Salon.com > 2014

How to oust Michele Bachmann from Congress

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:43:00 +0000

Democrat Jim Graves was feeling good as he sat down for an interview with Salon in Washington Monday, the same day his campaign released a poll showing him two points ahead of Rep. Michele Bachmann, whom he narrowly lost to in 2012.

This time around, he'll start with higher-name ID -- "I think we started off last time around at 18 percent and now we're pushing 75 to 80 percent" -- and more support from national Democrats, who were initially skeptical about his chances and didn't get heavily involved until mid-October. "I don't think they jumped in at all," Graves quipped of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, before quickly excusing them in a typical Minnesota-nice fashion: "There was lower-hanging fruit, I don't blame them."

Cory Booker gets his way

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:22:00 +0000

Cory Booker has gotten his way, but there was never much doubt he would. The Newark mayor and national political celebrity made it known two months ago that he wanted Frank Lautenberg’s Senate seat in 2014, and on Thursday the 89-year-old solon said publicly that he won’t seek a sixth term next year.

And that should clear the way for Booker. Sure, there’ll be a few other New Jersey Democrats who test the waters in the days and weeks ahead, but the smart money says that they – like Lautenberg – will eventually swallow their pride and step out of Booker’s way. And if they don’t, he’ll be heavily favored to beat them in the primary. Republicans will come up with a candidate too, but the Garden State GOP’s bench is thin and the state hasn’t sent a Republican to the Senate since (the very liberal) Clifford Case in 1972. Booker, with his broad popularity and limitless treasury, figures to be a reliable caretaker of that Democratic winning streak.

The endangered GOP House majority?

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:44:00 +0000

Republican congressional candidates received more than a million fewer votes nationally than Democrats last November and the House GOP’s approval rating – according to its own pollster – stands at just 27 percent, 19 points lower than the Democratic total.

This has created an uneasy backdrop for this week’s House GOP retreat in Williamsburg, Va., where Republican lawmakers have gathered to assess the fallout from the '12 election and the recent fiscal cliff skirmish and to plot strategy for the 113th Congress. Fears from at least a few Republicans that the party could lose the chamber in the 2014 midterm elections are leaking into the media.

Adding to these worries is the prospect for further brand damage in the weeks and months ahead, with fights over the debt ceiling, sequestration and the continuing resolution that funds the government all looming. There is a strong consensus on the right to use at least one of these deadlines to make a stand for deep cuts to social safety net programs – Medicare, Social Security, maybe Medicaid too – without giving any further ground on revenue. The prospects of Obama and Democrats agreeing to anything like this are dim, and the GOP figures to pay a disproportionate public relations price if no agreement is reached.