Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu Loses Runoff Campaign to Republican Challegnger Bill Cassidy

Red is for the parishes that Cassidy won while Blue is the parishes that voted for Landrieu. It wasn't even as close as it appears on the map.

The 2014 midterm elections officially wrapped up on Saturday and the Republican party extended their total gains to nine US senate seats when the polls closed in Louisiana for a runoff election for the US Senate seat held by incumbent Mary Landrieu. Observers both inside and outside the Sportsman's Paradise believe the December runoff campaign may not have been necessary if the ballot in the November general election wasn't split between multiple Republican candidates. Last month, both Landrieu and challenger Bill Cassidy failed to get more than 50% of the vote, making last week's runoff necessary.

Sen Landrieu's re-election bid seemed doomed late when she said in an interview shortly before the general election that she stated southern states like her native Louisiana were hostile towards women and minorities. Just days before the runoff voting, she gave a radio interview where she implied the host was illiterate and hung up only part way through when she was facing repeated questioning over her support for 0bamacare.

Nationally, Landrieu was further hurt by the Senate Democrats rejecting a hastily put together bill supporting the KeystoneXL pipeline by a lame-duck session of congress and President Obama's executive order that effectively gave amnesty to more than 5 million illegal immigrants late last month. Offshore drilling and energy exploration in the Gulf of Mexico contributes millions of dollars to Louisiana's economy annually and it's believed that the oil from northern Alberta's Athabasca oil sands that would be carried by the proposed pipeline would end up in a Louisiana refinery.

Senator-elect Cassidy had previously served as a Congressman from Louisiana's 6th district and in the Louisiana's Senate after receiving an MD from the LSU school of Medicine and helped establish the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic.

Election 2014- A Red Tsunami From Sea to Shining Sea

From Maine to American Samoa, Tuesday night was a bad night for the Democrats.

The big story of the night was that the Democrats and Majority Leader Harry Reid lost their majority in the United States Senate on election day after Republicans picked up no fewer than seven seats, with some race still to be decided through a recount or runoff. Although some Democrats had distanced themselves from President Obama while campaigning, the President in an interview said that his policies were on the ballot and he could count on support from Democrat incumbents- even the ones who were keeping him at arm's length on the campaign trail.

Heading into Election Day, the GOP needed a net gain of six seats in the Senate to regain a majority they hadn't held since 2006. It was widely believed that West Virginia, South Dakota and Montana would be fairly easy pickups for the Republicans, with states like Virginia, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Minnesota, South Carolina, Alaska, Louisiana, Arkansas and Colorado up for grabs in close races.

For veterans, one of the more noteworthy developments was that Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton became the first-ever Iraq war veteran elected to the US Senate after defeating incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor by a margin of nearly 10 points. Later on in the night, Cotton was joined by Joni Ernst, a fellow Iraq war veteran, Lieutenant Colonel in the Iowa National Guard and state senator who was campaigning against congressman Bruce Braley for Iowa's senate seat that was open after Democrat Tom Harkin announced his retirement.

In South Carolina, former Congressman Tim Scott became the first black US senator from the South since Reconstruction- and the first ever to be elected to both the House of Representatives and US Senate. Scott was technically the incumbent, since governor Nikki Haley appointed him to replace fellow Republican Jim DeMint who retired to become president of conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation in 2012.

Before Tuesday, Democrats took some solace in the projections out of Kansas that had Independent Greg Orman leading incumbent Republican Pat Roberts before election day. Orman, who declined to state whether he'd caucus with Democrats or Republicans if elected although Orman reportedly received donations from Democrat-supporting PACs and Vice President Biden predicted that Orman would end up caucusing with Democrats and narrowly preserve the party's majority in the Senate.

But perhaps the biggest prize for either party was Colorado. Over the last decade, Democrats had prided themselves on making Colorado a model on turning a red state blue [and boasted they were going to repeat the process in Texas, more on that a little later- NANESB!]. Incumbent Mark Udall ran on a campaign reminiscent of the Democrat's 2012 "War on Women", claiming that GOP challenger Corey Gardner would outlaw contraceptives and earning himself the nickname Mark Uterus.

In Louisiana, that race is heading to a December runoff since incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu failed to get more than 50% of the total vote. However, the DSCC reportedly yanked a proposed $1.5 million ad buy in certain Louisiana markets, indicating that donors are less than confident about Landrieu's chances against Cassidy in the runoff.

The 'wave' wasn't just limited to a pickup of seven seats in the US Senate for the GOP. In the House of Representatives, not only did beleaguered incumbents such as New York Rep Michael Grimm [R- Staten Island] survive, but the Republicans gained a total of 15 seats [with some races in California and Maryland so close they're awaiting absentee and provisional ballots to decide the campaign- NANESB!]. Some of these included retired Air Force colonel Martha McSally beating Democrat representative Ron Barber in Arizona's 2nd congressional district- which comprised much of former congresswoman Gabby Giffords' district that had been held by Democrats after a 2011 assassination attempt on Giffords and redistricting. In Utah, former Saratoga Springs, UT mayor Mia Love ran as a Republican against Democrat Doug Owens for Representative in Utah's 4th Congressional District for the House seat up for grabs when Democrat Jim Matheson announced his retirement after the 2014 elections. Love- the daughter of Haitian immigrants- is Utah's first female congresswoman and the GOP's first black congresswoman [the NAACP was remarkably silent on the results of her election- NANESB!].

Republican governors favored just as well as the Senate and House races as it turned out. In Wisconsin, incumbent Scott Walker was elected governor for the third time since 2010- after a protracted battle over public sector unions between Democrats and the first-terms governor, the Democrats and unions successfully launched a recall campaign against Walker in 2012. However, Walker ultimately prevailed despite a well-funded campaign from unions and wealthy Democrat donors and PACs.

Democrat state representative Wendy Davis made a name for herself with wealthy liberal donors and the pro-abortion crowd after a lengthy filibuster on the floor of the State House in Austin, TX last year that was meant to hold up legislation that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks. Shortly after the filibuster made her a rising star with the Democrats, she announced her candidacy for governor against Texas attorney general Greg Abbott. Although Davis wasn't expected to win, her candidacy was a trial balloon by out-of-state liberal Super PACs to try and turn Texas into a blue state. Davis ended up losing to abbot by more than 20 points, which in turned siphoned Democrat donor money away from much more competitive races.

In Maine, incumbent Paul LePage carried all but two of the sixteen counties throughout the state. In Massachusetts, Democrat Martha Coakley- who lost the 2009 Massachusetts' special election for US Senate to challenger Scott Brown- lost to Republican challenger and businessman Charlie Baker on election day. In the Midwest, incumbent Michigan governor Rick Snyder won 51% of the voting after drawing the ire of unions by making the Wolverine state a right-to-work state in his first term as governor. In President Obama's home state of Illinois, incumbent Democrat Pat Quinn lost to republican businessman Bruce Rauner. Although Maryland's Democrat governor Martin O'Malley was term-limited, pundits both left and right believed that his Lieutenant Governor, Anothony G Brown, would coast to an easy election win over Republican challenger and Maryland businessman Larry Hogan but Hogan shocked the pollsters and pundits by getting just over 51% of the vote. Out west, someone forgot to tell incumbent GOP governors Brian Sandoval and Susana Martinez that their party has a problem with Latinos as the governors of Nevada and New Mexico coasted to an easy re-election. Sandoval received more than 70% of the vote just weeks after he had announced a deal that where Tesla Motors [NASDAQ- TSLA] announced they would open up a factory outside of Reno, NV in exchange for substantial tax breaks. Meanwhile, Susana Martinez won 57% of the ballots cast in New Mexico on election day.

