Quickie: Woman Who Beat Sarah Palin Enters Politics

By GottaLaff






Today's Quickie:

The woman who beat Sarah Palin for the beauty queen title of Miss Alaska in 1984 is running for the Georgia state legislature, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.


Blackburn’s entrance is a happy development for Democrats. The 34th District has some rapidly shifting demographics.

Maryline Blackburn voted for Obama in 2008... and didn't quit in the middle of her Miss Alaska reign. That's two reasons to vote for her in 2010.

That was today's Quickie. Was it good for you?

BREAKING: Dem. Ted Deutch wins Florida special election!

By GottaLaff

Good news!

VIDEO- Victory! Virginia Progressive Krystal Ball Beats Blue Dog in Primary

By GottaLaff



Via an e-mail:

VICTORY! Yesterday in Virginia's first congressional district, Blue Dog Democrat Scott Robinson conceded the primary to progressive champ Krystal Ball.

We've been working with Krystal for the past month, recently placed a talented field director on the ground, and officially endorsed Krystal last week. You were one of thousands of PCCC members who gave a $30,000 boost to her campaign (and our other endorsed candidate in New Hampshire).

In a caucus primary that required solid grassroots organizing, Krystal ran a people-powered campaign -- the Blue Dog did not. Krystal's progressive message inspired voters -- the Blue Dog did not.

There's an amazing video from a Democratic forum where the Blue Dog says a progressive can't win, and Krystal eloquently says why we can.

[...] Working together in 2010, PCCC members and our endorsed candidates will prove that a progressive message is the path to victory.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

-- Stephanie Taylor, PCCC co-founder

P.S. Krystal faces a March 31 FEC fundraising deadline that people look at as a sign of a candidate's momentum. You can chip in another $4 to her campaign against right-wing Republican Rep. Rob Wittman here.

H/t: Ellen

President Obama Gets Health Care Bounce

Everybody loves a winner. Via Taegan-

The latest DailyKos/Research 2000 weekly tracking poll shows President Obama receiving a slight bounce in his favorability rating -- up five points -- since signing a health care reform bill earlier this week.

For comparison, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is up three points while House Minority Leader John Boehner is down five points. Congressional Democrats are up three points while Congressional Republicans are down seven points.

DNC: We’ve Pulled In $1 Million Since Health Care Bill Passed — Without Asking

Everyone loves a winner! Via Greg-

DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan emails:

We haven’t specifically asked for any money online since the bill passed — but because of the excitement and energy this has generated it has poured in anyway.

Without even asking, we’ve raised more than a million dollars — a lot more.

The DNC is presumably leaking the figure in order to counter the news that the RNC has raised more than $1 million off its “Fire Nancy Pelosi” campaign, which depicts the Speaker, suggestively, against a backdrop of flames.

Alex Witt: "Who won?"

By GottaLaff

I watch Alex Witt and "her boys" every Saturday morning before the dreaded Lockup marathon starts. I'm not sure why I continue to get sucked in to what passes for political discussion between Peter Fenn and ::shudder:: Pat Buchanan.

Why MSNBC continues to allow Buchanan to take up air space is beyond me. But I've posted about that before. A lot.

The point is, if I ever get to it, Alex Witt jumped right in with the following question about President Obama's exchange with the House GOP yesterday:

"Who won?"

That was the first thing she asked. Bang. Because to her, that's apparently what mattered.

This isn't a horse race. It isn't the Super Bowl. Or even a spelling bee. Or a pie eating contest, lottery, American Idol, Yahtzee, or Beer Pong.

No, this was an effort by President Obama to approach his political opponents, to communicate and confront, challenge and respond.

The ultimate goal shouldn't merely be a quantified and trivialized win or a loss for either side. But that is what the so-called news has been reduced to in a 24 hour cycle.

President Obama said it himself at his Elyria, Ohio town hall meeting:

And I understand why, after the Massachusetts election, people in Washington were all in a tizzy, trying to figure out what this means for health reform, Republicans and Democrats; what does it mean for Obama? Is he weakened? Is he -- oh, how's he going to survive this? (Laughter.) That's what they do. (Laughter.)

But I want you -- I want you to understand, this is not about me. (Applause.) This is not about me. This is about you. This is not about me; this is about you.

It's not always about cosmetics. It's not always about superficialities and one-upping. It's about cutting through the name-calling and yelling and lies. It's about priorities. It's about fixing America.

Alex Witt, please take note.

VIDEOS: Senator Al Franken accepts, is "thrilled" + MSNBC reaction

By GottaLaff

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And now, the punditiots:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

We have a winner: Obama scoops British book prize

By GottaLaff

And the winner is....

US President Barack Obama fought off competition from Paul O'Grady and Dawn French to take the biography prize at the British Book Awards.

The president won with his memoir of his youth, Dreams From My Father.

He was unable to collect his trophy - owing to more pressing commitments at the Nato summit.

The president was beaten to a second award by Aravind Adiga who took home author of the year for his Booker Prize-winning novel The White Tiger.

I love the "owing to more pressing commitments" line. Uh, yeah. There's those.

JUST IN: Al Franken will be declared the winner of the Minnesota Senate election!

By GottaLaff

MSNBC just now:

Minnesota Election Board will announce tomorrow: Al Franken is the winner of the Senate election.

