Posted on 12/02/2016 3:02:00 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
President-elect Donald Trump is set to meet Friday with North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a red-state Democrat, which could put Senate Democrats at a further disadvantage if she were to join the Trump administration.
Heitkamp told CNN Thursday she has no inkling of what the meeting may be about, but said she was open to discussing serving in a Trump administration.
News of the meeting set off a panic among top Democrats, some of whom began to privately make the case that Heitkamp should stay in the Senate rather than give up a seat that would likely be a GOP pickup. The incoming chairman of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee told CNN he had spoken with Heitkamp about the issue Thursday.
A transition source said Heitkamp could be a possibility for energy secretary.
"I think it's absolutely critical to have a conversation," Heitkamp said when asked if she would be open to being in the Trump administration. "It's good for my state. It's good for the work that I do here, to understand and share some priorities for the country and for the state of North Dakota and I look forward to having that discussion."
In a statement about the meeting, Heitkamp said she would work with both sides of the aisle -- whatever her role.
"Whatever job I do, I hope to work with the President-elect and all of my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to best support my state," she said.
While any position is far from a done deal, having Heitkamp in the Cabinet would be a double win for Republicans, and a blow to Democrats.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc-7.com ...
Conventional wisdom, eh?
Conventional wisdom said that Trump wouldn't even file for the race...and CW went downhill from there.
But to each his own. Keep repeating CW.
I'm gobsmacked. I'm a native Sooner...and I get corrected by a Volunteer.
But the Osage Reservation (Osage County) has to be the oddest Indian reservation in the country. Of the 47-some thousand folks living in the county, 66% are white, 11% are black...and only 14% are Native American.
I've been to Osage County numerous times and was never aware that it was still a reservation. Nor did any of the folks from Osage County that I knew ever mention it.
I'm pretty sure the county government is separate and independent from the tribe, though.
Shannon has gone, I heard. She’s drifted out to sea.
I don't think I know enough about her to make a judgement on whether she would be good or bad.
Do you ?
Senators server six years. 2018 - 6 is 2014, not 2008.
Actually, there’s still the runoff in Louisiana so we should have 52 in the Senate, not 51.
GOP state Treasurer John Kennedy is the clear front-runner in the December 10th runoff against Democrat Foster Campbell, a state utility regulator and cattle farmer. A recent poll from Baton Rouge-based Southern Media and Opinion Research showed Kennedy with a 14-point lead.
Excellent. We need as much cushion as we can get with the McCain, Graham, and others situation.
Someone mentioned the other day the idea these two might pull a Jeffords, and flip parties.
Graham is fighting tooth and nail to prevent deportation of illegal immigrants.
Now there’s a guy Trump should pull into his administration. McCain too. Keep them there for six months, and fire their asses.
So why would she play along?....Power and $$$, would you suppose?
I wish people would keep in mind that the Department of Energy does very very little for energy. It is really the civilian agency responsible for defense nuclear weapons activities.
DOE's total budget for FY 2016 was $29.6M.
Of this:
$19.6 was for Atomic Energy Defense Activities: (Nuclear weapons, Naval Reactors (Admiral Rickover's outfit), and Nuclear waste clean-up (crony capitalism to pretend to do something about the legacy waste problem).
$5.7B was for Basic Science (national labs operating accelerators, etc.)
These activities were the province of the old Atomic Energy Commission which became ERDA under Nixon.
This leaves exactly $2.9B for energy activities and other assorted administrative tasks. Of this amount:
$638M is for fossil energy - this is a drop in the bucket, $2 / year per American citizen.
$1B is for nuclear energy (when was the last time that the DOE built a nuclear reactor?)
There is an additional $292 M for ARPA-E [DOE's venture capital effort after all the real venture capital firms have scraped off the good projects).
Thanks Kevao. By expecting great things, you’re already ahead of some folks. Lets hope we underestimated him too.
“So why would she play along?”
Energy Secretary has more prestige and influence and it would spare her a possibly losing reelection in 2018. She barely won in 2012.
I’ve been in Osage, too. Unfortunately had to rush through it en route to Bartlesville (spent the night in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower). Pawhuska, the county seat, clearly had its glory days back during the early 20th century Oil Boom, most of the buildings dating from that time. I hope to get back there some day to photograph it.
You’re right about the demographics. I think a lot of the natives may have left. It has nearly 50k people, but it also did back around 80 years ago only to empty out down to below 30k. Osage extends all the way down to within sight of Downtown Tulsa and part of the county, I believe, has been annexed into it, which could account for the population growth again.
I’m not sure of the political divisions in the county with respect to tribal government. Given that the county and Osage Nation are considered contiguous according to the maps, it may be one in the same.
Grrrreat. Now I’m gonna have that song in my head.
Well, her voting record is pretty lousy. There’s no such thing as a Conservative Democrat in federal office anymore, or even a moderate. You got left, ultraleft and Karl Childers moonbat (and everyone from the left onwards ought to be with Karl in the Nervous Hospital).
Most of these departments need to be closed down or folded back into the departments they were created from.
I meant those who came in with Obama in ‘12, not ‘08.
So, if you are recommending devolving DOE into the sub-cabinet level ERDA and disbanding the rest, that is a good thing to do. The problem is that people keep thinking that DOE does energy. It barely does that, and is not even a pimple on the private sector.
A lot of folks similarly believe the Dept. of Education educates. Of course, a lot of people believe in the Tooth Fairy and the Great Pumpkin, too, and that gubmint-mandated raising of the minimum wage helps workers.
I think a good rule of thumb when it comes to almost anything government is, #1, is it Constitutional ? and #2, Would the Founding Fathers approve ? Most of it tends to fail one or both.
“Reservations should have been abolised and Indians assimilated long ago.”
Great idea!!!
“I have cousins that are part Ho Chunk, they and their mom get free money from the casinos, a lot of money, patently uncool unless you let me run a card parlor or something whereever I want.”
Dafuq? You need in on that scam!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.