UPDATED again: Evolution of state legislative control in the Obama era: pic.twitter.com/DvK4s8eWi9

— David Freddoso (@freddoso) November 6, 2014

It wasn't just the governor's mansions that were going red in 2014. On the state level, Real Clear Politics reports that the Republicans control an unprecedented 68 out of 98 possible partisan legislative chambers on the state level.

What Do Cattle, Porn Starlets, Toyota and Hot Sauce Have in Common?

They're all getting out of Dodge California and heading for greener pastures- in some cases, literally.

Beset by higher taxes, above-average unemployment and among the highest cost of living in the USA, it's no secret that Californians have been moving out of state annually by the hundreds of thousands in recent years. This should come as no surprise with recent scandals and corruption involving California's political class coupled with onerous, intrusive and often absurd regulations for businesses passed on the state, county and municipal level.

Sensing discontent among Californians and business owners, Texas governor Rick Perry rolled out the welcome mat for Golden Staters with a PR blitz, offering lower taxes and a lower cost of living than California as well as business incentives for those companies who set up shop in the Lone Star state.

Although incumbent California governor Jerry Brown crassly dismissed Perry's efforts as 'barely a fart', it appears as though the Lone Star State's lobbying has been producing results. At the end of April, Japanese automaker Toyota announced that they would be moving their North American headquarters from the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance to Plano, TX starting in 2016. The move by Toyota [NYSE: TM] is expected to consolidate 4,000 employees from marketing, manufacturing and corporate operations to the suburban Dallas facility. In 2003, Toyota broke ground on a plant near San Antonio that produces the Tundra and Tacoma pickup trucks.

On a smaller scale, Irwindale, CA-based Huy Fong foods- maker of the Sriracha hot sauce- has been locked in a legal battle with the city council after the council threatened to declare Huy Fong a nuisance and threatening them with fines or closure after receiving complaints from four households regarding the fumes resulting from processing chili peppers. Although Huy Fong CEO David Tran stated publicly that he has no immediate plans to relocate the Irwindale facility, the company welcomed a delegation of Texas lawmakers in May. A company spokesman said that relocation wouldn't be as straightforward for Huy Fong because local producers of Sriracha ingredients such as chilis and vinegar couldn't pull up and move to Texas with them. However, botanists working on behalf of Tran have begun examining the soil in parts Texas to see if it's conducive to growing the variety of chilis used in Sriracha sauce. There's also concern over variables in the Texas weather such as flooding, hurricanes, drought and hail as well as competing bids from within California and other states.

However, not all the businesses exiting California have decided to head to the Lone Star state. Once considered the hub of the adult entertainment industry, California's San Fernando Valley has been hit hard by the advent of online pornography. The number of permits to film in the San Fernando Valley plummeted after a law requiring adult film stars to wear a condom while performing went into effect late last year. The measure was a Los Angeles county ballot initiative that was approved by voters in 2012. In response to the measure, studios and actors shipped themselves a few hours up Interstate 15 to Las Vegas where the cost of doing business was lower than in California and there were no regulations to mandate the wearing of condoms. Industry insiders say that its much cheaper to rent out warehouses for filming or mansions or hotel suites to accommodate talent for the duration of a shoot.

Nor are all the Californians leaving the state two-legged. Thanks to an ongoing drought and the closure of a massive slaughterhouse in the Imperial Valley town of Brawley, ranchers in California have been selling off cattle to Texas, Nevada and Nebraska. According to Reuters research, at least 100,000 head of cattle have left California in 2014- including breeding stock that's going to slaughter. Higher feed and transportation costs have also put pressure on California ranchers, although ranchers elsewhere are facing similar problems.

Although defenders of the current business climate in California often cite the entertainment industry and Silicon Valley as being the state's economic backbone as well as the primary source of fundraising for the state's democrat party, Hollywood has been shipping jobs out of state due to increased production and filming costs within the state. Special effects firm Sony Pictures Imageworks announced at the end of May that their headquarters will be moved from Los Angeles to Vancouver, Canada for post production work. Over the last 20 years, the area around Vancouver, BC has been dubbed 'Hollywood North' as British Columbia offered studios tax credits for filming on location. Although the exchange between the US and Canadian dollar isn't as favorable as it was in the 1990s, a number of studios are still drawn there for post-production work and location filming [the area around Vancouver can pass for a number of other settings depending on the type of film or scene- NANESB!].

The state's Democrat-controlled legislature also recently passed a bill that would raise the state's minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2017 and is expected to be signed into law by governor Brown. While the bill raises entry-level wages, many employers will likely end up cutting their workforce and retailers or restaurants will close down locations or increase prices to make up for any increased operating costs.

More damning, none of these jobs or businesses will be coming back or are unlikely to be replaced by new enterprise. Although California sits on considerable oil reserves in the Monterrey Shale, wealthy environmentalists with considerable backing from the entertainment industry are seeking to ban the hydraulic facture drilling process that has been so effective in recovering shale oil and gas in Texas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, state and local lawmakers continue to busy themselves with legislation concerning transgender bathrooms for schoolchildren or banning plastic bags and simply assume that they can get whatever revenue they need from the next Silicon valley startup such as Facebook.

Maine Liberal Group Distributes Flyer Accusing Wheelchair-Bound State Representative of Having "No Spine" in Not "Standing Up" To Governor

A left-wing Portland, ME advocacy group has sent out a mailer accusing state representative Dale Crafts [R- Lisbon Falls] of having 'no spine' and failing to 'stand up' to Gov Paul LePage's 'bullying'. Crafts, who also serves on the Lisbon, ME town council, is confined to a wheelchair.

The Maine's People Alliance mailer, which is done up like a mock prescription pad (shown above) was mailed throughout Craft's district in Androscoggin County just north of Portland.

The left-wing advocacy group Maine's People Alliance took issue with Governor LePage's veto of Medicaid expansion last month. In his veto letter to the state legislature, LePage said:

“Maine has been down this road before, and we must learn from previous experience,” he wrote. “Medicaid spending grew by $1 billion in a decade, hospital bills were not being paid by the state, budgets were broken and thousands of elderly, and people with disabilities were forced to wait for critical services.

“For the sake of the truly needy and Maine taxpayers, we cannot go down this path again,”

Expansion of Medicaid for each state was considered a linchpin of 0bamacare. Under 0bamacare, the federal government would pay for any state that expanded Medicaid to anyone making less than 138% of the poverty level, but only through 2016.

State House minority leader Ken Fredette blasted the mailed and called for the MPA to publicly apologize. The communications director for Maine's People's Alliance said he has personally apologized to Rep Crafts via telephone but will continue to attack him over his support for LePage and opposition to proposed Medicaid expansion in Maine.

This would not be the first time in the 2014 election cycle that a liberal group has mocked a Republican with a disability. In January, undercover reported James O'Keefe videotaped Battleground Texas staff and supporters of Democrat gubernatorial candidate Wendy David mocking Texas attorney general Greg Abbot's disability
as well as forging signatures on resignation forms.

GOP Makes Gains in Florida, California Special Elections

In a race that was touted as the first electoral challenge to President Obama's signature healthcare law since it's been implemented, Democrat and former Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink lost to Republican attorney David Jolly in a special election to fill the congressional seat in Florida's 13th Congressional district that was left vacant by the death of longtime GOP incumbent Bill Young.

Although 0bamacare wasn't the core issue in the Tampa, FL-area district, both Sink and Jolly made clear their respective stances on 0bamacare during their campaign. While acknowledging the flawed 0bamacare rollout and trouble-plagued healthcare.gov website, Sink stated that the Affordable Care Act was flawed and that she was favor of 'fixing' the law. Jolly, however, said he was in favor of a full repeal of the law if elected.

