Archive for January, 2012
The Gazillionth Republican Debate Open Thread
I’m thinkin’ this is gonna get interesting. Have at it.
An New Idea About Affording College
As most of you know, the Pandora household is preparing to send our first born off to college. We actually received our first second acceptance letter! For those of you not here yet… the cost of college is enough to take your breath away, which is why this article caught my attention.
Thursday Open Thread [1.19.12]
So long Rick Perry. We hardly knew thee. Thank God for that. What is with Presidential candidates quitting in the middle of the week, only days before the next primary. I understand dropping out right after a poor or less then expected showing in a primary, but why right before a primary? You would think that Perry and Huntsman would like to have see how they did in South Carolina. Meanwhile…. Newtmentum II?
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., Jan. 19, 2012
I don’t know whether the House will get to these bills today, because the highlight of the day, and often of the legislative session, is the Governor’s Annual State of the State Address to the General Assembly. In addition to proclaiming the ’state of the state’ (“The groundhog has seen his shadow!”), the address serves as the official unveiling of the Governor’s legislative priorities. Sometimes it’s a laundry list of specifics, sometimes it’s more an articulation of the principles that the Governor believes the General Assembly should embrace, usually it’s some combination of both.
Governor Markell is by far the best orator we’ve had as governor during my time in state government. He’s at his best when he speaks, or writes, from the heart. As he did on civil unions. And as he did on the Gattis decision. However, he tends to lose that human connection when he embraces the policy wonk side of his personality. We already know, based on this story, that the Governor intends to seek ’savings’ (meaning cuts) from Medicaid. Just so there’s no mistake, Medicaid=Health Care for the Poor. Last year, the Governor proposed a $92/month cut to services to the medically-indigent. I sure hope he has learned from that kamikaze mission that that’s both horrible policy and a political non-starter.
Santorum Wins!
Just thought he deserved the headline. The Republican party of Iowa has finished it’s recount of the January 3rd Iowa caucuses and the certified final results show Rick Santorum came out ahead by 34 votes.
Why Are President Obama’s Critics So Dumb?
This cover line question teases Andrew Sullivan’s article in Newsweek titled How Obama’s Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics. It’s a longish read (so stick with it), but one of the fairer accounts of the Obama Presidency I’ve seen (and a better case for his Presidency that I think that even the Obama folks have made themselves). And this is written by a conservative ex-Republican (he claims to be an independent now), who has had more than his fair share of issues with Obama policy, politics and process throughout the last three years.
![Thursday Daily Delawhere [1.19.12]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6707767435_3fd11e2738_z.jpg "Thursday Daily Delawhere [1.19.12]")
The Day the Internet Went Black
DD gave us a heads up yesterday that Wikipedia was going black today. If you’ve been spinning around the Internet today, it is pretty dazzling to see the sites that have joined them:
Mark Your Calendars
Here is a listing of political events for the next three weeks, courtesy of the Delaware Democratic Party. If you have a political event, meeting or rally you want publicized, post it in the comments below and I will put it on the calendar.
Wednesday Open Thread [1.18.12]
One thing that really stands out in the new PPP poll is the extent to which President Obama has claimed the middle. He’s up 68-27 on Romney with moderates. He also leads by 20 points with voters under 45, a group there’s been some concern about slippage with, and he has a 66-30 advantage with Hispanics. If that’s true, the election will not be close.
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