Richard Shelby

Shelby's Office Confirms Holds, Lashes Out At Obama

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 5, 2010, 11:25AM

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)

Sen. Richard Shelby's (R-AL) office has confirmed to TPMDC the reports that Shelby has placed a hold on President Obama's nominees over a pair of government programs set to be based in Alabama. He did not confirm that Shelby has taken the rare step of blocking all of Obama's nominees, as was reported yesterday.

"Sen. Shelby has placed holds on several pending nominees due to unaddressed national security concerns," Shelby spokesperson Jonathan Graffeo said in a statement. "Among his concerns" are the progress on multi-billion dollar defense contract that would see planes built in Mobile, AL and Obama's decision to scrap a $45 million FBI improvised explosive device lab Shelby secured an earmark for in 2008.

Graffeo lashed out at Obama's decision to cancel the lab, which he says "impedes" the ability of the military and intelligence agencies in their efforts to fight terrorism.

Read more »

Richard Shelby

Gibbs: Shelby Holds Are 'Silliness'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 5, 2010, 10:46AM

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called out Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) this morning over his rare blanket hold on all of President Obama's nominees in the Senate. Reports from this morning's press gaggle are coming in, and they show a White House that is flabbergasted by Shelby today.

From DailyCaller White House reporter Jon Ward's Twitter feed from inside the gaggle:

"Gibbs on Shelby holds: "I fear there won't [b]e a greater example of silliness throughout the entire year of 2010."

Read more »

Richard Shelby

Behind The Shelby Holds: He Thinks Obama's White House Is Biased Against Alabama

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 5, 2010, 10:28AM

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and President Obama

We already told you about the extraordinary "blanket hold" Sen. Richard Shelby has reportedly placed on all of President Obama's nominations to the Senate yesterday. Shelby's D.C. office hasn't returned our phone calls and emails looking for comment, yet, but digging around on the web a bit this morning, we found a nugget that could provide some insight into what's going on. According to Shelby, the Obama administration is biased against Alabama.

Read more »

Richard Shelby

Report: Shelby Blocks All Obama Nominations In The Senate Over AL Earmarks

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 4, 2010, 9:19PM

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary "blanket hold" on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.

"While holds are frequent," CongressDaily's Dan Friedman and Megan Scully report (sub. req.), "Senate aides said a blanket hold represents a far more aggressive use of the power than is normal." The magazine reported aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were the source of the news about Shelby's blanket hold.

The Mobile Press-Register picked up the story early this afternoon. The paper confirmed Reid's account of the hold, and reported that a Shelby spokesperson "did not immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages seeking confirmation of the senator's action or his reason for doing so."

Read more »

NY-SEN

Conservatives Hope Larry Kudlow Will Take On Schumer In NY

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 4, 2010, 5:19PM

Larry Kudlow

If you listen carefully, you can hear it: the a low rumble of excitement at Republican gatherings and executive suites across New York. A growing number of conservatives say that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) is vulnerable this year, and they know the man that can beat him -- CNBC host and supply-side economics uebermensch Larry Kudlow.

Kudlow has expressed some interest in mounting a bid. One of the men who's urging him to run, self-proclaimed "Wall St. guy" and Kudlow friend John Lakian, told me today that Kudlow is at "the 70 or 80 or 90% tipping point" toward throwing his hat in the ring. According to Lakian, one of the men behind the Draft Kudlow movement on Facebook and the web, the time is right for a man with Kudlow's extensive Wall St. connections to make a run for office.

Read more »

IL-SEN

Public Poll Clashes With Kirk Internal Numbers in IL-Sen

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 4, 2010, 8:59AM

IL-SEN candidates Alexi Giannoulias (D) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R)

A new public poll shows the freshly-minted nominees for Senate in Illinois are running a tight race as the general election campaign begins in earnest. Yesterday, GOP nominee Mark Kirk released an internal poll showing him with a double-digit lead over Democratic nominee Alexi Giannoulias. But today's public poll from Rasmussen shows the race is much closer than that, with Kirk leading Giannoulias 46-40 with a margin of error of 4.5%.

Internal polls are often released by candidates in an attempt to influence the storyline of a race. Yesterday, the Kirk campaign pushed its internal numbers on reporters yesterday in the hours after Kirk swept a crowded field to win his party's nomination. While today's poll still shows him ahead of Giannoulias in the race for President Obama's former Senate seat, the six-point lead suggests the race is basically up for grabs.

Read more »

John Boehner

Republicans Trying To Raise Money Off Question Time Performance

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 3, 2010, 3:50PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

House Republican leaders are calling on their supporters to send money after last week's extraordinary Q&A session with President Obama. Their recollection of the meeting, as described in the fundraising letters? We stuck it to Obama, so give us some money.

In a fundraising email sent out to the NRCC list today, House Minority Leader John Boehner argued the GOP came out on top in the session "[Obama] finally acknowledged that we'd been offering solutions -- Democrats just haven't listened," Boehner wrote. "You see, we're not just fighting to put the brakes on their jobs-killing agenda - we're showing what a new Republican-led Congress would do differently."

