From Cliff Thies & Eric Dondero:
Alaska Republican Senate nominee is in a tight race with his former and current rival Lisa Murkowski. The ballot make-up may determine the election.
Which is the better commercial? Or, are they equally good? Give us your comments in the comments section.
From Eric Dondero:
As we reported on our headline banner late Thursday, a new poll has been released for the Massachusetts Governor's race. This is the very first poll to show Republican Charlie Baker in the lead over incumbent Democrat Deval Patrick.
From Boston.com:
The latest from an Opinion Dynamics poll of 431 self-identified registered voters conducted between October 7, 2010 – October 10, 2010:
Thinking ahead to the 2010 general election for Governor of Massachusetts if the candidates were Republican Charlie Baker, Democrat Deval Patrick, Independent Tim Cahill and Green-Rainbow Candidate Jill Stein for whom would you vote?
Charlie Baker 37%
Deval Patrick 32%
Tim Cahill 14%
Jill Stein 2%
Don't Know 14%
This will be a solid GOP pick-up. Moreover, it was considered a long shot for Republicans at best earlier in the year.
Baker is heavily backed by "New England's Neal Boortz" libertarian radio talk show host Howie Carr. It was Carr who first broke the news of the poll late Thursday.
Note - Baker's running mate is State Senate minority leader Richard Tisei. He is a prominent member of Gay Republican groups, and has been called a "libertarian" on social matters.
Reporting from New England.
From Eric Dondero:
In almost two decades far left incumbent Democrat Peter DeFazio has faced no serious opposition for his congressional seat. Now like Barney Frank in Massachusetts, John Dingle in Michigan and Steny Hoyer in Maryland, he's having to run the race of his life.
The sweat is apparent on his brow, from his most recent statements regarding his opponent.
From the OR Register-Guard, "Political darts fly in race for 4th- DeFazio and Robinson accuse each other of dishonest campaigning" Oct. 16:
The race, which has attracted national attention, is a spirited battle between DeFazio, a 12-term incumbent Democrat from Springfield, and Robinson, a Cave Junction Republican, scientist and author of home-schooling materials.
Robinson, standing in front of the U.S. Courthouse, said DeFazio, through television ads and comments is misrepresenting Robinson’s positions to “diminish my reputation and integrity.”
“There comes a point when a man has to stand up and say it isn’t true,” Robinson said.
DeFazio, also in Eugene on Friday, said his campaign is sticking to facts by using Robinson’s own writings and comments.
“This guy is very dangerous,” DeFazio said.
When confronted with controversial statements, DeFazio said, Robinson “is very good about saying that we are taking things out of context”
Robinson is an “ultra right wing libertarian,” DeFazio said.
It's obviously Nowheres-ville USA
From Eric Dondero:
As everyone is aware, "Paduka" is a popular slander from political folklore meant to evoke images of backwardness and nowheres ville. It's similar to the old saying "how does it play in Peoria."
East Coast elitist Matthew Yglesias blatantly used the derogatory spelling for the made-up town of "Paduka," in his most recent column about Rand Paul, instead of the correct "Paducah." Paul was clearly referencing the Western Kentucky city. But by using the wrong spellling, Yglesias snarked that Paul was wanting presumably illiterate small-town hicks to run America's education, rather than the "experts" in Washington.
Yupper! Just a bunch a small-town hicks running our Edu-macation
The slight was repeated at TPM's Wonk Room. Here's the reference:
Rand Paul’s stated rationale for wanting to abolish the Department of Education is revealing of his ignorance of the relevant issues:
PAUL: I would rather the local schools decide things. I don’t like the idea of somebody in Washington deciding that Susie has two mommies is an appropriate family situation and should be taught to my kindergardener at school. That’s what happens when we let things get to a federal level. I think I would rather have local school boards, teachers, parents, people in Paduka deciding about your schools and not have it in Washington.
Will the Paducah Sun, or other Kentucky media, which have been slanted towards Paul's Democrat opponent Jack Conway, have any comments to make on the slight?
One wonders how Yglesias's remarks will play with them good ole votin' folks of Paducah?
