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NOTE TO URGENT AGENDA SUBSCRIBERS:  WE'VE DECIDED TO PUBLISH "THE ANGEL'S CORNER" AS ONE BIG EDITION OVER THE WEEKEND, TO MAKE USE OF ALL THE ELECTION MATERIAL THAT'S COMING IN.

NOTE TO READERS:  AS I'M SURE YOU UNDERSTAND, WE ARE FLOODED WITH E-MAILS DEALING WITH THE ELECTION.  WE TRY TO REPLY TO EACH ONE, BUT IT WILL TAKE US A FEW DAYS TO CATCH UP.

I DID SOME RADIO COMMENTARY ON SILVIO CANTO JR'S SHOW WEDNESDAY.  HERE.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010

AP PICKS MURRAY – AT 9:25 P.M. ET:  Associated Press has just projected incumbent Democratic Senator Patti Murray as the winner in the Washington state Senate race.   UPDATE:  Republican Dino Rossi has just conceded to Murray.

Murray's strength was mostly in the Seattle area.  Seattle has become San Francisco lite, and is becoming famous for "progressive" policies to make us better, kinder, and eternally immature people. 

Both California, with Babs Boxer, and Washington state, with Patti Murray, have now returned two utterly ineffectual and incoherent senators to the Senate.  The only thing that will stop this would be raising the voting age in those two states to 78.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

THE NANCY WATCH – AT 8:49 P.M. ET:   Much speculation over what Nancy Pelosi will do now that she's been dethroned from the speaker's chair.  No more introducing the president at the State of the Union, while wearing the Armani suits.  Corner office gone.  Air Force jets gone.  What's a rich lady to do?  The Politico reports:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling fellow Democrats as she weighs whether to stay in leadership and run for minority leader after losing control of the House Tuesday night, according to two senior Democratic aides and one lawmaker.

Pelosi has made some of these contacts herself but has had surrogates reach out to other Democrats to test her support level within the caucus.

TV reports claimed today that there are many Democrats in the House who want Nancy gone.  She's damaged goods.  She's ready for the Democratic outlet store,

For members of her inner circle, the calls suggest that she may not be ready “to turn the keys over” while she’s gauging the more general feelings of Democrats outside her tightest clutch of backers, according to one of the aides.

A Democrat who spoke to Pelosi today said she is "just trying to figure out the mood of the caucus." This member told her "to do what she wants, I support you."

The Dems would be nuts to make her minority leader.  The current leader, Steny Hoyer, is a solid type with a reasonable public image.  Pelosi is divisive, and is associated in the public mind with a failed Congress.

But, of course, Democrats are nuts, which is part of the problem.

The fact is, the Dem caucus in the House will actually be more liberal than before because so many moderates, Democrats from swing districts, were defeated on Tuesday.  Think Barney Frank and Maxine Waters as the new symbols of House Democrats.  They like Nancy.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

ILLINOIS COMES THROUGH – AT 8:18 P.M. ET:  On Tuesday Illinois elected Republican Mark Kirk to the U.S. Senate.  He will fill the Obama seat.  We all asked:  "Will Illinois come through, as it always does, for the machine?" 

It seemed impossible that Illinoisans would repudiate corruption entirely.

Well, not to worry.  Although the race for the governship wasn't decided until today, the AP finally called it for incumbent Democratic Governor Pat Quinn.  The machine is saved.  Our great national nightmare is over.

Quinn succeeded former Governor Rod Blagojevich, when the latter became unavailable due to corruption charges.  But the people of Illinois, generous and forgiving, apparently didn't hold Quinn's associations against him.  Illinois should be called the Second Chance State, and Third, and Fourth...

The Illinois state government is in deep debt.  So are the governments of California and New York. Yet, all three states defied national trends and elected Democrats as governors.  It's like the guy who swears off drinking, yet takes one more drink.

The Washington state Senate race is still in limbo, still too close to call.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

AT A TIME WHEN AMERICANS ARE HURTING – AT 9:07 A.M. ET:  We're all for a vigorous foreign policy, but some things are ridiculous:

New Delhi: The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama lands in Mumbai on Saturday.

Communications set-up, nuclear button, a fleet of limousines and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi.

He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea.

Arrangements have been put in place for emergency evacuation, if needed...

...Around 800 rooms have been booked for the President and his entourage in Taj Hotel and Hyatt.

That's 800 rooms.  You read it correctly.

The estimated cost of this trip is $200-million a day. You read that right as well.  Two hundred million a day.

The lack of any common sense here is just appalling.  India is important, but a trip restricted to the capital would have been entirely appropriate.  And Indian leaders can be invited here.  To spend this kind of money at a time when we're in such debt will not improve our relations with the Indian people.  Indeed, when Indians read of the cost, they might be just as revolted as we are.

