Orlando Sentinel Politics

Bush only creates the traffic jams [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:38:00 -0600

by Frank James

President Bush (remember him?) is making the rounds of the federal bureaucracy doing something of a farewell tour.

Today, he was at the Transportation Department talking up all that employees there and his administration have done to improve the nation's transportation system, such as better management of the New York City airspace, improvements that should have the salutary effect of making life better for holiday travelers, the president said.

Of course, because of economic slowdown, the airlines will be flying fewer planes so don't expect the airports to be any less crowded.

Anyway, the president started off with a joke which contained a kind of heckuva job compliment to the department's employees :

I appreciate you giving me a chance to come by and visit with you today. I want to thank you very much for the great job you are doing to make sure that across America our railroads and highways and airways are working to keep our citizens moving. You have done a terrific job, as far as I am concerned. The past eight years I have not seen a traffic jam -- (laughter) -- waited for an airplane -- (laughter) -- or had my bags lost. (Laughter.)

Yes, it's good to be the king. In Washington, he's the guy who creates the traffic jams.

I'm sure he didn't mean to rub anyone's face in it.

No doubt a lot of people next week will be wishing they could travel by private jumbo jet and motorcades with police escort to grandma's house.

Thompson becomes House's No. 2 Democrat [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:27:29 -0600

Orlando state Rep. Geraldine Thompson just gave her speech accepting the job as the chamber's No. 2 Democrat. Thompson, 60, a retired Valencia Community College administrator and director of the Wells'Built Museum of African American History and Culture in Orlando,...

Obama picks Eric Holder for Justice [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:33:00 -0600

Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder on Capitol Hill in Washington in June 2008 during their time as President-elect Barack Obama's vice presidential selection team. (Photo: TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images.

by Frank James

President-elect Barack Obama has picked Eric Holder to be his attorney general, Newsweek's Michael Isikoff is reporting.

Holder is another former Clinton Administration official so he's sure to draw complaints from those who say that Obama's choices of members of the last Democratic administration don't exactly look like "change we can believe in." Holder was deputy attorney general to Janet Reno who headed the Clinton Justice Department.

But Holder is well-known to Obama. A former federal judge, Holder helped to vet those on Obama's vice presidential shortlist. If confirmed, he would be the first African-American to lead Justice.

He doesn't come without controversy, however, which is likely to be raised at his confirmation hearings. Holder was responsible for vetting the pardons at the end of the Clinton Administration, including the controversial one for Marc Rich, the fugitive fundraiser, whose ex-wife had made a large donation to Clinton.

Baker for Ag Commissioner [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:15:14 -0600

Eustis state Sen. Carey Baker was fighting through some whirling, chilly weather Tuesday at a press conference on the Old Capitol steps where he announced he would run for Florida Agriculture Commissioner in 2010. Baker is seeking to follow fellow...

Auto-bailout divides Americans, but... [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:20:00 -0600

by Mark Silva

Americans appear fairly divided over the prospect of bailing the nation's automakers out of a financial jam that could force at least one into bankruptcy.

And, much like the debate playing out in Washington this week with a lame-duck session of Congress unlikely to extend a hand to Detroit, Democrats appear more favorably inclined toward a bailout than Republicans are. The Gallup Poll has found that 60 percent of Democrats surveyed favor a bailout and 65 percent of Republicans oppose it.

Overall, 49 percent oppose federal financial assistance for the automakers, and 47 percent support it - a little different than that 55 percent level of support that pollster Peter Hart found in a survey sponsored by, um, General Motors.

The vast majority of those who oppose help - 79 percent - say they would oppose aid even if one of the Big Three automakers were certain to fail without it. That's 39 percent of all people surveyed.

Yet 18 percent of all surveyed would favor assistance under such dire circumtances - or 9 percent of all surveyed - putting the overall level of potential support at 56 percent - which places public sentiment a lot closer to what Hart found in his survey. Depends on how we ask these questions, it seems.

The Gallup survey of 1,009 adults was conducted Nov. 13-16, and has a possible margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Atwater more open to special session than Sansom, Crist [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:05:56 -0600

By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau Unlike Gov. Charlie Crist and his counterpart in the Florida House, Senate President Jeff Atwater today sounded very open to the idea of a special session to deal with the state’s worsening budget crisis. On...

Lieberman regrets some Obama remarks [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:58:07 -0600

by James Oliphant

Move over James Bond. There's a new indestructible action hero: Joe Lieberman.

The senator from Connecticut, who was vilified by Democratic activists for his support of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, escaped serious retribution from his Democratic Senate colleagues Tuesday.

