Delaware Political (Almost) Weekly: Feb. 1-7, 2014

Delaware Political (Almost) Weekly: Feb. 1-7, 2014

6 Comments
While it's possible that, under the right circumstances. first-term D Rep. Trey Paradee could be vulnerable, his opponent doesn't appear to be much of a threat. R Peter Kramer has filed to challenge Paradee. Click here to learn a little more about Kramer.  "Keep More With Kramer". Presumably both money and 'personal freedoms'. For low-income voters, that's "Keep Poor With Kramer".  BTW, did any of you actually get a 'kindergarten diploma'? Or would you even remember it if you did? Kramer did, and he does. Or at least, says he does. Also, did you notice how his mission statement just...stops? Maybe he'll add more as he thinks of it. BTW, I notice that he didn't mention that the family company for which he works (J. S. Kramer Inc., a construction company) has gotten serious money from state and federal contracts for institutional construction. Guess that's money that he doesn't want given back to the taxpayers.  He's outraged about spending as long as spending that benefits the family business continues.  I can provide links if you need a sure cure for insomnia. I, for one, don't.

Thursday Open Thread [2.6.14]

2 Comments
PPP does some interesting polling in Alaska, finding that Hillary Clinton leads Sarah Palin in a matchup for President (44-43), with Palin still having pretty awful approval ratings (39% approve). Alaskans overwhelmingly approve of legalizing pot for medical purposes (74-22) and by a smaller, but still majority margin for recreational use (55-39). I'm especially interested in the polling for a referendum measure that looks to repeal Senate Bill 21, the Oil and Gas Production Tax which provided a big tax cut to carbon energy companies. This was a controversial thing and right now Alaskans say they will vote to repeal 43-31%. People do know when they are being screwed over for special interests and maybe if more of these had to be voted upon by taxpayers, there'd be fewer efforts to pad the pockets of the people paying for elections. The caveat, of course, is who knows what will happen with the special interests ramp up their fear and loathing campaigns.

Wednesday Open Thread [2.5.14]

5 Comments
What fresh hell is this? Teen killer George Zimmerman is boxing rapper DMX in some celebrity thing. Seriously, I don't get it. Zimmerman has already told the world that he was powerless against a teenager who weighed less than he did, and was armed with only Skittles. Now he wants to fight a rapper. I guess he thinks there is more money and more notoriety at stake, but who does he expect to actually root for him here? There's a petition to stop the fight, but frankly I hope DMX kicks his ass.
Tuesday Open Thread [2.4.14]

Tuesday Open Thread [2.4.14]

2 Comments
Philip Klein is shocked at the House speaker’s decision to pursue immigration reform in the lead-up to midterm elections:
If immigration reform passes, it will boost Democrats’ prospects in 2014 by demoralizing the GOP base and elevating President Obama, who just delivered a State of the Union Address that tacitly acknowledged he could no longer achieve anything major. If it fails again due to a conservative backlash, then it will trigger another wave of Democratic attacks on Republicans for being anti-Hispanic
Excellent
PDD-DL Vote Tracker is Back

PDD-DL Vote Tracker is Back

2 Comments
The General Assembly has been session for a couple weeks now, but this is your first Vote Tracker Update of the year. Why? Well, because the General Assembly has been slow to tackle the bills we have been tracking. To be fair, one week was cut short by both the Governor's State of the State and a crippling blizzard, but we finally got some action last week when Senate Bill 6, the mimimum wage increase, passed. Not to sound ungrateful, but I hereby call on someone in the General Assembly to introduce a new minimum wage increase bill immediately. Why? Well, President Obama is raising future federal contract minimum wages to $10.10 and called on the states and businesses to likewise act on their own without Congress to increase the minimum wage to $10.10. So now $8.25 effective NEXT year sounds quite paltry, even Scroogish. Hey business leaders and the vaunted Chamber of Commerce and all the state Democrats who are either paid off by the Chamber or live in fear of it, $10.10 is nothing. If the minimum wage kept pace with inflation since the 1960's, do you know what the minimum wage would be today? $22.00 an hour. So suffice it to say, the fight begins anew, and from the progressive point of view, while our legislators will be thanked for voting for a progressive priority in raising the minimum wage, they must do more, starting with this session.