Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) says during a press conference Wednesday that he does not expect the Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey’s gubernatorial elections to effect national issues. (0:18)
By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico- Talk Radio News Service
While Republicans celebrated their parties numerous victories from Tuesday’s elections, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that she was not disappointed by the results.
“From our standpoint, we picked up votes last night, one in California and one in New York,” Pelosi said during a press appearance, referencing the special elections held in New York’s 23rd Congressional district and California’s 10th.
“From our perspective, we won last night,” Pelosi added. “From our standpoint…a candidate was victorious who supports health care reform.”
The Speaker did not acknowledge the fact that Democratic gubernatorial losses in New Jersey and Virginia may have a negative political impact on her efforts to win votes to pass the America’s Healthy Choices Act, the bill to reform the health care system, through the House.
Pelosi instead focused on the Democratic wins in the two special elections for House seats.
By Ravi Bhatia – Talk Radio News Service
Joseph Figueroa at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics says that today’s Gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey and the Congressional election in upstate New York reflect little on national political trends. Figueroa’s sentiment conflicts with Republicans who believe that GOP victories in the three races would serve as a referendum of sorts on the job performance of President Barack Obama.
“You really have to take the results for what they are, as a reflection of the campaign that the two candidates ran,” said Figueroa, referring to the race for governor in Virginia. “I don’t think you can really extrapolate a whole lot in terms of national or even state trends because Virginia is a purple state, and it’s gonna remain so for a while.”
In Virginia, polls suggest that former state Attorney General and Republican candidate Bob McDonnell holds a double-digit lead over Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds. In New Jersey, the race between incumbent Democratic Governor John Corzine and his challenger, Republican Chris Christie, remains deadlocked.
“New Jersey is a blue state – it’s dark blue,” Figueroa said. “It’ll be interesting to see because Christie did have a bit of an upswing in the polls at the very end there. But it is a deadlocked race. That’ll be the one to watch tonight.”
In New York’s 23rd Congressional District, Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race after being outpolled by Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. She has since endorsed Democrat Bill Owens.
“A lot of the people who were inclined to support Scozzafava because she’s running under the Republican banner may not be so quick to vote for Owens because of their own ideals,” Figueroa continued. “It’s gonna be really interesting to see – they have a very difficult to decision to make.”
The polls close in Virginia at 7 p.m. tonight. In New Jersey, the polls close at 8 p.m. and in New York, they close at 9 p.m.
The race to replace 35th District Delegate and Democratic Attorney General candidate Steve Shannon is within a 2-point margin – or at least it was two weeks ago, according to polls conducted for Republican candidate Jim Hyland.
Hyland’s margin, described by his campaign manager Kevin Conroy as “within the margin of error,” reflects a tightening of the race since a July benchmark poll, when pollsters Barry Zeplowitz and Bill Lee of TelOpinion Research indicated in a confidential memo posted on Hyland’s website that Hyland held a 7-point lead 43 percent to 36 percent lead, with 21 percent undecided. The memo did not indicate the size of the sample or whether “likely voter” filters were used.
Read more at Collins on Politics
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
“We all have an inherent right to self defense in international waters,” according to Senator Jim Webb (D-VA). This remark came out of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that saw testimony from Richard Phillips, Captain of the Maersk Alabama. Phillips received international media attention several weeks ago while being held hostage by pirates off of the coast of Somalia.
Both the Senators and the witnesses acknowledged that Piracy off of the coast of Somalia has been on the rise recently. Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) said that America’s “ability to project naval power and to help ensure the free passage of goods and humanitarian aid is as important as ever.”
Phillips acknowledged that more needs to be done to secure vessels of the merchant marine, specifically arming the crew.
“In my opinion, arming the crew cannot and should not be viewed as the best or ultimate solution to the problem. At most, arming the crew should only be one component of a comprehensive plan and approach to combat piracy,” he said.
The comprehensive approach the committee discussed could include increased U.S. Navy presence in the most dangerous areas, the creation of a protected corridor that civilian ships can travel within, the rooting out of pirates in their land based sanctuaries and the “hardening” of ships, to make the ships structurally more resistant to pirates. “Hardening” measures include razor wire on railings, fire hoses to repel the pirates, and unbolting ladders that lead onto the boat. Phillips does not believe this will stop the pirates, but rather, that they will find a way to adapt.
Maersk Chaiman John Clancey, also present at the hearing, does not believe that arming the crews is a good idea.
“Our belief is that arming merchant sailors may result in the acquisition of even more lethal weapons and tactics by the pirates, a race that merchant sailors cannot win. In addition, most ports of call will not permit the introduction of forearms into their national waters,” Clancey said.
Clancey also posed that greater liability may be assumed by the companies if sailors are traveling with weapons. Neither Chairman Kerry nor Phillips felt that this argument was strong, because of the intense amount of training that mariners go through already. Kerry, a former member of the U.S. Navy, feels that the benefits outweigh the risks, and that multinational agreements can be reached to work out the issue of bringing weapons into port.