(H/t Memeo)
"I am a grandson of immigrants who came to this country seeking basic economic and personal liberty"
Ken Langone, CEO of Home Depot, excerpt from the WSJ, "Stop Bashing Business, Mr. President" Oct. 16:
A little more than 30 years ago, Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, Pat Farrah and I got together and founded The Home Depot. Our dream was to create (memo to DNC activists: that's build, not take or coerce) a new kind of home-improvement center catering to do-it-yourselfers.
Today, Home Depot is staffed by more than 325,000 dedicated, well-trained, and highly motivated people offering outstanding service and knowledge to millions of consumers... If we tried to start Home Depot today, under the kind of onerous regulatory controls that you have advocated, it's a stone cold certainty that our business would never get off the ground, much less thrive. Rules against providing stock options would have prevented us from incentivizing worthy employees in the start-up phase—never mind the incredibly high cost of regulatory compliance overall and mandatory health insurance. Still worse are the ever-rapacious trial lawyers.
Meantime, you seem obsessed with repealing tax cuts for "millionaires and billionaires." Contrary to what you might assume, I didn't start with any advantages and neither did most of the successful people I know. I am the grandson of immigrants who came to this country seeking basic economic and personal liberty. My parents worked tirelessly to build on that opportunity. My first job was as a day laborer on the construction of the Long Island Expressway more than 50 years ago. The wealth that was created by my investments wasn't put into a giant swimming pool as so many elected demagogues seem to imagine. Instead it benefitted our employees, their families and our community at large.
Important Note to our Readers: SHOP HOME DEPOT!! (unsolicited endorsement)
"Workers of the World" unite for Harry Reid
From Eric Dondero:
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that hundreds of protesters on both sides lined up outside of the debate hall Thursday night. The paper describes Reid supporters as "an organized force made up mostly of party volunteers and union members." The Unions handed out professionally printed signs, and even burgers to their participants.
In sharp contrast the Sharron Angle supporters on the other side of the street were loosely organized individual grass roots activists. They carried homemade signs.
One of the Angle supporters was interviewed, and compared the scene to what she saw in the old Soviet bloc.
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Crowd as polarized as the candidates: Reid, Angle supporters hold spirited protest" Oct. 15:
The Angle group was smaller and more spontaneous.
Las Vegas resident Rita Hickey was living in West Berlin when the Wall divided the city. The 63-year-old said she grew up surrounded by socialism and watched as people on the other side lost their lives trying to tunnel and climb their way out.
Clad in an Angle T-shirt, holding a sign and wearing an anti-Reid placard around her neck, Hickey said she now sees signs of socialism in America that remind her of what she witnessed before the Wall came down.
"It was an oppressed regime, and that's what I'm seeing here now," Hickey said. "I see what's going on here with socialized medicine and the government being involved in every aspect of people's lives. It frightens me."
Sitting on Top of the World
From Eric Dondero:
Folks, I'm giddy. I have never been this excited about an Election in my entire life, and yes that does include 1980 with Ronald Reagan, and the Republican Revolution of 1994. This one is turning out to be even better.
I no longer think Dick Morris is a hyper-optimist for saying 100 seats in the House, and 51 to 52 seat Republican majority in the Senate. As a true political geek, I spend the wee hours of the morning looking at the poll numbers and crosstabs, in every house, senate and governor's race in the Nation. It's looking really, really good.
I hereby declare this Beach Boys Classic to be our official theme song for Election Year 2010. You'll see it popping up from time to time for the next 3 weeks here at LR.
Request: Please use this post as an open thread to report on races in your local area in comments. (We'll leave this up as the headliner through tomorrow.)
Rob Steele is Tea Party with a capital 'T'
From Eric Dondero:
Could the Wave be so big that it will sweep away a 55-year incumbent Democrat?
From Market Watch, "Longest serving Democratic congressman in trouble?" Oct. 10
The longest serving member of Congress may be in trouble if a new poll is to be believed. Democratic Rep. John Dingell, who’s been in Washington for 55 years, trailed Republican challenger Rob Steele 44% to 40% in a new poll. The historically Democratic seat represents the western suburbs of Detroit, but it’s become more conservative in recent years owing to redistricting changes.