Lieberman will remain in the Democratic caucus and he will keep his chairmanship of the prestigious Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. As part of a resolution adopted overwhelmingly by Democratic senators, he will only have to forfeit chairmanship of an Environment and Public Works subcommittee. He will keep chairmanship of another Armed Services subcommittee.

The result is a far cry from the sentiments echoed by many Democrats after Lieberman spoke at the Republican National Convention this summer and suggested Barack Obama wasn't ready to be president. McCain seriously considered Lieberman as his running mate.

At the time, the talk was about expelling Lieberman from the Democratic caucus and stripping him of the Homeland Security chair.

Atwater: Government is too big [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:57:42 -0600

By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau In his first speech as Senate president, Jeff Atwater gave a nod to Florida’s historic cash crunch, but nonetheless laid out an ambitious agenda he hopes to accomplish during his two years. Atwater, R-Palm Beach...

Lieberman keeps his chair [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:35:00 -0600

by Frank James

Senate Democrats may be angry but they're not stupid.

Many of them would've liked nothing more than to punish Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Independent Democrat as he styles himself, for supporting Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential bid over President-elect Barack Obama's campaign.

There was real sentiment to yank Lieberman's Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairmanship from him and give him a lesser subcommittee chairmanship.

But Democrats are within striking distance of reaching the 60 votes they need to be able to move controversial legislation through the Senate. With the two independents who caucus with them, and three Senate elections still undecided, they could get there but barely.

So they allowed the senator from Connecticut to keep his chairmanship. The vote was 42 to 13. It was really important to Lieberman to stay in the Homeland committee post since he authored the authorizing legislation for the Homeland Security Department.

"Joe Lieberman is a Democrat. He's part of this caucus," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who said no Democrat was angrier than he was but that he wanted to let bygones be bygones.

An Obama spokeswoman had also publicly indicated that the president-elect was all right with Lieberman keeping his chairmanship. Coming from a former senator who just won a fairly sweeping victory for the White House, certainly made a difference.

Mitt Romney campaigning in Georgia [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:15:00 -0600

by Mark Silva

Remember Mitt Romney?

The former governor of Massachusetts and venture capitalist who had invested millions of his own money in an ill-fated campaign for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, back in those pre-maverick days of John McCain and Sarah Palin?

Romney is hitting the road again, this time for Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the Georgia Republican embroiled in a campaign for a Dec. 2 runoff election for his Senate seat. The outcome of Georgia's election will have a big impact on the Democratic Party's advantage in the new Senate that greets President-elect Barack Obama in January.

Romney plans to campaign for Chambliss on Friday, and Romney's "Free and Strong America PAC'' has given the Georgian $5,000 for his runoff campaign.

Romney plans appearances at rallies in Atlanta and Savannah, as well as at "a series" of private fundraisers.

Neither Chambliss nor Democrat Jim Martin claimed 50 percent of Geogia's vote on Nov. 4, requiring the runoff -- a particularly Southern tradition in elections that often has worked against minorities winning important offices but is simply a fact of election math in this contest.

This contest, Romney insists, is about control of the Senate.

"This is a critical election whose outcome will be important to maintaining a balance of power in the Senate," Romney says. "It is critical that Republicans safely retain the ability to filibuster in order to prevent the worst abuses of single party rule."

Romney's PAC is committed to supporting those "who are dedicated to advancing social, fiscal and foreign policies that will strengthen America.'' Its focus is on "core principles: Uncompromised military strength, a belief in the power of free markets and that a competitive America is one where taxes are low and government is small, an emphasis on strong families and a federalist approach to government that leaves decision-making as close to the people as possible.''

Baker running for Ag Commish [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:11:39 -0600

Eustis state Sen. Carey Baker plans to announce this afternoon that he'll seek the state Agriculture Commissioner job in 2010 when current Ag Commish Charlie Bronson is termed out of office. Baker, a Republican and gun shop owner, is scheduled...

Orange Co. Swears in Commissioners, One New Face [Central Florida Political Pulse]

David Damron — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:59:54 -0600

Incumbent Orange County Commissioners Mildred Fernandez and Bill Segal took another oath of office Tuesday morning, joined by newcomer Scott Boyd who takes over for Teresa Jacobs. More than 200 top county staff, lobbyists, family and campaign supporters and other...

Congress in December? Maybe: Hoyer [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:55:00 -0600

by Paul West

House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer said today that Congress could come back next month to deal with the national economic crisis, even as he conceded that action this week on an auto industry bailout looks unlikely.

At a question-and-answer session with reporters at the National Press Club, the second-ranking member of the House said that a December session of Congress is possible.

"The year has not ended," Hoyer said.

He expressed pessimism about the possibility of action this week on an auto industry bailout or a new economic stimulus package. Opposition from Senate Republicans and the Bush administration have dimmed chances for those measures to gain approval from the current Congress.

