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“Barack Obama’s agenda has been awful for the American Family… and Senator Landrieu supports that agenda 97% of the time,” Congressman Bill Cassidy (LA 06) told Lincoln Parish News Online (LPNO) in an interview earlier today in Ruston. That remark was in response to the question of why he is running for for the U. S. Senate, and against incumbent Mary Landrieu. Cassidy said that agenda has hurt Americans because it has “taken (away) their choice of healthcare,” and is “hurting their ability to get a good job with good benefits.” He added, “If she wins, the Senate continues to...

The big takeaway from the 2012 election was the limits of the modern Republican electoral coalition. It increasingly appears that the big takeaway from 2014 will be the limits of the modern Democratic electoral coalition. Each side's dilemma fits neatly into a bookend. Republicans can't attract enough minorities to consistently capture the White House. Democrats can't win enough whites to consistently control Congress. The 2012 election crystallized the Republican presidential dilemma. Mitt Romney won more than three-fifths of both whites over 45 and blue-collar whites, and a higher share of the total white vote than Ronald Reagan did in his...

To clarify, he’s the least popular incumbent in his home state among the many states that PPP has polled this year. This is a survey of Arizona, not of the entire U.S., in case that makes a difference to you. And maybe it should: A former national nominee would probably poll better nationally, based on pure name recognition (and maybe some sympathy for his defeat), than he might among locals who are following his Senate votes day to day.But let’s not let the fine print spoil this. At last, my friends, people of all partisan stripes have found something they...

Spoiler alert: He’ll let us down. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell promised a ballroom full of activists Thursday that he would fight “tooth and nail” for a conservative agenda if he takes the helm of a Republican majority next year…“If I’m given the opportunity to lead the United States Senate next year, I won’t let you down,” McConnell said. “I will lead with integrity, we will fight tooth and nail for conservative reforms that put this country back on track, we will debate our ideas openly, we will vote without fear, and we will govern with the understanding that the...

Debo P. Adegbile was nominated by Obama to lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.The US Senate filibustered President Obama’s pick to lead the Justice Department’s civil rights division. Seven Democrats joined Republicans in arguing against Debo P. Adegbile.The Washington Times reported: The Senate filibustered President Obama’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s civil rights division, with seven Democrats joining Republicans Wednesday in arguing his past history defending a convicted cop-killer made him the wrong man for the job.The defeat of Debo P. Adegbile, who as a lawyer for the NAACP filed a brief arguing that former Black Panther Mumia...

Ever the paragon of civility and class, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used a provocative homophone Tuesday to describe Republicans’ association with the Koch brothers. “Senate Republicans, Madame President, are addicted to Koch,” Reid said from the Senate floor, pausing a few seconds before continuing his remarks. “In fact, Senate Republicans hardly need the [National Republican Senatorial Committee] anymore, which for decade after decade was their main funding tool for the Republican Senate. Not any longer — the Koch brothers take care of that.” It was Reid’s latest broadside against the GOP and “Koch-backed groups” that have aired advertisements...

Opening a door to hedge his political bets, Sen. Rand Paul has asked the leader of the Kentucky Senate for legislation to ensure that Mr. Paul can run both for the White House and for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2016, The Washington Times has learned. “Yes, I am working on clarifying an ambiguous state law that Rand Paul believes is unconstitutional if it is interpreted to bar running for re-election to the Senate and for president at the same time,” Kentucky Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer told The Times on Monday. “The purpose of the bill will be...

Last year, Harry Reid invoked the nuclear option in the Senate in order to get Barack Obama’s appointees confirmed over Republican opposition. His latest appointee might be doomed anyway. Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) announced on Friday that he will oppose the confirmation of Debo Adegbile to run the Civil Rights Division at Justice on account of Adegbile’s activism for convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal: Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) said Friday he will vote against Senate confirmation of Debo Adegbile, an Obama administration nominee who has been criticized for his role in trying to overturn the death sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal,...

