The Blue State

Outsourcing security

9,600 forces from the 101st were notified yesterday that they will serve a 15-month tour in Iraq starting this fall.  the Pentagon also hinted that as many as 35,000 soldiers could be shipped to Iraq by the year's end.

This will only add to the growing frustration for governors all across the country, who have watched their National Guard resources become minimized as a result of the war.  Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is irate at the lack of equipment and manpower available to help with the tornado aftermath in her state.  50 percent of the state's emergency trucks are gone.

As the Wichita Eagle writes in their Wednesday editorial, state governments all across the country are under-manned:

Just last month, Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National GuardBureau, testified before Congress: "Most of the units in the Army andAir National Guard are underequipped for the jobs and the missions thatthey have to perform" on the home front. "Can we do the job? Yes, wecan. But the lack of equipment (means it takes) longer to do that job,and lost time translates into lost lives, and those lost lives areAmerican lives."

The larger concern is that Guard unitshere and elsewhere are stretched thin, especially if they have torespond to multiple disasters or are needed out of state. With anotherdangerous hurricane season looming, that's a real possibility.

All the more reason why this war is making America less secure on the home front.

Lawmakers Breaking the Law

Along with not wearing his seatbelt, Gov. Corzine's car seems to have beengoing 91 MPH in a 65 MPH zone.

CAMDEN,N.J., April 17 — In the seconds before Gov. Jon S. Corzine was criticallyinjured in an accident last Thursday, the Chevrolet Suburban he was riding inwas traveling 91 miles per hour, 26 m.p.h. over the posted speed limit,according to a crash data recorder retrieved from the vehicle.

The superintendent of the state police, Col. Joseph R. Fuentes, said Tuesdaythat the trooper driving the vehicle, Robert J. Rasinski, had toldinvestigators that he did not know how fast he was traveling as he led Mr.Corzine’s two-car caravan, emergency lights flashing, from an AtlanticCity casino where the governor had given a speech to a meeting at thegovernor’s mansion in Princeton. But the recorder clocked the speed at 91m.p.h. five seconds before the Suburban collided with a white pickup truck, andat 30 m.p.h. when it slammed into a guardrail along the shoulder of the GardenState Parkway, the police said.

You mean to tell me that TrooperRasinski doesn't have a sense of speed while driving or never looked down at thespeedometer? The driver of Corzine's car should have fell back (backupplan #3). Either way, unless it was an emergency there were some laws beingbroken by lawmakers and enforcers.

Democratic Presidential Candidate and Gov.of New Mexico Bill Richardson, isleading a delegation to discuss North Korea's nuclear weapons program.Richardson is probably one of the better U.S. Ambassadors in history, and has arather impressiveresume.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, leading a U.S.delegation on a visit to North Korea, said he believed Pyongyang was ready toend its nuclear weapons program and improve relations with the United States,NBC Nightly News reported on Sunday.

"I believe for the first time they do want to enter into an agreementwith the six-party countries and they want a better relationship with the UnitedStates," Richardson told NBC.

"They know that the key is dismantling their nuclear weapons."

The complete article is here: Richardsonsees N. Korea set for nuclear deal

 

Gubernatorial Results

DEMOCRATS WIN MAJORITY OF GOVERNORSHIPS!!!

The following are the results from each contested governors race.  They will be updated when we can determine a winner.  You can click here to find up-to-the-second results.  Currently, the Republicans hold 28 of the nation's 50 governorships.  The Democrats must win three out of the following five races to capture majority.  This page will be updated every time we can declare a winner:

• Colorado: (D) Bill Ritter vs (R) Bob Beauprez - DEM WIN!!!
  
• Arkansas: (D) Mike Beebe vs (R) Asa Hutchinson - DEM WIN!
  
• Maryland: (D) Martin O'Malley vs (R) Robert Ehrlich - DEM WIN!
• Minnesota: (D) Mike Hatch vs (R) Tim Pawlenty
• Idaho: (D) Jerry Brady vs (R) Butch Otter

I did not include New York, Ohio or Massachusetts since the Democrats are expected to win those GOP-held governorships rather easily.

