See Roll Call, ” Occupy, Liberals Can’t Get Together .” A planned meeting today between the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Occupy Wall Street activists was scuttled late Tuesday after Roll Call inquired about it, highlighting increasing tensions between Democrats and the movement. While Democrats are adopting the movement’s “99 percent” language, they are increasingly retreating from the protesters themselves and their anti-capitalist rhetoric. Some in the party view the Occupy activists — camped out in grubby tent cities around the country — as a potential liability in 2012. “Democrats should reject Occupy Wall Street as the spokesmen for the 99 percent,” said Kelly Bingel, who served as former Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s (D-Ark.)chief of staff until 2005 and is now a partner with Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc. “The chance of those guys going out and voting or encouraging anyone else to vote is very low.” Another Democratic lobbyist and early supporter of President Barack Obama agreed. “I think Democrats need to stay away from embracing OWS. We can acknowledge their frustrations without embracing their movement,” he said. “They are too fringe-y and don’t play well in middle America. Let the Republicans be the party of the angry right. We need to be the party where moderates feel welcomed.” Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus apparently got cold feet after someone leaked news of the planned #OWS meeting to the press. Obviously not all Demo-Commies are backing away from these drug addicts, murderers and rapists. Walter James “Occupy” Casper aggressively defends the movement, whining about how it wouldn’t be fair to brand all the movement’s supporters as criminals and communists. No doubt Racist Repsac3 is especially thrilled by Occupy’s anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish bankers. Video Hat Tip : Lew Waters .
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Democrats Backing Away from Occupy Wall Street
Republicans Pick Up Arkansas, defeat Blanche Lincoln; Rob Portman cruises in Ohio; Christine O’Donnell falls in Delaware
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Rubio Walks To Victory in Florida
As noted, one of my rules of thumb for my election predictions was that any incumbent below 50 is in at least a little trouble, and an incumbent in the mid-40s is in real trouble. The more well-known and well-established the incumbent, the more trouble they're in. I usually give those folks about one or two percent of the remaining undecided; that's how I ended up getting Massachusetts right. My last pick was California's Senate race, reluctantly picking Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer over Republican Carly Fiorina, spurred in part by Boxer reaching 49.5 percent in the RealClearPolitics average. But in between writing down the picks and now, she's slid to 48.5 percent , a very tenuous position in my usual formula. Looking at the RCP average for
**Written by Doug Powers I’m a Detroit Lions fan, which means it’s very easy for me to dislike the National Football League on any given week, but if you’re getting tired of the NFL for any other host of reasons and you’re not a Democrat, this could put you over the edge : (CNSNews.com) – The National Football League’s political action committee—Gridiron PAC—has weighed in on the hotly contested U.S. Senate election in Nevada that pits conservative Republican challenger Sharron Angle against Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. The PAC has given $10,000 to Reid—the maximum it can give in a single election cycle—and no money to Angle, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by OpenSecrets.org . The NFL is obviously trying to protect that valuable franchise they have in Nevada . In Gridiron Pac’s first year from 2008-2009, about two-thirds of their political donations went to Democrats , but this year they’re going all-out to keep the incumbent Democrat congress intact : The NFL’s PAC also contributed to other incumbent Democratic senators facing viable challengers this year, giving $5,000 to Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas; $5,000 to Russ Feingold of Wisconsin; $5,000 to Barbara Boxer of California; $5,000 to Michael Bennet of Colorado; and $5,000 to Patty Murray of Washington. In none of these races did the NFL’s PAC contribute to the Republican challenger. CNS also reports that the NFL’s PAC gave the maximum amount of $10,000 to Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer. Boy, talk about a helmet-to-helmet hit on a defenseless constitution. The full list of recipients from both parties is here . If things go the way it’s looking like they might on Tuesday, the NFL will be busy trying to flag a lot of people for excessive celebration. **Written by Doug Powers Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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NFL Puts Money on Reid/Angle Race
AP – Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln said Monday she may propose extending the Bush-era tax cuts to wealthier Americans, as well as the middle-class tax cuts that President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Washington want to maintain.
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Lincoln may seek compromise on Bush tax cuts
(AP)
And Lady Gaga’s not pleased. At Politics Daily , ” Republicans Block Repeal of Military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy “: Senate Republicans blocked the Defense Department bill Tuesday, objecting to gay rights and immigration language in the annual legislation that sets policies and spending levels for the Pentagon. Majority Democrats, needing 60 votes to break a filibuster and begin consideration of the bill, fell short 43 to 56. Arkansas Democrats Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor joined all 40 Republicans in voting no. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also voted against the bill, but for procedural reasons. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) missed the roll call. GOP senators said two controversial additions — language to begin the repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military and a last-minute amendment based on the DREAM Act to give young illegal immigrants a path to citizenship if they complete two years of college or serve that long in the military — made the bill impossible to support. “In Senator Reid and the Democrats’ zeal to get re-elected, they’ve used a cynical political ploy to try to galvanize and energize their base,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) the top Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “In the case of the DREAM Act, it’s the Hispanic vote…The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is an appeal to the gay and lesbian base. I’ve been around here a long time and I have never seen such a cynical use of the needs of our men and women in the military.” RELATED : ” Lady Gaga and Harry Reid’s Twitter Lovefest on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ .”
All polls are suggesting that Blanche Lincoln’s time as a United States Senator is up.
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A Boozman Blowout in Arkansas?
Charlie Melancon, Democrat of Louisiana, and Elaine Marshall, Democrat of North Carolina , offer polls indicating they have enjoyed surges in their Senate races against, respectively,
