Delaware 2012 Political Weekly-Jan. 14-20

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1. Wilmington Mayoral Candidates Disagree on Riverfront Hotel Deal. The issue, of course, is whether the city should pay a $1 million ransom to the developers. As usual, I'm of two minds on this. I don't believe that the City should have to do this. After all, if the project is this financial windfall that's being projected, why shouldn't the developers pay for it themselves? OTOH, government at every level in Delaware has already prostituted itself time and time again to pave the way for 'economic development'. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. In other words, to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, the developers have already determined that we are whores, they're only dickering over price. Bill Montgomery and Scott Spencer support the $1 mill guarantee. Dennis Williams, Bob Marshall and Rev. Derrick Johnson say they oppose it. Kevin Kelley is still reviewing it. Anyway, that's not the reason I included this in my wrapup. After reading the Esteban Parra story, I was struck that there was more civility and substance in this discussion than in the entirety of the Kareening Klown Kar that is the Rethuglican presidential nominating process. What are the other top political stories of the week? Check inside.

An New Idea About Affording College

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As most of you know, the Pandora household is preparing to send our first born off to college. We actually received our first second acceptance letter! For those of you not here yet... the cost of college is enough to take your breath away, which is why this article caught my attention.

Thursday Open Thread [1.19.12]

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So long Rick Perry. We hardly knew thee. Thank God for that. What is with Presidential candidates quitting in the middle of the week, only days before the next primary. I understand dropping out right after a poor or less then expected showing in a primary, but why right before a primary? You would think that Perry and Huntsman would like to have see how they did in South Carolina. Meanwhile.... Newtmentum II?

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., Jan. 19, 2012

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I don’t know whether the House will get to these bills today, because the highlight of the day, and often of the legislative session, is the Governor’s Annual State of the State Address to the General Assembly. In addition to proclaiming the ’state of the state’ (“The groundhog has seen his shadow!”), the address serves as the official unveiling of the Governor’s legislative priorities. Sometimes it’s a laundry list of specifics, sometimes it’s more an articulation of the principles that the Governor believes the General Assembly should embrace, usually it’s some combination of both. Governor Markell is by far the best orator we’ve had as governor during my time in state government. He’s at his best when he speaks, or writes, from the heart. As he did on civil unions. And as he did on the Gattis decision. However, he tends to lose that human connection when he embraces the policy wonk side of his personality. We already know, based on this story, that the Governor intends to seek ’savings’ (meaning cuts) from Medicaid. Just so there’s no mistake, Medicaid=Health Care for the Poor. Last year, the Governor proposed a $92/month cut to services to the medically-indigent. I sure hope he has learned from that kamikaze mission that that’s both horrible policy and a political non-starter.

Santorum Wins!

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Just thought he deserved the headline. The Republican party of Iowa has finished it’s recount of the January 3rd Iowa caucuses and the certified final results show Rick Santorum came out ahead by 34 votes.

Why Are President Obama’s Critics So Dumb?

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This cover line question teases Andrew Sullivan's article in Newsweek titled How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics. It's a longish read (so stick with it), but one of the fairer accounts of the Obama Presidency I've seen (and a better case for his Presidency that I think that even the Obama folks have made themselves). And this is written by a conservative ex-Republican (he claims to be an independent now), who has had more than his fair share of issues with Obama policy, politics and process throughout the last three years.