I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Foremost in the attention of many this week is the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District. The race saw a dramatic change in dynamics when Republican Dede Scozzafava pulled out of the race — and endorsed the Democrat, Bill Owens over Doug Hoffman, who is running as a Conservative Party candidate.
Scozzafava, a moderate Republican, withdrew from the race after many national Republican figures endorsed Hoffman, the more conservative of the two candidates. After Scozzafava’s withdrawal, the Republican Party immediately began campaigning for Hoffman.
The district, which has been in Republican hands since 1993 and easily so, leans conservative, though Barack Obama won the district last year.
Pollster.com has Hoffman ahead of Owens in recent polls — but special elections are notoriously hard to poll, so the gap could easily be in double-digits — or less.
Polling guru Nate Silver says that Hoffman is the favorite, writing, “I suppose I’m getting off the fence here and declaring Hoffman the favorite, although I wouldn’t attach any precise probability estimate to it.”
In other news, Jeff Bingaman started a discussion at the National Journal about whether or not America should switch from coal to natural gas.
And speaking of energy, Republicans say they are going to boycott the markup of the Boxer-Kerry energy bill.
All seven panel Republicans have agreed to boycott the markup on cap-and-trade legislation from Boxer and Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and will hold their own meeting on the subject instead. Given the five-seat edge Democrats have on Boxer’s panel, Republicans would not be able to defeat the bill if it came up for a final vote. Their only leverage is to prevent a quorum.
Gallup polling looks at a generic ballot and what it means for next year’s 2010 midterm elections.
The possibility of a strong Republican year would be consistent with history. The president’s party usually loses seats in a midterm election year. The popularity of the president is a factor in the size of those losses. In a forthcoming analysis here on Gallup.com, Gallup will look at some important indicators beyond the generic ballot — including presidential job approval — that can give additional clues as to how the midterm elections will play out.
Meanwhile, the Center for Responsive Politics and OMB Watch notes that there are more lobbyists becoming ex-lobbyists since Obama took office.
OMB Watch’s Lee Mason, the organization’s Director of Nonprofit Speech Rights, commented on the timing of the acceleration of terminations and the president’s policies on lobbyists.
“While we can’t draw a direct link between the president’s executive order and the increased pace of terminations during the second quarter of 2009, we can say that they came at a most controversial time,” Mason said.
And just for fun, a group studies what your beer of choice says about your personality.
…People who prefer domestic beers over craft beers or imports are generally middle of the road in their politics. They’re not nearly as conservative as people who don’t drink beer at all, but not as liberal as people who prefer more exotic beer.
