Wednesday Open Thread [3.21.12]

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Mitt Romney is your nominee. Or then again maybe not. The sound of the celebrations of the Republcan side is .... is..... deafeningly quiet. I would more describe it as a half interested groan. Even though Mitt Romney has no real meaningful opposition, he may still fail to capture a majority of the delegates until June, unless of course Santorum and Gingrich drop out and endorse Romney now, and that is not going to happen. So given that, I would have to say Mitt Romney is the weakest presidential nominee on the Republican side since Wendell Wilkie.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 21, 2012

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An item I found intriguing was the fact that SB163(Marshall), which would increase Delaware's minimum wage by $1 over a two year period, and which passed the Senate on January 26, was finally assigned to a House Committee yesterday. And not the committee that you'd expect, which would be the House Labor Committee. No, the bill has been assigned to the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce Committee. It could be nothing, but my Spidey Sense is tingling here. First, the bill is slow-walked. Then, it's assigned to a committee whose history has been to remove any pesky impediments to economic development, including regulation. Not the most worker-friendly committee, IMHO. Let's just see what happens here. I do know this: If Jack Markell supports this bill, it passes. If he doesn't, well, it just could get buried in an inhospitable committee. Stay tuned.

Delaware Liberal Tracking Poll Results — Lt. Gov. Matt Denn (Round 2)

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87 people voted in the last poll on Lt. Gov. Matt Denn exactly one month ago, and 88 people voted today. In that span, Denn's approval rating has dropped 8 points, from 73% to 65%. Now, I might be a little concerned if 1) the approval number of 73 wasn't astronomically high to begin with and 65 is still damn good and 2) this was a real scientific poll and not a non-random internet poll. Plus there is no rhyme or reason to the drop, since Governor Markell's approval rating over the same time period shot up even higher.

Santorum says he can take Delaware based on the O’Donnell Precedent.

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According to Santorum's camp, Mitt Romney is making the argument that the April states are "Northeastern states and therefore more moderate states and therefore more favorable toward a moderate candidate,” Santorum strategist John Brabender doesn't see it that way:
“However I would point to the primary elections in 2010 in almost all of those states. If you look at the primary elections in those states, famously so, conservatives beat more moderate candidates.” Santorum, Brabender said, could be just like O’Donnell.

I gotta steal from Kavips….

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Obama’s budget just got scored by the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) at a $3.5 Trillion Deficit by 2022….. Ryan’s budget, will yield a whopping $36.5 Trillion by deficit by that same year. Which number is smaller?

Delaware Gets a C- on the Corruption Risk Report Card

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The State Integrity Investigation has conducted a year-long study of the effectiveness (or even existence) of each state's laws and operating procedures in place to deter corruption and promote government accountability and openness. This report is done and published as of yesterday (19 March 2012) and Delaware gets an overall grade of C-, ranked #22 in terms of least corruption risk out of all 50 states. The state that came in the best? That would be New Jersey, with a grade of B+. Take a look at Delaware's report card:

Tuesday Open Thread [3.20.12]

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From Chuck Todd:
The earliest Mitt Romney could win the 1,144 delegates needed to capture the GOP nomination, per our count is May 29, and that's assuming he wins every single delegate after today. If you assume that he wins a 60%-40% split of the remaining the delegates, Romney won't get to 1,144 until June 26, when Utah holds its primary. And if Romney and Rick Santorum continue to trade victories as they've been doing over the past month -- with Santorum winning his demographic strongholds and Romney winning his -- Romney would fall about 50 delegates short of the magic number, according to our math.
OPEN CONVENTION!!! SARAH PALIN COMPROMISE NOMINATION!!! No, no, God does not love me that much

Rep. Jaques Endorses Mitch Crane

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Representative Earl Jaques (D-27, Glasgow) endorsed Mitch Crane last night at his 27th RD Meeting. Jaques stated "I have worked with Mitch Crane since I was first elected in 2008. He is exactly who we need to put consumers first at the Department of Insurance. If he were Commissioner today, we would not be seeing Blue Cross taken over by Highmark of Pennsylvania."

The Carper Break Up Letter

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Thinking about Carper reminded me of this letter from the time he was working to undermine the President's Health Care Reform. After this post, I'll shut up about Carper, because my blogging colleagues don't like it and I respect their opinions. Also, have no desire to turn into some kind of obsessed crazy person on this topic.

The Rose Izzo Campaign wrote us to remind us that there is a Rose Izzo Campaign

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As you can see in the middle column, I have removed the outdated and lengthy list of state blogs from around the country and replaced it with a list of statewide candidates with links to their campaign websites. I hope to include links to General Assembly races as well, and also to NCCo Exec and Council President races. Well, in putting up the list over the weekend, I neglected to include Rose Izzo, who is also running for the Republican nomination to run against John Carney. My apologies. She is now listed. So, now the question is, can Rose Izzo recapture the witch's brew that was the 2010 election in Delaware?

Temko Sponsors Citizens United Resolution in Final Newark Council Meeting

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Newark City Councilperson Ezra Temko, in his final city council meeting, is introducing a resolution for the City of Newark to oppose the Citizens United decision. You can read the resolution here. It notes that “artificial entities (including corporations) established by the government are subject to government regulation.” If you are in support, please attend the city council meeting on Monday, March 26th at 7pm and speak in support, and/or write to your council person and the mayor and express your strong support. You can obtain contact information at the City of Newark website.