Washington insiders began to wonder last month if Dingell was in trouble after he sent out an urgent fund-raising appeal to donors.
“This year I need your maximum financial contribution to my campaign,” Dingell wrote to supporters in September. “My opponent is running with the tea party and he claims he will invest his quite substantial personal fortune in his effort to defeat me. He is running around with a poll showing that I am vulnerable.”
Libertarian proposal for HSAs proves popular
Libertarian columnist John Fund of the Wall Street Journal points out:
The Dingell family has held the Congressional seat in southeastern Michigan for nearly eight decades. Rep. John Dingell, now the longest-serving member of Congress, inherited the seat in 1955 when his father died after 23 years in office. The seat has been a family preserve since the dawn of the New Deal.
That's appropriate given that Mr. Dingell has been a cheerleader for big-spending programs and universal health care throughout his career. But even in a district that includes the liberal bastion of Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan, this may not be the best year for an 84-year-old incumbent to be running on a pro-Big Government record.
Mr. Dingell's Republican opponent is Ann Arbor cardiologist Rob Steele, who says he decided to run after Mr. Dingell helped ram through "insane spending" programs that passed with many House members not even reading the bills.
From his campaign website on Taxes Dr. Steele says simply:
The tax system must be flatter, fairer and simpler for the taxpayer at a level that does not punish success.
And on his area of expertise, Health Care Reform, Steele takes a page out of the libertarian Cato Institute guidebook, calling for HSAs:
Consumer choice and responsibility, price transparency, equal tax treatment of the employed and self employed, in combination with Health Savings Accounts, are more cost effective for the patient and providers. Many of these principles have kept the health care costs in my own business flat for the past 5 years. Medicare is already broken, with high levels of fraud, claim denial, and decreasing provider base. Taxpayers simply cannot afford another massive, inefficient, government-run program.
To help robsteeleforcongress.com
From Eric Dondero:
Douglas Schoen is President Clinton's former pollster. He's now a Fox News commentator. He's been looking at the numbers, and what he sees is a Republican Category Five election victory of "epic proportions."
From NewsMax this morning "Democratic Pollster: GOP Poised to Seize House and Senate":
He points to a RealClearPolitics.com analysis that now shows Republicans picking up a net gain of nine seats in the Senate, which would deadlock the upper chamber 50 to 50. And polls show several other GOP candidates, including Carly Fiorina in California and Dino Rossi in Washington state, remain within striking distance, he says.
"We're moving in the direction of the Republicans potentially picking up 10 or 11 seats," Schoen says. "More likely it will be nine to 10, which is enough to either deadlock the Senate or give them control.
"You tie that in with a House that most people, myself included, concede is going to be 45 to 50 seats at the very least, if not more, and a generic vote that is now plus 7 or 8 percent for Republicans, combined with the Gallup turnout model predicting anywhere from 13 to 18 percent for the Republicans, you're looking at the potential for the Republicans to win both houses of Congress and holding 30 or more governors' seats. We're looking at a landslide of potentially epic proportions," Schoen says.
Schoen puts the blame on coming massive Democrat losses on one issue: Jobs, and an unemployment rate stuck at 9.6%
Partial Privatization for Younger Americans
From Eric Dondero:
Physicist and Republican candidate for Congress in southwestern Arizona Ruth McClung is gaining ground on incumbent Democrat Raul Grijalva. The latest poll shows the race within the margin of error, with Grijalva at 40% to McClung's 38%.
Grijalva is the Congressman who famously called for a Boycott of Arizona, over Governor Jan Brewer's efforts to stop illegal immigration.
McClung, a hardline Tea Partyer, has taken bold stances in favor of zero-based budgeting, tax cuts across the board, and free market-based health care solutions.
From the AZ Daily Star Aug. 9:
The 28-year-old McClung, who is a rocket scientist dealing with guidance navigation, said she decided to run in 2009 when she became increasingly frustrated with what she calls Washington's "out-of-control spending." McClung, who considers herself a member of the tea-party movement, said she wouldn't have supported the stimulus package.
