Led by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), a number of Senate Democrats are seeking a federal Justice Department investigation into new voter identification requirements that are under consideration or recently signed into law in several states that the lawmakers and others say could potentially disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters. These voter ID laws, in Wisconsin, Kansas, Texas and elsewhere, have come under increasing scrutiny. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne recently alleged that these laws are being engineered by Republicans in...

Read more »

Two top Republicans are proclaiming that there is no way to know the consequences of a failure to raise the federal debt limit. While they may be at a loss to explain the consequences of a failure to raise the debt limit to avoid a potential U.S. default, many business leaders and fellow Republicans know the dire consequences of a failure to raise the debt limit. Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, a candidate for the 2012 GOP nomination for...

Read more »

Given the lingerie, boxer shorts, pantyhose, brassieres, et al that were included, and presumably sent to the RNC to be "donated to charity"* there is very little doubt that Ms. Palin and her family were, in fact, feted with undies by the RNC, the McCain campaign, et al.

Read more »

Although Democrats face a daunting task to hold the Senate next year, they’ve sketched out a plan to compete in more than two dozen states in the 2012. Further, Senate Democrats on Tuesday released polls in several states, including Utah, which show them to be competitive heading into next year’s elections. Senate Democrats next year must defend 23 seats year, more than twice as many as Republicans. A net loss of just four seats would hand control back to...

Read more »

New York is set to become the seventh state to allow same-sex marriage. Because the Empire State is so populous, the new law will roughly double the number of Americans who have access to gay marriage. But, as momentous a victory as this represents for marriage equality, the vote late Friday night by the New York state senate reverberates far beyond the single issue of gay marriage. Because its state senate is controlled by Republicans, New York is the...

Read more »

There’s a lot of stories in the news today that I wish I had more time to write about… but I don’t… So here’s my reccommended reads for the day: Hillary Clinton backs New York gay marriage law: Right wing billionaires want to hold on to their tax cuts: Billionaires give big to new ‘super PACS’ Guilty! Jury Finds Blagojevich Guilty of Corruption… Bachman jumps in… She won’t forgive and forget and She picks the wrong John Wayne to...

Read more »

When it comes to saving money from the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the second-highest ranking Senate Democrat apparently wants to bridge presidential rhetoric with reality. When he announced his decision to pull some 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, President Obama remarked, “America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home.” In addition to the troops he intends to bring home this year, Obama promised to have withdrawn a...

Read more »

Major cyber-attacks have been leveled at the Pentagon, CIA, Sony, PBS, CitiGroup, etcetera (hard to keep up, frankly) and, on Thursday, a major leak of sensitive Arizona p0lice information exposed undercover agents, informants, ongoing investigations, etc. to extreme jeopardy. Last night ...

Read more »