DE-SEN

Christine O'Donnell: After Witchcraft I Tried to Be A Hare Krishna -- But Liked Meatballs Too Much (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | October 1, 2010, 10:36PM

In 1999 Christine O'Donnell told Bill Maher that she'd briefly tried Buddhism, and that she'd tried to be a Hare Krishna but couldn't take the vegetarianism.

"I was dabbling into every other kind of religion before I became a Christian," O'Donnell said on "Politically Incorrect," a July 19, 1999 clip revealed tonight on Maher's HBO show "Real Time."

Then the kicker:

I was dabbling in witchcraft, I've dabbled in Buddhism. I would have become a Hare Krishna but I didn't want to become a vegetarian. And that is honestly the reason why -- because I'm Italian, I love meatballs!

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DE-SEN

Christine O'Donnell's 'Oxford' Tutor Speaks Out: 'Intelligent,' 'A Joy To Have'

Christina Bellantoni | October 1, 2010, 4:59PM

Christine O'Donnell

When she attended a Phoenix Institute program in 2001, Christine O'Donnell was "a joy to have," her former tutor says. Bruce W. Griffin is speaking out on his former student, and says that O'Donnell would "add intellectual and philosophical depth" to the United States Senate should she win in November.

O'Donnell, the Republican nominee for Senate in Delaware, has represented herself as attending Oxford University on at least one and potentially many more occasions.

Griffin, an instructor and not a professor, wrote a detailed blog item saying that O'Donnell's thesis on cloning stood out in his mind as "one of the two best papers written for me that summer."

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White House

Emotional Rahm Emanuel Chokes Up As He Departs White House (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | October 1, 2010, 12:31PM

Rahm Emanuel is known more for cursing than kind words, but he choked up today as he addressed West Wing staffers for a final speech announcing his departure from the White House.

Rahm said he knows he's supposed to be "tough" but talked about the honor he feels it has been working for President Obama. He said Obama has tackled massive challenges and credited the president with rescuing the economy from freefall. You can watch the video below.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: So Rahm, Farewell: A Salute To Rahm Emanuel's Time In Washington]

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DE-SEN

Cornyn Punts On Chance To Defend O'Donnell

Christina Bellantoni | October 1, 2010, 9:02AM

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)

National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Sen. John Cornyn told reporters that Delaware's Senate race still does not appear to be competitive for the GOP thanks to Christine O'Donnell.

TPM spoke briefly with Cornyn following an event at the National Press Club Thursday, and asked about O'Donnell's recent snafu with her education history and how serious of a problem he deems that to be. Rather than defend her, Cornyn spoke generally.

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DE-SEN

Claremont Institute Tells TPM O'Donnell's 2002 Resume Listed Oxford University

Christina Bellantoni | September 30, 2010, 4:44PM

Candidate for U.S. Senate Christine O'Donnell (R-DE)

One thing we know is true: Christine O'Donnell was a Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute in 2002. The rest, as we've closely chronicled, is all a bit fuzzy.

But TPM just spoke with a Claremont official who reviewed O'Donnell's 2002 application file. Ryan Williams, who oversees the Lincoln Fellowship program, told us that O'Donnell lists a certificate from Oxford University on her resume. "She did have a line about Oxford," he said as he looked at her file, which also included an essay and letters of recommendation.

Williams told us the item on O'Donnell's resume reads:

Oxford University, Oxford, UK Certificate awarded Summer 2001

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DE-SEN

Educating Christine O'Donnell: LinkedIn-Gate, Lawsuits And Late Degrees Color Senate Hopeful's Resume

Christina Bellantoni | September 30, 2010, 1:05PM

Christine O'Donnell

Republican Christine O'Donnell is a perennial Senate candidate who seems to have enrolled in plenty of courses, certificate programs and think tank seminars to further her political ambitions.

Her frequent television appearances have surfaced on perma-reel as she tries to win over Delaware voters, and now, so has her checkered educational history. It's all sort of cloudy, and without O'Donnell sitting down with the press to clarify things it's hard to know exactly what's real, what's exaggerated and what's all just a misunderstanding.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Christine O'Donnell: Anti-Masturbation Crusader. Witchcraft Dabbler. Republican Senate Nominee.]

So, after the jump, TPM breaks down O'Donnell's actual education, and all the various claims she has made about it.