The familiar Washington narrative on the scrum for the U.S. Senate has been rinsed, recycled and delivered once again: Republicans are primed to pick up the six seats necessary to capture control of the upper chamber. The midterm atmosphere sure looks ripe, the polling appears favorable but, as it did in 2010 and 2012, the most competitive batch of races will likely come down to candidate quality. It’s the key component that stifled GOP chances before, and could very well again. .... .... A closer look at the most competitive contests demonstrates why a Senate majority in 2014 is again...

A Capitol Hill source source says that Senate Democrats will not produce a budget this year. The news is expected to come from Senator Patty Murray's office at 3 p.m. today, as part of a Friday afternoon news dump. Murray is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Senator Jeff Sessions from Alabama released this statement. "Senate Democrats are required by law to produce a budget," wrote Sessions. "Our nation is in enormous financial distress, and workers and families are suffering. Senate Democrats have produced only one budget in the last five years. This Senate and, more importantly, the American public,...

No pro-lifer doubts the political muscle of Planned Parenthood’s “political entities”– the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Votes. As a key component of the Democratic Party’s “left of center” coalition, they have access to gazillions of dollars and a voice—a large voice—at the table. But besides the usual self-congratulation and soft-peddle treatment by the mainstream media, what else can we learn from Alexander Burns’ “Planned Parenthood reveals big 2014 game plan,” which ran in Wednesday’s POLITICO? For starters, they take credit for—and are given credit by Burns for—the election of pro-abortion Terry McAuliffe over pro-life Ken Cuccinelli in...

A divided Senate on Thursday derailed Democratic legislation providing $21 billion for medical, education and job-training benefits for the nation’s veterans, as the bill fell victim to election-year disputes over spending and whether to slap sanctions on Iran. With each party coveting the allegiance of the country’s 22 million veterans and their families, Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for turning the effort into a chess match aimed at forcing politically embarrassing votes. Republicans used a procedural move to block the massive bill after Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chided GOP senators for their priorities. …

Senate Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday that would ban marketing electronic cigarettes to teens. Despite their admission that the health implications of electronic cigarettes “are not yet clear,” Senators Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), Tom Harkin (D., Iowa), Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), and Edward Markey (D., Mass.) introduced the bill to “protect children” from the smoking simulators.

There is no scientific evidence that human activity is causing the planet to warm, according to Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore, who testified in front of a Senate committee on Tuesday. Moore argued that the current argument that the burning of fossil fuels is driving global warming over the past century lacks scientific evidence. He added that the Earth is in an unusually cold period and some warming would be a good thing. “There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100...

So much for changing the narrative in 2014 from the ObamaCare debacle. Democrats, led by Barack Obama, planned to go on offense over the minimum-wage rate to cast the GOP as heartless. But in his rush to the barricades, Harry Reid belatedly discovered that his caucus didn’t like the fight nearly as much as he and Obama did (via Instapundit): Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday delayed action on legislation raising the minimum wage, the centerpiece of the Democrats’ 2014 agenda.The Nevada Democrat made the surprising move amid escalating Democratic resistance in the wake of a Congressional Budget Office...

USN&WR. Link only.

Democratic Congressman Gary Peters voted for ObamaCare. That disastrous vote made life worse for a lot of people. Now Gary Peters is running for Senate and trying to silence a leukemia survivor whose life he ruined. Julie Boonstra, a cancer patient who was kicked of off her health plan due to Obamacare, lashed out at Rep. Gary Peters (D., Mich.) on Saturday after lawyers for his campaign demanded that Michigan broadcasters cease airing ads featuring her story.Boonstra, a Michigan resident, was diagnosed with leukemia five years ago. She was recently kicked off of her healthcare plan due to regulations passed...