The race to replace the late Rep. Bill Young was considered a tossup, and was cast as a political bellwether, and a testing ground for each party's messaging strategy -- which revolves in part around the Affordable Care Act.

Jolly's election night headquarters in Clearwater Beach erupted into loud cheers as it became clear he was the winner. In his victory speech, Jolly simultaneously struck a conciliatory tone and expressed gratitude for his mentor, Young, and Young's family. Jolly was introduced by former "Price is Right" game show host Bob Barker, via video. Young's two adult sons were also onstage with Jolly, and he embraced them at the end of his speech.

Meanwhile, national Republican groups swiftly got to work casting Jolly's victory as a blow to ObamaCare and those who support it.

“Tonight, one of Nancy Pelosi’s most prized candidates was ultimately brought down because of her unwavering support for ObamaCare, and that should be a loud warning for other Democrats running coast to coast," said National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. "Pinellas County voters have made the right choice; David will be a dedicated and thoughtful representative for them in Congress.”

The electoral victory comes despite Jolly trailing in early voting to Sink and Libertarian candidate Lucas Overbay getting nearly 5% of the vote. Although the Pinellas County congressional district was home to the longest-serving Republican in the House of Representatives, the district narrowly went to Obama in the 2012 Presidential election. With nearly 100% of the vote counted on Tuesday's special election, Jolly had 48.5% of the vote while Sink had 46.7%. Both parties had sent out

While pundits are cautioning against using the FL13 race as a bellweather for the 2014 midterms, this is the first chance either the Democrats or Republicans had to use Obamacare as an election issue in a competitive district since key provisions of the law went into effect.

Meanwhile in California, Republican Kevin Faulconer was sworn in as the mayor of San Diego. Faulconer, a former city councilman, garnered 43% of the vote in a special election in November 2013 to replace disgraced Democrat mayor Bob Filner. This set up a runoff between Faulconer and fellow city councilman, Democrat David Alvarez last month. Despite money coming in from big name donors, gains by Democrats in 2012 an endorsement from President Obama and campaigning across the border in Tijuana, Mexico by Alvarez, Alvarez lost to Faulconer by nearly 10 points in the runoff.

New York Governor Cuomo- Conservatives Have "No Place in New York"

It's not surprising that Governor Andy Cuomo feels this way- it is a little surprising that Cuomo would be this brash and up-front about his disdain for some of his fellow New Yorkers in an election year.


In an interview with Syracuse PBS affiliate on Friday, Cuomo stated that conservatives have "no place in the state of New York, because that's not who New Yorkers are".

The Republican Party candidates are running against the SAFE Act — it was voted for by moderate Republicans who run the Senate! Their problem is not me and the Democrats; their problem is themselves. Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.

If they’re moderate Republicans like in the Senate right now, who control the Senate — moderate Republicans have a place in their state.

Shortly after the remarks were made public, Cuomo backtracked and his supporters claimed that his remarks were merely 'taken out of context', instead. Some supporters highlighted Cuomo's qualifier of 'extreme' and pointed out the Governor's praise of 'Moderate' Republicans who have more or less rubber-stamped some or all of Cuomo's agenda. Cuomo attempted to walk back his statements by saying that New Yorkers prefer moderate politicians of either party running for office only a few weeks after avowed socialist and Sandinista supporter Bill DeBlasio was sworn in as mayor of New York City.

By 'anti-gay', Cuomo is apparently referring to anybody who held similar views on same-sex marriage as Pope Francis or President Obama prior to his 2012 re-election campaign. Meanwhile, the NY SAFE Act, a hastily written and almost confiscatory gun law rushed through a closed-door session of the New York state assembly in the immediate aftermath of the December 2012 Newtown, CT school shootings has proven extremely unpopular upstate. Opponents point out the law does nothing to deter crime and makes criminals out of law-abiding citizens who own previously legal firearms while prompting manufacturers and businesses to move out of state because of the increased restrictions.

Another issue that has residents upstate irate at the son of Democratic former governor Mario Cuomo is fracking. New York's Southern Tier sits atop the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation- in fact, the formation is named after the village of Marcellus outside of Syracuse. However, while there has been drilling activity in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, Cuomo has dragged his feet on the issue since his 2010 election. Although drilling for natural gas could give the Empire State's economy a shot in the arm- particularly the economically hard-hit Southern Tier- hardline environmentalists and celebrity activists such as Yoko Ono or actor Mark Ruffalo seem to have the ear of Gov Cuomo's office, regaling his staff with liberally embellished horror stories of artificial earthquakes and tap water bursting into flames due to fracking. As the celebrities, environmentalists and wealthy Manhattan progressives do there utmost to ensure that no drilling takes place in New York, upstate counties atop the Marcellus Shale have unemployment rates of around 8%. To his credit, Cuomo floated a compromise where drilling would be confined mostly to the Southern Tier counties of Broome, Chemung, Tioga, Steuben and Chenango but that was quickly overruled by environmentalists. While the Governor and state officials have made no official decision on fracking, observers believe Cuomo and other Democrats are waiting for a more politically opportune time after the 2014 election to make an unpopular decision.

Meanwhile, as landowners in the Southern Tier have been hit with a double whammy of an economy that's been in decline since the 1970s and some of the highest property taxes in the USA, Governor Cuomo has been fundraising in Hollywood- for his re-election bid as governor of New York.

Between the push for same-sex marriage, gun control and abortion while obstructing a surefire means of reviving the Southern Tier's long suffering economy for political expediency, Cuomo's actions as governor have made it abundantly clear that he believes conservatives (or even moderates who disagree with him) have no place in New York. his statements in Friday's PBS interview simply made it official.

[Hat tip- Lonely Conservative; The Mental Recession

Report: Head of Liberal Super PAC Accused of Bugging Sen McConnell's Campaign Office Visited White House

Shortly before a liberal Kentucky political action committee launched a social media campaign against incumbent Republican Senator Mitch McConnell (as well as his Taiwanese wife), the group's head had visited the White House and met with President Obama's chief fundraiser.
According to both White House visitor logs and the twitter account of one of the men accused of illegally recording a staff meeting at McConnell's newly opened campaign headquarters, Progress Kentucky head Shawn Reilly met with White House officials and a leftist think tank in Washington DC.

Reilly and Curtis Morrison are currently under investigation by the FBI for illicitly taping a campaign conversation between McConnell and a handful of his advisors. During the conversation McConnell and his aides discussed the potential candidacy of actress Ashley Judd — including using her mental health problems against her.

For days, Democrats in the state and nationally have sought to cast the duo as a pair of bungling amateurs who simply got in over their heads and made a series of bad decisions. But the White House visit suggests the distance from Reilly to his party's leaders may not have been quite that far.

The White House visitors log, showing Reilly met with administration officials Dec. 5th, appears to have been signed in by Victoria McCullough, a staff assistant to Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett.

According to Reilly's Twitter feed, his trip to Washington included stops at the White House to discuss the fiscal cliff and a meeting at the Center for American Progress.

Although its fairly unlikely the White House was coordinating the wiretapping of McConnell's office with Progress Kentucky from inside the beltway, Reilly's visit to the White House in and of itself undercuts any claims from the Democrats that Progress Kentucky was a pair of bungling amateurs who were in over their head.

According to the White House visitor logs, visitors that day also included Obama fundraiser Matthew Barzun and retired Louisville Courier-Journal editor Keith Runyon. Reilly was also a delegate for Kentucky to the 2012 Democrat National Convention in Charlotte, NC and has rubbed elbows with every major Democrat officeholder in the Bluegrass State.