Who is doing the planning?  Who is doing the thinking?  This follows close on Michele's exorbitantly expensive fling in Spain.  Didn't they learn from the reaction to that?

Two more years for this guy.  Two more years.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – San Francisco has become the first major U.S. city to pass a law that cracks down on the popular practice of giving away free toys with unhealthy restaurant meals for children.  San Francisco's Board of Supervisors passed the law on Tuesday on a veto-proof 8-to-3 vote...

...Opponents of the law include the National Restaurant Association and McDonald's Corp, which used its now wildly popular Happy Meal to pioneer the use of free toys to market directly to children.

San Francisco isn't concerned about nutrition.  It's concerned about the "happy" in Happy Meals.  You can't be happy in a socialist republic.  It's dangerous, it's middle-class, it's...American.  Banned.  So Nancy Pelosi won't get her free toy.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

A WORD OF CAUTION – AT 8:11 A.M. ET:   Our side is understandably giddy about the depth of Tuesday's victory, and the message it sends to the Obamans.  But we should be careful.

Other recent presidents have been similarly rebuked.  In 1938 FDR lost 72 seats in the House, an even bigger drubbing than The One took Tuesday.  In 1946 Harry Truman lost 54 seats.  In 1982, Ronald Reagan lost 26 seats.  In 1994 Bill Clinton lost 54 seats.

But...in every one of those cases, the president went on to win reelection two years later.  So what happened Tuesday does not predict what will happen in 2012, and we should soberly go about our work.

There is, however, one difference between Obama and those other presidents.  The others had a certain skill at governing that Obama lacks.  And they were not rigid ideologists.  FDR was a devoted liberal, Reagan a devoted conservative, but they understood America.  I'm not sure Obama does.

We need a terrific presidential candidate in 2012 to go up against Obama.  We already have a winner for the second spot - Marco Rubio.  But, alas, people generally don't vote for the vice president. 

Republicans have, too often, chosen "the next in line" for the top of the ticket.  The next in line for 2012 would, presumably, be Mitt Romney.  But Romney has more baggage than American Airlines.  His failing health-care plan, adopted when he was governor of Massachusetts, bears a chilling resemblance to Obamacare, essentially eliminating one of our best issues.  And he doesn't wear well on the electorate.  He failed to make an impression in his 2008 run for the nomination.  He's almost too pretty, more like the guy in the Brooks Brothers underwear ad. 

Yes, I know:  Sarah, Sarah.  But the problems, problems.

Selection is going to be tough.  But the stakes are high, and the opportunity is there.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT – AT 7:59 A.M. ET:  And we thought these people were progressive, enlightened, on the cutting edge.  Hah.  Look what they did:

(AP) Denver residents have jettisoned a plan to officially track space aliens.

The proposal defeated soundly Tuesday night would have established a commission to track extraterrestrials. It also would have allowed residents to post their observations on Denver's city Web page and report sightings.

The Denver man who proposed the measure, Jeff Peckman, says the government is tracking alien sightings but refuses to make the reports public. Peckman is a meditation instructor and promoter of new technology, including something he says reduces the "chaos of electromagnetic fields."

Peckman contends opponents greatly inflated the commission's projected cost.

He previously proposed an unsuccessful ordinance requiring the city to offer stress-reduction measures.

COMMENT:  Is there no room for science?  I ask you, is there no room for science?  If you were a space alien, how would you feel about this?  Rejected?  Oppressed?  Ignored?   

Sure.  This is the first sign that BUSH (!!) is back.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

ELECTION COUNT – AT 7:48 A.M. ET:  There are still some unsettled races.  There is no declared winner in Alaska's Senate race, although it appears Lisa Murkowski will be the first write-in candidate to win a Senate seat since Strom Thurmond.  Although the incumbent, she ran as a write-in Republican after losing her primary to Joe Miller.  GOP hold.

In Washington state, some 69% of the votes have been counted.  This "progressive" state went back to the horse-and-buggy era in its elections.  They must feel wonderfully natural.  Incumbent Dem Senator Patty Murray leads Dino Rossi 51-49%.  I think the odds are against Rossi.  If Murray's lead holds, that means the GOP picked up six seats on Tuesday, four short of what was needed for a majority.

In the House, RealClearPolitics is holding the GOP pickup at 61 seats, but about nine seats are still outstanding.  We may not know the actual count for days.

Governorships stand at Republicans 29, Dems 17, Independent 1, with 3 races out. 

November 4, 2010     Permalink

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2010

HISTORY WAS MADE – AT 9:27 P.M. ET:  This is another subject we brought up this morning – the absence of major network interest in Susana Martinez, elected in New Mexico last night as the first latina ever to run a state government.