She said reining in spending would be her No. 1 priority.
Additionally, the AZ Daily Star today "Campaign climate toughest ever for Grijalva":
She also wants to move many spending decisions to local governments, which have a better idea what their communities need.
The physicist works on navigation for a Defense Department contractor, and has adopted the campaign slogan "Maybe it does take a rocket scientist."
She wants to move toward privatizing Social Security for younger generations, but first put a "lockbox" on the program to protect those receiving benefits now or in the next few years.
This just breaking from Politico:
Party operatives say there's increasing concern that the Arizona Democrat's reelection bid... after Grijalva — responding to enactment of a tough new immigration law — called for an economic boycott of his own state amid a housing crisis and record unemployment.
As they work to buttress their majority against a coming Republican storm, Democrats can ill afford to spend time or resources defending incumbents in seats where they should have a clear advantage. But the Grijalva seat potentially being in play is a sign of the increasingly expanding Republican playing field for the midterm elections.
One Democratic source familiar with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said there are "whispers" about the Grijalva-McClung matchup "being a sleeper race."
The District, which includes Yuma, has a two-to-one Democrat registration advantage.
From Eric Dondero:
We have supported both these candidates from the beginning. We were talking up Marco Rubio here at Libertarian Republican in 2009 when he was the longest of longshots. And the Republican Liberty Caucus was warm to his candidacy from the very start. Rubio had sent a top aide to address the RLC convention in Jacksonville (LR article 2009).
We reported favorably on Sharron Angle's race way back in early 2009, "Republican candidate Sharron Angle likely to challenge Reid in Nevada":
After months of dissapointing recruitment efforts by the Nevada GOP, a candidate has finally emerged to take on Liberal/Statist Senator Harry Reid. And she happens to be a candidate from the "Republican wing of the Republican Party."
According to Silver State Libertarian Leanings blog, Angle hails from the “The Republican Wing of the Republican Party”. The movement was the brainchild of libertarian Republican/Anti-Tax firebrand Chuck Muth of Carson City.
We also very proudly had Ms. Angle on our show "Libertarian Politics Live," two days after she won the GOP nomination earlier this year.
Now these two poll results:
US SENATE – FLORIDA (Rasmussen)
Marco Rubio (R) 50%
Charlie Crist (I) 25%
Kendrick Meek (D) 19%
And Politico is even reporting that Angle's new numbers represent a "surge."
From Rasmussen:
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Nevada Voters shows Angle hitting the 50% mark for the first time since mid-August, while Reid earns 46% of the vote. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and two percent (2%) more are undecided. (To see question wording, click here.)
This marks the widest gap between the two candidates since late June, but the race remains a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings.
These are truly wonderful times to be a Libertarian Republican.
From Eric Dondero:
He was supposed to be a place-holder for just a few months. His election was called a fluke. Now he's in a virtual tie for reelection with his Democrat opponent in Hawaii's more liberal-leaning district which includes Honolulu.
From the Washington Times "GOP lawmaker may hold onto Hawaii seat" Oct. 10:
In a Public Policy Poll commissioned by the liberal website Daily Kos released this week, Mr. Djou drew 47 percent versus 48 percent for Mrs. Hanabusa, whose website currently features prominently the endorsement she received last week from Mr. Obama. The poll showed 5 percent undecided and a margin of error of nearly 4 percentage points.
"It's definitely problematic 28 days out for the Democrats in a state where they're supposed to have a pretty strong hold," Dylan Nonaka of the Hawaii Republican Party told Honolulu television station KHON on Tuesday.
The Rothenberg Political Report in an analysis of the race late last month warned Democrats against overconfidence.
"There is little evidence that voters are willing to throw Djou out of office after only a couple months on the job," the nonpartisan political publication noted. "… This race is not over, and Djou may even have the advantage."