Ricin Son- Mississippi Man In Custody After Allegedly Mailing Ricin to President Obama and US Senator

You know it's been a hell of a week when an Elvis-impersonating conspiracy theorist tries to poison the President of the United States and a US Senator was maybe the fourth or fifth most newsworthy item of the week.

An envelope addressed to Sen Ron Wicker (R- Mississippi) tested positive for the lethal poison ricin twice on Tuesday, according to the FBI. The fact that it came so soon after the Boston Marathon bombings heightened concerns over terrorism.

"This matter is part of an ongoing investigation by the United States Capitol Police and FBI," Wicker said. "I want to thank our law enforcement officials for their hard work and diligence in keeping those of us who work in the Capitol complex safe."

Terrance W. Gainer, the Senate sergeant-at-arms, said in an emailed message to Senate offices that the envelope to Wicker, a Republican, had no obviously suspicious outside markings and lacked a return address. It bore a postmark from Memphis, Tenn.

Mail from a broad swath of northern Mississippi, including the Memphis suburbs of DeSoto County, Miss., Tupelo, Oxford and the northern part of the Mississippi Delta region is processed and postmarked in Memphis, according to a Postal Service map. The Memphis center also processes mail for residents of western parts of Tennessee and eastern Arkansas.

Preliminary tests on a letter mailed to President Obama that was intercepted at an off-site facility later that day had also indicated traces of ricin. At a press conference in Tupelo, MS on Wednesday night, the Lee County Sherriff said that a local judge had also recieved a similar suspicious letter.

Authorities reportedly traced back the letters to a 45 year old Corinth, MS man named Paul Kevin Curtis who was arrested at his home by federal agents.

The letters to Obama and Wicker said: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance." Both were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message."

Ricky Curtis, who said he was Kevin Curtis' cousin, said the family was shocked by the news of the arrest. He described his cousin as a "super entertainer" who impersonated Elvis and numerous other singers.

"We're all in shock. I don't think anybody had a clue that this kind of stuff was weighing on his mind," Ricky Curtis said in a telephone interview.

Ricky Curtis said his cousin had written about problems he had with a cleaning business and that he felt the government had not treated him well, but he said nobody in the family would have expected this. He said the writings were titled, "Missing Pieces."

In 2000, Curtis was fired from the North Mississippi Medical Center and since then has claimed that he had uncovered a conspiracy by the hospital to harvest organs and body parts and sell them on the black market. Not surprisingly, NMMC denies the allegations made by the suspected ricin mailer.

According to The Hill Curtis once performed at a party attended by Wicker [who represented the district in the House at the time- NANESB!] and when Curtis' activites were less threatening.

Curtis- a registered Democrat- could face up to 15 years on charges of sending mail threatening the President and sending mail "containing threats to injure the person of others".

Liberal Super PAC Allegedly Records Private Meeting Between Senator McConnell And Campaign Staff

Left-wing publication Mother Jones released audio of Kentucky Senator and current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell discussing strategy and opposition research for the upcoming 2014 Senate campaign earlier this week. The clandestine recording dates back to February 2nd at McConnell's newly-opened Louisville campaign headquarters and catches McConnell and senior campaign workers discussing the background of liberal actress Ashley Judd, whose name was bandied about as a potential Democrat opponent against the incumbent.

The initial reaction from inside the Beltway was mostly to chastise McConnell for singling out Judd's mental problems that were publicized in her 2011 autobiography.  The media and pundit class seemed ready to anoint whoever recorded McConnell's meeting as the next Woodward and Bernstein, but the fact that the conversation may have been recorded without anybody's consent (which could constitute a felony in many jurisdictions) drew comparisons to the Nixon Administration.

On Thursday, an official with the Democrat Part of Jefferson County, KY claimed that two senior members from a liberal Super PAC called Progress Kentucky had bragged about recording the meeting from an elevator after an open house at the newly-opened campaign HQ.

Jacob Conway, who is with the Jefferson County Democratic Party, told Fox News that two leaders with the group Progress Kentucky told him at the time that they recorded the session. He said it wasn't a "Nixonian bugging," but could have been recorded with an iPhone.

Conway told Fox News they recorded the meeting from the hallway, and later told him about it.

"I don't know why they were at the grand opening of his campaign office. ... They overheard the conversation going on," he said. "To me it was an extremely tacky conversation ... but it was a private conversation nonetheless."

Conway did not specifically say the operatives gave the tape to Mother Jones, but said: "They told me they were there. They told me they were in the hallway. They have a recording. So you know, you can draw your own conclusions."

Conway, who said he used to be friends with the two individuals -- Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison -- said he came forward because he didn't want the situation tarnishing the Democratic Party.

The FBI has been interviewing both Reilly and Morrison as persons of interest in the case, sources tell Fox News, though it is too early to tell whether any law was broken.

At the national level, Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse said the party does not condone secret tapings.

"We would never condone anything like this -- a secret taping. We would never condone it," he said. Woodhouse said he knows nothing about the group in question.

"Our reaction is that we would like the investigation to take its course."

Progress Kentucky has not returned a request for comment, but Reilly denied any wrongdoing through an attorney, who told The Hill that he is "at most a witness, not a suspect." The lawyer said Reilly also is working with authorities to locate Morrison.

The FBI is investigating the alleged recording at McConnell's request. A law enforcement official told Fox News the investigation is "moving along," and there are some "people of interest."

The FBI is conducting interviews and visited McConnell's campaign headquarters on Wednesday. Fox News confirms the FBI also pulled video surveillance footage.

McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton told Fox News that there is a video camera in the lobby where anybody would have to pass through to get to the second floor, where the meeting in question took place.

"They certainly were not authorized to be there, if they were indeed there," Benton said of the Progress Kentucky operatives.

Progress Kentucky is the same organization that sent out a series of tweets claiming that McConnell was disproportionately influenced by China because his wife- former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao- was born in Taiwan. Some of the tweets were quickly deleted after they were sent out in late February, but not before bloggers and websites like Twitchy were able to capture them for posterity.

Mr Paul Goes To Washington- Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) Launches 12 Hour Filibuster to Hold Up Nomination of Brennan to CIA

Aided by colleagues in the US Senate, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul ended a nearly 13 hour filibuster in an attempt to hold up the nomination of John Brennan to the CIA Director's post in the early morning hours of Thursday. At issue was limits to the President's authority to use drone strikes to kill Americans. Earlier in the day, Attorney General Eric Holder did not rule out using aerial drone strikes to kill American citizens on US soil during questioning before the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday.

After Holder's testimony, Sen Paul vowed that he would do what we could to hold up Brennan's nomination until the Committee recieved clarity from the White House on their policy on using drone strikes against American nationals.

Business in the Senate ground to a halt Wednesday as Paul -- aided by colleagues from both parties -- launched into the filibuster as he tried to hold up the nomination over concerns about the president’s authority to kill Americans with drones.

Paul's filibuster was at least two hours longer than most in U.S. history, as most flame out around 10 hours. Paul finished speaking around 12:40 a.m. local time, and his filibuster lasted 12 hours and 52 minutes.

"My legs hurt. My feet hurt. Everything hurts right now," Paul told Fox News shortly after stepping off the Senate floor, saying he believes "we did the best that we could."

"I would be surprised if we didn’t hear back from the White House," Paul said.

In a show of support, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came to the Senate floor and congratulated Paul for his "tenacity and for his conviction." McConnell also called Obama's choice of Brennan a "controversial nominee."

Paul is one of several lawmakers -- on both sides of the aisle -- who has raised concerns about the legal justification for launching drone strikes against Americans overseas. But Paul took to the floor after receiving a statement from Attorney General Eric Holder that creaked open the door to the possibility of using a drone to kill an American inside the United States.

