Monday Open Thread [4.21.14]

3 Comments
The latest state revenue estimate from DEFAC is expected to be released today. Last month saw $40 million added to the projected deficit that Markell and the GA will need to close. And they may have already done so:
But with Gov. Jack Markell (D-Delaware) signing his $51 million corporate tax hike into law April 15th, the state could have more money to work with.
An Election for Lt. Governor can be held this year.

An Election for Lt. Governor can be held this year.

7 Comments
My question as to who is running for AG is answered. My next question is: does our Delaware State Constitution provide anyone power to appoint a new Lt. Governor, should Lt. Governor Matt Denn be elected Attorney General later this year and thus resign his current office. Section 9 of Article II tells us the Governor does not have that power. But If Matt Denn resigns the office of Lt. Governor at any time prior to September 4 of this year, then it would seem that the election for the remainder of the term of Lt. Governor would take place during the November general election. Given the lateness of that September 4 date, I imagine this election for Lt. Governor is treated like a special election wherein the parties nominate a candidate for the office rather than engage in a primary.
Sooo… Who is running for AG?

Sooo… Who is running for AG?

7 Comments
The field is frozen until Lt. Governor Matt Denn decides what he wants to do, much like Hillary Clinton has frozen the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary. If he runs, he is the nominee, and I doubt he will garner any challengers. But if Matt Denn doesn't run, then the floodgates are wide open. Celia Cohen has her uses. She is plugged into to the mover and shakers, the behind the scenes people in the know, on both sides of the aisle, though her bias and writing style leaves much to be desired. Still, she offers a wide range of potential candidates, so of which will garner a declaration of "WHAT????!!!" and some of which will leave you saying "Hmmmm, that's interesting."
Saturday Open Thread [4.19.14]

Saturday Open Thread [4.19.14]

Stan Greenberg had been previously telling these spineless cowards to campaign on moving past Obamacare. Now he is telling them to embrace it. Because his polling tells him it is the better idea.
"Until now, this is an issue where the intensity has been on the other side," he says. But defending Obamacare, he adds, has emerged as "a values argument for our base." Greenberg now believes Democrats "ought to lean much more strongly" to campaign on the virtues of Obamacare as a means of boosting progressive turnout. "Not apologizing for Obamacare and embracing it actually wins the argument nationally," he says. "And it produces much more engagement of Democratic voters. That's a critical thing in off-year elections."
No fucking shit. Seriously, if you wonder why Progressives have absolutely no respect for our corporatist spineless establishment party, what with people like Chris Coons, Tom Carper, John Daniello et al, it is because we are nearly always proven right, and yet we are the ones treated with disdain by them.

Saturday Daily Delawhere [4.19.14]

The William H. Todd Memorial, in Brandywine Park near Baynard Boulevard in Wilmington. The memorial, also known as the Soldiers and Sailors of Delaware Monument, was dedicated in 1925 and features a bronze figure of Victory.

Friday Open Thread [4.18.14]

1 Comment
Good news on the deficit on this Good Friday:
The U.S. government’s deficit will fall to $492 billion this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a steeper drop than originally predicted from $680 billion in fiscal year 2013. The 2014 deficit will be 2.8 percent of the economy, according to CBO, almost 32 percent below fiscal year 2013, when it was 4.1 percent. The deficit will shrink again in fiscal 2015 to $469 billion.... “This will be the fifth consecutive year in which the deficit has declined as a share of GDP since peaking at 9.8 percent in 2009,” CBO said in a report released today. The 2.8 figure as a percentage of gross domestic product is lower than the 3.1 percent average of the last 40 years, CBO said.
And we have some polling goodness inside...
Biden to remain silent until January 2015.

Biden to remain silent until January 2015.

21 Comments
Alan Loudell:
Molly Magarik told me Beau Biden would not be available to further discuss his political intentions as long as he remains Attorney General (No surprise!). But we have a circular loop, because - as noted earlier on this blog - the Attorney General has been noticeably unavailable for media interviews ever since his hospitalization in Texas.
Loudell also wonders if Biden can simply not campaign and not make any appearances and just rely on the Biden name to get elected. The answer to that is a resounding no. And Biden and his people need to understand that. Because I am sure it has crossed some mind somewhere in the Biden camp. I will vote Republican if that is his plan, and I will work tirelessly for that Republican, and encourage everyone I know to vote Republican. Even if that Republican is Christine O'Donnell. Even if Sarah Palin herself moves to Delaware to hunt foxes and decides "you betcha this state is small enough for me to be Governor in." I would place "Evil (R) for Governor" bumperstickers all over my car. And the reason is that if Biden follows the Loudell hypothetical, it will be a sign of such disrespect for all Delawareans that the shower of that disrespect will need to be destroyed, in the figurative sense of course. He cannot run for public executive office and keep his medical condition a secret, all the while using that medical condition as a reason to not make public appearances. Running for public office involves sacrifice. Sacrifice of time away from your family. Sacrifice of long hours you rather spend watching baseball instead of another rubber chicken dinner at another RD fundraiser. And you sacrifice some of your privacy. And I am not even talking about full disclosure. I don't need every medical record, every prescription, every boo boo Biden has ever had. No, we are entitled to know what procedure Biden underwent. What the diagnosis was. What the prognosis is. All Biden would have to say to satisfy me is....