NV-Gov: Gibbons may have sexually assaulted woman in parking garage

While it appears like Jim Gibbons will cruise to victory in the Nevada gubernatorial election, video tapes might confirm that current U.S. Congressman Gibbons sexually assaulted a cocktail waitress in a parking garage in Las Vegas.  The incident originally took place on October 13th.  The Clark County Sheriff's office has been criticized for their handling of of the case, and is being accused of giving Gibbons special treatment.  Sheriff Bill Young has publicly endorsed Gibbons for Governor.  This new added pressure has forced the District Attorney to take charge and re-open the case.

Late Monday night, the AP explained what was going on:

Mazzeo, a Las Vegas Strip casino waitress, accused Gibbons, 61, ofpushing her up against a wall Oct. 13 and propositioning her. Mazzeo,32, said she had been pressured and offered cash from people linked tothe Gibbons campaign to drop the complaint.

The five-termcongressman, who is in a close race with Democratic state Sen. DinaTitus for Nevada's open governor's seat, has denied wrongdoing and suedMonday to force police to release surveillance videos he said woulddisprove Mazzeo's claim.

A judge set an emergency hearing for Tuesday.

SheriffBill Young, who supports Gibbons for governor, said last week hisoffice would reopen the investigation if Mazzeo requested it. Young didnot immediately return a phone call Monday.

The Special Prosecutor and the Sheriff's office now have an excellent opportunity to prove to the nation that the city of Las Vegas is no longer run by mob tactics.  Pressuring victims.  Bribing her to drop charges.  That is the Las Vegas of old, not the Las Vegas of the 21st century.  Let's send the right message.

Of course, Gibbons has no incentive to get the Sheriff to cooperate.  He is leading Democrat Dina Titus by a comfortable margin in recent polls.  My guess is that this investigation will be stone-walled until after the November vote.

However, if you are as outraged about this as I am, and you happen to live in the great state of Nevada, please sign up to help the Titus Campaign and prevent a potential assault suspect from becoming your next Governor.

CO-Gov: Beauprez thinks majority of black pregnancies are aborted

Now this is enough to get your blood boiling.  Colorado Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez, who is also running for governor in that state, said in a radio interview on Monday that 70% of all African-American pregnancies end in abortion:

"In some of our ethnic communities, we're seeing very, very highpercentages of babies, children, pregnancies end in abortion," Beauprezsaid in an interview broadcast on Colorado Public Radio. "I've seennumbers as high as 70 percent, maybe even more, in the African-Americancommunity that I think is just appalling."

It looks like someone is jealous of George Allen!  Obviously the number Beauprez gave was inaccurate, and he apologized on Wednesday.  Even though he did say he was sorry, Colorado voters have to ask themselves whether they want to elect a governor that just throws around numbers like that in order to score points with a fringe demographic.

Yesterday, columnist Mike Lettwin of the Rocky Mountain News responded to Beauprez:

I kept waiting to hear if Beauprez had said that 70 percent of pregnant African-American women lacked the necessities to swim.

As of August 15th, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter had a 48% to 39% lead over Republican Bob Beauprez.  One can only wonder what the next poll will say.
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Other sites blogging about this issue: Voice of a Native Son, 5280 Magazine, Life or something like it, Colorado Confidential, Post an Apology, Colorado Media Matters, The Carpetbagger Report, Mirror on America, ColoradoPols, Feministing, Jack and Jill Politics, Political Wire.

OH-Gov: Blackwell ad smears and distorts Strickland's voting record

Ohio Gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell (R), chairman of the 2004 Bush/Cheney Campaign in Ohio and the Secretary of State who refused to launch an investigation into widespread voter fraud, is getting destroyed in the polls.  Democrat Ted Strickland leads Blackwell in three of the latest surveys:

Rasmussen Reports: Strickland - 57%, Blackwell - 32%
Survey USA: Strickland - 57%, Blackwell - 35%
Columbus Dispatch: Strickland - 47%, Blackwell - 27%

Usually the unwritten campaign rule is that if you are 15-points down with 50 days to go, you are probably better off throwing in the towel and heading to the bar to buy a margarita.  Right now, there are about 70 days to go, meaning that we can expect the Ohio GOP to be as aggressive as a monkey on steroids.