Why the lack of interest?

Could it be that she's...pro-life?  A devoted Christian?  You don't think...?

I've always believed that Sarah Palin would have been treated far more kindly by the media had she uttered four words in 2008:  "I am pro choice."  But she never spoke the words.

Now Susana Martinez, who made history last night, is being conspicuously ignored.  (If I'm wrong on this, alert me to her national appearances.  I haven't seen any.)

But she did appear on local TV to make her acceptance speech, and I thought you'd like to see it.  It's here. 

Oh, by the way, she's also anti-illegal-immigration.  Can't have that, can we?  I mean, she really can't be a legitimate woman, can she? 

Yes she can.

November 3, 2010      Permalink

MORE ON CALIFORNIA – AT 8:51 P.M. ET:  We did a post this morning asking what was wrong with California.  I've monitored news networks during the day, and, remarkably, they are talking about the same thing.  California was a major center of discussion.

One pundit said that everyone is talking about the state because it's so important.  Let me dissent.  California was important, but I think it's becoming increasingly less so.  There simply comes a point where a state starts acting so irrationally that a large part of the political class writes it off.  In this case, I would imagine that the Republican Party is, at least psychologically, writing off California.

Republicans couldn't make inroads into California in this, the most Republican year in memory.  The California House delegation was barely dented.  It is still filled with left-wing eccentrics and Castroites.  Think Maxine Waters.  Think Pete Stark, who gets into fights on the House floor.  Think Nancy Pelosi.  Think Barbara Lee, the only member of Congress to vote against military action after 9-11.  And think Barbara Boxer. 

And these clowns get elected while the state sinks into bankruptcy and irrelevance.  Companies are leaving California in droves.  It no longer has an aircraft industry.  Even the entertainment industry looks elsewhere to make its films.

California's most prominent export is Code Pink. 

California has developed a flaky, dependent culture.  "California, Here I Come," has become a joke. 

The Republican Party may well abandon California, just turn its back and let the state sink.  There's a limit to patience with this childlike piece of property.  All federal money bills originate in the House of Representatives, now under firm GOP control.  I don't think there'll be any incentive to write checks to a gang of delinquents.

It's really too bad.  This was the state that Ronald Reagan ran.  But it was also a state that adopted too much of the sixties culture. 

Grow up, guys.  The whole world is watching, and falling asleep.

November 3, 2010      Permalink

IT AIN'T OVER – AT 7:49 P.M. ET:  They're still counting. 

Michael Bennet has now clearly won in the Colorado Senate race, defeating tea partier Ken Buck, whose mouth never helped him.

In Alaska, the Democratic candidate for the Senate, Scott McAdams, has pulled out, leaving the count to between Republican candidate and tea partier Joe Miller and incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, running as a write-in.  It looks, at this hour, with virtually all votes counted, that Murkowski has it, and will be the first Senate write-in candidate to win since Strom Thurmond.  This is not good news for Sarah Palin.  The Murkowskis and Palin have a blood feud, stemming from Sarah's defeating Murkowski's father for the gubernatorial nomination.  Sarah backed Joe Miller in the current Senate race. 

So Sarah now has a powerful Republican power base in Alaska willing to do anything to end her career.  Not a great way to enter the presidential sweepstakes.

Most fascinating is Washington state, which uses mail-in ballots.  Early this morning the count was dead even.  Now incumbent Dem Senator Patty Murray has pulled slightly ahead, but we are cautioned that these new votes are coming from Democratic areas.  Although Murray leads 51-49% at this hour, the election is still too close to call.  A new batch of numbers should come later tonight. 

November 3, 2010      Permalink 

HAS BUCK BUCKLED? – AT 11:23 A.M. ET:  The Denver Post is calling the Colorado Senate race for incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet over Republican tea partier Ken Buck.

However, please be aware that no other major organization, to the best of our knowledge, is joining in the call.  If Buck does go down, however, he'll be the third major tea party candidate to be defeated in a race that the GOP could have won.  The others are Sharron Angle in Nevada and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware.  And if Joe Miller goes down in Alaska, as now expected, that will be four. 

Some serious thinking about candidate quality may well be in order.

November 3, 2010      Permalink

DO THESE PEOPLE EVER LEARN? – AT 9:54 A.M. ET:  Believe it or not, many liberal pundits are back at the same old stand this morning, having learned nothing.  They're not practicing politics, they're practicing a religion:

From E.J. Dionne Jr.:  "Conservatives believe in freedom for the corporate sector, in limiting what the federal government does and in tax cuts for the best-off. Progressives believe in a government that promotes modestly more equality, regulates business in the public interest and sees public action as promoting American competitiveness. This election didn't change that. It is a setback for progressives, not a permanent defeat."

