Republicans
From NBC's Mark Murray Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor for "standing up to the insurance industry" and voting to proceed on debating the Senate health-care bill.
But HCAN is also airing a TV ad in Nebraska blasting GOP Sen. Mike Johanns for voting to block debate on the bill. "Johanns voted to stop the debate on health insurance reform from even taking place," the ad's narrator says. "So who’s he really working for? The health insurance industry."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro New York Times' Nagourney makes a good point about why that GOP purity test might be a bad idea -- for those who care about winning -- for the party.
He takes a look at how it would affect, for example, moderate congressman Mike Castle , who is Republicans' best chance at winning Vice President Joe Biden 's former Senate seat in Delaware:
Mr. Castle in many ways is a text-book example of why some Republicans think the party should avoid such purity tests. He appears to be, without dispute, the strongest candidate that the party could win to take back the seat.
But in the course of his career, he has taken positions on abortion, energy and gun control that could, at least in theory, lead Republicans to argue that he has failed the test laid out in the resolution. If that were the case, the Republican National Committee might have to sit-out a Castle-Biden race.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Bloomberg News headlined one of their stories this way: "Harvard? Yale? No, Delaware School Is New Epicenter of Politics."
That's because both Steve Schmidt (who ran day-to-day operations for the McCain campaign), David Plouffe (Obama 's campaign manager), as well as Obama's vice presidential running mate Joe Biden all attended the University of Delaware, about an hour and a half north of the Beltway. (Biden's the only one of the three to graduate. Schmidt and Plouffe both left early. New Jersey's governor-elect, Republican Chris Christie , is also a Blue Hen.)
Now, Delaware is trying to capitalize on that momentum and has launched a new Center for Political Communication, which will include the Delaware Public Opinion Poll. Schmidt and Plouffe were both named fellows.
"The Center will involve undergrads, faculty and the public in a program of studying the role digital media are playing in political and public affairs campaigns and public opinion, with obvious spinoffs for the business world," writes Ralph Begleiter, a former CNN correspondent, who has been named the center's director. (Begleiter has been teaching journalism and political science at Delaware since 1999. Full disclosure: He was one of this reporter's professors.)
Former Republican Party Chairman Ed Gillespie is scheduled to speak at the school on Dec. 2nd.
checkin’ it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty and nice…
The New York Times : “A group of conservative Republican leaders is proposing a solution to the internecine warfare over what the party should stand for: a 10-point checklist gauging proper adherence to core principles like opposing government financing for abortion and, more generally, President Obama’s ‘socialist agenda.’ In what was being dubbed a purity test when it leaked out to reporters on Monday, the proposal would require the party to withhold campaign money and endorsements from candidates who do not adhere to at least seven principles on the checklist.”
The hits keep on coming for Mark Sanford… “Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina will face formal ethics charges on 37 counts of using his office for personal financial gain, according to a list of accusations issued Monday by the State Ethics Commission,” the New York Times also reports. “The charges include spending state money on business-class plane tickets, instead of flying coach; using state aircraft to attend political and personal events, like the birthday party of a campaign donor; and using his campaign fund for noncampaign expenses, like a ticket to President Obama’s inauguration.”
More: “A separate impeachment resolution has been filed in the Legislature, but the ethics panel and the legislative action so far deal with different accusations. The ethics panel reviewed accusations of misuse of public resources; the impeachment resolution deals with Mr. Sanford’s secret trip to Argentina in June to visit a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair.”
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From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Kelly Paice NBC's Andrea Mitchell interviewed Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Here is some of what Steele had to say about Sarah Palin. A clip is below with text after the jump.
HERE'S THE FULL VIDEO .
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From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Gov. Mark Sanford faces 37 charges he broke state laws limiting official use of airplanes and campaign money. The details were released Monday by the State Ethics Commission. They came five days after the panel charged the governor without offering any specifics. Sanford's lawyers have claimed the charges involve minor and technical aspects of the law."
The New York Times : "Some of these trip charges fall under a specific allegation saying he used his public office for personal financial gain, the commission documents show." (The Times has the full state ethics commission complaint here .)
