President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Kamala Harris
(R) Donald Trump
80%
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) V. Archuleta
98%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Marshall Dawson
95%
5%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Jeff Hurd
50%
50%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank
(D) River Gassen
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) John Fabbricatore
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen
(R) Sergei Matveyuk
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
70%↑
30%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
March 25, 2010 09:05 PM UTC
35 Comments
How’d that shutting down the government work for the Rs last time?
Do these fools ever learn?
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time?
Can you imagine if Democrats had made it so generals reporting on military affairs who had traveled halfway around the world to give testimony were told to go home because of parliamentary procedure? The GOP would have moved to censure the entire Dem delegation.
This would almost be funny if it wasn’t so depressing.
“Why do Democrats hate America?” would be coming out of Republican pie-holes ad nauseum.
Are they so firmly convinced that they are going to retake both houses that they are deliberately pointing out the stupidity of the current Senate rules to make it easier to repeal them when they get in power? So they can more easily drive the (R) agenda?
Of course, that presumes that they are thinking farther ahead than dinnertime.
Even if they take 9 of the 18 available Democratic Senate seats and lose none of their own, they still won’t have a supermajority (which would require a pickup of 23-26 seats depending on how the more conservative Dems/Independent vote). Getting a supermajority is necessary if they want to override a Presidential veto.
It’s all smoke to blow up their base’s ***, to drive the election furor.
“This year, Congress tried to solve [important issue(s) to district], but [Republican Representative or Senator] voted to stop all discussions on the matter. If you want [issue] resolved, elect [Democratic candidate] to break the logjam.”
And
“[Democratic Representative or Senator] is fighting hard to solve [important local issue(s)], but Republicans have prevented Congress from working to provide [solution]. If elected, [Republican candidate] will follow his/her party’s leadership and leave [issue] unresolved, hurting the people of [district]. Vote to re-elect [Dem Rep. or Sen.] – vote for solutions, not problems.”
That people actually want Congress to get anything done.
That’s why politics is local.
Tell the people in Grand County that the USFS can’t act to thin the forest because Republicans blocked a solution. Tell the military that we couldn’t react to some important situation because Republicans blocked hearings on it. Tell this year’s hurricane victims that they’re not getting relief because Republicans won’t let the bill come up for a discussion – never mind a vote. Tell the doctors and seniors dependent on Medicare that Republicans wouldn’t let the “doc fix” come to the floor for renewal.
People don’t want Congress to do anything, except when they need it to do something for them.
and tell the American people why Republican political spite is more important than the time of the military officers the Republicans claim to be so big on supporting who are called to attend Armed Service Committee meetings and how much more important making apolitical point is than training police in Afghanistan.
Conservatives accuse progressives of going overboard demonizing the GOP leadership, just as overboard, they say, as any crazy tea partier calling for violence. The GOP leadership is now proving that no motive we impute to them in setting their priorities is sleazier than the motives they are now parading before the world. Politics before country. Politics before constituents. Politics before the troops. Politics before patriotism.
What do the Republican members of our congressional delegation have to say about their party leaders’ decision to let our forests die and burn just to show how ticked they are?
mostly republicans, you generally feel like they don’t want Congress to get anything done. But, as to specific issues, environmental matters such as the bark beetle infestation, and military matters, including police training in Afghanistan, they are likely to see the negative consequences of inaction. Much like people say, “Congress sucks, except my congressman,” they say “big government is bad, but I support the troops (and don’t really like horrific forest fires).”
to add “because they objected to working past 2 pm.” It’s true; may as well say it.
It’s not that they’re unwilling to work past two, though it’s a convenient soundbite. They’re unwilling to hold a committee meeting past two, or more than two hours after the day’s session starts; that’s much worse…
The VA committee that SSG_Dan said was cut off was held at 10am. The Republicans cut it off at 11am, because the Senate session had been called to order at 9am.
With the amount of work that has to pass through the various committees before coming to a vote on the floor, the Republican obstructionism has pretty much halted all work, or slowed it down to an unacceptable crawl. And you can bet that within the committees, Republicans are trying to drag out the discussions.
“While millions of Americans a searching for jobs and willing to do any job to keep a roof over their family’s head” [B&W stills of closed plants, foreclosed homes, worried workers and their families]
“Republican senators have refused to work past 2pm or allow other congress members to work on important issues that everyone agrees are problems, such as veterans care, defense re-authorization and forest fire prevention” [photots to match]
“we don’t know if they need the time to go get drinks with lobbyists, or whether they just don’t think veterans, the military or rural communities are worth their time.”[photos of fat cats wooping it up]
“Shame on you Republican Senators, the political parties may not always agree, but the American people expect you to at least put in a full days work for the salary the American Taxpayer are paying you.” [eagles flags and tough determined looking Americans{shot from a low angle}]
or something
to invoke arcane rules to control committee hearings is that it shows how impotent they really are. Think about it. This is how minor their control over the agenda and the process really is. They aren’t setting the agenda and they certainly are in the majority for votes. This is all they have left.
