Is this what’s coming? Sen. Sessions (R-AL), ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, seems to be signaling that the alleged constitutional questions about the Health Care Reform bill will be a prime focus of President Obama’s nominee’s confirmation hearing.
Charlie Crist releases super weak quarterly fundraising numbers: a mere $1.1 million.
That’s compared to $3.6 million by Marco Rubio and $2 million for Crist in the last quarter of 2009. And that was down for Crist from 3rd quarter 2009, when he raised $2.4 million.
The numbers are really bad. But they’re even worse when you consider that being a master fundraiser was always one of Crist’s biggest strengths as a politician.
From an article on Connecticut GOP senate candidate Linda McMahon, just out from The Day …
In December 1989, as federal investigators were zeroing in on a Pennsylvania doctor who would soon be convicted of selling steroids to professional wrestlers, Linda McMahon sent a confidential memo to a fellow executive at Titan Sports, the family company that operated what was then known as the World Wrestling Federation.
The WWF, she wrote, should alert Dr. George T. Zahorian III that a criminal investigation could be heading his way, according to court documents reviewed by The Day.
Read the rest here.
A truly shocking story. A plane carrying the President of Poland and numerous other high-ranking government officials has crashed in Russia killing all on board. A total of 96 have reportedly died. Ironically, the delegation was en route to attend a joint Polish-Russian commemoration of the Katyn Massacre. Read more here.
We brought you word last month about the arrest of eight members of the so-called Hutaree militia. But one member who managed to get a jump on the feds and get away was 21 year old Joshua Stone, son of militia leader David Stone.
While on the lam, Stone made contact with various other local militia members and with their assistance had everything set for one of those zero to Armageddon in sixty seconds blowouts with a stash of weapons, a barricaded house and a couple of fellow militia types ready to go out in a blaze of glory in a shoot out with the feds. Happily, some steady law enforcement work, helped along by recordings of family members begging Stone to surrender, finally managed to end the standoff without any gunfire or loss of life.
Justin Elliott brings us the latest on the story.
Get the details from the speeches at today’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference from Rick Santorum, Haley Barbour and Ron Paul.
RNC chair Michael Steele sorta kinda offers a not-really-maybe apology: If you get on my case, the Dems will have won.
“In life you learn very quickly that you can’t please everyone, but you can certainly make them all mad at you at the same time. And that is a lesson well-learned. It is an opportunity as well because folks have been mad at us in the past and we have learned from that past.”
Yeah, me neither.
Defending his conservative purity today at the big GOP conference, former Sen. Rick Santorum made an interesting claim about Sen. Specter (D-PA). Santorum said he agreed to endorse Specter in 2004 only after “I got a commitment from Arlen Specter that no matter who George W. Bush would nominate [to the Supreme Court], he would support that nominee.”
Now, Santorum clearly has a strong, even multiple motives for making Specter’s alleged commitment seem as firm as possible and Specter as craven as possible. But in a knock-down fight between Specter and Sestak, I’m sure this is going to be tossed around pretty good.
Late Update: Sen. Specter is strongly denying Santorum’s charge.
Down at the conservative hoe-down in New Orleans, they just released the results of the straw poll and it’s Mitt by a single vote. Ron Paul a single vote behind.
The mining tragedy in West Virginia this past week has focused attention on Don Blankenship of Massey Energy, the hard-charging CEO notorious for systemic safety lapses at his company’s mines. Things could be looking up for Blankenship, though. One of his very close friends (with a history of having Blankenship’s back) is running for Congress against incumbent Rep. Nick Rahall (D).