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Health Care

Sebelius: Secretive Campaign Spending Distorting Health Care Reform Is 'Alarming'

Christina Bellantoni | September 30, 2010, 10:43AM

Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters today that unprecedented and "opaque" spending on television ads by shadowy groups is "dangerous," sounding a political note that could indicate she has a future within the administration or on the ballot down the line.

"I have never seen a situation like this at least in my lifetime. The amount of money being spent is just staggering. ... I think that's pretty dangerous," Sebelius said at a breakfast hosted this morning by the Christian Science Monitor.

Sebelius brought up campaign finance unprompted, and said she would prefer to see transparency since so many "millionaires and billionaires" are funding groups that pretend to be grassroots, especially to drive an anti-health care message. She twice called it "dangerous," adding that it's "pretty alarming."

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DE-SEN

Christine O'Donnell Says She 'Never' Posted LinkedIn Profile That Has Wrong Education Info

Christina Bellantoni | September 29, 2010, 12:26PM

Christine O'Donnell

Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell (R-DE) has issued a statement saying the wrong information on her LinkedIn profile was posted by someone else. She's asked that LinkedIn remove the profile, which has false information about her educational background.

The profile, which you can view below, lists the University of Oxford and Claremont Graduate University under education.

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2010 elections

Obama To 26K Cheering College Kids: I'm Going To 'Fight As Hard As I Can' (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | September 29, 2010, 11:45AM

President Obama rallied college students in Madison, Wisconsin last night, returning to his fiery 2008 campaign rhetoric and telling young voters he needs them "to stay fired up."

You can watch the full speech below. It's part of a big push from the Obama White House to rekindle the campaign energy from two years ago in hopes of saving the House for the Democratic Party.

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2010 elections

President Obama To Huddle With Dem Leaders Thursday

Christina Bellantoni | September 29, 2010, 10:50AM

President Barack Obama

President Obama plans to meet with Democratic leaders on Thursday in one final huddle before members of Congress head home for the midterm elections.

Obama has stepped up his political activity recently, and White House aides say he and Vice President Joe Biden will be frequently on the trail to help their candidates try and retain control of Congress.

An administration official told TPM that leaders from both the House and Senate will meet with Obama Thursday afternoon at the White House. As we've been reporting, House Democrats are wrestling over whether to hold a vote on extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class before the election. That decision is likely to be final by the time Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team arrive at the White House tomorrow.

Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Administration Officials Plead With Landrieu To Drop Hold On OMB Nominee Jack Lew

Christina Bellantoni | September 29, 2010, 8:47AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is holding up President Obama's key economic appointee in critical fiscal times over a local issue his economic team has no control over, giving Republicans campaign ammunition and throwing a wrench into budget planning just as the Senate is set to go home for the elections.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and other top administration officials have been pleading with Landrieu (D-LA) to release her hold on the nomination of Jack Lew to be President Obama's new Office of Management and Budget director. But Landrieu says she won't budge until the moratorium on Gulf Coast drilling is lifted.

OMB doesn't have jurisdiction over drilling, and Democrats are privately outraged someone from their own party would block such a critical nomination -- with several suggesting the state of gridlock in the Senate has reached an untenable level. What's more, the delay to install Lew creates big budgetary problems just as the administration is prepping for several major initiatives, including the 2012 spending blueprint.

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DE-SEN

Another School Says Christine O'Donnell Did Not Attend

Christina Bellantoni | September 28, 2010, 11:52PM

Christine O'Donnell

Claremont Graduate University tells TPM that Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell did not attend the Southern California school despite listing it under education on her LinkedIn profile.

Rod Leveque, a spokesman for the school, told TPM tonight:

Claremont Graduate University has no student or education record for an individual named Christine O'Donnell.

The discrepancy was first reported by Gary Scott, a radio producer in Los Angeles and longtime political reporter and editor.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Christine O'Donnell: Anti-Masturbation Crusader. Witchcraft Dabbler. Republican Senate Nominee.]

[TPM VIDEO: Christine O'Donnell's Greatest Hits]

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CA-GOV

Billionaire Meg Whitman In First CA-Gov Debate: 'I Don't Think You Can Buy Elections'

Christina Bellantoni | September 28, 2010, 10:53PM

California gubernatorial candidates Jerry Brown (D) and Meg Whitman (R)

Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown clashed tonight in their first gubernatorial debate, with Brown charging Whitman only wanted to help billionaires like herself and Whitman slamming Brown as beholden to public employee unions. The two sparred for an hour in a debate that focused almost exclusively on the Golden State's economy and how they'd fix gridlock in Sacramento.

