Tuesday’s political round-up

May 22, 2007

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Florida always seems to figure out a way to be provocative: “Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill Monday moving Florida’s 2008 presidential primary up to Jan. 29, leapfrogging several other states in a change that could dramatically alter the Republican and Democratic presidential nominating campaigns. The move puts Florida’s primary, which had been scheduled for March, behind only the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and on the same day as South Carolina’s Democratic primary.”

* Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is once again talking up the possibility of breaking his word, ignoring his pledge to voters, and leaving the Democratic caucus. “I hope the moment doesn’t come that I feel so separated from the caucus” that he decides to shift allegiance to the Republicans, Lieberman told Bloomberg. Asked what Democratic actions might cause such a break, he invoked Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous 1964 definition of pornography: “I’ll know it when I see it.”

* Today is a big primary day in Kentucky, with both parties hosting closely-watched gubernatorial primaries. On the GOP side, Gov. Ernie Fletcher is facing former Rep. Anne Northup and businessman Billy Harper. Polls show Fletcher in the lead, but a June runoff will be necessary if he falls short of 40%. A runoff is likely among Dems, with former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear, Bruce Lunsford, former Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, and state House Speaker Jody Richards all vying for the party’s nod. (As I recently mentioned, Lunsford is the candidate to avoid — he’s the quintessential Zell-Miller-style DINO.)

* New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) formally kicked off his presidential campaign yesterday and told reporters that he’ll be campaigning heavily in Iowa in the coming weeks. “I am very encouraged because it shows that our grass-roots campaigning and our TV ads are creating some momentum,” he said. Richardson finished fourth in a recent Iowa Poll with 10% support, suggesting he’s at the top of the second tier.

* Democratic presidential candidates are finding more fundraising success in the South than GOP candidates? Apparently so.

* And satellite radio subscribers may be interested to know that XM Radio is about to launch POTUS 08, the first national radio channel dedicated to a presidential election campaign. “This channel is a unique public service opportunity to provide our listeners with a commercial-free and politically neutral destination that is focused solely on this important presidential election,” said Hugh Panero, CEO of XM.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is once again talking up the possibility of breaking his word, ignoring his pledge to voters, and leaving the Democratic caucus. “I hope the moment doesn’t come that I feel so separated from the caucus” that he decides to shift allegiance to the Republicans, Lieberman told Bloomberg. Asked what Democratic actions might cause such a break, he invoked Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous 1964 definition of pornography: “I’ll know it when I see it.”

You know, this little puke is just doing this out of spite, he’s the little punk who has his moment in the sun and is using it to get back at people he perceives as having slighted him all along. I hope the day comes soon when both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate realize what a schmuck he is and in an act of comity and bipartisanship they kick his ass out completely for being the little shithead that he is – he even makes the rest of the shitheads and assholes there look not so bad.

  • Screw Lieberman and screw the Demographic Caucus. Neither one of them are doing the job thar they were elected to do . . .

  • Just a quick comment on the race in my home state, KY. Ann Northup, republican contender, has an ad out on TV that actually states how democrats will target Fletcher (who is basically history due to hiring scandals). Not only does it mention how democrats will attack Fletcher, it also says that Ann has voted for school prayer and has the votes to prove it.
    Now, I don’t care if KY is in the bottom rankings of states in almost every category, from healthcare to education, violence, welfare, drugg addiction, the list goes on. But who gives a shit about that?!? Ann is for school prayer and lower taxes!!! Talk about a platform to improve our great state!

    /sarcasm

  • “I hope the moment doesn’t come that I feel so insignificant and starved for attention from the media” that he decides to shift allegiance to the Republicans, Lieberman told Bloomberg. He went on to warn that if he joins the Republican caucus, once the attention wears off, “I keep open the options of switching” allegiances to the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Natural Law Party, and the Lieberman First party.

    (by the way, the XM thing would be more interesting if they hadn’t had a massive software glitch the past two days. Glad I have Sirius!)

  • Joe Lie says, “I’ll know it when I see it.” The filthy little pig’s already seem it; he’s just milking Dems for all they’re worth, trying to make them look as wimpish as he can before making the “official” jump to the GOP. He better be damned sure that his ReThug friends really want him, because the moment he makes the switch, every Dem on the continent’ll turn their backs on him. There will be no “epiphany;” no “rehabilitation” for Joe Lie.

    Darth Lieberman—Dark Lord of the Neocon Empire….

  • I see LIEberman (I-Con) is still jostling for the Biggest Prick in the Pack Award. Sometimes he makes me forget my loathing for BushCo and I hope we don’t see massive, remorse induced suicides in Connecticut before the next election. I just wish someone would call his bluff or better yet, just tell him to GtFo.

  • The conventional wisdom has been that every state leaping to get close to Iowa and New Hampshire will make those contests even more important, but the Wall Street Journal had an interesting story today about how many of the states, especially the big ones such as California and Florida, will have early voting, meaning candidates with the moolah and the organization will be able to lock in votes in those primaries before anyone even knows who wins Iowa and New Hampshire.

  • you know, as much as it angers me to keep reading these things from joe lieberman, at least i don’t have to actually listen to him say them. that would make me very ill.

  • The writing is on the wall, Joe. Switch now and screw things up even more than you have already done, or stay too long and become even more irrelevant. Your call. My suggestion is that you simply disappear.

  • If (when?) the Dems pick up two or more seats in ’08 Lieberman becomes irrelevant. No one knows it better than he does. He then spends four years being the ugly stepsister in whatever caucus he’s associated with. If he switches to THIS Republican caucus now he’s dead in Connecticut in ’12. If he wants to be re-elected (he may retire) he has to stay in the Dem caucus now and become a Dem Party cheerleader from ’08 through 2012. Should he continue as he is both parties will be looking to run a strong candidate for his seat.
    I expect that he will retire and go home to Israel. Either way we only have to put up with this crap for 19 more months.

  • re: lieberman actually becoming (rather than just acting like) a republican.

    i forget the names involved, but in the latter days of the nixon administration, some really big name came on board. a comedian of the era said it was the first instance of a rat swimming TOWARD a sinking ship.

  • * Democratic presidential candidates are finding more fundraising success in the South than GOP candidates? Apparently so. — CB

    Saw it on TPM/Election Central last night and immediately thought of Tom Cleaver…

    As for Joe LIEberman, I hope that, “when he goes to hell, he’ll have a crotch itch and arms too short to scratch it.” (My Mother told me that it’s an old, traditional, Jewish curse, so it’s entirely appropriate)

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