A new Gallup Poll finds 65% of Americans say the U.S. Senate should have passed the measure that would have expanded background checks for gun purchases, while 29% agree with the Senate’s failure to pass the measure.
Black Voter Turnout Surpassed Whites in 2012
“America’s blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, reflecting a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama while many whites stayed home,” the AP reports.
“Had people voted last November at the same rates they did in 2004, when black turnout was below its current historic levels, Republican Mitt Romney would have won narrowly.”
Corbett Trails All Challengers in Pennsylvania
A new Quinnipiac poll in Pennsylvania finds that each of three leading Democrats who might challenge Gov. Tom Corbett (R) for reelection in 2014 lead the incumbent by margins of 9 percentage points or higher.
Joe Sestak (D) tops Corbett 48% to 34%, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D) is ahead 47% to 34%, while Rob McCord (D) is up% to 35%.
Key findings: With a 2-1 thumbs down from women, voters say 50% to 32% that Corbett does not deserve reelection. His approval rate is 38% to 47%.
Charm May Be Last Hope for Obama Agenda
Washington Post: “After more than four years in the White House and weeks into his latest effort to woo lawmakers, Obama still isn’t very good at using his personal charm to achieve political success. Yet, it may be one of the few strategies the president has left if he hopes to accomplish his remaining second-term priorities, including a sweeping budget deal and a comprehensive immigration bill.”
“At this point in his presidency, Obama has pretty much tried it all. He has met privately with Republican leaders in the House, collaborated with bipartisan groups of senators and taken his case to the people, hoping that the power of public opinion could win over his opponents in Congress. This year, for the most part, none of those approaches have worked.”
Internet Sales Tax Splits Republicans
New York Times: “Legislation that would force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes from their customers has put antitax and small-government activists like Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the Heritage Foundation in an unusual position: they’re losing.”
“For years, conservative Republican lawmakers have been influenced heavily by the antitax activists in Washington, who have dictated outcomes and become the arbiters of what is and is not a tax increase. But on the question of Internet taxation, their voices have begun to be drowned out by the pleas of struggling retailers back home who complain that their online competitors enjoy an unfair price advantage.”
Petraeus’s Quiet Comeback Plan
Ben Smith: “There is a quiet and conventional path from shame to redemption for American political figures brought down by personal sins, and David Petraeus has, just six months after resigning as director of the CIA, followed it with his signature focus on strategy, and on his own image.”
“The former Iraq and Afghanistan commander, who resigned after an indiscreet extramarital affair, has mounted a two-pronged campaign on Washington, D.C. From the outside, he has chosen a safe and important charitable cause, the re-integration of veterans into American life. Meanwhile, on the inside, there are signs of just the right sort of Washington insurgency: Petraeus has not attempted the kind of brash, frontal, and unapologetic return former Rep. Anthony Weiner is trying in New York. Instead, he’s barely visible, working with the ubiquitous Beltway fixer Bob Barnett, though he has no book project or paid speaking tour in the works. He has been quietly, formally welcomed back to the town’s high society…”
The Root of Afghan Corruption
“For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan’s president — courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency,” the New York Times reports.
“All told, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the C.I.A. to the office of President Hamid Karzai… Moreover, there is little evidence that the payments bought the influence the C.I.A. sought. Instead, some American officials said, the cash has fueled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington’s exit strategy from Afghanistan.”
Said one American official: “The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan was the United States.”
Pirate Party Wins Three Seats in Iceland
Ars Technica: “On Saturday, Iceland held national parliamentary elections and the newly-formed Pirate Party of Iceland won 5.1 percent of the vote. This earned the party three seats in parliament, making the new Píratar the most successful Pirate Party in any national legislative body around the globe.”
Foxx Will Be Next Transportation Secretary
President Obama will tap Charlotte, N.C., mayor Anthony Foxx as the new secretary of transportation on Monday, the Charlotte Observer reports.
“The choice is seen as part of an effort to boost the number of minorities in high-level positions on his Cabinet.”
Drama Outpaces Discussion of Issues in South Carolina
The New York Times observes that almost no issues are being discussed in the special election between Mark Sanford (R) and Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D) in South Carolina’s 1st congressional district.
“One has to scratch hard to get through the divorces and lovers, the tearful odes to Mama, the exploitation of celebrity and the Sharks-versus-Jets nature of the political parties to find out what the candidates propose to do if they win a special election on May 7 to succeed Representative Tim Scott, a Republican who was appointed to the Senate.”
The 2013 White House Correspondents Dinner
President Obama and Conan O’Brien were very funny at the White House Correspondents Dinner last night.
Quote of the Day
“Yuk it up media and pols. While America is buried in taxes and a fight for our rights, the permanent political class in DC dresses up and has a prom to make fun of themselves. No need for that, we get the real joke.”
— Sarah Palin, writing on Facebook, about the White House Correspondent’s Dinner last night.
The Great Degrader
Paul Krugman: “I’ve been focused on economic policy lately, so I sort of missed the big push to rehabilitate Bush’s image; also, as a premature anti-Bushist who pointed out how terrible a president he was back when everyone else was praising him as a Great Leader, I’m kind of worn out on the subject.”
“But it does need to be said: he was a terrible president, arguably the worst ever, and not just for the reasons many others are pointing out.”
The GOP’s Latino Problem in California
Garry South: “In three of the last four non-presidential elections, Republicans actually nominated Latinos for statewide office: Ruben Barrales for controller in 1998, Gary Mendoza for insurance commissioner in 2002 and Maldonado for lieutenant governor in 2010. All three were attractive, articulate candidates with compelling personal stories. But all three went down in flames, receiving an average of only 37.9% of the vote. And there is no indication in post-election analyses that they received any meaningfully higher share of the Latino vote than a white male GOP candidate would have gotten. In fact, the last Republican Latino statewide officeholder was elected 142 years ago, when Romualdo Pacheco won the lieutenant governorship in 1871, then served several months as governor in 1875.”
Breyer Falls Off His Bicycle Again
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has been hospitalized following a bicycle accident in Washington, D.C., ABC News reports.
He underwent “reverse shoulder replacement surgery” — which Gawker correctly notes “sounds just awful.”
It’s the third bicycle mishap Breyer has had since being appointed to the court.
Schweitzer Updates Website
Bonus Quote of the Day
“The truth of the matter is, Barack knows it, I know, had the economy not collapsed around your ears, John, in the middle of literally, as things were moving, I think you probably would have won.”
— Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by CNN, telling Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that he might have won the presidency if not for the economic collapse in 2008.
GOP Lawmakers Embrace Conspiracy Theories
John Avlon points out “a disturbing trend of – conservative state legislators and even congressmen entertaining conspiracy theories that are creepy and unseemly coming from average citizen, but a sign of civic rot when they start getting parroted by elected officials.”
“Of course, craziness is a bipartisan issue, with Republicans frequently pointing to former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney as a Democratic example – but the right has been particularly prone to paranoia since Bush Derangement Syndrone on the left gave way to an epic case of Obama Derangement Syndrome from the other side.”