**SNIP** Midterm elections are often a reflection of the approval rating of the incumbent president and now President Obama stands at 42.8%. And elections in the 6th year of a PresidentÂ’s term are usually not good for the incumbentÂ’s party. To make things even worse for Democrats, the issues of a weak economy and Obamacare make November look bleak for Harry Reid and his Senate Democratic cohorts. â—¾Alaska, Mark Begich â—¾Arkansas, Mark Pryor â—¾Louisiana, Mary Landrieu â—¾Michigan, Open Seat (liberal Democrat Carl Levin retiring) â—¾Montana, John Walsh â—¾North Carolina, Kay Hagan â—¾South Dakota, being vacated by retiring Democrat Tim Johnson...

Ted Cruz is aiming for Mitch McConnell, but he may blow up the GOP's chances for a Senate majority in November. A rump band of Beltway conservatives has seen the enemy and it is not Harry Reid. It is Mitch McConnell, whose scalp is apparently worth blowing yet another shot at a Republican Senate majority.

Politics is often like war. Unfortunately, politicians, the media, and the voting public seldom have the same degree of realism and discipline with which professional soldiers fight wars. You can indulge your emotions and base your decisions on wishful thinking in politics in a way that you are not likely to when your own life is on the line in battle. One of the most dramatic and heartening events of World War II was the miraculous evacuation of British troops trapped on the beaches of France in 1940, at Dunkirk. And its lesson is still relevant today. The British troops...

Healthcare industry lobbyists connected with the Republican establishment in Washington are making a concerted effort to sink the campaign of the Nebraska Republican who has been branded the “anti-Obamacare candidate,” Breitbart News has learned....

A read well worth your time from Sean Trende on another slow-except-for-Ukraine news day. How does he come up with a probability like that? By using an indicator that’s helped predict midterm elections in the past — namely, the president’s job approval on election day — and then running simulations a la Nate Silver for various different approval ratings to see how many seats the GOP could expect to gain (or even lose).The result: Democratic seppuku.The Senate’s 55/45 right now, which means Obama’s approval rating could rise as high as 49 percent and the GOP’s low-end expectation would still be...

People interested in liberty – be they conservative, libertarian, Republican, Tea Partiers or whatever – need to pull their heads out of where they currently are and let the sun once again shine on them before it’s too late. The electorate is ripe for the picking and freedom is on the cusp of a comeback. But it just as easily could be lost for good if its supporters don’t reconcile, wise up and act like adults. Progressive Democrats have a plan, as they always do. They want to expand government power and dependence. Government never has been bigger nor had...

A few weeks ago, I produced two Senate analyses. One focused on the relationship between the president’s job approval, the fate of Senate Democrats during the 2010 and 2012 elections, and what that would mean if this relationship continues through 2014. The second looked at Republican vulnerability in 2016 using a similar standard. The first piece concluded that, based on President Obama’s job approval rating, Democrats have substantial vulnerability in 2014. This vulnerability is deeper than many analysts are willing to consider right now. Over the past two cycles, the president’s job approval has explained 58 percent of the variance...

The National Republican Senatorial Committee points out that North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and other vulnerable Senate Democrats are now whacking the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid… for enacting changes required by Obamacare. Hey, Senator Hagan, if you want to blame someone, blame the foolish or dishonest lawmakers who voted for the law! Wait a minute, that’s you! In 2009, Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) promised North Carolinians who depend on Medicare that she was going to “protect Medicare” and that they would “not see a drop in their Medicare coverage.”
 But in 2010 Kay Hagan voted to slash Medicare Advantage...

A few weeks ago, I produced two Senate analyses. One focused on the relationship between the president’s job approval, the fate of Senate Democrats during the 2010 and 2012 elections, and what that would mean if this relationship continues through 2014. The second looked at Republican vulnerability in 2016 using a similar standard. The first piece concluded that, based on President Obama’s job approval rating, Democrats have substantial vulnerability in 2014. This vulnerability is deeper than many analysts are willing to consider right now. Over the past two cycles, the president’s job approval has explained 58 percent of the variance...

