Delaware

Hillary is running. She will formally announce her presidential candidacy via social media at Noon EST Monday, while she’s en route to Iowa to begin a brisk early-states tour. Thus, no tedious announcement that she is thinking of running, and then setting up an exploratory committee, and then officially announcing. She is just announcing and then jumping right into campaigning. That is good.

29% strongly disapprove. 26% somewhat disapprove. That is good enough for an overall majority (55%) disapproving of your job performance, John Carney. And the reason you've got that here is because you have our conservative readers voting against you because you are a Democrat. And you've got liberals voting against you because you are Carperdyne Model 3000X. Your programming has you continuing to try to find "common" ground with Republicans, which to them means you cave and they accept. You vote with theRepublicans against a Democratic budget and you or any elected Delaware Democratic officials dares wonder why the rank and file Democrats don't like you. Here's a clue. You ran as a Democrat. You were elected as a Democrat. You better vote as a Democrat. You better act like one too. All the time. Or you won't be around much longer.

54% of our readership strongly approves of Attorney General Matt Denn. Another 15% somewhat approve, bringing his overall approval rating to 69%, which may be the highest this time around statewide for Democrat. 19% disapprove. Last year, Beau Biden proved pretty popular, besting the then Lt. Governor. I wonder if that will change this time around. And yes, I will ask a poll question on the favorability of the former Attorney General and potential Gubernatorial candidate next week.

Who? Hans Reigle, man. The former mayor of Wyoming. The town in Delaware, not the state. Hey, you guys should know who he is since I mentioned him as a Republican possibility back in the Delaware Game of Thrones series. Here is what I said:

Former Kent County GOP Chair Hans Reigle has also been mentioned as a potential candidate, but I’d imagine he’d been only viable if it were a free for all without Copeland.

Celia Cohen has a piece up on the vote changes between last session's death penalty repeal vote in the Senate and this year's. Celia cites four changes: 1) Senator Richardson replacing Senator Venables, changing nothing since both voted no; 2) Senator Dave McBride's switch from no to yes (which is good); 3) Senator Bob Marshall's switch from yes to no (which is craven when you realize the reason) and 4) Senator Lavelle's change from no to not voting (which is cowardly).

....from the Medical Society of Delaware. Though that is not unexpected. The proposed legislation would likely allow assisted suicide only in cases where a patient has been told by their doctor that they have a short time to live, like six months or less. The legislation would provide that only the patient is authorized to make this decision, and a family member and the doctor would be required to witness the procedure. This, along with Marijuana Legalization, are the next big socially progressive / socially libertarian reforms to be considered by society, and by extension, the General Assembly.

We are going to assess our readership's opinions concerning the job performance of our elected officials over the coming week. Today, we begin with Governor Jack Markell. Given the battles over Education, Priority Schools and the budget, I do not expect the Governor to earn a passing grade this time. Tuesday -- Governor Jack Markell (D) Wednesday -- Attorney General Matt Denn (D) Thursday -- Congressman John Carney (D) Friday -- Senator Chris Coons (D) Monday -- Senator Tom Carper (D) Tuesday -- Auditor Tom Wagner (R) Wednesday -- Treasurer Ken Simpler (R) Thursday -- Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart (D) Friday -- New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon (D)