Djou is a Chinese-American, and founding member of the Chinese Republican Association. We wrote here at LR of his candidacy back in Feb. 2009"A GOP pick-up in Hawaii? Chinese-American seeks Congressional seat":
Djou's agenda is simple: keeping taxes low to spur economic growth and greater job opportunities. From Djou's campaign website:
Charles believes that every resident of Hawai‘i who is looking for a job should be able to find one. Charles has always made it a priority to lower taxes because reducing the tax burden allows you to keep more of your money for your family, to grow your business and to buy goods and services, which in turn fosters small business and job growth in our community. That is why Charles has never voted for a tax increase. You are a better steward of your money and can do more for the economy than the government. Charles will continue this long standing fight in Washington.
On defense matters, Djou is an advocate of a strong military, and backer of Hawaii's numerous military bases. Further, he "understands that we must combat terrorism wherever it is found, whether in Iran, the Pakistan-Afghanistan border regions or in industrialized cities around the world."
“I believe those who have fought for our country and defended our freedoms should have freedom over their own health care.” -- Christine O'Donnell
From Eric Dondero:
Republicans are not only advocating Repeal and Replace for ObamaCare, but also making innovative suggestions regarding the Veterans Administration Health Care system.
Delaware candidate for Senate Christine O'Donnell in a campaign stop downstate with Vets on Wednesday released details of her new Voucher Plan for the VA.
From the O'Donnell Campaign:
O’Donnell’s plan would allow veterans to receive check-ups and basic medical care from local doctors who have been certified by the VA. It would decrease costs for veterans who currently have to travel sometimes long distances to a VA hospital for basic medical care, and improve efficiency by reducing the demand at VA hospitals.
The move is winning praise from Delaware Vets, but criticism from Democrats.
Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Steve Udovich called O’Donnell’s plan “right on target.” He explained how veterans groups in Sussex County often use fundraisers to offset the cost that veterans face for transportation to a VA hospital... but Delaware Democrats say that “There is absolutely no need for change in our current veteran’s health care system.”
Meanwhile, a Republican candidate for Congress in central Texas is taking it a step further, openly advocating partial privatization of the VA system.
From Fox News "Dems Attack GOP's Proposals for Private-Sector Health Care for Veterans" Oct. 8:
And while Democrats have been reluctant to campaign on their sweeping health care overhaul, which will eventually provide millions in government subsidies, they've been more eager to slam any Republican as heartless and irresponsible for proposing plans to "privatize" the veterans health system -- if not the Department of Veterans Affairs altogether.
The issue has emerged front-and-center in the 17th Congressional District race in Texas, where Rep. Chet Edwards, a Democrat, is battling Republican challenger Bill Flores.
Edwards is hammering Flores over a comment he made during a debate in January in which he said veterans would be "much better off" if they could see doctors in the private system and then have the government pay for it.
"Typically the care in the private sector is better than the government sector," Flores said. "So they need to go into the private system."
Flores stands by his proposal. His website explains that under his plan, veterans would have a choice. The campaign said the private option could be useful for veterans who don't live near a VA facility.
Flores comes from a Military family. He is a graduate of Texas A&M. He is a self-described "limited government conservative."
A recent poll has him ahead of 16-year incumbent Chet Edwards 55 to 34%.
Southern Missouri's unique brand of Politics
Kevin Craig is the Libertarian Party nominee for Congress in Missouri's 7th District (southwestern MO, Ozarks). He was invited to participate in a debate with incumbent Democrat Rep. Scott Eckersley and Republican challenger Billy Long.
Craig is taking a unique position in the race, in some respects far to the right of Republican Long. This despite the fact that Long himself has openly advocated abolishing congressional pork, including agricultural subsidies, limiting federal programs to those guaranteed explicitly in the Constitution, and immediate abolishment of social welfare services for illegal immigrants.
From the Springfield News-Leader "Candidates clash over campaigns, issues in 7th District debate" Oct. 8:
"I'm a very conservative Christian. I think in some ways I'm more conservative than the Republican in this race," said Craig.
Craig said he did not have health insurance. When he lived in California, he ran a homeless shelter "with other Christian anarchists," he said, living on donations rather than salary. A doctor who came to serve the poor also treated him.
