James Dobson of Focus on the Family penned an op-ed for the New York Times today, stating in no uncertain terms that Rudy Giuliani would be an unacceptable choice for the religious right in 2008:
After two hours of deliberation, we voted on a resolution that can be summarized as follows: If neither of the two major political parties nominates an individual who pledges himself or herself to the sanctity of human life, we will join others in voting for a minor-party candidate. Those agreeing with the proposition were invited to stand. The result was almost unanimous.
What happens if a third party runs against Giuliani? Rasmussen has the answer:
The poll finds that 27% of Republican voters would rather vote for a third-party Christian right candidate in a general election than vote for Rudy Giuliani — and that’s in a three-way race with Hillary Clinton.The hypothetical three-way race shows Hillary with 46% support, Rudy at 30%, and the third-party conservative with 14%. Among self-described pro-life voters, Rudy gets only 36% support, with the third-party candidate at 29% and Hillary with 23%. Not just that, but Rudy gets only 25% of pro-choice voters, with Hillary still walking away comfortably with 65%.”
Then you’ve got polling that shows very real signs that the “Hillary is poison in red states” theory is simply a myth - (and yeah, Edwards looks even better in those polls - a lead in Oklahoma?) and the hero of the conservative movement getting stuck back when Bush the Elder was President. (Seriously, the Soviet Union? Thompson basically oozes incompetence just based on that one statement - and that’s before you look at the rest of his foreign policy). Then you have the Log Cabin Republicans “endorsing” Mitt Romney with a clever ad. We’re going to see an interesting campaign season. And that’s before we even talk about Nebraska Republicans tearing each other apart.
I’m rarely surprised anymore by something I see in Nebraska politics, but this one is a genuine shocker. Hal Daub is dropping out of the race for U.S. Senate. Even as news leaked out of his announcement, scheduled for Friday morning, Daub’s campaign ads - which began airing this week - were peppering the airwaves. Word is that he’s getting out because he doesn’t think he can beat Johanns. But surely that played into his political calculus two weeks ago when he announced and Johanns was a better-than-even shot to get into the race? Or after Johanns announced and Daub decided to go on the air a full seven and a half months prior to election day? No, there’s something deeper at play here. If it is because of Johanns, it’s more likely that Daub was pressured or nudged out of the race.
The U.S. Congress hasn’t been too great on a lot of things (getting us out of Iraq, stopping Bush’s conservative agenda), but they’ve been doing a great job going to bat for students on the issue of Student Loans & College Cost Reduction.
Just last week a very important piece of legislation was passed through the Congress which (if signed into law) is going to make college costs a lot lower for all of us. The speaker’s office put the above video together… it’s a spoof on all those eHarmony dating service adds.
Democrat Bob Kerrey says he’s “excited” about the prospect of running for the U.S. Senate again, but he said today that he still isn’t ready to commit to the race.
Kerrey said he would be calling friends and supporters in the next two days to explain to them the pros and cons of his running.
He wants them to know his thinking before he decides whether he’s in or out. A final decision will come “soon,” he said.
He declined to set a specific deadline. “I have to get it done soon, it’s all I know,” Kerrey said.
I’d expect something in the next week or so, but his comments in this article look encouraging.
You see, today Terry & 158 of his extreme-right-wing friends (including Nebraska’s other two congressmen, Smith & Fortenberry) voted against the SCHIP renewal and expansion. Thankfully, the bill still passed with a huge bipartisan majority of 265 votes.
CHIP (the Childrens Health Insurance Program) was a 1990s program that provided Medicare-style health insurance to poor kids who can’t otherwise get coverage.
On a personal note… I am a direct beneficiary of CHIP. Without it, I would not have had health insurance for a significant portion of my childhood. Anyone who has ever had the fortune / misfortune to hear me play guitar can thank CHIP, since I broke my finger when I was little playing football, and CHIP allowed me to get it fixed.
But passing this bill isn’t about me, it’s about the 65,000 kids in Nebraska who will loose their health insurance options if Lee Terry has his way.
Number of Nebraskan kids enrolled in CHIP: 44,981
Number of Nebraskan kids eligible for CHIP or Medicaid but not enrolled: 18,211
2008 Funds available under bipartisan bill: $42,204,503
So, let’s get this straight: Lee Terry just voted against insuring poor kids. Specifically, he voted against 65 thousand of those kids right here in Nebraska, and he voted against 40 million dollars in funding Nebraska would have gotten to help pay for those kids.
Oh, I bet Hal Daub thought he’d grab all of the headlines on Monday, but the always unpredictable senator from Nebraska’s 11th District had other plans. Ernie Chambers decided to sue God. Yeah, you read that correctly.
Chambers is apparently doing this to prove a point about frivolous lawsuits, prompted by a lawsuit that he sees as frivolous.
24 year-old Tory Bowen accused Pamir Safi, 33, of rape. At Safi’s trial, Bowen was barred from using language that described the crime. Words like “sexual assault” and “rape” were explicitly forbidden by judge Jeffre Cheuvront. Words like “sex” were allowed. As Bowen and her attorneys quite correctly point out, forcing her to describe a sexual assault as “sex” basically forces her to relive the crime, and lie on the stand, all at once. Bowen filed suit against Cheuvront for violating her first amendment rights. Chambers claims this is frivolous because the state supreme court has already ruled on this matter.
Chambers says in his lawsuit that God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants.”
The Omaha senator, who skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticizes Christians, also says God has caused “fearsome floods … horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes.”
He’s seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty.
Congressman Hal Daub challenged sitting U.S. Senator David Karnes in the Republican Primary in 1988. Karnes, who was appointed by unpopular governor Kay Orr after the death of Ed Zorinsky, won the nomination and then proceeded to get thrashed by - who else? - former Governor Bob Kerrey in the general election.
In 1990, Daub was back at it, challenging popular Democratic Senator Jim Exon, losing that election as well.
After a brief time away from the spotlight, he returned when Omaha Mayor P.J. Morgan decided he didn’t want to be mayor of Omaha anymore. Daub won the special election against Brenda Council in 1994, by a slim margin. In 1997, the margin was even slimmer, one of the closest elections in city history, as Daub defeated Council by a few hundred votes.
By 2001, though, Daub’s personality had grated the citizens of Omaha to the point where they not only threw him out - they took half the city council with him. It was another close election, Democrat Mike Fahey won by another slim margin, but the change in attitude at city hall was apparent. The era of divisiveness in Omaha was over. And as 2005’s election confirmed, Omaha responded to Mike Fahey.
Daub is asking the voters of Nebraska to give him another chance. He has yet to prove his worth of the first chance, and the voters of Nebraska roundly rejected him twice, already. Perhaps the third time is the charm for Daub? I’ve learned to never count out the willingness of Nebraska Republicans to nominate an unsuitable candidate for office, but a mayor of Omaha who even Omahans don’t like?