Today, the Ohio GOP unveiled a television ad that attacked Strickland's voting record on the issue of taxes -- reminiscent of how the Bush Campaign put together their own clever narration about John Kerry's Senate votes during the 2004 campaign.  In the 30-second ad, the word "tax" was used eight times, giving us an idea of how the Ohio Republican Party plans on scaring moderate conservatives into supporting the status-quo of corruption that has plagued Ohio politicians like Ken Blackwell over the last four years.

Below is the ad:

What the video chose to leave out was the fact that Ted Strickland is actually a fiscal conservative on budgetary issues.  In June, he voted for a line item veto legislation designed to cut back on wasteful spending.  In May, Strickland also supported a measure that extended $69.96 billion in tax cuts through 2010.  And last December, Strickland voted to pass a bill that reduced federal spending by $56.1 billion over five years.

Taxing Ted?  Think again.  Strickland is the opposite.  But as I mentioned before, the GOP and the Blackwell Campaign will do anything to turn the tide, even if that means distorting Ted Strickland's voting record.

Please do your part to help the Strickland Campaign fend off these attacks.  Along with possibly taking back the House and Senate, the Democrats are on the verge of winning a majority of the governorships this fall.  Please give what you can so we can all be part of this effort to turn Ohio blue.

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Other sites blogging about the Ohio Governors race: Pandagon, Mad as Hell, Stubborn Liberal, Drinking Liberally in Cincinnati, The Carpetbagger Report, Ohio 2006, Blog Sheroes, North Coast Blues, Buckeye State Blog, Viking Spirit's Blog, Liberal Values, Political Wire, Reconstitution, The Sideshow, Political News.

Rove uses Blackwell event to slander Dems

Even though the GOP is in serious trouble with Ohio voters, Karl Rove thought that he could help turn things around by appearing on Wednesday at a fundraiser for Ohio's Republican Gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell.

Rove, as usual, invoked the "we're fighting them there so we won't fight them here" lie:

The 20-minute speech echoed Mr. Bush’s 2004campaign themes. He said Mr. Bush would not abandon the war and said ofterrorists to the audience: “Who thinks if we come home, that they’renot going to follow us?”

The event featured baked-brieappetizers, dark suits all around, and a minimum $1,000 entry fee. Itraised $165,000 for Mr. Blackwell, the Republican candidate forgovernor, who used the occasion to highlight his plan to lease the OhioTurnpike to private investors and to criticize his Democratic opponent,U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Lisbon.

A few dozen protestersoutside the club used Mr. Rove’s visit to denounce the Iraq war and Mr.Bush. Democrats used it to highlight the ongoing scandal surroundingformer Republican power broker Tom Noe, who pleaded guilty this summerto laundering money to Mr. Bush’s re-election campaign and who facescharges this fall of stealing millions of dollars that state officialsinvested in his rare coin ventures.

So the terrorists are going to get on the plane with our troops as they head back home?  This guy has absolutely zero foreign policy knowledge whatsoever.

If you recall, Blackwell, Ohio's current Secretary of State, chaired the 2004 Bush Campaign in the state of Ohio.  After the November election, he refused to conduct an investigation into the fact that 357,000 registered Democrats and one-fourth of all registered Ohio voters were prevented from casting their ballots.

As Senator Christopher Dodd said, Blackwell was partly to blame for manipulating the voter rolls:

''People waiting in line for twelve hours to cast their ballots, peoplenot being allowed to vote because they were in the wrong precinct -- itwas an outrage. In Ohio, you had a secretary of state who wasdetermined to guarantee a Republican outcome. I'm terriblydisheartened.''

Ohio voters want change.  Their current Governor, Bob Taft, has a 17% approval rating.  Go figure.
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Other sites blogging about this issue: Buckeye State Blog, Media Matters, Ohio2006, News Hounds, The Modern Esquire, Politics in Mudville, Blogdc.

Bloggers are the substantive equivalent of hate groups, according to KY Governor

Kentucky Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher, whose approval rating now stands at 28%, is adding political blogs to the list of web sites that state officials are not allowed to visit:

Political bloggers have joined pornographers, casinos and hate groupson the Fletcher administration’s list of Web sites that state employeesare blocked from visiting.

