Archive for the ‘Democrats’ Category

Democrats Pin Hopes on Ousting GOP Governors

Democrats know theyre not likely to win back the House this fall. They are steeling themselves for a loss of Senate seats while hoping to hang on to a majority.

But in governors races, Democrats are on offense believing theyll be in better shape come January than they are now.

Just like Democrats picked up a large number of Senate seats in 2008 that the party has to defend this year, Republicans won a large number of governors races during the big tea party wave of 2010. This year, the GOP has to defend those seats, including a number in swing states and Democratic-leaning states.

So, Democrats are hoping to defeat Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who won office in Maine with a mere 38% of the vote four years ago, thanks largely to an independent candidate who splintered the vote.

Mr. LePage is at the top of both parties lists of most-endangered GOP governors, along with Govs. Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania and Rick Scott of Florida. Polling suggests that Messrs. Corbett and Scott face tough re-election races, and Democrats are likely to aim resources at both states.

The Democrats second tier of targets includes a trio of Midwestern governors Wisconsins Scott Walker, Michigans Rick Snyder and Ohios John Kasich each of whom has enacted Republican policies in states that twice voted for Barack Obama.

Democrats are also, for now at least, making longshot efforts in Georgia, South Carolina, Kansas and Arizona. Overall, Republicans now control 29 of 50 governors mansions.

The Journals Peter Nicholas writes today about Wisconsin and former bicycle-company executive Mary Burkes campaign to oust Gov. Mr. Walker. Ms. Burkes effort is squarely in the second tier of Democratic gubernatorial races, but she is symbolic of this years Democratic hopes.

The Democrats optimism is rooted in the fact that Mr. Obama won Wisconsin and the other five states where they are fighting hardest in 2012 by highlighting GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romneys views on womens health issues, such as his pledge to defund Planned Parenthood. Messrs. Walker and Kasich, Democrats argue, have already implemented essentially what Romney said he would do during the last campaigns in those states.

Ms. Burke, as Mr. Nicholas writes, is steering clear of the toxic labor wars that marked Mr. Walkers first term. Instead she is trying to define herself as a pro-business Democrat while attacking Mr. Walker on social issues and his failure to create the 250,000 jobs he promised when first running for governor four years ago. Mr. Walker responds that the unemployment rate has fallen in Wisconsin during his tenure and that the vast majority of people in the state are now better off.

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Democrats Pin Hopes on Ousting GOP Governors

Economy concerns may doom Democrats

Oct. 23, 2013: College students wait in line at a job fair held by the Miami Marlins, at Marlins Park in Miami.AP

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ECONOMY CONCERNS MAY DOOM DEMOCRATSMuch of the discussion around ObamaCare and midterms has centered around the question of whether ObamaCare is working or not. How good or how bad the controversial law is will take years to reveal. A new poll out from National Journal, however, reminds us what the problem for Democrats this year is. Its not the policy per se, but the belief among voters that President Obamas policies are hurting their chances for prosperity. The poll, which doesnt even limit itself to registered voters, still finds the president stuck with low job approval (41 percent). Theres also the intensity question: The share of adults who strongly disapprove of his performance (39 percent) is nearly double that of those who strongly approve (21 percent)

Demographic disaster - White voters will be the key in the states crucial to Democrats remaining hopes to hold on to the Senate particularly in states with substantially whiter populations than the nation as a whole, like Iowa (92 percent white), Colorado (88 percent white) and Minnesota (87 percent white) Among whites overall, just 35 percent said they approve of his performance, while 59 percent disapprove, wrote Ron Brownstein.

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Economy concerns may doom Democrats

Democrats, Republicans use Medicaid law as a campaign weapon

The attack line from Arkansas Democrats is simple: If Rep. Tom Cotton had his way, at least 155,000 of the states poorest residents would lose the health care coverage they just received under a bipartisan plan that other states have imitated.

Mr. Cotton, a Republican trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark L. Pryor, has an anti-Obamacare platform that would imperil the bundle of federal dollars that Arkansas is leveraging to buy private health insurance policies for low-income residents, they say.

Democrats in New Hampshire are lobbing similar barbs at Republican Scott Brown as he vies for a U.S. Senate seat. The former senator from Massachusetts is leery of a Concord compromise that also uses Medicaid dollars to buy commercial insurance for more than 50,000 residents.

For some state Republicans, the private option was a palatable way to insure residents making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level a key, yet optional, pillar of President Obamas health care law.

Now, supporters of Senate Democrats in tough re-election races want to paint Republican challengers into a corner by trumpeting bipartisan state efforts to insure low-income residents without bloating traditional Medicaid rolls.

This is not an issue weve been shy about talking about, Pryor campaign spokesman Erik Dorey said.

Conservatives say Democrats should not confuse tough choices at the state level with success in congressional races. If Democratic incumbents want to dismiss Republican calls to repeal Obamacare, Republican challengers will counterpunch with tales of dropped health plans, higher premiums and narrower doctors networks in the run-up to Novembers mid-term elections, they said.

The federal focus on Obamacare is about the narrow networks, Greg Moore, state director for Americans for Prosperity in New Hampshire, which has run ads against incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen that paint her as the cause of limited health care choices in the Granite State.

Mrs. Shaheen has said she is committed to doing everything I can to assist New Hampshire implement the states Medicaid expansion plan to cover 58,000 people under the states private option plan, which the governor signed last month.

A repeal of the federal health care law would also repeal the States new Medicaid law, which would be extremely costly for New Hampshire and it would move about 50,000 New Hampshire residents to having no health coverage, James Demers, a Democratic strategist in the Granite State, said Monday. That just doesnt make sense for those people and it surely doesnt makes sense for those who would have to pay.

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Democrats, Republicans use Medicaid law as a campaign weapon

Election-year Senate vote nears on minimum wage

To counter Democratic arguments that the GOP is out of touch with today's harsh economic realities, Republicans say the priority should be finding ways to create jobs, not erase them, such as by reducing taxes on companies.

"You can try to wave a magic wand and artificially" increase wages, said Republican pollster David Winston. Instead, he said, the GOP is reaching out to voters "who'd like to be earning more money and really think the economy needs to be turned around."

Key constituencies oppose compromising on a lower figure, including the AFL-CIO, which backs an increase, and the National Federation of Independent Business, which opposes one. That makes a bipartisan deal even less likely, at least before the elections.

That means the battle will probably produce little more than fodder for campaign advertising. Both sides' lobbying reflects the low odds of a law being enacted, with scant advertising and few signs of all-out campaigns that typify major Washington battles.

Read More Minimum wage debate insane, says 'Mr. Wonderful'

"It's really a matter of just making sure there are no surprises in what we view as a political vote," said Rob Green, executive director of the National Council of Chain Restaurants, a leading foe of the proposed increase.

The pressure for congressional action is further reduced by the states - 21 have minimum wages above $7.25. Five have enacted increases so far in 2014, and 29 others are considering boosts. By law, workers covered by both the federal and a state's minimum wage are entitled to the higher amount.

For Democrats, the minimum wage is the latest attempt to rouse traditional party supporters with Senate votes this election season.

They won passage of a measure this month extending expired benefits for the long-term unemployed, though it faces tough odds in the House. GOP senators thwarted another bill aimed at narrowing the pay gap between men and women.

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Election-year Senate vote nears on minimum wage

Fox News’ "The Kelly File": Democrats’ War on Veterans – Video


Fox News #39; "The Kelly File": Democrats #39; War on Veterans

By: Dan Sullivan

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Fox News' "The Kelly File": Democrats' War on Veterans - Video