Sanford has about 14 months remaining in office.
From NBC's Mark Murray
The Republican Party, the RGA boasted, is making a comeback.
They underscored this in a video presentation to attendees. "America’s comeback starts with us," said the narrator in the video. "We are the Republican governors."
There was even a "Comeback Bash" that concluded the meeting.
And these kinds of declarations were commonplace. "Next year is going to be a good year for us," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour , chairman of the RGA.
What's more, President Barack Obama's poll numbers have fallen back to earth (and his job rating is now below 50 percent, according to the Gallup poll). Public support for his key initiatives — health care and the economic stimulus — is mixed at best. And the unemployment rate now tops 10 percent.
"For the first time since 2004, the playing field has tilted against Democrats," said political analyst Jennifer Duffy, who monitors Senate and gubernatorial races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
But talking about a comeback is one thing; actually achieving it — in next year's midterm elections and beyond — is another.
Here's the full story .
From NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
This comes on the heels of a rift in the party that was exposed in the once-obscure special election in Upstate New York's 23rd Congressional District, in which national conservative leaders, including Sarah Palin , clashed with national establishment Republicans. The so-called GOP civil war threatens to derail moderate Republican candidacies in heated 2010 Republican primaries already underway. Florida's Senate race is perhaps the best and most prominent example.
The "Resolution on Reagan’s Unity Principle for Support of Candidates" outlines 10 conservative principles the group of signees wants potential candidates to abide by. The principles include support for:
(1) Smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill
"President Ronald Reagan believed, as a result, that someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent," the resolution states.
But if a candidate disagrees with three of the above, then the group wants the RNC to withhold financial assistance and an endorsement from that candidate.
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"U.S. Sen. John McCain said Saturday that he enjoyed reading running mate Sarah Palin's new memoir and downplayed any tension between their campaign aides as 'no big deal.' 'I enjoyed the book and she and I are dear friends. I talked to her on the phone yesterday. We got along fine,' said McCain in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum. 'In campaigns there's always tension,' McCain said. 'Outside of combat, it's the most tense situation. There's always differences that arise, but it's no big deal.'"
Meanwhile, McCain "used Saturday's floor debate on healthcare to repeat the controversial 'death panel' charge for which his running mate, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has been heavily criticized. In a scripted exchange with Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), McCain assailed a recent recommendation by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services panel that women receive regular mammograms once they reach 50 years of age, instead of the traditional 40. ... A grinning McCain then asked, 'You would not describe that as a death panel?' Barrasso replied, 'Some people might.'"
Covering the RGA meeting, Salon’s Mike Madden wonders if the GOP talk about a comeback is just, well, talk. “So what if the only thing voters like less than the Democrats in Congress might be the Republicans in Congress? Who cares if the GOP has been reduced to a rump minority in the House and Senate, left on the sidelines with not much more to do than root for Democrats to fight among themselves? In politics, what matters is momentum, and right now, Republicans -- and quite a few Democrats, especially in private -- think they have it.”
Sarah Palin reiterated her support for candidates like the Conservative Party's Doug Hoffman, who ran for a special election in New York's 23rd congressional district. She added, however, that she believes advocates of a breakaway third party are "naive."
"Ideally, sure, a third party or an independent party would be able to soar and thrive and put candidates forth and have them elected, but I don't think America is ready for that," Palin said earlier this week on conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh's show. Palin's media blitz has taken her to, among other outlets, Limbaugh's show and Christian Broadcasting Network White House Correspondent David Brody's webcast.
The Alaskan ex-governor praised the efforts of Hoffman, saying his campaign "proved that an American without that resume, that machine backing, can truly make a difference in an election like this." She also gave her advice for Republican successes in 2010 and beyond: "It's all about jobs, it's all about Americans who are hurting right now and what those solutions are that are so obvious," she said. She blamed the Obama administration for not discussing such "common sense solutions," but also had criticism for her own party: "On the Republican side, Republicans need to be bolder about it. Independents need to be bolder about it."
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