“To allow one man to accuse you in secret -- you never get notified you've been accused,” Paul said on the floor. “Your notification is the buzz of propellers on the drone as it flies overhead in the seconds before you're killed. Is that what we really want from our government?”

Paul said he’d be raising the same complaints under a Republican president.

“No one politician should be allowed to judge the guilt, to charge an individual, to judge the guilt of an individual and to execute an individual. It goes against everything that we fundamentally believe in our country,” he said.

Neither Holder or Brennan would explicitly rule out drone strikes against American nationals on US soil in earlier questioning on the matter. Paul was eventually aided by other Senate colleagues including Ted Cruz, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen Tim Scott (R-SC), Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR). At one point, Cruz was reading aloud tweets in support of the Kentucky Senator. Paul offered to end the filibuster in exchange for a nonbinding resolution regarding drone strikes on US citizens on American soil, but Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) objected to allowing a vote, so Paul continued. He eventually finished speaking at 12:40 ET on Thursday morning, with the filibuster lasting 12 hours and 52 minutes.

Rand Paul's filibuster was the first significant challenge to Obama by Senate Republicans since the president was being sworn in back in January 2009

The concerns over using drones against American civilians comes as the Department of Homeland Security announced the purchase of more than 21 million hollowpoint rounds on top of 2 billion rounds purchased in the last year. The government explained the purchase by saying that- like many other commodities- they got a better deal when they purchased ammunition in bulk [however, keep in mind that one doesn't merely target shoot with hollowpoints- NANESB!]. However, in addition to the bulk ammunition purchases the DHS also announced the acquisition of more than 2700 armored MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles over the weekend.

Also on Wednesday, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a report cautioning that membership in 'extremist' anti-government groups is approaching an all time high. However, like the Department of Homeland Security, the SPLC has a fairly broad definition of 'extremists', lumping pro-life groups, veterans, Tea Party chapters or pro-gun organizations in the same category as neo-nazis and Ku Klux Klan while omitting militant organizations like the New Black Panther Party from their dire warnings about domestic terrorism.

South Carolina Governor Appoints Congressman Tim Scott to US Senate

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has announced the appointment of congressman Tim Scott to replace outgoing senator Jim DeMint. Earlier this month, Sen. DeMint announced his plans to leave office in January to become President of conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation.

Scott, a Republican who recently won a second term, represents the Palmetto State's 1st Congressional District- which stretches along the coast north of Charleston. During the 2010 primaries, Scott ran against the son of segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond and won, going on to win convincingly in the general election against his Democrat opponent.

Once elected to office, Scott declined to join the Congressional Black Caucus. Early on he was assigned to the House Transportation Committee and House Small Business Committee before being appointed to the House Rules Committee. Prior to that, Scott had served on the Charleston County Council and South Carolina General Assembly in addition to owning his own insurance agency.

Scott will become black senator from the state of South Carolina, the first black senator from the South since 1881 and the only black senator during the 113th Congress [Interestingly, many of the media types who normally savor the ethnic head-counts were remarkably quiet after Gov. Haley's announcement on Monday- NANESB!].

According to South Carolina state law, Gov. Haley is also required to set a date for a special election for Scott's vacant Congressional seat. It's also worth pointing out that the boundaries for South Carolina's first congressional district had shifted significantly after the 2010 Census. While the district still encompasses much of the coast, the First District will be mostly between Charleston and Hilton Head Island, SC and much of Scott's former district is now part of the newly-formed 7th Congressional district which will be represented by Horry County Republican Tom Rice.

Barack Obama Wins Second Term; Opportunities To Say "I Told You So" Immediately Present Themselves

County by county results of 2012 Presidential Election with red indicating counties that went with Romney and blue indicating counties that went for Obama.

Despite earlier indications to the contrary, the American electorate had apparently decided to double down on the previous four years of failure and re-elect Barack Hussein Obama to a second term. And I do have to use some sort of qualifier here not only because of widespread military disenfranchisement as well as election-day dirty tricks in some cities, but also some swing state counties having voter turnout as high as 111%.

It should probably go without saying that I was extremely shocked and disappointed in the outcome of the 2012 Presidential election. However, science fiction author and Mormon Democrat Orson Scott Card probably summed it up better than I ever could.

Of course, it didn't take long for harsh reality to rear its ugly head. On Wall Street in the days leading up to the election, there was talk of the markets rebounding regardless of who won because it removed 'uncertainty' from the longer-term picture, that turned out to be only partially true as the Dow-Jones plunged 369 points in a single day. Shares in finance and defense companies took a beating, but not nearly as bad as coal stocks. Since election day, shares of Arch Coal [NYSE: ACI] have dropped 14.78%, Oxford Natural Resources [NYSE: OXF] declined in value by more than 22% and shares of James River Coal [NASDAQ: JRCC] have lost 42.77% of their value.

Curously, the media decided to rediscover the 'fiscal cliff' and debt ceiling issues about one day after the election- issues the Romney/Ryan campaign had demonstrated they were at least capable of taking seriously while President Obama went on Letterman and denied there was even a debt problem. Some media types simply attributed the stock market freefall to uncertainty over the looming fiscal cliff.

Hardly 24 hours after Obama declared victory, a number of companies including Boeing, Energizer, Research in Motion, Lightyear Networks, Hawker Beechcraft, the Providence Journal, UtahAmerican Energy and Corning had announced a fresh round of layoffs while Olive Garden and Red Lobster parent company Darden and grocery chain Kroeger stated they were cutting workers' hours in anticipation of a number of 0bamacare provisions going into effect. A number of smaller businesses had reportedly trimmed their full time staff to under 50 employees so they could remain exempt from 0bamacare.

Financial consultants and industry observers also note that most of the smaller local and regional banks in the USA are set to disappear now that Dodd-Frank is here to stay for the forseeable future, leaving behind a number of the larger 'too big to fail' financial institutions that were bailed out with taxpayer money in 2008.

Of course, why should the bad news be limited to the economy and markets? On Friday afternoon, CIA Director David Petraeus announced his resignation, citing an ongoing extramarital affair. Interestingly, I heard this news being broken over CNBC, who claimed their parent network's Andrea Mitchell broke the story [given the close working relationship between the Obama campaign and NBC network's, I wouldn't doubt if she was handed the scoop in exchange for running interference on the Administration's behalf while on the campaign trail- NANESB!]. The affair reportedly came to light when Pretraeus' mistress sent threatening e-mails to another woman close to the CIA director who in turned reported the threatining messages to the FBI. Coincidentally, Petraeus was scheduled to testify before a Senate hearing on the September 11th terrorist attacks on the US consulate in Benghazi.

To hardly anybody's surprise, Petraeus' indiscrecions were made known to the White House by the FBI well before the election, but the White House reportedly held off on forcing him out until after November 6th- much to the chagrin of the FBI.

Keep in mind, all that wonderful news came within 48 hours of the election. If the Obama Administration can cram this much scandal and bad news into a timeframe of just under two days, imagine what could happen with four years.

Belated Post-Debate Musings

Well, here it is a few days after the second (and second to last) of the 2012 Presidential Debates and lord knows most of the other places on my blogroll have already commented, but I figured I should weigh in before the third and final debate on Monday night.

I missed the first debate at Denver University earlier this month- partly because I typically work evenings and partly because I was becoming burned out on politics altogether [not because I think Mitt Romney is such a shoddy candidate, but because I find it hard to believe there are people out there willing to defend President Obama's record over these last 3 years- NANESB!].

Apparently I missed a doozy, though. Romney repeatedly hammered President Obama over his economic record while Obama looked disinterested and even asked the moderator Jim Lehrer to change the subject at one point. Since then, Romney has been surging in the polls and gaining ground or pulling away in a number of battleground states while Obama's high-profile supporters have been blaming everything from the high altitude in Denver to the notion that Obama was being 'nice' and pulling his punches.

