Family Foundation. They'll quote his family friend, Rolly Fischer, who called him a liar about the plagiarism scandal.

And Democrats will spend years talking about the Scott McInnis Republicans and their lack of integrity.

Republicans don't get it yet. But they will.

Is Ken Buck as unethical as Americans for Job Security?

Given the ethical problems of gubernatorial candidates, Scott McInnis and Dan Maes, voters are more concerned about the integrity of politicians than they were only a few weeks ago. And Democrat Charles Rangel's ethics problems in the U.S. House are making voters even more concerned about the integrity and character of this year's candidates in all races.

Corrupt politicians try to reduce our liberty and distort free markets in favor of their campaign contributors.

Thus, we have Ken Buck's sugar daddies at Americans for Job Security running ads that are painting his opponent, Jane Norton, as a tax and spend Republican. These ads are both misleading and self serving, because they are being funded by a few government contractors who are backing Ken Buck because they expect that if he is elected, he will make sure that the Senate passes government programs that will enrich those contractors. They are trying to elect an earmark Senator. 

Buck will have to pay back the government contractors who are paying for the radio and TV ads that are attacking Norton and dishonestly painting her as a tax and spend Republican. And he will.

Norton promises that she won't be an earmark Senator and that "bringing home the bacon," won't be her priority. Fixing the country's budget deficit and other fiscal problems are her top priorities. Controlling government spending is her top priority, she says. 

Buck encourages these ads even though he has nothing to do with them directly. He pretends that Norton increased government spending in her previous jobs in the state and federal government, which is untrue. He makes a big issue of Ref. C, which 52% of voters approved in 2005 as provided for under TABOR.

What we have here is a career government attorney, Buck, who is trying to cleverly duck his own ethical problems, inaccurately rewrite Norton's resume and promise to do things he can't deliver on.

I've heard and talked to Buck and Norton many times. I've interviewed both of them. I like both of them and can support the winner of the primary. I'm neutral in this race.

But I have to say that Norton comes across as more direct and straightforward than Buck.

I just heard Norton talk to the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. She is a very talented speaker, knows the issues and would make a strong and believable Senate candidate. The Democrats could attack her on the issues just as they would attack Buck.

But I think the Democrats would have trouble attacking Norton on her character. They would have a field day with Buck, I'm afraid.

The McInnis scandal has cost the GOP the governor's race. Will it also cost the GOP a critical U.S. Senate seat?

Note that Americans for Job Security is basically an ad agency that allows conservatives to pour millions into political attack ads without disclosing their identities until next April, long after the election is over.

Jane Norton 48%, Michael Bennet 39%; Ken Buck 48%, Bennet 42%

Republican Senate candidate Jane Norton beats appointed Obama Democrat 48% to 39%, and her opponent, Ken Buck, beats Bennet 48% to 42%. Norton beats Andrew Romanoff, 44% to 40% and Buck beats Romanoff 48% to 42%, according to Rasmussen Reports.

"Voters not affiliated with either party prefer the Republicans by double-digit margins to their Democratic opponents, Rasmussen said.

Independents decide close elections, and this is good news for the GOP candidate who wins the party's Aug. 10 primary.

The GOP primary race is so close and moving so quickly with new attack ads and changes in the political environment that Rasmussen is calling it a toss-up. That seems about right.

CORRECTION: Rasmussen is calling the Colorado Senate race a toss-up, not the Colorado GOP primary race, which I think is also a toss-up. Link: Election 2010: Colorado Senate. Rasmussen Reports.

Jane Norton will vote for GOP gubernatorial candidate regardless; Ken Buck refuses to say

Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Jane Norton, told Craig Silverman on Caplis and Silverman (630 KHOW) that she is disappointed that Tom Tancredo will run as a third party candidate and that she will vote for the GOP candidate regardless of whether that  is the disgraced Scott McInnis, Dan Maes or somebody else.

Earlier on the same show, Ken Buck refused to say how he will vote. And he said he won't renounce Tom Tancredo's support.

Buck also said that he was thinking about less than 10 people he's encountered on the campaign trail when he called birthers who attended Tea Party and other campaign events and engaged him on the question of whether Barack Obama was born in the U.S. Those people, Buck said, distracted from the issues of the Senate campaign.

Dick Wadhams called Scott McInnis ‘untrustworthy,” Dan Maes a ‘joke’

Peter Boyles and Tom Tancredo on 630 KHOW said Colorado GOP Chairman has them that GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis is "untrustworthy," and he's told them that McInnis' primary opponent, Dan Maes, is a "joke." Wadhams denied saying that and he said John Hickenlooper would beat Tancredo two to one.

Tancredo said on the radio that he had sat down with Wadhams and talked about what they could do about McInnis and Maes.

Boyles pretty much sided with Tancredo and called McInnis and Maes "jokers."

Wadhams, of course, is in a tough position because he can't pick sides in the Republcian Party Aug. 10 primary. He said he will back whoever wins the primary.

After Wadhams asked Tancredo if he would drop out if the GOP replaced McInnis with a strong candidate, Tancredo asked if Wadhams if he would back Tancredo if the GOP didn't name a candidate or named a weak one. Wadhams said he couldn't back Tancredo against a GOP candidate and promised that the GOP would have a candidate. "That's win, win for you and lose, lose for Tom," Boyles asserted.

Tancredo's never been caught telling lies. Wadhams is a professional political campaign manager.

On Caplis and Silverman, Wadhams called Tancredo a "manical egotist." Wadhams then blasted Tancredo for having run for office in five decades and not being a loyal Republican. 

Hickenlooper will win the election with Tancredo in the race, Wadhams predicted. He predicted that Tancredo will talk about national and international issues rather than about state issues.

Craig Silverman told Wadhams, "I've never heard such invective." 

Wadhams was very unconvincing. He's on a rant. He's defensive and he's making outrageous comments about Tancredo. His credibility is going into the toilet, which is too bad, because other GOP candidates will need his help and support during the campaign.

Colorado GOP’s priorties: Senate, CD-4, Secretary of State, Attorney General

The most important races for Colorado Republicans in 2010 are the U.S. Senate, CD-4, secretary of state, attorney general, the general assembly and treasurer. Governor-elect John Hickenlooper looks like a pretty easy winner. Clear the Bench is doomed.