MA SEN: Pelosi endorses Capuano

Posted: Thursday, November 12, 2009 5:12 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: 2009, 2010

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Rep. Mike Capuano in the Democratic Senate primary in Massachusetts.

"[Capuano] and Pelosi are to appear together in Boston Friday morning to formalize the endorsement," writes the Boston Globe. "While Pelosi is popular with Democrats, she is a target of Republicans and conservatives. So while her backing could help Capuano, particularly against Attorney General Martha Coakley, in the Dec. 8 Democratic primary, it could hurt him among Republicans and independents if he wins the nomination and moves to the Jan. 19 special election."

In a statement, Pelosi praised Capuano's health care vote as "courageous." Remember, Coakley said she would have voted against it, because of the Stupak Amendment. Capuano at first sharply criticized Coakley for that. But the next day, he backtracked.

Five of nine members of the Massachusetts delegation have endorsed Capuano, one of their own. Rep. Nikki Tsongas has endorsed Coakley.

But don't expect the endorsement to change the trajectory of this race. Coakley is the clear frontrunner. She leads in the most recent Suffolk poll 44%-16%-16% over both Capuano and Steve Pagliuca, a Celtics owner and former Bain Capital executive -- the company of... Mitt Romney.

EMILY's List is behind Coakley. "We are strongly supporting Martha Coakley," reiterated Matt Burgess, a spokesman for the group, when asked by First Read for a reaction to Pelosi's endorsement.

Don't expect this to be a strike two with women for Pelosi, however, after the Stupak Amendment was inserted into the House health bill. Pelosi's endorsement of Capuano was widely anticipated, as Pelosi and Capuano are close. He's considered one of her lieutenants.

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Comments

Pat, Boston,

I think I speak for more than a few around here as to
what are your thoughts on this?

Who do you think is the better candidate?

Thanks much!

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL (Sent Thursday, November 12, 2009 5:29 PM)

Nashville:

I support tax cuts to stimulate economic growth, especially in times of recession, or just preceding a likely downturn.

Their stimulative effect results in more government revenues which, if there is going to be war, the increased revenues would be the preferable way to finance the war.

They:

1) Devote currently available resources to it.
2) They increase taxes to pay for it.

I know the "point" you're trying to make but it's a non sequitur.

Federal revenues increased from approximately $1.85 trillion to over 2.5 trillion in the years 2004 through 2007. This was after a decline from $2.021 trillion in 2000 to $1.785 trillion in 2003, primarily due to recession and impacts of 9/11. Federal revenues were $1.258 trillion in 1994.

In other words, federal revenues, after declining, recovered and set records in the period 2004-2007 after the Bush tax cuts.

I guess it was just a big coincidence, but it appears that once again increased economic activity, just as in the Clinton Administration, produced record Federal revenues.

Yes, Clinton also increased taxes but a more dramatic effect on the budget came from better than average expenditure control, though a significant amount of the reduction in government spending during his tenure was military related.

To my knowledge there has not been a president who tried to finance a war with "tax cuts". You might as well say that Bush tried to finance Social Security with tax cuts or that he tried to finance NASA with tax cuts.

All administrations spend too much and every administration has contributed to the national debt.

This administration seems quite intent on evening things up, too. Seems much like the old "they did it, so now we're justified."

Instead of doing something different.

Richard, Washington State (Sent Thursday, November 12, 2009 5:59 PM)

For those interested in facts, Martha Coakley was asked, if you are Senator Coakley, would you vote for a bill that contained the Stupak amendment. She didn't say she would not vote it out of the House. She would never have that decision. The fact that Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the House, is attempting to derail the first qualified and viable woman candidate in Massachusetts history speaks volumes. First she throws us under the bus by caving to Supak conservatives-they gave in without a fight. What was the middle of the night emergency for a bill that has been in the works for decades? Not many knew what was even in the bill. Where was the transparency we were promised. Nancy has lost her appeal to me and many progressives I know. Her good news is that her poll numbers can't get much lower. She will not help Capuano, he has already been shown to go along to get along. Running as the insider's insider-not so smart Mikey.

G. Burk (Sent Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:00 PM)

Nashville (just for fun):

Did JFK use tax cuts to finance the Vietnam War?

Richard, Washington State (Sent Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:05 PM)

Even a poor Democrat is better than any Republican so it really doesn't matter who wins the Democratic Primary in Mass. People in that deep blue state understand this.

eagle1776 (Sent Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:13 PM)

Feisty,

Capuano to me was always a better choice for the progressives. I just never gave him a chance as Martha Coakley has always been very popular up here.

So this endorsement by Nancy Pelosi is stunning. Not something I ever expected.

Nancy Pelosi. She's a real wonder to me. We all worked so hard to have the public option included in the House bill. No one thought it was going to happen, but she insisted it would.

She sure delivered. She's amazing. I can't believe she's getting involved in this race.

She would make a terrific president. She takes no BS from anyone. And I love it. She never seems to quit.

Pat, Boston, MA (Sent Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:15 PM)

She would make a terrific president. She takes no BS from anyone. And I love it. She never seems to quit.
Pat, Boston, MA (Sent Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:15 PM)

nor does she listen to anybody. She and Obie rate about par on arrogance.

2010 (Sent Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:41 PM)

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