There was also a debate last week between VP Joe Biden and Romeny's VP nominee Paul Ryan that seemed to de derailed by the Vice President's facial tics and wierd grinning at the most inappropriate times.

The second Presidential debate took place on Tuesday night at Hofstra University in Long Island. The town hall format for this debate was different from the first, with Obama and Romney taking questions from an audience in a Q and A session that was moderated by CNN's Candy Crowley. I missed the first part of the debate- and I was told after the fact I didn't miss much at the time- but I caught most of the second half on radio.

I caught the moment everybody [who was paying attention- NANESB!] was talking about after the fact. Fielding a question about last month's terrorist attacks in Libya. Almost as soon Romney pointed out that it took nearly 2 weeks for the White House to acknowledge the attacks were the result of a planned terrorist action, not a spontaneous demonstration over a YouTube video, Crowley jumped in and said that Romney was wrong and at the Presiden't urging, produced a transcript of a September 12th statement to the press in the Rose Garden of the White House before flying off to a fundraiser in Las Vegas. After the debate, Crowley later walked back her words and said the Romney's statement was in fact correct.

Ignoring the fact that either the President and his proxies were lying to the press about the first terrorist attack to have killed an American diplomat in more than 30 years or he was callous enough to jet off to a high-end Sin City fundraiser while our diplomatic mission in Benghazi was still burning, there was something else I noticed that seemed to be overlooked by others in light of Crowley's blatant attempt to run interference for Obama.

Referencing the theater shooting in Aurora, CO, a member of the audience asked both candidates about revisiting the assault-weapons ban, which had lapsed under George W Bush. Gov Romney gave a fairly lengthy answer that mentioned enforcing laws already already on the books, before bringing up the Department of Justice's Operation Fast and Furious gunwalking program. Romney basically took a minute or so to explain what exactly was Fast and Furious to the audience of undecided voters, but as soon as he started mentioning the Obama Administrations' role in the ATF's gunwalking program, Crowley interrupted the governor in an attempt to steer the discussion back towards domestic gun control policy [most likely the original intent of Fast & Furious, according to some- NANESB!].

Apparently taking a cue from Joe Biden, President Obama apparently decided to start smiling at REALLY inappropriate times before Crowley allowed him to speak. Obama's long and rambling answer sidestepped Fast and Furious altogether and instead talk about the need for more teachers and funding for community colleges.

This likely won't be the last we hear from Fast and Furious at the debates- the third and final debate is scheduled for Monday, October 22nd and is slated to revolve around foreign policy. While some feel that this may be a strong suit for the President, there is not only the matter of Fast and Furious, the Libya terrorist attacks as well as the proposed KeystoneXL pipeline from Canada, there's also President Obama's persistent refusal to meet with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, the continuing threat from Iran's nuclear program, an increasingly aggressive Russia and China and deteriorating situations in Pakistan, Yemen, Syria and Turkey

Massachusetts Democrat Calls Cops on GOP Rival With Bogus Drug Buy Story

Consider this reason #774 I don't trust the Democrats anywhere near the levers of power.

A Democratic state representative in Massachusetts who narrowly survived a 4-way primary earlier this month is now facing questions after sending police to her Republican opponent's home, reportedly relaying concerns from an anonymous constituent to the local police chief about a possible drug buy.

Massachusetts State Representative Denise Andrews [D- Orange] had contacted Athol, MA police chief Timothy C Andrews- purportedly to follow through on an unnamed constituent's bizarre story that her GOP rival and Athol Board of Selectmen chair, Susanna Whipps Lee, had purchased cocaine from them.

Ms. Andrews contacted police and said she was told by an informant in the Police Department, whom she called a constituent, that Susannah M. Whipps Lee, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, had allegedly purchased cocaine and a police officer went to her home on Aug. 10 and took the drugs from her after police received a call from a person who claimed to have sold the drugs to Ms. Lee.

After an investigation, the chief said the allegations were false.

Ms. Lee, a Republican challenging Ms. Andrews in the November election, denied the allegations and called them “disgraceful and dishonest.”

Representative Andrews is named as a confidential informant in an Athol police report that was leaked to the public.

Artists rendering of Massachusetts State Representative Denise Andrews' confidential source.

Citing confidentiality, Andrews declined to name the source of the allegations against her opponent. A number of inconsistencies became apparent in the story she told the Athol police chief. Lee was out of state on the day the alleged drug buy took place and Athol's only narcotics officer was off-duty the day of the alleged bust. The story crumbled altogether when Chief Anderson compared dates and times on the department's radio logs and sign in sheets with those provided by Andrews' alleged informant.

Chief Anderson said “the false report of a crime to police” matter is under investigation. He said it would be a grave situation “if it is a member of our department.”

Asked if anyone from the Athol Police Department is under scrutiny, the chief said, “I am not going to comment at this point.”

On whether there may be a coverup, Chief Anderson said: “We have policies about chain of command; that means a member of our Police Department has to follow our chain of command; when they come across information of this nature, they are required, if they have information there is a violation of department policy ... to notify their supervisor.”

The chief also said the rank and file “are not allowed to release records of a confidential or sensitive nature.”

The boundaries for Andrews' District- the 2nd Franklin District- was recently re-drawn and includes the towns of Athol, Orange, Royalston, Erving and Gill in Franklin County in the north-central part of the Bay State as well as parts of Belchertown in Hampshire.

Presumptive GOP Nominee Mitt Romney Chooses Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as Running Mate

GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced his VP selection at a campaign event in Virginia over the weekend. An announcement from the Romney campaign that a VP decision would be made over the weekend led to a flurry of rumors on social networking sites like twitter and unsubustantiated media reports on Friday night. Romeny introduced Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan [R- WI 1] as his running mate in front of the battleship USS Wisconsin at Norfolk, VA on Saturday.

Some analysts theorized that the former Governor Mitt Romney would've been reluctant to nominate somebody who is more charismatic or could outshine him on the campaign trail. Pundits had speculated that other potential nominees included New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, former Minnestoa Governor Tim Pawlenty, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, Ohio Governor Rob Portman or Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell [notice the abundance of governors and complete lack of community organizers! NANESB!].

Ryan, who chairs the House Budget Committee, had a number of high profile clashes with the Obama Administration over the federal budget, entitlement reform and the debt ceiling since 2010 when the GOP became the majority in the House after a number of Tea Party swept into office.

Romeny's Ryan pick has reportedly energized a conservative and Tea Party base who were wary of Romney's credentials as a moderate, with the selection garnering praise from a number of Tea Party affiliated PACs. The pick also puts the focus of the 2012 Presidential campaign squarely back on the economy.

The duo appeared before large and enthusiastic crowds in the swing states of Virginia, North Carolina and Ryan's native Wisconsin over the weekend. Like the Supreme Court ruling that upheld 0bamacare as a tax, the Romney campaign enjoyed a massive surge in donations shortly after the Ryan announcement was made- reportedly collecting as much as $3.5 million in the 24 hours after the two appeared in front of the USS Wisconsin.

Democrats, the media and Obama-alligned PACs reacted fairly predictably, claiming that the Ryan pick was a sign of 'desperation' from the Romney camp and struggled to portray the two as being out-of-touch Washington insiders who sought to take away entitlement programs from the elderly and women. However, the fundraising and large crowds turning out in battleground states to see both Romney and Ryan belied such claims from the Democrats. Also, the nominee could've been Pawlenty, Jindal, Chrisite or Portman and I imagine the left, the media and the Obama campaign would've been saying the exact same things about them, only altering the name for the script.