Let it be known! Just as Karl Rove did in 2010 and 2012, this festering wart is working behind the scenes to destroy any hopes of grassroots victory in 2014, even if it means destroying any hopes of GOP victory in 2014. It's a small price to pay for money-grubbing uber-RINO, Karl Marx Rove. There are three races in which the grassroots is energized to win the Republican primary with a fresh face. Kentucky, North Carolina, and Mississippi And aside from that, there are seven other states in which the campaigns have not been managed as well, have been divided,...

The ad opens with a photograph of Sen. Pat Roberts' home in Alexandria, Virginia and proceeds to a La-Z-Boy recliner in Kansas it says he rents “at a donor's house. On a golf course.” “Pat Roberts doesn't live in Kansas,” the new web ad from Milton Wolf, the conservative doctor who happens to be President Obama's cousin, says. Wolf's campaign gave Breitbart News an exclusive first look at the ad. As first reported by the New York Times, Roberts established his voting address at a donor's house the day before Wolf announced his primary bid against him. He previously rented...

Sen. Mary Landrieu has problems. Years of Reid/Pelosi/Obama far-left politics have come home to roost in her center-right Louisiana. Obamacare, regulation, and an anti-energy dictatorship have turned many LA voters against their Democrat tradition. Barring a masterful performance on her part, or an equally pitiful performance by the GOP (recall Todd Akin from next door), Landrieu will lose November's race. Landrieu comes from Louisiana political royalty, but that dynasty is old-school Southern Democrat. Since the Senator has nothing to lose, her fellow Dems are using her for scientific purposes in their effort to hold the Senate. While Landrieu has voted...

At an annual gathering of Republican bigwigs in Florida a year ago, a top GOP strategist was chided after he gave a presentation about how his party would win the Senate in 2014, including a handout that blared “MAJORITY” in red. “Stop saying majority,” donors, consultants and even some senators told National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Rob Collins, he recalled in an interview. “Just say you’re going to be able to pick up a few seats.” Fast forward to early this month, when the annual event took place again at the same posh Palm Beach resort. Far from preaching...

Earlier in the week many lawful firearms owners applauded Senator Rand Paul when he introduced an amendment to the Postal Reform bill to rescind a nearly five decade old ban on the carry of firearms for self defense into Post Offices.Anyone who has been paying attention to decades following the ban know that there have been several incidents of lunatics opening fire in these ‘gun free’ zones.  In fact it got so bad the term “Going Postal” was coined.  These bans never work and lead to environments where madmen know their victims will all be disarmed, making their murderous plots more...

I have to preface this column with a disclaimer: I’m a big fan of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. His policy goals are my policy goals. But here comes the traditional “but.” But although his goals are admirable and shared by conservatives across the country, he has no idea how to achieve them. In fact, his actions in the Senate, which are bringing him praise from conservative groups and grassroots activists, are harming the cause. It’s an unpopular statement to make on the pages of Townhall. My column Thursday didn’t mention Cruz because it was written before he forced a cloture...

Electing trusted conservatives is not just a pipe dream. In low-turnout, off-year primaries, conservatives can win if we all get involved. Madison Project is leading the way…connecting worthy challengers to millions of grassroots Republican voters and activists who are starving for authentic conservative change. Endorsements: 1 - Rob Maness to oust Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu in Louisiana 2 - Milton Wolf to oust Republican Senator Pat Roberts in Kansas 3 - Chris McDaniel to oust Republican Senator Thad Cochran in Mississippi 4 - Matt Bevin to oust Republican Senator Mitch McConnell in Kentucky 5 - Bryan Smith to oust Republican...

Similar to last week’s lackluster result from Survey USA. Unless Bevin catches fire, looks like the best-case scenario for the GOP is an exhausting dogfight to the bitter end between McConnell and Grimes that sucks in untold millions of establishment dollars aimed at protecting the Senate minority leader. Again — that’s the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario, that that dogfight ends in decisive defeat, comes from Sean Davis: To put Wenzel's data in perspective, it had Thompson in WI (lost by 5), Mandel in OH, (lost by 5), Romney in OH (lost by 2).— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 14, 2014...

