No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for March 1st, 2010

Will he or won’t he?

by @ 17:53. Filed under NRE Polls, Politics - National, Politics - Wisconsin.

(H/T – Kevin Binversie)

There’s a new twist in the All My Thompsons saga – Poltico is reporting that Tommy Thompson has told his Washington-based law firm and key clients that he might indeed challenge Russ Feingold for his Senate seat this year. His former campaign manager, Bill McCoshen, told Politico that Thompson’s moves toward running are “more thoughtful and more deliberate” than those taken at any point since he departed the governor’s mansion in 2001.

Meanwhile, an anonymous ally, who says that Thompson would have at least $200,000 in donations waiting for him once he jumped in, says that it is now 70-30 that he jumps in, noting that Thompson has been asking operational questions in recent weeks.

On the other hand, his wife, Sue Ann, recently told Madison Magazine that she’s discouraging Tommy from running. Also, Thomspon has a few black marks, including being on record as supporting the Senate version of PlaceboCare.

Side note from the story – Milwaukee County Democratic Party chair Sachin Chheda noted that support would hurt Thompson in any election.

Also, I note that $200,000 isn’t exactly going to cut it in the money race. Feingold had over $3.6 million in the bank at the end of last year, and Terrence Wall, the more-moneyed of the two announced Republican challengers, raised about $240,000 not including loans to himself in his first 7 weeks.

Still, there’s the Rasmussen polls over the last 2 months that gave Thompson a margin-of-error lead over Feingold (while Feingold maintained a double-margin-of-error lead over both Wall and Dave Westlake), and the name recognition that Thompson still enjoys in Wisconsin.

The consensus in Wisconsin, from Kevin to Mary at Freedom Eden to Brad V at Letters in Bottles is that Thompson needs to make a decision soon, sooner than during the late-May GOP convention that was floated in the Politico article. Beyond the time aspect, which Wall and Westlake desperately need to get known, there’s the money aspect. If those with deep pockets (or at least deeper pockets than my empty ones) don’t know whether Thompson will or will not jump in until late-May, the cash that could have gone into this race will likely end up elsewhere.

I suppose I should fire up the polls on this one. While I didn’t include an expiration date on the poll, I will close it before the GOP convention if Thompson still hasn’t announced one way or the other.

Will Tommy Thompson run for US Senate in 2010?

Up to 1 answer(s) was/were allowed

  • Yes, and he should. (640%, 32 Vote(s))
  • No, and he shouldn't. (320%, 16 Vote(s))
  • Yes, but he shouldn't. (120%, 6 Vote(s))
  • I have no clue what Tommy's doing. (100%, 5 Vote(s))
  • Tommy who? (100%, 5 Vote(s))
  • No, but he should. (80%, 4 Vote(s))

Total Voters: 68

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The Definition of Bipartisan

by @ 5:26. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Nancy Pelosi wants the Placebocare bill passed.  She wants it passed so badly that she has lost any ability to think rationally about anything other than passing the bill.  As an example of Nancy’s irrationality, listen to this quote from CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday:

“They’ve had plenty of opportunity to make their voices heard.” “Bipartisanship is a two-way street. A bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes. Republicans have left their imprint.”

Bipartisan huh?  You mean like the amendments to prevent Placebocare from paying for abortions that were shot down?  That bipartisan?

Or maybe Pelosi means the amendments to add tort reform that were shot down.  Maybe that’s the bipartisan she refers to?

Oh wait, I know.  I’ll bet Nancy is referring to the bipartisan nature in the way Congress agreed to have the Placebocare plans impact themselves just like any other American.  Maybe that’s Nancy’s view of the bipartisan impact there has been on the bill?

If Pelosi’s definition of “bipartisanship” is the one that should be used rather than Websters, we’ll need to rewrite a few sections of history.

From now on, it will be understood that Germany’s invasion of Poland during WWII was actually a bipartisan effort. From now on it will be understood that West Germany influenced the erection of the Berlin wall enough to make it a bipartisan effort. Of course, it will forever more go with out saying that the US and its allies were wrong for using military force in Kuwait as the Iraqi occupation was bipartisan.

Representative John Kline spoke at the Republican convention I attended on Saturday.  To paraphrase Kline, he said that there was only one good thing coming out of Congress and that was that Pelosi was not going to be Speaker after this term.  That’s the kind of bipartisanship I can get behind!

If Placebocare passes via the reconcilliation path, it will need to originate in the House.  There is a lot of speculation as to whether Pelosi can whip the required number of votes to pass Placebocare out of the House.  While whether she does or not is yet to be seen, two things are certain, there will be no Republican votes passing it out of the House and there will be Democrat votes voting against it.  I doubt this is what she had in mind but Ms. Pelosi, the only thing bipartisan about the vote on Placebocare will be in those who oppose it.  I hope the bipartisan vote prevails!

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