Pawlenty will not say whether he will sign off on it, and Coleman may yet contest it. There are still unanswered questions. I'll update when I find something in print. I barely heard this (I was trying to find a video clip and had the sound low) and want to get my facts straight.

UPDATE:

MSNBC: "It looks like we have a winner." Fredericka Whitfield said that, and that the Board will certify Franken by 225 votes. Coleman is expected to contest, and has 7 days to do it.

Here we go:

MN board to certify Franken's win in tight senate race

A state election board on Monday will announce Democrat Al Franken as the winner of the Minnesota Senate race, defeating Republican incumbant Norm Coleman, state officials told CNN Sunday.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie told CNN the canvassing board on Monday will confirm that Franken won the race by a 225-vote margin.

Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann oversaw the tallying of roughly 950 improperly rejected absentee ballots Saturday, which was the last remaining hurdle in the canvassing board's procedure. He said no outstanding challenges remain and that the only thing left for the board to do Monday is certify the numbers. Their meeting will convene at 2:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. ET).

Franken's attorney, Marc Elias, in a statement said, "We've said all along we're taking this one step at a time. The next step is the canvass board's meeting tomorrow, where we have every expectation they will declare that Al Franken won this election."

Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said his team believes that the recount process was broken and that "the numbers being reported will not be
accurate or valid."

"The effort by the Franken campaign, supported by the Secretary of State, to exclude improperly rejected absentee ballots is indefensible and disenfranchises hundreds of Minnesota voters."

The Coleman campaign will have seven days after the board and Ritchie certify results to file a post-election contest, which they have indicated they will do.

Coleman's attorneys have maintained there was no uniform standard for local officials to follow in identifying improperly rejected absentee ballots to count. They had identified about 650 more ballots that were not in the mix because all parties could not agree on them.

The Coleman campaign has also alleged that more than 100 ballots may have been accidentally counted twice and may have unfairly benefited Franken. [...]

New York Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, issued a statement Sunday declaring Franken the winner and expressing confidence he would still remain on top even after any legal battles that may follow.

"There is no longer any doubt who will be the next senator from Minnesota," Schumer said. "Even if all the ballots Coleman claims were double counted or erroneously added were resolved in his favor, he still wouldn't have enough votes to win." [...]

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the chairman of the National Repulican Senatorial Committee, has pledged a GOP filibuster if the Democratically-controlled Senate attempts to seat Franken before all legal battles play out and before Minnesota's Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty can co-sign the Secretary of State's certificate.

Poll-itics: Obama continues to get high marks edition

By GottaLaff

Oh sure, he's popular, but is he really a citizen? Dun-dun-dunnnn. Gee whiz, I sure hope so, or a "considerable majority" is rooting for the wrong guy:

A new Marist Poll finds a "considerable majority" of registered voters give President-elect Obama high marks for the job he's doing during his transition.

Key findings: 63% say they approve of his performance while just 10% of voters disapprove and 27% are on the fence.

Even the media can't make a dent, try as they might to convince us that Obama's "not telling us" some deep dark secret about pallin' around with Blagoqoiuirlajfeqadfich.

Maybe Grandma Palin should get out there and make a hate speech. All she has to do is rattle off a string of random words and insert "Obama", "Blagojevich", "terrorist", and "thanks but no thanks". Oh wait... she can't pronounce "Blagojevich".

Doons-buried

By GottaLaff

Detail of the Nov. 5 "Doonesbury" comic, which predicts Barack Obama is elected.

In keeping with the lervely Nate Silver's analyses, Garry Trudeau is counting on an Obama win, and the papers are all jittery about it:

Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury" is predicting a victory for Barack Obama, and newspaper editors around the country are debating whether to publish the comic no matter the results of the election.

Wednesday's strip is set in Iraq and features military characters huddled around a television that proclaims "And it's official -- Barack Obama has won. . . ."

In an e-mail to The Times, Trudeau said newspapers should run the strip because ". . . polling data gives McCain a 3.7% chance of victory. There's a greater risk that their presses will break down on election day. So I've been encouraging editors to choose hope over fear. And reminding them that if I'm wrong, it'll be my face that'll be covered with egg, not theirs."

Trudeau said he's not worried about the comic if his prediction is wrong. "I'd be a lot more worried about the country than the strip. One reporter has already suggested I just carry on with an alternative universe in which Obama wins. It's not a crazy idea . . . "

In what he must have considered to be a witty retort, Gramm-pa's favorite spokesmoron came back with:

From the John McCain camp, spokesman Tucker Bounds said: "We hope the strip proves to be as predictive as it is consistently lame."

Calling Doonsebury "lame" is like calling IWRC* Palin "competent".

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Chris Matthews: "Isn't this presidential race baked?"

By GottaLaff

If you stayed up to watch the very last 5 minutes of the debate coverage with Chris Matthews, then you heard this interchange (somewhat paraphrased) between him, John Didn't-Catch-His-Last-Name, and Jonathan Alter.

Chris Matthews as much as declared Barack Obama the winner of not only the debate, but the election.

Chris:

"Isn't this presidential race baked? Given that there's not some unforeseen circumstance..."

Jonathan Alter:

"... like race..."

Chris:

"Right, race."

John OtherGuy said it reminded him of the moment when he realized Bob Dole lost the election to Bill Clinton.

Now all we can do is keep our fingers tightly crossed that there are no "unforeseen" Rovian circumstances, including those of race, that would intercept the upward trajectory of soon-to-be President-Elect Barack Obama.