Thursday, April 26, 2012
Politics Elections indicate more polarized Congress
Posted by Max Brantley on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 6:50 AM
Expert witness in the NY Times article: U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, who's fleeing Congress, perhaps to run for governor (where he'll lose the Democratic primary) if he can't first get a high-dollar job as a lobbyist catering to DINOs like himself.
“In civics class in high school, you learn there are 435 members of Congress, and every one of them could lose in the next election. Now we’re down to less than 100 who can ever get beat in a general election,” lamented Representative Mike Ross of Arkansas, a Blue Dog co-chairman who is retiring from Congress this year. “So the Democrats run to their corner. The Republicans run to their corner, and as a result the country is being run by the extremes.”“Redistricting,” he added, “has been bad for the country.”
With the defeat of Mr. Altmire and Mr. Holden, a Blue Dog coalition of conservative Democrats that peaked in 2010 at 54 dipped prospectively to 23. To advocates for Mr. Critz and Mr. Cartwright, the election showed that Democratic voters are in a fighting mood, and that progressive views are again at the leading edge of the party.
Mr. Cartwright pummeled Mr. Holden for his votes against the health care law. The League of Conservation Voters joined in, highlighting the veteran’s support for Bush-era energy policies that favored oil and gas extraction, and his opposition to Mr. Obama’s effort to cap greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaking of Mike Ross, greenhouse Gases
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James Lee Witt endorses Mike Ross for governor
May 16, 2013Does the endorsement of James Lee Witt, Bill Clinton's FEMA director, now a bigtime lobbyist/consultant, help Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross? /more/
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Tuesday topics
May 7, 2013The line is open. Final words: * THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT HAS DESIGNS ON ARKANSAS: Church and State magazine reports on plans by the American Renewal Project, a Religious Right organization, to politically target 12 states including Arkansas in 2014 to "restore America to its Judeo-Christian heritage." /more/
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A.M. Report: A confederacy of stooges and a money quest
May 7, 2013Some other odds and ends that floated in overnight: * JOHN BOOZMAN, STOOGE OF THE NIGHT: I can't find a clip yet, but multiple readers report that U.S. Sen. John Boozman joined Sen. Mark Pryor in David Letterman's pantheon of "stooges of the night" for his vote against broadening background checks for gun purchasers. /more/
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Dumas: The perils of accommodation for Pryor and Ross
May 2, 2013"The hardest thing about any political campaign," Adlai Stevenson said at the end of his last race, "is how to win without proving yourself unworthy of winning." /more/
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There goes Barack Obama, agreeing with Mike Ross again
April 26, 2013Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross has said he would have opposed the recent legislative effort to strip funding from Planned Parenthood for sex education and other health programs (not abortion). /more/
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Room in the middle for Arkansas politicians?
April 25, 2013Recent events recommend former U.S. Rep. Mike Ross' plan to emulate Gov. Mike Beebe as a middle-of-the-road Democrat. Moderation is appealing. /more/
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Planned Parenthood plans to press Mike Ross on record
April 22, 2013Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross made encouraging sounds about looking out for women's medical services and the ability to choose abortion when he announced last week. /more/
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The Nate Bell's Itchy Twitter Fingers Edition
April 19, 2013The passage of Medicaid expansion and the final days of the Arkansas General Assembly, Nate Bell on Twitter, Mike Ross’s moderate message and Mark Pryor’s gun votes — all covered on this week's edition. /more/
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Mike Ross evolves on women's issues; pays price
April 18, 2013Mike Ross' entry into the Democratic primary race for governor, with a full-throated cry for women's rights against the Republican legislature, naturally invited an examination of his voting record. /more/
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Mike Ross pitches for moderate vote in announcing for governor
April 17, 2013Former Congressman Mike Ross began his campaign for governor with an announcement in his hometown of Prescott this morning. /more/
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Ross resigns Power Pool job; governor's race looks more likely
Roby Brock at Talk Business reports that Mike Ross, the former congressman recently turned lobbyist-in-waiting for the Southwest Power Pool, has resigned from his government affairs job.
- Apr 2, 2013
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Study: Halfway houses no cure for recidivism
Oops. Arkansas has joined the national movement to push more criminal offenders into drug courts and community-based punishment, both to cut the cost of expensive prisons and because of the idea that community-based re-entry is a better way to discourage repeat offenses.
- Mar 25, 2013
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