What a simplistic, idealized view of "progressives."  Maybe Dionne can explain what's "progressive" about shoving a health-care bill down the throats of a public shouting its opposition. 

And then there's the once-rational Peter Beinart:  "The Republicans have taken refuge in an anti-government ideology premised on the lunatic notion that America is the only truly free and successful country in the world."

Huh?  Do you remember any Republican ever saying that?  Beinart, like most self-proclaimed "progressive" intellectuals, is intent on putting down American exceptionalism.  He might try to examine what it means rather than just ridiculing the notion. 

And, by the way, it might be helpful for "progressives" to cool the rhetoric and discard terms like "lunatic," or "dumb" or "extremist."  People have stopped listening.

November 3, 2010      Permalink

ONLY IN AMERICA – AT 9:25 A.M. ET:  Two Hispanics became major national figures last night, and we may well see one or both of them on national tickets.

In Florida, there was enormous press interest in one man – Marco Rubio, the newly elected Republican senator, and the son of Cuban immigrants.  Rubio got nearly 50% of the vote in a three-man race, a rare statistical achievement.  When he's interviewed the words "future national candidate" come to mind.  He's articulate, informed, and positive.  Although he has a clear conservative point of view, he, like Reagan, advances his position with a gentle touch.  Watch him.  All those cameras weren't there for nothing.

And in New Mexico, Susana Martinez became the first latina to be elected governor of an American state.  A lawyer and prosecutor, a highly educated woman, she's received far less publicity than she's deserved.  But watch her.  If the news networks were smart – an interesting proposition – they'd get her for interviews. 

So, the two most prominent Hispanic political figures in America this morning are Republicans.  Somehow, that wasn't in the Democratic Party script.  And what does it portend for the future?  That parties must not take ethnic groups for granted.  They eventually figure it out.

November 3, 2010      Permalink

WHAT IS IT ABOUT CALIFORNIA? – AT 9:10 A.M. ET:   Is California suicidal?  Is there a psychological problem?  Or are there so many adolescent votes in Hollywood that they overwhelm the rest of the state? 

Here is a state that is essentially bankrupt, going down the drain, a wreck, losing industry, losing everything that made it "the golden state," and the people went joyfully to the polls yesterday and elected the same people who drove the knife in.  Jerry Brown, who was governor in the era of Lincoln, is governor again.  In California, the sequel is still big.  Barbara Boxer, whose main issue during her three terms was getting people to call her "senator" rather than "ma'am," was strongly reelected.

California rejected sanity and embraced fantasy.  Soon to be a minor motion picture.

And what is Nancy Pelosi's reaction to all this?  As congresswoman from the San Francisco gulag, she's got a safe seat, although she's no longer speaker.  She issued a statement last night:

"Over the last four years, the Democratic Majority in the House took courageous action on behalf of America's middle class to create jobs and save the country from the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.

"Our Members and candidates ran remarkable campaigns led by the superb leadership of DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen.

"The outcome of the election does not diminish the work we have done for the American people. We must all strive to find common ground to support the middle class, create jobs, reduce the deficit and move our nation forward."

COMMENT:  She did not congratulate the Republicans.  Incredible. 

There is no word on whether Nancy will remain in the House in a leadership position, simply take her seat and become a private first class, or resign from the body. 

California is no better off today than it was yesterday.  Maybe the Dem majority out there thinks that Congress will save the state if it goes under.  No, my California friends.  Ain't gonna happen.  This isn't a Saturday morning serial.  It's "Titanic."

November 3, 2010      Permalink

WILL THEY RESPECT US IN THE MORNING? - AT 8:17 A.M. ET:  Wasn't I at this same desk a few hours ago?  Oh yes, I remember the Mac computer and all the little notes about the latest Dem to be applying for retirement benefits.

But it ain't over.  At this hour three Senate races – Colorado, Washington state, and Alaska, are still undecided.

In Colorado, with 87% of the vote counted, incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet leads Republican Ken Buck, 48-47 percent.  This one likely will be recounted no matter who wins the initial count.

In Washington state, which uses mail ballots, counting resumes today.  At last report, with only 62% of the votes tabulated, incumbent Senator Patty Murray and Republican Dino Rossi are tied.  It may be days before we have a clear result.

In Alaska, incredibly, incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski, defeated in the Republican primary but running as a write-in, has 41% of the vote, to Republican Joe Miller's 34%, and Democrat Scott McAdams's 24%.  We don't have a report on percentage of the vote in.

A number of House races remain undecided.  According to RealClearPolitics, Republicans have a sure gain of 59 seats (Politico says 60), but that is likely to go higher, possibly to 65, when all results are in. 

November 3, 2010     Permalink