After appearing at a campaign event in Waukesha, WI, on Sunday the Romney camp announced that he and Ryan would be campaigning seperately until the Republican convention in Tampa at the end of the month. Ryan was slated to appear at the Iowa State Fair on Monday while Mitt Romney is supposed to head to Florida.

Badger State Beatdown- Scott Walker Becomes First US Governor to Survive Recall; Obama's Bad Week Continues

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker surivived Tuesday night's union-backed recall effort by a considerable margin. The results marked the first time that a sitting governor had survived a recall- a campaign that was about 18 months in the making and gained national attention for possible nationwide implications. Walker had earned the ire of organized labor and the left for legislation introduced curtailing the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions like the SEIU and AFSCME in 2011- prompting Democrat state senators to flee the state to prevent a quorum on such legislation.

Interestingly, the network who's 'personalities' were the most emotionally invested in seeing Walker unseated were the first ones who called the race for Walker. Less than an hour after the polls closed in the Badger State, MSNBC called the race for Scott Walker.



In the week prior to the election, the consensus among the media and punditocracy was that it would be an extremely close contest with Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett reportedly closing a significant gap with Walker. However, when the polls closed on Tuesday night, the results of the recall wasn't anywhere near as close as anticipated.



Not only did Walker handily surivie the recall effort, but Republican Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch retained her office by a similar margin against challenger Mahlon Mitchell. Kleefisch is the first ever Lt Governor in the USA to face recall.

Yay Wisconsin!

Three of the four state senators (all Republicans) also successfully held off challengers from the Democrat party in their respective state Senate districts. GOP State Senator Van Wanggaard [Senate District 21, which covers most of Racine county aloing the Illinois state line- NANESB!] was unseated by Democrat challenger John Lehman, giving the Democrats the majority in the Wisconsin State Senate. However, that majority would only be theoretical and may be short-lived- the Wisconsin State Senate has already adjourned for the year and the seat is up for re-election in November of this year- before the Senate re-adjourns. It's possible Lehman could serve out his entire term without the Senate ever being called into session.

Not surprisingly, some organizations did their best to spin the outcome in their favor, despite overlooking the agonizingly obvious in the process.

Win or lose, Scott Walker has joined ignominious company in suffering the humiliation of a recall election. 3rd ever. #wiunion
— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) June 6, 2012

Many of the same pundits, media figures and politicians who were emotionally invested in seeing Walker voted out of office before completing his first term could only point to the exit polls showing President Obama leading over presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney as a bright spot. However, these same exit polls showed that the race between Walker and Barrett was a dead heat- so their reliability is suspect at best.

Perhaps one of the most intruiging breakdowns of the recall is that Walker recived more than ⅓ of the vote from union households. Even before the polls closed, prominent Democrats such as former President Bill Clinton and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney began circulating the talking point that the only reason Walker could win was because of out-of-state support from the Tea Party and wealthy donors such as the Koch Brothers [rather conventiently ignoring the $20 million unions and Democrats spent on the recall, the margin which candidate Obama outspent candidate McCain in 2008 or President Obama's lavish Hollywood fundraisers this year- NANESB!].

I pointed out that Obama was conspicuously absent from Wisconsin just days before the recall voting despite fundraising in neighboring Illinois and Minnesota- one of the first bad omens for the Barrett campaign. Despite recent GOP gains in the Badger State, Obama was still considered a favorite to win Wisconsin in the November 2012 presidential campaign until Tuesday night. However, if the Obama camp decided to stay away from the Wisconsin recall as a pre-emptive means of damage control, it didn't do them any good.

Walker’s win prompted Democratic and Republican strategists to reassess Wisconsin’s political landscape and the role the state will play in the presidential race. Until earlier this week, target states listed by President Barack Obama’s campaign didn’t include the state, which has voted Democratic in the past six presidential elections, albeit narrowly at times.

In a campaign video released June 4 -- the day before the recall -- Obama campaign manager Jim Messina listed Wisconsin as “undecided,” along with Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Virginia.

So not only would Obama be facing an energized Republican base in Wisconsin come November, but a demoralized liberal and union base who won't forget that he had abandoned just before to the recall.

If that wasn't enough, the same day Walker cruised to an easy win, Bill Clinton questioned Obama's economic proposals of allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire.

Incredibly, Bill Clinton – the man the White House sent to represent the President during the election – compounded the result by admitting that the country was in a recession and by urging Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts. That makes him the most senior liberal in the nation to cast doubt on Obama’s economic strategy.

In recent weeks, prominent Democrats such as Clinton, former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and Newark, NJ mayor Corey Booker have cautioned the Obama camp that they should back off their attacks on private equity as a means of attempting to attack Mitt Romney's tenure at Bain Capital.

Wisconsin Recall-A-Palooza Update- With Walker Up in Polls, Democrats Getting Desperate; Walker Supporter Detained at Barrett Rally

With Wisconsin's June 5th recall election looming, the Democrat party and their union allies seem to be pulling out all the stops in their bid to unseat Gov. Walker. Running against Walker is Milwaukee's Democrat mayor Tom Barrett in what is basically a rematch of the 2010 Gubernerorial campaign.

Well.....almost all the stops. You see, just days before the voters were slated to go to the polls in Wisconsin President Obama hosted six fundriasers on Friday- dividing his time between the Twin Cities and Chicago. Yet Obama was conspicuously absent from that state that takes up real-estate between Illinois and Minnesota. If the Democrats on the national level were at all confident of a Barrett win, Obama likely would've made an appearence in the Badger State while on his Midwest fundraising trip (disguised as official business). Yet President Obama avoided Dairyland like it was a discussion on the most recent jobless numbers report.

Barrett has been trailing in nearly every poll in recent weeks. Although some polls had Walker up considerably in the last few weeks, Barrett was gradually closing the gap and while still behind Walker in some polling, he was within the margin of error.

Further telegraphing desperation is an early 'October surprise' liberal bloggers attempted to spring on Scott Walker over the weekend, citing anonymous and secondhand sources that Scott Walker fathered an illegitimate son with a classmate while attending Marquette University. The love-child story, floated by an outlet called "Wisconsin Citizens Media Co-op", unravelled in about an hour after a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter confirmed that the Scott Walker in question had a different middle name than the governor.

Around the same time, a left-leaning think tank began sending out mailers identifying individuals who did and didn't vote in prior elections.

When many Wausau voters checked their mail this past weekend, they got a glimpse of something unusual -- their neighbor's voting record.

"I had no idea that was a part of the public record," said Bryan Mergen, who lives in Wausau.

The mailer -- put out by the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund -- shows a list of people who live near you and whether they voted in two recent November elections. It doesn't show who you voted for, but even so, some voters said it's an invasion of their privacy.

Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board spokesperson Reid Magney said voter records are public records. With a name and a birth date, you can find election records right on their website. And some voters said they don't mind the exposure.

"My first reaction is, what's this?" said Mary Dominski, who lives in Wausau. "And then I thought, well, it's okay. I had no problem with it because I have no problem with my voting record."

Magney said many groups buy a copy of the statewide voter list. But he said this is the first time a group has used the voter information this way.

"I think it probably was not the smartest political move, because I think there's a lot of antagonism and a lot of people thought there was more information than there really is," said Dominski.

Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, a counterdemonstrator was detained by police at a Barrett rally that President Clinton was speaking at.

Particularly damning was the gathering crowd of Barrett supporters and union activists gleefully chanting 'Lock Him Up!' for the high crime of holding up a pro-Walker sign in a public park. The man identified himself as Dave Willoughby and in addition to being a former Marine, is reportedly the son of a prominent Florida Tea Party activist.