Richard Phillips is scheduled to testify next week before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
Because there is an increasing number of immigrants moving into U.S.
suburban neighborhoods there comes change. At a discussion on
“Immigration, Politics and Local Responses” immigration experts shared
their research from all around the United States on how local
residents reacted to the growing rate of immigrants moving into their
neighborhoods.
Angeles Ortega-Moore, the Chief Executive Officer of the Latin
American Coalition (LAC), said that at first LAC was a cultural
organization for Latinos in North Carolina but as the immigrant
population grew they had to change their programming. “No longer we
were doing Pasofino and horse shows and things like that. We started
to do English as a second language, how do we help people applying for
their driving licenses…We became really fully a social service
organization.” she said.
Audrey Singer, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Metropolitan Policy
Program shared her research on immigration in Prince William County,
Virginia, and said that changes in the suburban neighborhoods got
residents frustrated and in March 2007 some of them started a “Help
save Manassas” group, whose stated goal was, “To reduce the number of
illegal aliens living in our community.” That led to two resolutions
that directed police to ascertain a person’s legal status only when
they had probable cause to believe the person was illegally present
and to restrict unauthorized immigrants from receiving business
licenses and participating in eight social service programs. From her
research, Singer recommended that leaders be more organized when
creating new policies. “Facts are important for policy making…and
officials should communicate policy changes clearly. Many of the
residents were confused by the new policies…and many in the
immigrant community were fearful about how the new policies would
affect them.”
“I believe in the power of Virginian’s to solve this energy crisis,” said Brian Moran, a Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia during a conference call briefing which discussed his plan to protect the environment and build the energy economy.
Moran wants to put Virginia on a clear course to protect the environment, create green jobs and invest in renewable energy. “It certainly will be the most progressive, innovative, job creating environmental plan you will see in this campaign,” claims Moran.
In order to create a plan for Virginia’s future, Moran wants to “couple the need for a strong economy, creation of jobs, while protecting our environment.”
by Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
Brian Moran, a Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia speaks on his environmental plan during a conference call briefing. Moran says that his new plan takes bold steps with renewable energy sources and he says he wants to move beyond fossil fuels and focus on strengthening our economy. “I believe in the power of Virginian’s to solve this energy crisis,” says Moran. (0:53)
“Where have you been all my life, Sarah Palin?” is how Victoria Cobb, President of the Family Foundation of Virginia, described the response of value voters in Virginia to the nomination of Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) for the Republican Presidential ticket at a discussion on value voters at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Cobb said that value voters have their principles fixed and they have been “waiting for the right candidate” to support. Dr. Ron Jones is the Senior Pastor of the Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va. and believes that the government’s bad example of budgeting has led to the “financial slavery of our citizens.” Jones’ interest in the current financial crisis and impending election stems from his concern for the impact that these issues have on families and marriages, which he also believes matters to value voters. The Honorable Brenda Pogge represents the 96th District of Virginia and is currently the social conservative outreach director for the McCain campaign. Pogge defined a value voter as a conservative with a “fixed set of principles based on absolutes”, whereas liberals tend to place their ideals in abstracts, or “lofty ideas with no practical application.” Pogge believes that the Constitution was drafted with the Ten Commandments in mind, and that life and marriage were at the forefront of those laws. Conservatives may put a stronger emphasis on different issues, but the core values always remain intact with value voters.
Americans’ energy concerns and the Iraq war were discussed by Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in Virginia. McCain said that the United States must lower its dependence on foreign oil by increasing its domestic production. He also called for continued research on alternative energy sources. McCain restated his support for a gas tax holiday, a measure that would lower gasoline prices by temporarily removing its federal taxes.
To increase domestic production, McCain said that he will soon call for a lifting of a moratorium that prohibits states from exploring for oil and natural gas reserves offshore. He added that states with reserves should be given incentives to produce, saying that increasing the percentage of revenue states receive is one possible motivation. McCain called ANWR “pristine” and said the he opposes drilling for oil in a region that was set aside as a wildlife reserve.
McCain emphatically declared that the United States is winning the war in Iraq, saying that President Bush’s troop increases have brought greater stability to the country, reduced Iranian influence, and allowed for the growth of Iraq’s democracy. McCain said that Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama’s advocacy for a withdrawal date and Obama’s statement that a troop surge would fail were wrong. McCain noted that Obama has not visited Iraq in over two years and, to gain a complete and thorough grasp of the military situation there, suggested that Obama meet with General Petraeus. McCain said that US troops should come home with victory and honor and that a quick exit could lead to chaos and genocide.
McCain repeated his desire to hold weekly town hall meetings with Obama until each party’s convention is held, saying that he will continue to reserve one day a week for such an event. McCain remarked that town hall meetings are the root of democracy and that these discussions would clearly show the differences between the two candidates. In reference to Sen. Obama’s statement that small town Americans are bitter and thus turn to guns and religion, McCain maintained he would never suggest that people in small towns turn to guns and religion out of bitterness, telling those in small towns that his presidency would bring them a safe and prosperous nation.
