Another Democratic incumbent trailing in the polls

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
02/25/10 3:09 PM EST

Add New Mexico to the list of states (Arkansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Dakota) where polling has shown Democratic incumbents behind Republican challengers. The Democratic polling firm PPP shows New Mexico 2nd district Democrat Harry Teague trailing Republican Steve Pearce by a 43%-41% margin. That’s insignificant statistically but, in my view, significant politically, because incumbents usually do not trail challengers and can usually be expected to top 50% in polling; after all, every House member has won an election less than two years before the poll was taken. Teague carried the 2nd district 56%-44% 15 months ago. There’s a mitigating factor here: Pearce was the incumbent in this district from 2002 to 2008, and in the Democratic year of 2006 won reelection by a 59%-40% margin against a low-spending Democrat. In 2008 he ran for the Senate and lost 61%-39% to Democrat Tom Udall, and in that contest failed to carry the 2nd district.

Obviously the political climate has changed markedly in New Mexico in the last 15 months, and while Teague may still end up holding the district he is certainly in far weaker condition than he was in November 2008. New Mexico was one of the success stories of the Obama campaign in 2008; one of the closest states in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections went Democratic by a 57%-42% margin. New Mexico, like most of America, doesn’t look as Democratic now.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Another-Democratic-incumbent-trailing-in-the-polls-85383732.html

Obama listens at health summit, but mostly hears himself

By Joseph Curl POLITICAL THEATER

President Obama pledged to "listen" at the outset of his much-ballyhooed bipartisan health care summit on Thursday. Turns out he meant he'd be listening to his own voice.

By the end of the televised event, Mr. Obama had spoken for 119 minutes - nine minutes more than the 110 minutes consumed by 17 Republicans. The 21 Democratic lawmakers used 114 minutes, giving the president and his supporters a whopping 233 minutes, according to a "talk clock" kept by GOP aides.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/26/obama-listens-at-health-summit-but-mostly-hears-fr/

Bush and Cheney Reunite, First Since Leaving Office

February 25, 2010 5:41 PM

ABC News’ Kim Randolph reports:

Cheney and Bush, both sporting dark suits, shook hands and exchanged grins on the steps of Cheney’s residence in McLean, Va., before turning to wave to the ABC News camera.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/02/bush-and-cheney-reunite-first-since-leaving-office.html

Kathleen Sebelius: No 'Plan B'

Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services secretary, rejected reports Thursday that President Obama has a so-called Plan B for health-care reform.

"I don’t think there is a Plan B as far as I know, and I’m pretty involved in all these conversations," Sebelius said in an interview before the start of Obama's bipartisan health care summit. The secretary was addressing reports Thursday morning that Obama, depending on the summit outcome, is weighing alternative, more modest approaches to reform.

"No doubt that along the way as every draft is put together there's lots of different options," Sebelius said. "The president has made it absolutely clear that he supports comprehensive reform, and he urges the final step to be done in the House and the Senate, who have both passed comprehensive reform bills. That’s what today’s meeting is about. That’s what the future is about. I don’t think he’s interested in what other issues are out there. He wants comprehensive reform that deals with cost, deals with coverage, deals with changing the insurance rules once and for all."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33509.html

Delaware: Castle Starts With Big Lead Over Coons

A challenge from the anti-Israel Left

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
02/25/10 5:06 PM EST

California 36th district Congresswoman Jane Harman is being challenged in the Democratic primary by left-wing Democrat Marcy Winograd. Harman has paid some political price for her strong positions on national security issues. Speaker Nancy Pelosi removed her as the lead Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee; Harman had been ranking minority member from to , but Pelosi denied her the chairmanship when Democrats won their majority in 2006, instead naming Silvestre Reyes of Texas, whose knowledge of the issues was far inferior to Harman’s. Also in 2006 Winograd ran against Harman in the Democratic primary, attacking her for her support of the Iraq war resolution, and held Harman to a 62%-38% victory—by no means an overwhelming margin for an incumbent in a primary.

Harman was unopposed in the 2008 primary, but this year Winograd is running again. It looks like one key issue will be Israel. Harman’s colleague Henry Waxman, of the 30th district and Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has sent out a letter criticizing Winograd for a February 2008 speech in which she, as Politico writes, “lamenting the violence from both sides of the Middle East conflict, deemed a two-state solution ‘unrealistic’ and ‘fundamentally wrong’ and called for a one-state solution in which Israel and Palestine would coexist.”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/A-challenge-from-the-anti-Israel-Left-85404547.html

A controversial bill that would have levied criminal punishments on intelligence officers for harsh interrogations was pulled Thursday evening.

House Republicans charged Democrats with trying to sneak a provision into the intelligence authorization bill that would establish criminal punishment for CIA agents and other intelligence officials who engage in “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” during interrogations.

Democrats inserted an 11-page addition into the bill late Wednesday night as the House Rules Committee considered the legislation.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/83817-gop-cries-foul-over-amendment-to-intel-bill

Rangel says ethics panel ruled against him

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Charles Rangel, the top tax writer in Congress, said on Thursday the House of Representatives ethics panel found him in violation of the chamber's rules for accepting a corporate-funded trip.

Talking with reporters on Capitol Hill, Rangel questioned the ethics committee's findings and declined to respond when asked if he would step down as head of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Rangel quoted the ethics committee report as saying that he did not know that the trip was underwritten by corporations, but that two of his staffers did.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100226/pl_nm/us_usa_congress_rangel

NY Gov. Paterson won't drop bid despite scandal

NEW YORK – Despite calls from leading Democrats to step aside, Gov. David Paterson said Thursday he won't drop his election bid amid a growing scandal surrounding accusations of domestic violence against a key aide.

The embattled governor said he will speak to key New York Democrats about his political future but for now he's continuing his campaign to be elected governor. Paterson rose to governor in 2008, when former Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in a prostitution scandal.

Paterson also said he will cooperate fully with a state attorney general's investigation into contact his administration had with a woman who accused aide David Johnson of domestic violence. No criminal charges were brought after the Halloween 2009 confrontation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100226/ap_on_re_us/us_ny_governor

Maryland to recognize gay marriages from other places

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) declared Wednesday that Maryland will recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere and that its agencies should immediately begin affording gay married couples the same rights as heterosexual ones.

With Gansler's decision, Maryland in effect joins the District and a handful of states including New York that recognize same-sex marriages performed in four New England states and Iowa. The District also has its own measure legalizing those unions that is expected to take effect next week.

Gansler, a supporter of legalizing same-sex marriages, was asserting his authority as the top legal adviser to state agencies to answer a question that experts say had been left unclear by Maryland law. He was responding to a legislator's request that he issue an opinion.

The attorney general's opinion unleashed a torrent of emotions from both gay rights advocates and those opposed to same-sex marriage, adding a potentially explosive issue to election-year politics in Maryland. It is likely to be quickly challenged in court, Gansler acknowledged.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/24/AR2010022405686.html?hpid=moreheadlines

The commandant of the Marine Corps told senators Thursday that he opposes lifting the ban on openly gay people serving in the military.