The beauty of this is that if Republicans want to be sticklers and demand that even the most arcane rules be followed then they have no choice but to follow the rules when Democrats play the tune. Using the power of a legislative majority is going to hurt them a lot more then their attempts to control some committee meeting times.
This is total political impotence on display by Republicans. These guys are so limp politically that not even a massive dose of Tea Party Viagra is going to help them now. Democrats should not try to circumvent this or in any way try to get around these rules. Play their game so they have to play yours.
Democrats can also start portraying Republicans has having banker hours who don’t want to work past two in the afternoon. There isn’t a whole lot of good that can come out of this kind of group temper tantrum. Republicans are taking a bad beating legislatively and turning it into a political catastrophe. Who wants to vote for a bunch of cry babies?
“The beauty of this is that if Republicans want to be sticklers and demand that even the most arcane rules be followed then they have no choice but to follow the rules when Democrats play the tune. ”
I really doubt this. The last time Repubs held the Senate, they threatened to get rid of the filibuster, and were only placated by the Dems promising not to actually use it. I think that’s a better predictor of how they will behave than any sense of fair play or consistency.
Sure they were bullies when they were in power but they have been trying to float this narrative that this legislation is illegal and therefore not enforceable. If Democrats try to force them to have meetings then they have additional ammunition that things weren’t done correctly so it is illegal based on procedure. The Democrats haven’t given them any opening for this approach by complying with all procedures including this arcane one.
The Republicans even got hammered in the Senate discussions because they picked the parliamentarian that decided that a filibuster wasn’t in order for the reconciliation fixes. They can’t claim it was rigged because they picked the guy. You give them enough rope they are going to hang themselves and their kids dog. It is going to get ugly for them if they keep this up.
but it is worth doing things right for its sake I guess.
It can’t be found on the Post, and the NY Times has a decent story, but you can only find it by searching for it.
The Dems should have a daily press release of cancelled hearings with a list of far flung witnesses whose time has been wasted from doing the people’s business.
Why don’t you write to Udall and Bennet and suggest that to them. You would think that they would think that way but Dems don’t seem to be very good at that… except for Claire McCaskill, she was pretty loud. They should take lessons from her.
I think that she had to close her already in process hearing on Afghan police training. She was really PO’d.
It seems as though Dems never capitalize on these things whereas I hear Republicans criticizing Dems on a daily basis for using reconciliation. Were are our messaging guru’s when we need them…
Dear Senator Bennett (and Udall and Reid),
I applaud the Congress and your efforts to pass meaningful healthcare reform. I am disgusted by the Republican response of delaying vital committee hearings using arcane rules to shut down the nation’s business.
I believe that if people were more informed of what their Senators were doing in their name, it would help shape the political landscape in our favor.
Toward that end I suggest that the Democratic Senatorial Caucus give a daily Press Release listing the hearings cancelled, and important witnesses delayed from their important work by these childish obstructionist tactcs,
Sincerely Yours,
Daft Punk MD
Denver
Who here gets Senate Press Releases?
If they don’t respond by the middle of next week, you should follow-up.
By the way, I think that one of the reasons that the Republicans get so pushed out of shape is because, try as they might, they can’t get President Obama to blink. They try and try and he just does not rattle.
He’s sent out numerous releases and held a press conference on it yesterday.
…They leave for spring break and won’t be back for a few weeks.
We’ll have to see if the tactics continue at that point.
I’d say his Presidency is on the ascendent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03…
…Sadly, we need a majority.
Did see her column after I posted though. I wonder what kind of penetration she has.
but a lot of her readers end up making story assignments.
n/t
Voters in Summit and Grand Counties might get ticked off at Republicans in general and vote for Jeanne Nicholson for state senator. There are a lot of ways that this can play out and not many of those scenarios favor Republicans.
A list of just civilian nominations:
http://senate.gov/pagelayout/l…
These are the non-civilian nominations:
http://senate.gov/pagelayout/l…
I think that Pres. Obama should not pick and choose who to give recess appointments, he should just recess appoint ALL of them!
I think the only nomination that the Dems held up was John Bolton for UN Ambassador.
It’s such a large number, no single one has been very contentious, and Obama can make the argument that the economy & security of the United States requires that these posts be filled.
How does the GOP effectively say that they were correct to hold up umpteen million appointees? There’s no way they can sell that.
…Miguel Estrada for one, but there were many others.
Still, the Rs are off the charts in comparison.
However, the Dems had good reasons for their holds, they didn’t place holds just for the sake of holding or because they want their state to be able to sell candy flavored cigarettes in Canada so they put a hold on someone who doesn’t have anything to do with commerce or anything logical. Mostly it is nothing about the candidate, except for the Labor Relations Board and they are afraid he is too friendly to unions.