Thursday Open Thread [11.29.12]

President Obama's national lead over Mitt Romney is now 50.9% to 47.4%. Or, given rounding, 51% to 47%. LOL. God enjoys irony. First Read: "That's a bigger (and more decisive) margin that Bush's victory over John Kerry in 2004 (which was Bush 50.7% and Kerry 48.2%). What's more, the president's lead has grown to close to 3 points in Ohio, 4 points in Virginia and 6 points in Colorado. One doesn't win Colorado by six points without winning swing voters; there isn't a big-enough Democratic base to make that argument." Speaking of the Mittster, he is joining President Obama for lunch today at the White House. Now this is probably all for show, but it will be interpreted as "a gracious move that makes the president appear bipartisan." But I would love to hear their private conversation. It is well known that the President, as with all of Mitt Romney's opponents, grew to despise Romney.

The New Republican Leadership in the General Assembly

Senator Gary Simpson has been reelected by his Republican colleagues to continue as Senate Minority Leader. I am somewhat surprised that Lavelle did not grab the job to position himself for the 2016 Gubernatorial race. Yes, it would have been audacious for a newly elected freshman Senator to become Minority Leader, but not out of the realm of impossibility, since, after all, Lavelle did get elected as the Minority Whip, the second highest position in the Senate caucus. I think what we will see in Simpson stepping down after down the 2014 elections after six years in the leadership role to pass the mantle over to Lavelle.

Wednesday Open Thread [11.28.12]

A new Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey finds voters overwhelmingly favor Gov. Chris Christie (R) for re-election, 67% to 25%. 95% of voters think Gov. Chris Christie (R) did an "excellent" or "good" job responding to Hurricane Sandy, and Christie now holds a sky high 72% to 21% approval rating. The strongest possible Democratic challenger, Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D), trails Christie by 18 points, 53% to 35%. I bet you that Booker abstains from the 2013 Gubernatorial race and runs to replace Frank Lautenberg in 2014 in the Senate. Christie is frankly unbeatable in New Jersey right now. Hell, even I think he deserves a second term. There is no reason for Booker to be the sacrificial lamb. Happy 10 year Anniversary to the Delaware indoor smoking ban!! The best thing RAM ever did. Meanwhile, this painting was painted in the 1990's, so it doesn't include Obama, but I always thought it was pretty awesome:

Markell Calls Senate in Session for Judicial Appointments.

Governor Jack Markell has called the Senate into a special session that will begin on December 5, next Wednesday. This special session will deal exclusively with the consideration of several of his judicial appointments. I wish the President could do this, force the Senate to take up his nominations to the Judiciary. Interestingly, this will not be a lame duck session of the last Senate. Rather, this will be the first session of each chamber in the new General Assembly that was just elected. Thus, Senators Bryan Townsend and Nicole Poore will get to vote. How exciting.

DL Demographics & Roll Call

In case you haven't noticed, we are in a period of downtime right now. As a politics-focused blog, any time right after a huge election is necessary a down time, whether you win or lose. We all just let out a giant relieved exhale, and collapsed to whatever couch or chair that was nearby. And now we are busy with the holidays and work, etc., etc. So we are slowly easing back into reading and writing political stories again. One of the regular posts I put up at Daily Kos back in the olden days of the Internets was a demographic poll called "the Roll Call." It was meant to find out more about the fellow readers and bloggers at Daily Kos: where they were from, how old they were, etc., etc. It became one of the more popular regular features because people like finding where like-minded people live, especially when we are talking about a national blog. I would like to try it here, but it might be problematic considering 1) we are a small state, 2) a lot of us have already met one another at various DL and Democratic Party functions. So in the comments, if you are willing, list where you are from originally (i.e. born and raised) and where you live now, and your age and sex (i.e. gender, not if you have it, because that's TMI).

Tuesday Open Thread [11.27.12]

Tthe Tea Party and the Republican Civil War that keeps allowing us Dems to win Senate seats is still with us. The Mike Castle of West Virginia (i.e. the most popular and long sought after Republican in the state) is Rep. Shelly Moore Capito. After years of pleading with her to run for one of the Senate seats (obviously because they view her as an unstoppable candidate), the GOP establishment has gotten their wish. But not so fast. The Club for Growth is going to primary her.
On day one of her candidacy, Capito received criticism from two conservative groups known for mounting primary challenges against establishment-backed Republicans: the Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund, a group founded by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). Chris Chocola, president of the Club, slammed her as an "establishment candidate," and Senate Conservatives Fund executive director Matt Hoskins said the group wouldn't endorse her.
LOL. So who is West Virginia's Christine O'Donnell?

Monday Open Thread [11.26.12]

A new CNN/ORC poll finds 53% of the country has an unfavorable view of the Republican Party, and 58% want the Republican to have less say and influence over the direction of the country over the last two years. And 70% say the GOP has not done enough to cooperate with Obama. Yeah, if we go over the Fiscal Slope, the GOP will be blamed pretty severely.