"I did have health insurance for a couple of years and at that time I discovered I did have colon cancer, which was taken care of. But I haven't had health insurance after that."
His website boasts:
Uncompromisingly Committed to the ideal of Liberty Under God. He believes that "the federal government is a mega-tyranny" and American citizens are currently "slaves" to the Feds.
He is particularly critical of supposedly "Christian Republicans," who advocate abolishment of the NEA, but haven't done anything to accomplish it:
The National Endowment for the Arts was notorious for its subsidizing of anti-Christian, pornographic “art,” including “art” which featured a figure of Jesus Christ submerged in a container of the "artist’s" urine. These programs mock the idea of "Liberty Under God," and undermine the very heart and soul of America.
Additionally, he openly advocates:
support elimination of the Departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Energy, and the elimination, defunding or privatization of agencies which are obsolete, redundant, of limited value, or too regional in focus. Examples of agencies we seek to defund or to privatize are the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Legal Services Corporation.
Note - Springfield, MO (pop. 80,000) has two elected Libertarian Party members serving on the City Council.
by Paul Jacob
According to a New York Times article by Kate Zernike, the “Movement of the Moment Looks to Long-Ago Texts.” A strange way of saying that Tea Party folks are reading, learning, and studying ideas older than those of, say, Paul Krugman.
Tea Partiers are reading classics . . . but ones not recognized as such by the New York Times:
•Frédéric Bastiat, The Law
•F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
From the NY Times, Oct. 1:
when it comes to ideology, it has reached back to dusty bookshelves for long-dormant ideas.
It has resurrected once-obscure texts by dead writers — in some cases elevating them to best-seller status — to form a kind of Tea Party canon. Recommended by Tea Party icons like Ron Paul and Glenn Beck, the texts are being quoted everywhere from protest signs to Republican Party platforms.
Pamphlets in the Tea Party bid for a Second American Revolution, the works include Frédéric Bastiat’s “The Law,” published in 1850, which proclaimed that taxing people to pay for schools or roads was government-sanctioned theft, and Friedrich Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” (1944), which argued that a government that intervened in the economy would inevitably intervene in every aspect of its citizens’ lives.
The article cites the “Austrian School of Economics” — a brand of economics that includes many of the most important free-market thinkers — as an important force, but merely mentions its 20th century leader, Ludwig von Mises, as if a duty. Bastiat, a French economist who died before the school was founded, is lumped in with Mises and Hayek, perhaps because he’s so radically anti-taxation that the Times hopes by mentioning his ideas over and over, readers might dismiss him as a nut.That could backfire. Some of the Times’s smarter readers might become curious, reading Bastiat and Mises and Hayek with the notion of learning something.
Maybe they’ll even read the Constitution. What a revolutionary thought.
Paul's blog ThisisCommonSense
From Eric Dondero:
Republican Liberty Caucus member, and longtime Michigan libertarian Republican activist Justin Amash has held a stable lead in his race for US Congress - Western MI district. And he's not backing down from his libertarian background.
In 2008, Tom McClintock of California was the most explicitly libertarian-leaning Republican elected to Congress. For 2010, that honor may go to Amash.
From the NY Times, "Movement of the Moment Looks to Long-Ago Texts" Oct. 1:
Justin Amash, the 30-year-old Republican state legislator running for the House seat once held by Gerald Ford in Michigan, frequently posts links to essays by Hayek and Bastiat on his Facebook page, his chief vehicle for communicating with voters. “There is no single economist or philosopher I admire more than F. A. Hayek,” he wrote in May. “I have his portrait on the wall of my legislative office and the Justin Amash for Congress office.”
From Eric Dondero:
This race is tied. It's been tied for weeks now, with some polls showing libertarian-leaning Republican Ryan Frazier with a slight lead; others showing incumbent Democrat Ed Perlmutter up by 3 to 4.
This latest bombshell may tip the balance to Frazier.
From Denver Post, "A fresh voice in 7th District" Oct. 8
Colorado's 7th Congressional District is evenly divided among Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters.