As in the previous Sen. Lindsey Graham phone town hall meeting, there was no warning; the phone rang and it was Sen. Graham conducting the town hall meeting. Senator Graham expressed his genuine concern for each caller, asking if they are warm and have power. He explained he was "stuck" in Washington, DC, since all flights out of DC were cancelled. The implication was that he would rather be headed back to South Carolina to be with "his people". Senator Graham answered numerous calls that were presented to be random participants of the town hall meeting (dial *3 to get...

**SNIP** Landrieu favors building the Keystone XL pipeline, protecting tax breaks or incentives for oil drilling, and placing limits on the power of federal agencies to set mercury or carbon dioxide guidelines for coal-fired power plants. Wyden takes the opposite position on all those issues. Landrieu supports giving oil companies the right to export crude oil as well as natural gas, while Wyden, who before becoming chairman introduced a bill to block natural gas exports, does not have a public position on crude oil exports. The Louisiana Democrat helps maintain the Democrats’ majority in the Senate, but she is closer...

Everyone knew that the debt-ceiling deal would pass through the Senate on Wednesday. Even Ted Cruz had to know it. As soon as the House passed the deal on Tuesday, the writing was on the wall. Even so, Ted Cruz promised to fight for America once again and filibuster the legislation. Would that have changed things? More than likely it would not have changed the vote. But Ted Cruz is the voice of a lot of Americans who are fed up with the Washington D.C. “business as usual” crowd. Evidently tee times and the beltway bar scene are more important...

Hopes that "Duck Dynasty" fans may have had in seeing the show head to Washington have been dashed after Alan Robertson said that his father Phil Robertson had no interest in running for Senate. After a poll released earlier this week suggested that the Duck Commander founder could be a formidable competitor against current Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), his son quickly shot down any speculation that his father, 67, would be willing to run. "While Phil is humbled and honored that so many fellow Louisianans have confidence in him, he has no interest in running for public office," Alan told...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Is there any end to this debauchery?By now, we all know President Obama has received a bill that raises the debt ceiling through the mid-term elections. After all, we can't have another fight like this when our politicians have better things to worry about. Such as winning another term. The House Republican leadership (I refuse to say House Republicans because some of them stayed the course and voted against this nonsense) capitulated earlier, voting to raise the debt ceiling and sending the bill to the Senate for approval. As seems...

The Senate passed the House debt-limit increase on Wednesday, but not before some needless drama that helps to explain why Republicans remain a minority. Democrats had enough votes to pass the increase with a simple majority, which means they would have owned the debt increase. But then Senator Ted Cruz —the same fellow who planned the GOP's shutdown fiasco in October—objected on the floor and insisted on a 60-vote majority. This is exactly what Democratic leader Harry Reid wanted because if the bill failed he would have sent the Senate home on recess and returned later this month to join...

Washington (CNN) -- The Senate voted Wednesday to avert at least one chronic Washington political crisis for more than a year. With a snowstorm bearing down on the capital, it approved a House-passed measure that allows the government to borrow more money to pay its bills through March 2015. The White House signaled that President Barack Obama would sign the legislation, so the Senate vote was the last hurdle to resolving the debt ceiling issue until after the November congressional elections. Wednesday's result was a blow to tea party conservatives who oppose any kind of increase in federal borrowing. Filibuster...

The Senate narrowly approved a procedural motion Wednesday to end debate on a bill that raises the debt ceiling, with GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and his top lieutenant Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) providing the key votes. Sixty votes were needed to clear the procedural hurdle because of a filibuster by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who like other Republicans was deeply disappointed the House bill included no spending curbs. The 67-31 cloture vote took more Senate time than usual, highlighting the arm-twisting going on behind closed doors, as few Republicans wanted to be seen as casting the deciding vote for...