Reports today indicate that Boehner's not the only Republican to see the Q&A as a fundraising opportunity. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) -- the man whose take on the budget Obama called "factually inaccurate" during the session -- said his performance at the Q&A merits some campaign donations, too.

Read more »

CA-GOV

Week Of Shenanigans Makes The CA-Gov Race Interesting Again

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 2, 2010, 6:48PM

CA-GOV candidates Meg Whitman (R) and Steve Poizner (R)

The battle of the billionaires in the California Republican gubernatorial primary was turning into a bit of snooze. But suddenly, out of the blue, the race has become replete with racists and calls to the FBI alleging illegal campaign tactics.

Billionaire former tech company executive Steve Poizner has been trailing in the polls to billionaire former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman. Both candidates have more than enough money to pay for a top-notch campaign out of their own pockets. So it was maybe a bit ironic that Poizner held a press conference yesterday to accuse Whitman of, among other things, threatening to leverage her fortune to "destroy him" if he doesn't agree to drop out of the race. Poizner waved an email from celebrity pundit and Whitman adviser Mike Murphy he said proved the plot. He's handed over the evidence to law enforcement. On Tuesday an FBI spokesperson told me, "I'm not touching that" when asked for comment on the situation. That came a day after Murphy wondered in the press if Poizner had literally gone crazy.

We should have known this would happen -- ain't no party like a West Coast party, as a wise man once said.

Read more »

IL-GOV

Adam Andrzejewski Is Tea Partiers' Illinois Dreamboat

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 2, 2010, 11:50AM

IL-GOV candidate Adam Andrezejewski (R)

Every cloud has a silver lining. And for tea partiers in Illinois smarting over their failure to mount a strong challenge to Rep. Mark Kirk (R) in the Senate race, that silver lining goes by the name Adam Andrzejewski. He's running competitively in the crowded GOP gubernatorial primary, and as voters go to the polls today, conservatives are predicting an upset victory for the man who Erik Erickson calls "a Rubio" and Rush Limbaugh labeled "the Scott Brown of this contest."

As Christina reports this morning, conservatives appear to have struck out against Kirk. But, as a myriad of conservative thought leaders wrote yesterday, Andrzejewski has given tea partiers a new reason to get excited about Primary Day in Illinois.

Read more »

Polls

Poll: Crist Has Long, Dark Road Ahead

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 2, 2010, 9:38AM

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R)

A new poll from a GOP pollster confirms yesterday's striking poll from Rasmussen showing Marco Rubio opening up a big lead in the GOP Senate primary in Florida. But in even worse news for Charlie Crist, the new poll shows Rubio has room to move even further ahead while Crist appears to be running out of options. The pollster told the Miami Herald that the poll shows the best path for Crist would be to drop out of the race with Rubio and run as an independent. But even then, Crist would face an uphill climb against Rubio.

The Senate questions were added by pollster Tony Fabrizio to a poll he was conducting for a private client, according to the Herald. The results show Rubio leading Crist 44-30, with 25% undecided. Behind those numbers, though, are signs that Rubio's surge is growing while Crist may have peaked.

Read more »

Polls

Obama's Approval Ratings On The Rise After SOTU

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 1, 2010, 3:51PM

President Obama delivers his first State of the Union address.

The Rasmussen daily presidential tracking poll is registering its highest level of strong support for President Obama in months. At the same time, the number of poll respondents saying they "strongly disapprove" of the job Obama is doing has dropped to it's lowest level since Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's old seat in Massachusetts Jan. 19. According to the pollster, the shift came after Obama's State of the Union address last week.

The latest numbers from Rasmussen's rolling poll of 1500 likely voters shows 35% "strongly approve" of the job Obama is doing as president. The last time the number was that high was in June. The day before Obama's State of the Union, it was 27%. On the opposite end of the spectrum, 39% strongly disapprove of Obama's performance in the latest results. That's down from 42% before Obama's address to the nation.

Obama's overall approval is on the rise in Rasmussen's poll as well. For the last three days, Obama's approval rating has hovered around 50%. It had fallen to 44% after Brown was elected. Today's approval/disapproval split was 50/49.

Read more »

2010 elections

Americans Don't Know Much About The Tea Party Movement, But They Like It Anyway

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 1, 2010, 1:51PM

At a tea party in Kerrville, Texas

Americans don't claim to be experts on the Tea Party movement, but that hasn't stopped them from getting behind what they think the movement is about. That's according to a new poll from Republican pollster McLaughlin conducted for National Review.

About 65% of likely voters said they know just "some" or "not too much" about the Tea Party when asked. Nevertheless, the Tea Party seems to be winning the message war, capturing the voice of populist anger in the country -- the majority of respondents expressed support for the goals of the movement and the people in it.

Though the numbers would seem to bode well for the GOP, which is more closely aligned with Tea Party than the Democrats are, the poll could actually cause heartburn for Republicans hoping for big victories this fall. When lined up against a Democrat and a Republican on a generic congressional ballot, 8% said they'd pull the lever for a third, Tea Party candidate enough to give the Democrats the win in a three-way race. The Democrats won the hypothetical matchup 31-26-8, with 35% undecided.

Read more »