Hoyer said that an economic conference, planned for the week of December 8, would bring many members of Congress back to Washington. Though it is not a formal session of Congress, it could lead to one, he said.

The Maryland Democrat pointed out that this week's action in Congress, including a lame duck session of the Senate that opened Monday, coincided with previously scheduled meetings by members of both parties to organize committees and elect leaders for the new Congress, which convenes in January.

He said it was still unclear whether the House would even formally go into session this week. But in any case, he said he did not expect the House to adjourn for the remainder of the year.

Hoyer said that dealing with the plight of the Big Three domestic carmakers is "a pressing need," because of the large number of jobs that depend on the auto industry.

Iraq gov't ditching graft watchdogs [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:41:00 -0600

by Frank James

For Iraq to have the greatest chance at success in 2009 and 2010 assuming President-elect Barack Obama draws down U.S. forces to the degree he promised during the campaign, Iraq will need enough infrastructure to provide adequate services like electricity, fuel and education. it will also require a well-equipped security forces.

Meanwhile, since 2003 the U.S. has appropriated $50.77 billion of American taxpayer money for Iraqi reconstruction projects.

So it's very troubling that the Iraqi government is reportedly ridding itself of its internal watchdogs who keep an eye on corruption within the government.

As the New York Times reports in an important story:

BAGHDAD -- The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here.

The dismissals, which were confirmed by senior Iraqi and American government officials on Sunday and Monday, have come as estimates of official Iraqi corruption have soared. One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials.

Legislators are sworn in amid worries about budget [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Orlando Sentinel — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:14:26 -0600

Aaron Deslatte and Josh Hafenbrack of the Tallahassee Bureau just filed this report: Florida legislators officially christened the start of the 84th assembly of the Florida Legislature Tuesday, a normally jovial occasion weighted down this year by a multibillion-dollar budget...

Senate President Jeff Atwater takes the helm [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:50:37 -0600

By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau Sen. Jeff Atwater, who represents most of coastal Broward and Palm Beach counties, today became Florida's 83rd Senate president, a role that for the next two years makes him one of the three most influential...

Barack Obama: Church recruiters calling [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:25:38 -0600

by Mark Silva

The lovely little St. John's church that sits across the park from the White House is but a short walk from the most prominent address in America -- though President Bush has been accustomed to riding a long motorcade to the nearby sanctuary on Sunday mornings.

But will President-elect Barack Obama be signing up with the congregation of the Rev. Luis Leon? Or will the Chicagoan who so famously severed ties with his own longtime church back home because of the inflammatory words from the pulpit of the retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright be looking elsewhere in Washington?

See this report on churches recruiting a new president.

Colbert on the War on Xmas and more [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:19:00 -0600

Watch CBS Videos Online

by Frank James

Comedian Stephen Colbert was on CBS's "The Early Show" in which he had some funny things to say about being a "Christmas originalist" and on the "War on Christmas." And check out what he does with the Electoral College map. It's something you'll never see CNN's John King do and thank goodness for that.

Atwater scales back the ethics [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:09:52 -0600

During their time in power, Senate President Tom Lee and House Speaker Allan Bense convinced their fellow lawmakers to adopt rules requiring that they create public Web sites and start disclosing the special-interest cash they raise within 10 business days...

Paulson goes on media offensive [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:09:00 -0600

by Frank James

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. is likely to feel pretty beat up by the time the just-convened House Financial Services Committee meeting ends today.

Some lawmakers are upset that the Paulson changed the thrust of the $700 billion bailout program from what he told Congress he wanted the money for. Instead of buying toxic assets from financial institutions, last week Paulson said that idea was dead and that he favored injecting money into financial institutions directly.

Many lawmakers are also frustrated with Paulson because they feel the Treasury Department isn't doing enough to end the nation's home-foreclosure epidemic.

So it's no coincidence that Paulson is mounting something of a public-relations campaign. The Washington Post has the first part of a story based on an interview with Paulson whose essential theme is that he came to Washington believing that free-markets were self-correcting only to come to believe in the importance of regulators.

The message he appears to be sending the Democratic-controlled Congress is "I'm on your side."

An excerpt:

When he arrived in Washington as one of Wall Street's most successful bankers, he was skeptical of government meddling. But as a regulator facing the worst financial crisis in nearly a century, he engineered a series of massive federal intrusions into the markets while persuading reluctant bank executives and influential politicians to fall in behind him.

In Tally, chaos becomes order [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:49:35 -0600

Florida legislators began work Tuesday morning in the 84th assembly of the Florida Legislature, staring down a gaping budget hole and sagging recession. In the House, 35 new members were getting sworn in during the pageantry and pomp of organizational...