So have blogs and Web sites dealingwith entertainment, auctions and humor, as well as sites that couldtransmit computer viruses.

Political blogs were among the categories added to the list Wednesday.

Onepolitical blogger in Kentucky said the timing is suspicious and chargedthe Fletcher administration has targeted his site because he iscritical of the governor.

On Tuesday, he ran excerpts of a NewYork Times story Tuesday about the state hiring investigation, whichincluded quotes from him criticizing Fletcher.

The blog Political Wire already reported that Fletcher had blocked the progressive blog Blue Grass Report. 

I'm sure, especially with his 28% approval rating and his ongoing political scandal, that Fletcher should have a fun time trying to get reelected next year.

The break-down of governorships up for grabs

Survey USA just released its batch of polling data this month for the governors in all 50 states.  Here is a list of the poll numbers of all the incumbents planning to run again this year.  The red indicates that the Republican incumbent will win easily, and the blue indicates that the Democrat will win easily.  Those left black will be battleground contests with the possibility of the challenger winning:

• Bob Riley (R) of Alabama: Approve - 59%, Disapprove - 37%
• Frank Murkowski (R) of Alaska: Approve - 23%, Disapprove - 73%
• Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) of California: Approve - 36%, Disapprove - 61%
• Janet Napolitano (D) of Arizona: Approve - 58%, Disapprove - 39%
• Robert Ehrlich (R) of Maryland: Approve - 44%, Disapprove - 50%
• Sonny Perdue (R) of Georgia: Approve - 60%, Disapprove - 35%
• Linda Lingle (R) of Hawaii: Approve - 66%, Disapprove - 27%
• Rod Blagojevich (D) of Illinois: Approve - 45%, Disapprove - 51%
• Kathleen Sebelius (D) of Kansas: Approve - 61%, Disapprove - 31%
• John Baldacci (D) of Maine: Approve - 43%, Disapprove - 54%
• Jennifer Granholm (D) of Michigan: Approve - 43%, Disapprove - 54%
• Tim Pawlenty (R) of Minnesota: Approve - 51%, Disapprove - 43%
• Dave Heineman (R) of Nebraska: Approve - 70%, Disapprove - 26%
• John Lynch (D) of New Hampshire: Approve - 71%, Disapprove -21%
• Bill Richardson (D) of New Mexico: Approve - 56%, Disapprove - 37%
• Brad Henry (R) of Oklahoma: Approve - 66%, Disapprove - 30%
• Ted Kulongoski (D) of Oregon: Approve - 35%, Disapprove - 58%
• Ed Rendell (D) of Pennsylvania: Approve - 62%, Disapprove - 36%
• Donald Carcieri (R) of Rhode Island: Approve - 54%, Disapprove - 42%
• Mark Sanford (R) of South Carolina: Approve - 53%, Disapprove - 42%
• Michael Rounds (R) of South Dakota: Approve - 65%, Disapprove - 30%
• Philip Bredesen (D) of Tennessee: Approve - 51%, Disapprove - 44%
• Rick Perry (R) of Texas: Approve - 40%, Disapprove - 54%
• James Douglas (R) of Vermont: Approve - 61%, Disapprove - 31%
• James Doyle (D) of Wisconsin: Approve - 47%, Disapprove - 48%
• Dave Freudenthal (D) of Wyoming: Approve - 68%, Disapprove - 24%

As this list concludes, of the incumbent governors running for another term, 5 Republicans and 5 Democrats are in trouble.

What this chart does not factor in are open governor seats (where the incumbent is either retiring or there are term limits, meaning two fresh candidates will run).  There is only 1 open Democratic governor seat and 8 open Republican governor seats, obviously giving the Democrats a huge advantage. 

As it stands, the Republicans hold 28 governorships nationwide, while the Democrats hold 22.  All that needs to happen for the Democrats to a gain majority of the governorships is for them to pick up a net gain of 4 seats this November, giving them a 26-24 advantage.  Most pollsters agree that this is very much a possibility, especially considering the way political trends are shaping up nationwide.