2010 elections

The Goodbyes Of 2010: Politicians Who Are Going Home

Eric Kleefeld | December 31, 2010, 1:52PM

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)

As the year 2010 comes to a close and the year 2011 begins, it's time to look back on some of the politicians who are leaving office because of defeat, retirement, or the strange spaces that seem to fall in between.

These are folks who had a presence on the political scene, either long or short, but who have made their marks in different ways on the political consciousness in their arrivals, their service and their ultimate departures.

As is the fashion with these sorts of lists we do around here, the folks we've chosen to highlight include the folks that we and you, our readers, think of as being great -- and others who are so bad that they're good. Of course, there are plenty of departing pols who aren't here. This is just a sampling.

So goodbye to 2010, and goodbye to these politicians. But who knows, perhaps we'll be seeing some of them again, soon.

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Barack Obama

Obama's Federal Worker Pay Freeze Was Blasted By Democrats Months Ago

Brian Beutler | November 29, 2010, 12:14PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama proposed a two year freeze on federal employee compensation today, just ahead of a Tuesday post-election meeting with the GOP leaders. The proposal was originally put forward by Republicans in recent months -- and slammed by Democrats.

The move is reminiscent of Obama's call for a freeze on non-defense discretionary spending in the days after Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) won deceased Sen. Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in a special election earlier this year. The gesture resulted in no meaningful counter-gesture from the GOP and the administration's natural allies questioned the move. It's likely to be no different today.

In recent months, Democrats have attacked Republicans for proposing federal pay and hiring freezes, and experts have derided the idea of attacking massive budget deficits with small-fry initiatives like this one.

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Elizabeth Warren

Franken, Progressive Groups Begin Whip Campaign For Elizabeth Warren

Brian Beutler | August 5, 2010, 8:00AM

Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the expenditure of TARP, Elizabeth Warren.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and its new affiliate, the P St. Project, will launch a public campaign this week with the help of Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to whip up support in the Senate for Elizabeth Warren's nomination and confirmation to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

PCCC, in partnership with the progressive group CREDO, rounded up 200,000 petition signatures in support of Warren, and will now team up with Franken to urge members to publicly commit to voting for her.

"Elizabeth Warren has proven that she is willing to stand up to Wall Street on behalf of consumers and is the logical choice to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," Franken said. "If appointed by President Obama, I would vote to confirm Elizabeth Warren to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

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Financial Reform

Progressives Drive Hard Bargain On Wall Street Bill

Brian Beutler | May 11, 2010, 1:27PM

Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-DE)

At just about every stage of the Senate financial reform process, the changes to the bill have trended towards the left--and that may well be borne out again if Democrats successfully add provision to the bill that will, among other things, ban big banks from using their own capital to engage in market speculation.

The provision is called the Volcker Rule--named after former Fed Chair Paul Volcker who now heads the President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Currently, two Democratic senators--Carl Levin (D-MI) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR)--are pushing to add the rule to the Wall Street reform legislation and have built up quite a head of steam. That development was not a sure thing even a few days ago but with the political climate so anti-Wall Street even progressives' failures can turn into successes, which is what sort of happened with the Volcker Rule.

Last week, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ted Kauffman (D-DE) pushed hard to get their very progressive 'too big to fail' amendment passed. Even though it failed it helped pave the way to enshrining the Volcker rule in the bill.

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Financial Reform

The Top 4 Things To Watch In The Senate Floor Debate On Financial Reform

Brian Beutler | May 3, 2010, 9:04AM

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) , Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)

The next few days will likely determine how smoothly the White House's push to strengthen the rules governing Wall Street will go down. Starting early this week, the Senate will begin voting on amendments to the Democrats' proposed financial regulatory reform bill. Republicans will get a chance to pull the legislation to the right. Progressives will try to tighten it in a few key ways. And the results of those votes will clarify a). how strongly, if at all, Republicans will fight the bill; b). how pleased the White House will be with the final product; and c). how easy it will be to reconcile with the House legislation, which passed last December.

There will be many votes on many amendments, but here are four to keep an eye on:

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Public Option

Kaufman Supports Public Option Via Reconciliation

Rachel Slajda | March 3, 2010, 12:14PM

Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-DE)

Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-DE) has become the latest senator to say he would support passing a public option via reconciliation, his spokeswoman confirms to TPMDC.

Kaufman has become the 33rd senator to do so -- or 34th, if you count Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who would try to pass the measure if there are enough votes for it.

"I'm for a public option, if there's some way that it can get done," he told the Huffington Post. "If it qualified under reconciliation, then I would" vote for it.

Check out TPM's running list of senators who support passing the public option with a simple majority.