Attendees of the rally accuse Willoughby of acting in a belligerent and confrontational manner towards them and Milwaukee police cited him for disturbing the peace before booking him before getting released [During last year's protests against Scott Walker's budget proposal, union members and Democrats occupied the Wisconsin state capitol building, damaging doors, blocking traffic and threatening lawmakers- so even if the pro-Barrett crowd's version of events is 100% accurate, its pretty mild in comparison to what SEIU and AFSCME-affiliated protesters inflicted on the state capital last year- NANESB!]

Wisconsin Democrats Kill Union-Backed Mining Legislation That Would Allow Iron-Ore Mining in Badger State

One year after fleeing the state to prevent Governor Scott Walker's bill that would curtail the collective bargaining ability of public employee unions from being voted on in the state Senate, Badger State Democrats have dealt a blow to private-sector unions.

Assembly Bill 426, which would've overhauled the regulatory and permitting for the mining of ferrous minerals in Wisconsin, was narrowly defeated by a 17-16 margin in the State Senate- 16 Democrat state Senators and GOP State Senator Dale Schultz, who represents the 17th District in Southwestern Wisconsin, voted against the measure.

Wisconsin’s mining laws were developed to regulate sulfide mining, which utilizes chemicals in its mining and refining processes. The ore deposit in Iron County is a ferrous (i.e., iron) deposit, not a sulfide deposit. The process relies on water and magnets rather than chemicals. Additionally, the Department of Natural Resources would have issued a permit for the mine only after it had confirmed that the mine would operate in an environmentally responsible manner.

The bill not only had support from Governor Walker, the Wisconsin GOP and businesses, but also labor unions including the International Union of Operating Engineers, Iron Workers District Council of the North Central States, the Wisconsin Pipe Trades Association, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters; and the Wisconsin Laborer’s District Council.

Florida-based Gogebic Taconite had reached a Memorandum of Understanding with the unions that the company would use union labor and Wisconsin-based contractors while the mine was under construction and continue using labor once the mine was up and running. Gogebic had begun the exploratory process in Iron and Ashland counties in northwestern Wisconsin [see map above- NANESB!]. Once the anticipated deposits of taconite iron-ore were located, Gogebic estimated the mines and processing facilities could be operating for up to 35 years and create as many as 3000 jobs once the mine was up and running.

The anticipated job growth would not have been limited to northwestern Wisconsin. Two large mining equipment manufacturers- Joy Global [NYSE- JOY] and recently-acquired Caterpillar [NYSE- CAT] subsidiary Bucyrus International both operate out of the Milwaukee area and also employ union labor.

However, after the State Senate killed AB 426, Gogebic announced that they would be pulling out of Wisconsin altogether. Other mining companies are unikely to step in and fill the void unless the issue of overhauling regulations for mining ferrous minerals in the Badger State is revisited.

Since Gov Walker is facing a recall election this year, there is a school of thought that public employee unions like the AFSCME and SEIU pressured the Democrats to vote unanimously against AB 426 to deny Walker any sort of victory or good publicity heading into the recall campaign.

While some green activists claimed concern about environmental degradation or harm to adjacent wetlands, similar mining operations have been taking place for over a century just to the west in Minnesota's Mesabi range without the widespread environmental devestation activists claim is inevitable.

Badger State Civility Update- Deranged Progressive Stalker Assaults State Lawmaker With Beer

Not even two weeks after Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa called on union members to "Take these sons of bitches out" in a speech followed up by a violent attack on a Washington state grain unloading facility, a Racine, WI activist stalking State Republican lawmaker Robin Vos and dumping beer on his head during a shouting match at a Madison, WI tavern.

A report from the Madison Police Department identifies the victim as a 43-year-old state lawmaker from Burlington, a description that matches Rep. Robin Vos (R-Burlington), co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. Vos' office confirmed he was the victim but would not say anything else about the matter, since it was being investigated by police.

The incident happened at the Inn on the Park, 22 S. Carroll St. Witnesses said a man came into the tavern and swore at three lawmakers, calling them criminals. A bartender said the man used the words to the effect of "money" and "damn Republicans," according to the police report.

Another man was recording the incident with a video camera when the bartender asked him to stop. That's when the person who had been yelling dumped the beer on Vos' head, according to the report.

The police report says beer splashed onto two other lawmakers, Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) and Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette).

Vos told police that the man has been harassing him since February, though previous encounters had not involved physical contact. The representative did not know the suspect's name, but a female State Capitol employee, who was with the group, gave police a name and said Capitol Police would have his contact information, according to the report. Police believe he's a 26-year-old.

Madison police say that 26 year old Miles Kristan turned himself in to police and was cited for disorderly conduct before being released without incident.

News of the confrontation was met with approval by progressives and union activists on Twitter. [Wonder how they would feel if somebody from the Tea Party did the same thing to one of the Democrat lawmakers who fled the state earlier this year?- NANESB!]

[Hat tip- Lumberjack in a Desert; Gateway Pundit]

GOP Sweeps Pair of Special Elections, Including Anthony Weiner's Former District

Republican candidates turned in a pair of victories on Tuesday night in special Congressional elections in New York City and Nevada.

Former Nevada state senator Rick Amodei cruised to a lopsided win over the Democrat in the race, current Nevada state treasurer Kate Marshall in the special election in Nevada's 2nd congressional district. The district, which includes most of the state of Nevada outside of Clark County, was left without representation when Congressman Dean Heller was appointed by Gov Brian Sandoval to replace Senator John Ensign back in late April when Ensign resigned due to a sex scandal.

Nevada's 2nd district leans heavily Republican since it was created about 30 years ago and the outcome (if not the margin of victory) was hardly a startling development.

More surprising was what happened 2500 miles to the east on Tuesday night in the special election for New York's 9th Congressional district. This was the seat formerly occupied by Anthony Weiner before he was forced to resign over sending sexually explicit pictures of himself to certain followers on Twitter. The NY-9 contest was between Democrat NY state assembly member David Werpin (Assembly district 24, Queens) and retired cable TV executive Bob Turner, running as a Republican.

NY-9 has been held by Democrats since 1923, but polls a few days out from the special election indicated that Werpin was in trouble. On Tuesday night, Republican Bob Turner won the NY-9 special election by a 53% to 47% margin. Interestingly, both candidates seemed to be running against President Obama.

The 9th Congressional district encompasses parts of Brooklyn and Queens and has a large Jewish population. The Obama administration's terse meetings with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and calls for Israel to withdraw back to pre-1967 borders was seen as a factor in alienating some Jewish voters in the USA. Democrat former New York mayor Ed Koch ended up endorsing Turner in the special election based in large part on the president's handling of Israel.

While Werpin attempted to distance himself from President Obama, he and his campaign committed a series of gaffes late in the campaign. In one Q&A session, he said the national debt was $4 trillion (closer to $14 trillion) and a campaign ad showing an animated jet buzzing the Manhattan skyline came out shortly before the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.

As an assemblyman, Weprin also voted in favor of New York's recent vote on same sex marriage and also voiced support of the controversial Ground Zero mosque, issues that likely didn't go over very well with the Jewish and Catholic voters in NY-9. In the immediate aftermath of Turner's win, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D; FL-20) claimed that the same seat Representative Weiner won by 60% just 10 months ago was a 'difficult' district for the Democrats to win [only under your illustrious leadership can districts where registered Democrats outnumber GOP voters 3-1 can be considered 'difficult', Deb- NANESB!]

While there's still a possibility that NY-9 could still be redistricted out of existence soon, this would be the New York city area's third Congressional seat currently held by the GOP. Pete King represents part of Nassau county for NY-3 while Micheal Grimm represents Staten Island in NY-13.