All Politics is Loco

[From various sources, including Teagan Goddard's Political Wire, and dailyKOS's own Political State Report.]

The Texican Stand-Off continues in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Houston Chronicle reports:

If the other House Democrats maintain their walkout until Friday, it will kill the House version of the redistricting bill. But on Tuesday, state Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington, filed a Senate bill on congressional redistricting. ... if it gets to the floor, it may lack the procedural votes to be debated.

The bill should die quietly ... unless there's a dirty deal in the works. Burnt Orange is still on the case, and Charles Kuffner offers fresh analysis at PSR.

In Colorado redistricting, on the other hand, Dem's are going to court to preserve what we might call the "one bite of the apple" theory. [With cut-throat redistricting, the influence of Federal courts on districts and districts on election outcomes adds heat to the looming Judiciary Civil War.]

GOPers are trying to find a challenger for Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. George Nethercutt (who ousted former Speaker Tom Foley on a smear-aided term-limits platform, and then decided to stay a few more terms) is in the talk cycle. My take: Nethercutt falls flat unless folks are intensely dissatisfied with Murray (they're not), loses his House seat, and likely never gets it back. Go fish.

Not much happening in 2003 except waiting for 2004, but there's a race for Governor in Mississippi this fall ... incumbent Dem Ronnie Musgrove against supervillain (and former RNC Chair) Haley Barbour, who got himself in hot water over one of those "dang me" remarks: "some underprivileged children would be better off in a whorehouse". Uncork one of those, and it doesn't matter what you were really trying to say or how many times you explain it.

[Another reason Governors matter. Roughly once a year, a Governor gets to appoint a Senator. About half of all Senators represent states where the Governor is of the opposite party.]

Former A.G. Jim Ryan has taken his name out of contention in the Illinois Senate race. The nomination is wide open, and desperate. Political State Report contributor Michael Van Winkle spots a couple of new old names.

Howard Dean is in town today, and apparently it's Health Care Plan Week on the Presidential Primary circuit. I'll have comments on both later on.

RonK, Seattle

Posted May 14, 2003 08:25 AM | Comments (69)