In various conversations I’ve had in DC recently, some with very high level people, it’s been treated almost as a given that Freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) is … well, toast. He barely won his decently conservative (at least on the cultural front) district back in 2008. And he’s actually quite liberal — certainly for the district. So for all those reasons, in this political climate, it’s been treated almost as a given that he can’t win. But there’s a new poll out — the first of this race, as far as we know. And it turns out he’s running even or ahead of all of his possible opponents.
He’s still got a heckuva race in front of him. And he could definitely lose. But reports of his political death may be greatly exaggerated.
Message to candidate newbies: If you’re running for senate, saying your state should consider declaring bankruptcy just not a good idea. Especially if it’s California.
We know Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) wants to privatize Social Security and abolish Medicare. And as chief Republican budget writer in the House, he may have a chance at doing so if Republicans win the House next year. But apparently it doesn’t have anything to do with budgetary retrenchment.
He thinks both programs are part of a “collectivist system” that needs to be rooted out of American life.
Blackwater allegedly billed the U.S. government for the services of a prostitute in Afghanistan who it kept on its books under the “Morale Welfare Recreation” category, two former employees allege in a lawsuit.
Some sort of underground/manhole explosion happened across the street from TPM HQ about a half hour ago and basically took out a local Radio Shack.
(see more photos here.)
I do not have any official word. But I did not see any signs of people being treated for injuries.
At first glance it looked like the Radio Shack had been engulfed by flames and gutted. But when you looked closer, it looked like a lot of what had been inside that store remained more or less intact. And in addition to the smoke coming from the store there was smoke coming from a grate just in front of it. So it seems like what happened is that an explosion — reports suggest a transformer explosion — happened just under the shop, filled it or at least the front of the shop in flames and scorched 4 or 5 floors of the front of the building.
Late Update: New York magazine has an amazing picture of what the actual blast looked like.
Who’s advising her? Writing her lines? Whispering sweet nothings in Broder’s ear?
Justin Elliott looks at Sarah Palin’s brain trust.
It’s nice to know that Al Franken hasn’t lost his sense of humor, even if he’s been working to keep it under wraps.
From Al’s latest fundraising email …
“And as much as I don’t trust Comcast and NBC to be honest brokers on this deal, I am trusting you to help me build support for my positions on issues like this one,” Franken writes. “And as usual, by ‘support’ I mean ‘money.'”
A sign of things to come?
The latest out of the Republican gubernatorial primary in Texas was that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison wasn’t just behind Gov. Rick Perry but was in danger of being overtaken by the Tea Party entrant Debra Medina. Today on Glenn Beck’s radio show, though, she mentioned she might be a 9/11 Truther.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), on DC during this epic winter:
A city that was designed for travel by foot and horses loses some of its charm with modern traffic congestion. A deep snowfall is the perfect antidote, as it adds beauty, muffles sounds and discourages automobiles. The broad streets and sidewalks reveal their grandeur when covered with snow instead of cars
A lot of you have written in to see if we’re okay after the manhole explosion near our office. We appreciate the concern. But, honestly, I feel embarrassed getting the questions. Because even though we’re probably only maybe a couple hundred feet from where it happened, we didn’t even notice until someone saw smoke outside the window.
But TPM Reader DR across the street had a more hair-raising experience. Read More