Georgia Democrat Base Falling Apart Like Dollar Store Underwear

House Republicans set to target health care law
WASHINGTON -- Soon after the 112th Congress convenes Wednesday, Republicans in the House plan to make good on a campaign promise that helped vault many new members to victory: voting to Repeal President Barack Obama's Health Care overhaul. The vote, which Republican leaders pledged would occur before the president's State of the Union address later this month, is intended both to appeal to the Tea Party-influenced factions of the House GOP base and to emphasize the muscle of the new party in p...

Base bails on Democrats in droves
Georgia Democrats enter the upcoming 2011 session of the General Assembly reeling from a series of defections and facing an uphill climb toward relevance. Ga. Politics news, helpful links The once-dominant party holds 85 of 236 seats in the House and Senate, Democrats’ lowest ebb since Reconstruction. And the number has been slipping. Since the November election when the party lost control of all statewide offices, nine Democratic legislators have become Republicans, including Athens Rep....

Tea party trouble begins now
Not that it hasn't been expected.  The distance between idealistic, not to say unrealistic, tea partyers and their Republican patrons, has been evident to just about everyone but members of the Tea Party since the get-go.  The blandest comment one might make is that they are being used.  But the truth goes way deeper than that -- the real story involves the canny use of corporate money to pull a once-independent movement inside the Republican party where they could be con...

GOP legislators pledge to cut and investigate
WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers have an ambitious agenda for the new Congress that convenes Wednesday, including repealing some or all of the Health Care overhaul law. Republicans also promise to cut spending and prevent unelected Bureaucrats from expanding the government’s role in society through regulations that tell people what they must or can’t do. Representative Fred Upton of Michigan, the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said yesterday tha...

Tea Party Activists Grow Disillusioned
The New York Times reports: As Tea Party politicians prepare to take their seats when the 112th Congress convenes this week, they are already taking issue with Republicans for failing to hold the line against the flurry of Legislation enacted in the waning weeks of Democratic control of the House of Representatives and for not giving some Candidates backed by Tea Party groups powerful leadership positions. Just a month ago, Tea Party Leaders were celebrating their movement’s victories in the...

Tea Party activists already angry at GOP leaders
Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler, co-founders of the Tea Party Patriots, at a November rally. As Tea Party politicians prepare to take their seats when the 112th Congress convenes this week, they are already taking issue with Republicans for failing to hold the line against the flurry of Legislation enacted in the waning weeks of Democratic control of the House of Representatives and for not giving some Candidates backed by Tea Party groups powerful leadership positions. Just a month ago, Tea ...

Like father, like daughter
For 40 years Jean-Marie Le Pen has ruled one of the most successful and feared ultra-nationalist movements in Europe. In 2002 he shocked France by winning through to the second round of the presidential election. But now at 82 years of age, the father of the Front National is ready to step aside and he is backing his daughter Marine to succeed him. "I didn't take to politics readily," Marine told me. "But then as the daughter of Le Pen, it is probably unavoidable that I enter...

GOP will make health care law first target
WASHINGTON -- Soon after the 112th Congress convenes Wednesday, Republicans in the House plan to make good on a campaign promise that helped vault many new members to victory: voting to Repeal President Barack Obama's Health Care overhaul. The vote, which Republican leaders pledged would occur before the president's State of the Union address later this month, is intended both to appeal to the Tea Party-influenced factions of the House GOP base and to emphasize the muscle of the new party in po...

U.S. Republicans to enjoy new clout, face pressure
Once they take power from Obama’s Democrats in the House of Representatives when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 5, they will be held accountable to answer this and other questions. How will they keep their promise to cut federal spending and reduce the federal Deficit? What will they do to pump new life into the sluggish economy still trying to recover from the worst Recession since the Great Depression? Will they raise the federal Debt Limit or threaten a government default? “T...

Weekly Address: The New Year
In this week's address, President Obama looks toward the year ahead, reasserting his commitment to help The Economy continue to grow and create jobs, and encouraging Republicans to embrace their new responsibility to govern. Washington Post: Live by the polls, die by the polls? Paid for by the Democratic National Committee -- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, DC, 20003. This communication is not authorized by any Candidate or candidate's committee. ...

Politics surprisingly clear here
The U.S. Justice Department has demanded – and a Federal Judge has agreed – that residents of a North Carolina city cannot make their municipal Elections nonpartisan because the Obama Administration representatives don't like the possible outcomes that could result. The result comes in a recent case involving Kinston, where voters overwhelmingly – the victory margin was about 2-1 – decided they wanted to leave the political aff...

New Congress sets its eyes on oversight
Washington (CNN) - The new Republican-majority House will vote on repealing or changing last year's Health Care overhaul before the State of the Union address, Rep. Fred Upton, incoming chairman of the energy and commerce committee, said on "Fox News Sunday." Upton, a Michigan Republican, said that his party had 242 votes in favor of Repeal, and that "there will be a significant number of Democrats who will join us." Looks like the republican majority in the house will be over in 2012. How is it...

Schwarzenegger names 3 former senators to boards
(01-02) 19:33 PST San Francisco, CA (AP) -- A former San Francisco Bay Area State Senator and two other former state senators have been appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve on state boards. The Governor on Sunday named Carole Migden to the Agriculture Labor Relations Board. The 62-year-old Migden lost her Senate seat in 2008 following a crash in 2007 when she rear-ended a vehicle on Interstate 80. Migden, a Democrat, later pleaded no contest to a Misdemeanor Reckless Driving charge...