But its congressman, Democrat Ed Perlmutter, doesn't reflect that ideological diversity.
Since he was first elected in 2006, Perlmutter has been a solid vote for the Democratic majority in Congress, and has supported the Obama administration's over-reaching agenda. He voted for the cap-and-trade bill that would drive up energy costs as well as health care reform that will drive up costs, the so-called "card check" bill and the nearly $1 trillion stimulus.
His opponent, Republican Ryan Frazier, is a conservative whose votes may not end up reflecting the district's blend of ideological diversity either, but we think it's time for new blood in Congress.
We've long been advocates for split government, believing that America is better served when one party doesn't control Washington. Electing Frazier would help restore some of that balance.
Note - Frazier is now likely to be one of three Black Republicans elected to Congress this year. Tim Scott in South Carolina has only token opposition in an overwhelmingly Republican district. And latest polls show Allan West slightly ahead in south Florida.
From Eric Dondero:
You'd expect pretty much any candidate, Republican or Democrat, to moderate or tarnish rough edges of their ideology 3 weeks out of an election. Not Alaska's Joe Miller.
Miller recently spoke to about 100 people at a hotel in North Pole.
From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Oct. 8:
The Fairbanks attorney warned that some Chinese bond agencies have already downgraded U.S. debt and if the federal government doesn’t do something to cut spending, it could face the same financial difficulties that were seen in Greece this year.
On the topic of economic policy, Miller also said he supports libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul’s bill to audit the federal reserve, which he said was torn apart when it reached the Senate.
Miller has previously advocated for the eventual privatization of Social Security, repealing Democrat-backed health care reform as well as abolishing the Department of Education and other federal programs not explicitly allowed for in the Constitution.
“I hope we can do something in an orderly fashion, hopefully a cutback on a year-by-year basis,” he said.
Miller has warmed up to the Libertarian Party of Alaska in the last few weeks. He and his staff have had meetings with both Libertarian Party of AK Chair Scott Kohlhaas, and Libertarian for Senate Dave Haase.
From Eric Dondero:
In recent weeks two Classic Rockers from 1960's/early '70s bands have been identified with Right-leaning affiliations.
First, a Libertarian Party candidate for State Senate in southern California, a semi-pro classic rock guitarist himself, received an interesting endorsement for his race:
"Adrian Galysh is an inspiring candidate. His ideas and principles will help return prosperity to California. I proudly support him." - Paul Marshall, former member, Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Secondly, out of Georgia, the longtime drummer for the Pre-Punk New York band from the late 1960s Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground was recently discovered to be a Tea Partyer.
From the Daily Caller "'Moe' Tucker is a Tea Partier":
Even Velvet Underground rocker Maureen “Moe” Tucker is partying with the Tea Partiers down in Georgia.
A clip of Tucker giving an interview to a local television station as an everyday Tea Party activist has gone viral as fans have realized the woman is the former drummer for the 1960s band.
“I’m furious about the way we’re being led towards socialism,” Tucker said during that interview in April. “I’m furious about the incredible waste of money when things that we really need and are important get dropped because there’s no money left.”
Photo - Tucker is in front, left. Marshall is semi-standing behind the wicker chair. More info electAdrianGaylsh.com YouTube video of Incense Peppermints Reunion Tour. Video of Walk on the Wild Side.
The Duke Aiona-Lynn Finnegan team
Hawai‘i’s business climate has improved in recent years, but still struggles due to many factors, including one of the highest tax burdens in the nation, the high cost of doing business, government-created delays, unnecessary regulatory barriers,
and the need for a well-educated, trained workforce that can compete in the global economy.
As Governor, Duke Aiona will accelerate private sector investment to create more jobs by improving transparency and certainty in government permitting and approvals.
Duke Aiona will propose a tax credit equal to the amount of withholdings taxes paid by each new employee hired by a firm located in Hawai‘i.
He will work to reduce the amount of unemployment insurance taxes businesses must pay.
Note - Aiona's running mate Lynn Finnegan is a 4-term Republican state legislator.
To help aionafinnegan.com
