2010 elections

Broad And Deep: A Quick Look The GOP's Big Victory In The House

Brian Beutler | November 3, 2010, 8:58AM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) with members of the GOP leadership

The midwest was the key to the GOP's 60-plus seat victory in the House of Representatives. Where Democrats were able to stave off losses in the west and northeast and even parts of the south, they were creamed by upwards of two dozen seats in states like Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, where the recession has taken a brutal toll.

Dems had a significant majority going in to yesterday's election, so the greatest losses were suffered by junior members. Most of them were fully expected. But when you lose this many seats, invariably some surprises get swept along with the tide.

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Hank Johnson

Georgia Dem Hank Johnson: Minnesota Is 'Psychotic, Maybe' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | August 17, 2010, 9:59AM

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA)

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) spoke Monday night at a dinner for a local group in his state, the Council for Quality Growth -- and offered an interesting perspective on the politics in the home state of an honored guest, Rep. James Oberstar from Minnesota.

"I'm here today to introduce the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Honorable James Oberstar from the great state of Minnesota," Johnson is shown saying in a video posted on the YouTube account of his Republican opponent Liz Carter. "Sometimes I think that state has a, uh, a political, uh, psychological complex. (Audience laughs.) Where they come at, not manic depressive, but something -- psychotic, maybe. (Audience laughs.) But Chairman Oberstar hails from that great state, and I think a state with the kind of affinities that are hailed on polar opposites, that means it is a great state, a state of great thinkers and people who are concerned about moving this country forward."

As a dedicated fan of Minnesota politics, I can only say: Hank Johnson gets it, too!

On the other hand, I should remind Johnson about people who live in glass houses. According to a recent poll, the frontrunner for governor of Georgia is a man who has demanded to see President Obama's birth certificate.

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Abortion

Pro-Life Dems Start Breaking In Pelosi's Direction

Brian Beutler | March 15, 2010, 4:03PM

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)

This is the week that Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) will be forced to show his cards and reveal whether he actually has the votes (and the will) to kill health care reform.

By all appearances, House leadership has given up on attempts to reach an accord with Stupak, and other pro-life Democrats who disapprove of the Senate bill's abortion language. Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others hope that most of them will come to their senses (perhaps after a bit of arm-twisting and pressure from the White House) and vote for the bill.

Stupak himself has acknowledged that Pelosi has probably pulled a couple Democrats away from his group. "The House Democratic leaders think they have the votes to pass the Senate's health-care bill without us," Stupak told the conservative magazine National Review last week. "At this point, there is no doubt that they've been able to peel off one or two of my twelve."

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Michele Bachmann

Oberstar: God Isn't Talking To Bachmann Anymore, "I Think She's Hearing Other Voices"

Eric Kleefeld | September 3, 2009, 1:23PM

Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN), the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, has some tough words for a particular member of his state's delegation -- Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann -- the Minnesota Independent reports.

"I don't think God's talking to her anymore," Oberstar said on Tuesday, in response to Bachmann's call for conservative activists to slit their wrists and become blood brothers against President Obama on health care. "I think she's hearing other voices."

The bit about God talking to Bachmann is not a random joke, by the way -- that's how Bachmann said she became a candidate for Congress in 2006, after God called her to run, and she and her husband fasted and prayed for three days to make sure.