Some common ground

In a rather unusual – if not unique – experience, I found myself reading a very liberal editorial piece by a decidedly liberal author this week and finding myself nodding my head in agreement at times, while perhaps not for the reason the writer intended. LZ Granderson – who has won an award from the [...]

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Gulp.

As Republicans search for ways in which the party can more effectively make its case for free-markets and slimmer tax codes as the best and most efficient means to create the healthiest, most prosperous societies, many of the country’s 30 GOP governors are looking to turn their states into models of the ways in which [...]

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Not so much

Taking a break from the firestorm of sad news this weekend, let’s circle back and see how things are going in the states which have chosen to sin tax their way back to prosperity. First, my own home stomping grounds of New York, which has been seeking a way to stave off total fiscal collapse [...]

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Money for nothing

Another convoluted tale comes our way which could be straight out of the pages of a script for a grainy, film noir classic. It involves millions of taxpayer dollars wasted or worse. A definite odor of corruption permeates the air. Money is handed out in unaccountable ways to dubious destinations and bureaucratic waste is on [...]

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Numbers

Sometimes you just have to latch on to what’s seems like an obviously crazy idea and run with it. If nobody ever grabbed for a rather insane looking brass ring, we’d have never had the turducken. It is with this wild eyed spirit of possibilities rising from the ash fields that I propose giving serious [...]

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Tax plan up in smoke

Earlier this year we took a brief look at Illinois Governor Patt Quinn’s inspired and sure-fire plan to ease his state’s fiscal woes on the backs of smokers by raising the taxes on cigarettes. Estimates as to how much money this would bring in ranged from modest sums in the mere millions to roughly the [...]

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Dude.

Via Political Wire, I don’t think he’s grandstanding, guys. The clenched jaw, the flailing arms, the out-and-out-shrieking — this looks a lot more like a bona fide fit than a performance for the three shut-ins in Illinois who spend time watching floor proceedings in the statehouse. I want you to watch this twice, first for [...]

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The wages of sin

No, this isn’t a story about Mark Block. Out in the Land of Lincoln, the state is facing a serious shortfall in their Medicaid funding. (A story which is being repeated across the nation, in case you haven’t been keeping score.) But the Governor has a plan! Fear not, citizens. We’ll raise the money to [...]

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Really?

The obligatory follow-up to Monday night’s anti-drone cri de coeur from Krauthammer. On the one hand, Chicago is hosting the big NATO summit this weekend, for which security should be airtight. Has DHS added a special little birdie to their eyes in the sky? On the other hand, c’mon. Slate reports: A government source familiar [...]

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Evolution.

Via Breitbart.com and BuzzFeed, which had this almost a month ago. Note the emphasis here on faith as the bedrock of his opposition. Nothing unusual about a believer changing his or her mind about gay marriage; according to last week’s Pew poll, it’s happened quite a lot since 2004. But in order to put O [...]

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A "burden on interstate commerce"

Last winter we opened up a discussion on the Marketplace Fairness Act and the idea of the federal government forcing companies such as Amazon and eBay to collect a sales tax on internet sales. The response was almost uniformly negative here, with one of the most popular proposed alternatives being the idea of letting the [...]

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Jesse Jackson Jr in trouble?

Looks like we may not have heard the last from the Rod Blagojevich corruption scandal after all.  The former Illinois governor got a 14-year prison sentence in December on federal charges, following the career path forged by more than one of his predecessors in the office.  His brother Robert, however, is still free to travel [...]

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Now you tell us.

Three days ago, Democrats in Illinois went to bat for Derrick Smith, the state lawmaker who got arrested after taking a bribe from an undercover federal agents.  Party officials on Chicago’s West Side even held a rally urging voters to support him in Tuesday’s primary against a former Republican challenging him for the nomination.  Democrats [...]

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Mano a mano?

Mitt Romney sailed to an easy win over Rick Santorum last night in Illinois, winning by twelve points in a primary that unfolded just about how pollsters predicted — unlike in Mississippi a week earlier.  The 47% plurality won by Romney may have been the lowest winning percentage in Illinois in 100 years as Smart [...]

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Coronation?

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET. Hey, remember six days ago when this was going to be Santorum’s last, best chance to steal a major “Romney state” away from Romney (in the midwest, no less) and make a real race of this thing? According to the pollsters, that chance has come and gone. I wonder [...]

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"That's not what I'm about."

Fox Nation, RCP and MRC-TV pick up on what must be the most awesome heckler Mitt Romney has ever met.  While campaigning yesterday in Peoria, Illinois in advance of the primary today, a woman challenged Romney by demanding free birth control.  Romney told her she’s at the wrong rally: Woman: ”So you’re all for like, ‘yay, [...]

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Illinois' banner day in the spotlight.

Illinois provides the latest showdown in the Republican presidential nomination race, and a second poll puts Mitt Romney up by double digits over his main competitor Rick Santorum.  Echoing a PPP poll taken at roughly the same time, the new ARG survey of 600 likely Illinois voters shows a 14-point lead for Romney, 44/30, with [...]

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... not to elect a Republican.

Buddy Roemer coined one of the greatest political slogans in American history when white supremacist David Duke managed to win the a general-election slot in 1991 for Louisiana governor in the open primaries.  Roemer, the incumbent, came in third behind Duke and Democrat Edwin Edwards and just missed a chance to vie for re-election.  The [...]

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Plus, a key endorsement?

Illinois gets its turn tomorrow on the GOP merry-go-round, in a rare meaningful primary for the state.  Only Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have seriously campaigned in the Land of Lincoln, but a new PPP poll shows that it may wind up being a one-man race: Mitt Romney is headed for a blowout victory in [...]

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Up nine in new Rasmussen national poll.

With the Southern primaries out of the way, the next big primary for binding delegate allocations will take place in Illinois on Tuesday.  (Missouri holds another non-binding contest tomorrow, a caucus this time.)  Two new polls show Mitt Romney with a significant but not insurmountable lead over Rick Santorum in the Land of Lincoln, with [...]

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Persistence.

Newt Gingrich said again this morning that he plans to battle all the way to Tampa. Asked on CBS’s This Morning “under what circumstances” he would end his campaign before the convention, Gingrich responded: “Probably none.” He told host Charlie Rose, “I’ll be with you in Tampa, Charlie,” adding, “I have 176,000 donors at Newt.org. They want me [...]

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Success.

The Republican National Convention will take place in Tampa, Florida this year, but Governor Rick Scott got a head start on conservative organizing with an appearance at CPAC this week. I interviewed Scott yesterday and asked how his plans to revitalize Florida’s economy have progressed, and Scott outlines the ways in which Florida’s economy has [...]

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Rockin' the payroll.

If you had to guess, you’d guess this was in the San Francisco Bay area – and you’d be right. The official in question heads the San Mateo County Transit District, which runs trains and buses, and, like all public transit systems, is always in the red.  This means that when state and federal money [...]

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Irony.

An Education Intelligence Agency analysis of Internal Revenue Service filings by the National Education Association and its state affiliates reveal the union amassed more than $1.5 billion in revenue in 2008-09, more than 90 percent of it in the form of dues from public education employees. EIA created a table, now posted on its web [...]

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Hmmm.

Via No Runny Eggs, looks sketchy at first blush: The Democratic Party has targeted for harassment people who signed recall petitions against [Democratic] Senator [Dave] Hansen, making calls on beginning on Monday April 25th using a fake phone number and caller ID that showed up on phones as “Bay Care Aurora,” a well-known Green Bay [...]

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