Santorum says he can take Delaware based on the O’Donnell Precedent.

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According to Santorum's camp, Mitt Romney is making the argument that the April states are "Northeastern states and therefore more moderate states and therefore more favorable toward a moderate candidate,” Santorum strategist John Brabender doesn't see it that way:
“However I would point to the primary elections in 2010 in almost all of those states. If you look at the primary elections in those states, famously so, conservatives beat more moderate candidates.” Santorum, Brabender said, could be just like O’Donnell.

I gotta steal from Kavips….

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Obama’s budget just got scored by the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) at a $3.5 Trillion Deficit by 2022….. Ryan’s budget, will yield a whopping $36.5 Trillion by deficit by that same year. Which number is smaller?

Delaware Gets a C- on the Corruption Risk Report Card

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The State Integrity Investigation has conducted a year-long study of the effectiveness (or even existence) of each state's laws and operating procedures in place to deter corruption and promote government accountability and openness. This report is done and published as of yesterday (19 March 2012) and Delaware gets an overall grade of C-, ranked #22 in terms of least corruption risk out of all 50 states. The state that came in the best? That would be New Jersey, with a grade of B+. Take a look at Delaware's report card:

Tuesday Open Thread [3.20.12]

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From Chuck Todd:
The earliest Mitt Romney could win the 1,144 delegates needed to capture the GOP nomination, per our count is May 29, and that's assuming he wins every single delegate after today. If you assume that he wins a 60%-40% split of the remaining the delegates, Romney won't get to 1,144 until June 26, when Utah holds its primary. And if Romney and Rick Santorum continue to trade victories as they've been doing over the past month -- with Santorum winning his demographic strongholds and Romney winning his -- Romney would fall about 50 delegates short of the magic number, according to our math.
OPEN CONVENTION!!! SARAH PALIN COMPROMISE NOMINATION!!! No, no, God does not love me that much

Rep. Jaques Endorses Mitch Crane

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Representative Earl Jaques (D-27, Glasgow) endorsed Mitch Crane last night at his 27th RD Meeting. Jaques stated "I have worked with Mitch Crane since I was first elected in 2008. He is exactly who we need to put consumers first at the Department of Insurance. If he were Commissioner today, we would not be seeing Blue Cross taken over by Highmark of Pennsylvania."

The Carper Break Up Letter

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Thinking about Carper reminded me of this letter from the time he was working to undermine the President's Health Care Reform. After this post, I'll shut up about Carper, because my blogging colleagues don't like it and I respect their opinions. Also, have no desire to turn into some kind of obsessed crazy person on this topic.

The Rose Izzo Campaign wrote us to remind us that there is a Rose Izzo Campaign

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As you can see in the middle column, I have removed the outdated and lengthy list of state blogs from around the country and replaced it with a list of statewide candidates with links to their campaign websites. I hope to include links to General Assembly races as well, and also to NCCo Exec and Council President races. Well, in putting up the list over the weekend, I neglected to include Rose Izzo, who is also running for the Republican nomination to run against John Carney. My apologies. She is now listed. So, now the question is, can Rose Izzo recapture the witch's brew that was the 2010 election in Delaware?

Temko Sponsors Citizens United Resolution in Final Newark Council Meeting

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Newark City Councilperson Ezra Temko, in his final city council meeting, is introducing a resolution for the City of Newark to oppose the Citizens United decision. You can read the resolution here. It notes that “artificial entities (including corporations) established by the government are subject to government regulation.” If you are in support, please attend the city council meeting on Monday, March 26th at 7pm and speak in support, and/or write to your council person and the mayor and express your strong support. You can obtain contact information at the City of Newark website.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., March 20, 2012

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When we last left the House Democratic Caucus, black smoke was pouring from the Leg Hall chimney and nobody, not even the crickets, was making any noise about the fate of Rep. John Atkins. A reasonable person would have concluded that pulling rank on state police for having the nerve to pull Atkins over for speeding was not considered sufficient grounds by the Caucus to sanction Atkins for his action. End of story. Until Sunday. Thanks to Cris Barrish’s story in the News-Journal, we find out that Atkins had to be lying about his (lack of) involvement in a tire-burning incident at his father-in-law’s place. We also found out that the Georgetown Volunteer Fire Chief, the 911 dispatcher, and a couple of others helped Atkins to cover up the nature of the fire and Atkins’ involvement in it. In other words, we found out what we already knew: Atkins is incapable of telling the truth; Atkins holds himself above the law; and Atkins consistently has public officials covering his back. The Caucus now knows that this story is yet another example of Atkins’ unfitness to hold public office.

Delaware Liberal Tracking Poll Results — Gov. Markell (Round 2)

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So now, for the first time, we get to compare a set of results, the first taken over a month ago, on February 15, and the second taken yesterday. The numbers in parenthesis below are the Feb. 15 numbers. So what happened? Markell's approval rating has increased 7 points, from 63% in February to 70% now. And in those numbers, the strength of his approval increased. 32% strongly approved of him in February, 41% strongly approve of him now. Meanwhile, the Governor's disapproval numbers remains the same. 27% disapproved of him in February, 26% disapprove of him now. Not a bad month for the Governor.