No Hollywood Ending To Schwarzenegger's Term
When Arnold Schwarzenegger leaves California's Governor's office on Monday, he leaves behind a $28 billion Budget shortfall. "The Governator" came into office with sky-high Approval Ratings, but he leaves office with a near-record low approval of just 23 percent — and a mixed political legacy. A Look Back Many politicians say they thought long and hard about their decision to run for office, but no one said it quite like bodybuilder-turned-movie star Schwarzenegger did when he announced h...

Vocal McNulty looks for softer tone as Colorado House speaker
The man who may be the State Capitol's loudest inhabitant will have a lot more time at the microphone next session, and he'll be banging a gavel. But while volume is what incoming House Speaker Frank McNulty is known for, he says his new role as leader of the legislature's first Republican majority in six years will require a softer note than the one he struck during four years in the minority. "Anything we seek to accomplish now, by definition, has to be Republicans working with Democrats," sai...

Reducing Uncertainty
Sun Jan. 2, 2011 10:14 PM PST Republicans have been concerned about regulatory "uncertainty" holding back Economic Recovery, and the compromises reached during the Lame Duck session certainly helped to reduce uncertainty. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that at least one source remains: The Republican gains in Congress in November's election added new questions to the outlook for health-insurance costs borne by companies. Since then, some Party Leaders have said they aim to r...

You know, 2010 wasn't a bad year for Obama
It would be wrong to say that 2010 was a resounding success for Barack Obama. After all, the second year of his presidency ended with Guantanamo Bay still open, the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy still in place, a record number of Judicial Nominations still stuck in the Senate and the War in Afghanistan still dragging on -- with signs pointing to an even longer stay for U.S. forces than Obama had been promising. Oh, and did I mention that private health Insurance Companies are now stronger than e...

Time for GOP to think small
he incoming Republican House of Representatives, and their reformist GOP brethren in the Democratic Senate, will be embroiled in 2011 with complex, major Legislation. Feeding or starving ObamaCare, accelerating or braking federal spending, and possibly even keeping or replacing the U.S. Tax Code will be among the huge questions that will get the 111th Congress working day and night. Beyond these momentous matters, however, pro-market Republicans also should promote smaller initiatives that brea...

GOP Agenda: Major Impact May Be on 2012 Election
(WASHINGTON) — The Republican agenda for the new Congress that convenes Wednesday may have a greater impact on the 2012 Elections than on the lives of Americans in the next two years. Republicans promise to cut spending, roll back President Barack Obama's Health Care overhaul and prevent unelected Bureaucrats from expanding the government's role in society through regulations that tell people what they must or can't do. Getting this agenda through the House may be easier than in the Sena...

Celebrating the New GOP Majority
Welcome to the Republicans who take over the House of Representatives this week. Since it is a new year, let us be optimistic about what this development means for our nation. There is already a standard line of advice to Speaker-to-be John Boehner and his colleagues that goes like this: Democrats overreached in the last Congress by doing too much and ignoring “the center.” Republicans should be careful not to make the same mistake, lest they lose their majority too. This counsel is ...

Pakistani gov't in dire straits as key party quits
In this photo taken Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf... Islamabad (AP) - Pakistan's ruling party struggled to keep its grip on power Monday after a coalition partner said it would join the opposition and threatened to bring the government down. The Political Crisis all but guarantees lawmakers will make no progress anytime soon on solving the critical economic problems that have forced the country to rely on $11 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund. The...

Monday morning briefing
This week brings two inaugurations on Beacon Hill: a swearing-in ceremony for the nearly 50 new legislators on Wednesday and Gov. Deval Patrick’s second inauguration on Thursday. Patrick is expected to use his inaugural Speech to lay out his agenda for the next two years. While much has been made of whether Patrick will cut lawmakers’ salaries, the decision also applies to his own pay and the new constitutional offices. The road to 2012 Former Gov. Mitt Romney’s expected presi...

Freshmen-heavy, GOP-led Missouri Legislature has work cut out
Budget • With federal stimulus Money running out, the Budget for 2012 faces a possible shortfall of $500 million. Education could get chopped. Legislators will study ways to reorganize government. Redistricting • Missouri is losing a Congressional District. The trick for Republican leaders is to condense nine districts into eight while producing a map that the Democratic Governor will sign. Income Tax • The state's largest Campaign Donor, retired financier Rex Sinquefield of St...

Lets Make Wasserman-Schultz & Anthony Weiner the Face of House Democrats
If there’s anything useful to come from Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s and Anthony Weiner’s appearance on Face the Nation this morning, it’s that Republicans should try and make them the face of the Democratic Party as frequently as possible. After Rep.-Elect Mike Kelly said that he didn’t know how “you people can ring up $14,000,000,000,000 of Debt and say you’re doing a good job”, Weiner replied “You’re now part of that you guys now.R...

Parties unite against dissidents
The mainstream political parties in Londonderry have united to urge Dissident Republicans to end their armed campaign. The appeal came in a joint New Year statement signed by senior members of the SDLP, Sinn Fein, DUP and UUP. "Irrespective of political differences, 2011 will be the year we commit to working together." Jim Roddy from the City Centre Initiative, who helped bring the parties together, said work began after the last Dissident car Bomb Attack in October. "None of u...