Q-Poll: Crist looks fine for 2010 -- Martinez not so much [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:36:01 -0600

Quinnnipiac University has put out a new Florida poll that shows a solid majority of Floridians feel Republican Gov. Charlie Crist deserves a second term in office. But the survey released Tuesday found U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez not looking so...

Bill Ayers unrepentant in DC [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:33:00 -0600

by Clarence Page

Yes, that's Barack Obama's neighbor, the former Weather Underground bomb thrower Bill Ayers, captured above by my cell phone camera as he spoke to an almost- full sanctuary in a Washington DC church - with very little publicity.

"We set this up six months ago," he told the friendly audience, convened by Teaching for Change, a Washington-based school reform organization, and Busboys and Poets, a local independent bookstore-restaurant, "and I expected something like ten people sitting in a circle."

He did better than that: About 200 people and a gaggle of news media.

Unlike Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, he's not on an image redemption tour. He's not even planning a run for public office. At this particular event, he was talking and promoting his books about school reform.

After months of vilification as an "unrepentant terrorist" by Palin, Sen. John McCain, Fox News' Sean Hannity and the rest of the anti-Obama chorus, the Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago is getting his life back to abnormal.

Mike Huckabee's 'Do the Right Thing' [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:21:11 -0600

by Jason George

Mike Huckabee's new book about the 2008 primary race is titled "Do the Right Thing," although the 'right thing' might have been to name the book, "Mitt Romney is a Big Fat Spender."

Romney's expensive media consultants?
His 40 rented golf carts at the Iowa Straw Poll?
The fact that he spent multi-millions to lose the nomination?

All that perceived profligacy and ineptitude appears to delight Huckabee to no end and few pages in the book pass without a mention of 'ol Mitt's mistakes.
In fact, Romney appears more in "Do the Right Thing" than any person except Huckabee himself, according to the book's own index, and about 99.9 percent of Romney's appearances ain't pretty, of course.

For literary benefit, all this focus on big-bad Romney allows the former Arkansas governor to somewhat accurately paint the 2008 race as a financial David vs. Goliath affair. (It's 'somewhat' because Romney's and Giuliani's well-funded losses, obviously, did not translate into a Huckabee nomination.) But it's within this prism of the campaign inequalities, that Huckabee's 2007 ascent from obscurity to winning eight state contests seems even more remarkable than it did when it actually occurred last winter.
Certainly, Huckabee's wins remain a great story of campaign grit, gab and Chuck Norris.
(Norris first appears in DRT on Page 3.)

Saying all that though, the fact that Huckabee's distaste for Romney appears so often in "Do the Right Thing," probably has less to do this year's campaign than one four years from now...

Inauguration hotel rooms: Pennsylvania [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:00:00 -0600

by Andrew Zajac

Pennsylvania tourism types used to boast that "You've Got A Friend in Pennsylvania". More recently, the Keystone state's marketing mavens have asserted that "America Begins Here."

Those catchphrases could stand a little freshening up for the Obama inauguration, maybe something like "You've Got an Innkeeper in Pennsylvania" and "The Schlep to D.C. Begins Here."

At least those might work as hooks for the campaign Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is launching to persuade would-be inaugural attendees to consider his state if they're friendless in the capital, shut out of hotels D.C., Baltimore, or Richmond, or can't afford a four-figure Craigslisted home rental.

Casey issued the press release below to woo Obama fans to stay in his state, though he doth take liberties when he quotes a 90-minute commute from some Pa counties to the District. Not gonna happen on Inaguration Day.

Swamp Sunrise [The Swamp]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:29:14 -0600

Wells: Courts can't take much more cutting [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:19:47 -0600

Retiring Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Wells added his voice Monday to the list of jurists expressing some concern at the budget hit the state’s judiciary could absorb in coming months. Wells, 69, an Orlando native, announced Monday he would...

Sansom: It's party time in the Legislature [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Aaron Deslatte — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:02:54 -0600

House and Senate lawmakers started their formal process for naming leaders Monday under the looming budget pressure of a national recession --with diametrically opposite views of what voters just said at the ballot box this month. Democrats nationwide may claim...

Ormond Beach mayor running for the Legislature [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Orlando Sentinel — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:09:11 -0600

Rep. Pat Patterson, R-DeLand, is term-limited in 2010, and the line is already forming to succeed him. One of the first to at least remove his hat -- if not throw it in the ring -- is Fred Costello of...

Geraldine Thompson for school board chair? [Central Florida Political Pulse]

Orlando Sentinel — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:52:49 -0600

Our colleague Scott Maxwell has a fascinating post on his Taking Names blog that Rep. Geraldine Thompson, the Orlando Democrat beginning just her second term in the Florida House, may be considering a run for school board chair in 2010....