Matt Bevin, who is challenging Sen. Mitch McConnell in a Republican primary, calls the 2008 federal bailout of banks and Wall Street giants “irresponsible” and says he would have opposed it as a senator. Yet back in 2008, as an investment fund president, Bevin backed the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, as well as the government takeover of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. McConnell supported TARP, and the Bevin campaign repeatedly reminds voters that the Senate minority leader calls that vote “one of the finest moments in the history of the Senate.”

The White House and Senate Democrats are preparing an extensive midterm campaign strategy built around one unavoidable fact: Hardly any candidates in the most competitive states want President Barack Obama anywhere near them. POLITICO spoke with nearly every incumbent up for reelection and aspiring Democratic Senate candidates across the country, but only a handful gave an unequivocal “yes” when asked whether they wanted Obama to come campaign with them. “I don’t care to have him campaign for me,” said Alaska Sen. Mark Begich. “I’d rather him come up to see where his policies aren’t working. He’s wrong on ANWR, we’ve...

Looks like he is running. Typing in 'Scott Brown for Senate' gives a #1 Google result entitled just that, and it links to this website http://www.scottbrown.com/ So, the race is on in New Hampshire, since Shaheen has been running scared from two dangerous polls that show her in deep trouble against Brown. Personally, I don't like him, I don't trust him, and I probably wouldn't vote for him if I lived in NH... but Shaheen is just so damn unlikable. The woman looks like the kind of grandmother who'd give crappy presents. I admit it would be nice to see...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (W. Va.) introduced the “National Rare Earth Cooperative Act of 2014” this week, bipartisan legislation that relieves America’s dependence on China’s rare earth minerals, encourages private sector jobs and innovation, and preserves our the United States’ military technological edge. To read the bill, click this link: http://www.blunt.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/8385bd2e-0063-48eb-85ed-ab19dc713c55/2-7-14%20National%20Rare%20Earth%20Cooperative%20Act%20of%202014.pdf

For an longtime Kansas Republican in trouble, there's no place like home. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., is facing a Tea Party primary challenge to his reelection this year from Dr. Milton Wolf -- a distant cousin of President Barack Obama. Roberts was first elected to Congress in 1980, and was elected to the Senate in 1996. Now, though, the New York Times reports he's struggling to renew ties to the state as he battles to keep his job. Roberts doesn't live in Kansas; instead, when he's there, he stays at the country club home of Phyllis and Cecil Ross, who...

Harry Reid effectively owns the U.S. Senate. Democrats and Republicans have long debated how Reid managed to get such a tight grip on the upper chamber. But there is no debating this much: Nothing happens on the floor, or in committee, without the Nevada Democrat's approval. Most important Senate legislation is written in Reid’s office and sent directly to the floor for a vote on final passage, sidelining committee chairmen who historically have functioned as an influential and quasi-independent force. In the past, a bill would not go to the floor before a series of votes and amendments in whatever...

Win or lose in November, Democratic Lt. Gov. John Walsh will be the next senator from Montana.Gov. Steve Bullock appointed his former running mate to fill the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who is leaving the Senate early after being confirmed Thursday as ambassador to China.Walsh was already running for the seat, but he’ll now run as the incumbent senator. That change could provide some inherent advantages in his quest to hold one of the party’s most vulnerable seats.“I wanted to appoint someone who I truly believed would wake up each and every day wanting to put Montana...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Nine months before Kentucky's 2014 U.S. Senate election, Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes leads five-term incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) 46% to 42% in a WHAS11/Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll released Thursday. McConnell enjoys a comfortable 26 point margin in the Republican primary contest against Matt Bevin in the poll conducted by Survey USA and commissioned by a partnership of WHAS11, The Courier-Journal, WKYT-TV in Lexington and the Lexington Herald-Leader.