Saturday Open Thread [4.27.13]
In a poll released Wednesday by Project New America, over 60 percent of voters in Arkansas, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ohio said they strongly support background checks for gun purchasers.
And an overwhelming number of voters said they would be more likely to support candidates for Senate that supported background checks — 70 percent in Maine, 65 percent in North Carolina, 64 percent in Illinois, 64 percent in New Hampshire, 62 percent in Nevada, and 56 percent in Arkansas.
There have been several retirements among Senate Democrats this year. Rockefeller, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and now Max Baucus of Montana. Many Beltway pundits tell us that means the Democratic majority in the Senate is thus in danger. That may be the case in West Virginia, where Rockefeller is likely to be replaced by Republican Shelly Moore Capito. But in Montana and South Dakota, these retirements have likely increased the Democrats’ odds of holding onto these seats. In South Dakota, former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D) told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader she is seriously considering a run for the U.S. Senate and plans to make her decision soon. She outperforms Johnson in the polls against two likely Republican candidates, turning a sure Republican pickup into a toss-up / Lean Democratic race.
Meanwhile in Montana, Baucus’ retirement presents an opportunity for the very popular populist former Governor Brian Schweitzer to enter the race. And there too, PPPSchweitzer performs better than Baucus in general election matchups against the GOP, turning a sure Republican pickup into a toss up/Lean Democratic race.
In Michigan, a likely gubernatorial pickup for the Dems in 2014, a latest poll shows that even thought a huge majority of Michigan voters don’t know who Mark Schauer (D) and Bart Stupak (D) are, a new EPIC/MRA poll the two unknown Democrats are in a dead heat with Gov. Rick Snyder in head-to-head matchups for the 2014 gubernatorial election. Said pollster Bernie Porn: “If they’re running even with Snyder and no one knows who they are, that’s an indication that Snyder is losing support.”
Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) has decided to challenge Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) in the Democratic primary next year, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reports.
“Hanabusa was the late Sen. Daniel Inouye’s choice as his replacement, and the senator had urged Gov. Neil Abercrombie to select her just before he died at 88 in December. Abercrombie instead chose Schatz, his lieutenant governor.”.
There is a racial and native v. mainlander aspect to this primary fight that has the potential to get ugly. Fortunately, it still appears that no matter who is the victor, the Democrats should keep this seat as the Republican bench in Hawaii is empty, after former Governor Linda Lingle lost big to Senator Hirono last year.
Mississippi high school forces students to sit through “Christian” lectures by church officials in mandatory assemblies. Lawsuit ensures.
Tuning in with my new iMac. How does it look?
political cartoon pisses off Tex gov: http://www.elpasotimes.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=5096879
Interesting — new GOP advocacy group called the American Unity Fund is out to change GOP minds on marriage equality. According to the article, they helped swing the GOP votes for successful passage in Rhode Island and they say they’re working in Delaware now. Anyone know about their efforts here?
Yeah, John, I can see how that might piss him off. The message is right, but it might be too soon.
Recently a student approached me very upset about SB 51 pending in Dover. My student is an Education major and is, without a doubt, one of the best students I’ve had in 20 years of teaching. But now he is thinking about changing his major and giving up on his life’s ambition of teaching middle school students. Here’s why. He read that SB 51 would prohibit anyone from becoming a teacher in DE who received a GPA below a 2.7 in high school. Now mind you, it doesn’t matter how high your GPA is once you graduate from college, although there is also a standard for that. You can have a college GPA of 4.0 but still not become a teacher in DE if hour high school GPA is below 2.7. Now, I have had dozens of students who performed poorly in high school when they were immature but waited a few years before they attended college. In college they were mature, intelligent, and dedicated students who performed well. There is simply no reason why these students should be excluded from consideration for teacher positions. If the state of DE wants to have a GPA standard for college and/or graduate school, then that is understandable. And if the state wants would-be teachers to pass a competency test as part of the application process for being a teacher, then that also is sensible. But why a GPA far away from the application process (high school) should matter is absurd. Moreover, it is bad for the children because it could deprive them of excellent teachers, teachers who excelled in college but who performed poorly in high school. I understand that the Markell administration supports this bill and, now get this, so does the DSEA. I don’t know yet what other measures are proposed in the bill. Some might be worthwhile. But the measure that exercises my student is draconian, punitive, snobbish, and absurd. Please contact your representative and ask them to reject this provision.
Dana, your comment is so good I made it have its own thread: http://delawareliberal.net//2013/04/27/comment-rescue-dana-garrett-on-sb51/
John Young-
dkos has an in-depth article on this topic.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/27/1205200/-West-Texas-explosion-political-cartoon-strikes-a-nerve-with-Rick-Perry#
Fuck Rick Perry, and Rick “Skeletor” Scott too.