Senate announces bipartisan immigration deal

MoonHowler

Here it is folks.  It is still in infancy.  President Obama will announce his plan on Tuesday which is supposedly more liberal than the Senate version.

The gang of 8 includes:

The Gang of Eight senators who formally introduced the proposal include Democrat  Sens. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Bob Menendez (N.J.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.) and  Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Lindsey Graham  (S.C.), who couldn’t attend.

I seem to be missing 2 senators.  Senator Flake of AZ and Senator Bennett of Colorado are also part of the gang of 8.

These senators seem clearly united that this bill will not be like the one in 1986 that was passed  nor the one in 2007 which did a swan-dive in defeat.

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The Tea Party: Is it a political party or isn’t it?

MoonHowler

From the Daily Press:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Radtke and roughly 30 of her Tea Party supporters stood outside the Capitol on Wednesday to protest Radtke’s exclusion from a debate featuring former Govs. Tim Kaine and George Allen.

Democrat Kaine and Republican Allen were the only two candidates for the Senate seat being vacated by Jim Webb to meet the qualifications laid out by event organizers, the Associated Press and the Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association. To get an invite candidates must have averaged at least 15 percent in published polls and raised at least 20 percent of the amount of money raised by their party’s front runner.

In addition to Radtke, this left out Tim Donner, E.W. Jackson and David McCormick who are running for the GOP nomination, and Julien Modica and Courtney Lynch on the Democratic side.

Radtke consistently complained that limiting the debate to the two big-name former governors was a circumventing of the primary process and an attempt by the “mainstream media” to pick the Republican and Democratic nominees.

I am still trying to figure out if the Tea Party is a political party or not.  If not, what are they?  Is it just a descriptor? Right now, it seems like the old Republican Party has a push me/pull me relationship with people espousing TP state of mind.  On the one hand, the R’s seem to want to use them in their mix and on the other hand, they seem to feel that undo influence and pressure is coming from that wing of the party. 

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Tim Kaine to run for Senate

MoonHowler

The long wait is over. Every since Senator Jim Webb announced he would not be running for re-election, Virginia and the rest of the nation have speculated on who would run to replace him on the Democratic ticket.  Today former  Virginia Governor  Tim Kaine announced his candidacy.

According to myfoxDC.com:

Kaine, who won election as governor in 2005, was among the first elected officials to back Obama’s primary bid. Obama named him the DNC post and has nudged Kaine toward a run. Last week, he said Kaine was “not just a leader for Virginia; he’s a leader for America.”

…Republican George Allen, who lost the Senate seat to Webb in 2006 and was governor from 1994 to 1998, announced his candidacy earlier this year.

There are others considering the lofty run for Senate, including tea party person Jaime Radtke.  Corey Stewart and Bob Marshall also are considering the run.   All have been trying to get name recognition.  Stewart has been trumpeting an anti immigration stance and Marshall continues his anti-reproductive rights campaign. 

Tim Kaine is the son-in-law of former Governor Linwood Holton (R) who was governor from 1970-1974.  He was the first Republican governor in Virginia since Reconstruction. 

Let the wars begin!  Run Corey Run [evil grin]  😈