Moderators of the debate asked Whitman about charges she'd tried to "buy" California votes by spending more than $119 million so far, and with five weeks still to go before election day. The governor's race in California is usually battled on the television airwaves, and Whitman's ads have been bombarding voters for months.

"I don't think you can buy elections, I think Californians are too smart," Whitman said. "What you can do is get your message out."

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DE-SEN

Christine O'Donnell Lies About Attending Oxford University

Christina Bellantoni | September 28, 2010, 3:46PM

Christine O'Donnell

Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell (R-DE) proclaimed on her LinkedIn the University of Oxford under "education," but it turns out that's another exaggeration on her resume. The claim is that O'Donnell earned a certificate from an Oxford course which her campaign said is "overseen" by a summer seminar program called the Phoenix Institute.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Christine O'Donnell At The Values Voter Summit]

The Washington Post's Greg Sargent uncovered the whopper of a discrepancy, and a Phoenix representative overseeing the course she took told Sargent that O'Donnell's LinkedIn claim is "misleading."

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2010 elections

VP Joe Biden To Democrats: 'Buck Up!' (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | September 28, 2010, 12:02PM

Vice President Joe Biden told Democrats that it's "time to focus" on winning in November, scolding dispirited members of his party for saying they might not vote in the midterm elections.

"Those who didn't get anything they wanted, it's time to just buck up here, understand that we can make things better, continue to move forward, but not yield the playing field to those folks who are against everything that we stand for in terms of the initiatives we put forward," Biden said last night when appearing on the debut of Lawrence O'Donnell's new show on MSNBC.

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CA-SEN

Chamber Slams Boxer As Anti-Business In New California Ad Blitz (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | September 28, 2010, 11:49AM

Anti-Barbara Boxer ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "28 Years"

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running a new television ad in California targeting Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) as doing little in her nearly three decades of service. Boxer faces a competitive race against former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, one of several Republican candidates the chamber is spending big bucks to boost this fall.

The ad focuses on a theme Fiorina hit in her first television ad and during their first debate, that Boxer has few accomplishments to show for her 28 years in Washington.

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Congress

Thought Colbert Was Bad? Here Are The Top Five Head-Scratching Celebrity Congessional Testimonials

Christina Bellantoni | September 28, 2010, 8:00AM

Elmo testifying on Capitol Hill.

Republicans and even House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer were none-too-pleased with Stephen Colbert's testimony Friday on immigration, but he's far from the only celebrity to bring the sacrosanct hearings down to a new low.

Compare Colbert appearing in character to highlight that the agricultural work performed by many illegal immigrants is backbreaking, with, say, Michael Crichton helping push Republicans' line that global warming is fake, or with a Sesame Street muppet championing education reform. From the Jonas Brothers to Sean Astin, celebrities have long offered their fame to highlight some pet issue. And let's face it, Congressional hearings are far from pristine, serious events. Half the time members don't show up, or they check out, reading the newspaper. Witnesses go through some pre-coaching, and protesters interrupt proceedings.

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2010 elections

Obama Aims To Rekindle Youth Starpower For Midterms

Christina Bellantoni | September 28, 2010, 6:00AM

July 26, 2007

In 2008, Barack Obama somehow proved wrong the skeptics who swore up and down that young people can't be motivated to vote in large numbers. His campaign aggressively targeted college campuses, enticed 17-year-olds who'd be just old enough to participate and asked school-age children to convince their parents he was the best candidate.

And Obama needs them now more than ever.

Cue this week's big education push, which Democrats say aims to respark energy and voting enthusiasm among young people.

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Bush Tax Cuts

Top Dem: 'I Doubt' House Will Hold Vote This Week On Bush Tax Cuts (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | September 27, 2010, 10:09AM

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Rep. Chris Van Hollen may think a vote this week is still possible on extending the Bush tax cuts for the middle class, but the No. 2 Democrat in the House splashed icy cold water on the idea Sunday.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said on Fox News Sunday that he does not think a vote will happen before members adjourn for the midterm elections, even though Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday it still was possible. Hoyer blamed the Senate for opting to punt the vote to a lame-duck session, telling host Chris Wallace that it would be "a specious act" to hold a vote just for political optics before heading home.

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