Newsom Tracker: Quiet weekend?

By: Mike Billings
11/07/09 9:05 AM

Mayor Gavin Newsom, who recently returned from a trip Hawaii, has no public appearances planned for Saturday, according to the Mayor's Office, though he may have a busy week ahead.

Gavin Newsom was back in The City on Friday, though he did not appear in public or speak to the media.

It has been more than a week since Newsom made a public appearance. That was at a news conference about an oil spill in the Bay, which was just hours before announcing in a written statement that he was dropping out of the race to be the next governor of California.

Newsom then left for a trip to Hawaii early last week to spend time with his wife and 7-week-old daughter.

Newsom does not have any appearances planned for Sunday or Monday, according to the Mayor's Office. He is, however, expected to meet with labor leaders and hotel management about contract negotiations.

MTA gives outline of Bike Plan in hopes injunction will be lifted

By: Will Reisman
11/06/09 6:03 PM

If the legal wrangling about The City's Bike Plan ends, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency says it would be able to complete 30 percent of the projects listed in the plan by March, which is the tentative date of a crucial hearing on the matter.

On Monday, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Peter Busch indicated he would consider lifting the injunction against the bike plan , so long as any work carried out could eventually be reversed.

On Friday, the City Attorney's Office filed a declaration with Busch outlining its time frame for the plan and declared that all elements of the bike plan are reversible.

Some of the earliest implementations of the plan include the additions of bike lanes to Bryant Street, Kirkham Street and Laguna Honda Boulevard. The City could also begin painting about 20 sharrows — directional signals on the pavement — a day if the injunction was lifted, according to the declaration, which was prepared by Damon Curtis, a planner with the MTA.

To satisfy terms of the injunction, The City completed an environmental impact report of the bike plan. Sometime early next year, likely in March, Busch will determine the adequacy of the EIR, and possibly lift the injunction and allow the bike plan to move forward.

On Nov. 12, he could give tentatively lift the injunction, under the stipulation that any work done on the bike plan could be reversed ...

SFFD to participate in cancer study

By: Brent Begin
11/06/09 4:10 PM

After dragging their feet a bit on participating in a national study on cancer among firefighters, the San Francisco Fire Department has agreed to help the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health collect data after all.

While the delay caused some outrage from the firefighter’s union and a group of firefighters who have worked tirelessly to bring the issue to the fore, the department administration says it was just concerned about the confidentiality of firefighter records.

Now that it’s all clear, the department will participate, Deputy Chief Gary Massetani recently told the Fire Commission.

The race for government transparency

By: Mike Aldax
11/06/09 4:06 PM

The scorecard has been published on the race to see which San Francisco agency is most eager to increase its transparency.

Mayor Gavin Newsom in recent months announced the launch of DataSf.org, a Web site where The City publishes all kinds of government information in hopes that tech professionals will harness it and make user-friendly applications. Newsom has called on city agencies to release as much data as possible as soon as possible.

DataSF.org is listing which agencies are leading the way in publishing sets of their data. The lead agency is sort of obvious: The Department of Technology has released 78 so-called datasets.

The Department of Public Works is second with 18, followed by the Department of Building Inspections (5) and Department of Environment (3).

In last place is the Municipal Transportation Agency with just one released dataset.

You can follow the race here. http://ow.ly/zdrb

TARP funds taking on unemployment... in Germany

By: Chris Stirewalt
11/06/09 2:00 PM

General Motors (majority owner, US taxpayers) is trying to rescue its European subsidiary Opel after backing out of a plan to sell the company to a consortium led by auto-equipment maker Magna.

In order to get clear of the sale, GM cut a deal with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to pour billions into Opel. Merkel had to sign off on the deal because Germany had provided a bridge loan to Opel in order to carry the company over until the sale could be completed. German labor unions are up in arms over GM's reversal and Merkel was under pressure to get something back.

Merkel was in town this week and after a meeting with President Obama and a phone call with him Wednesday, agreed to "coordinate on the future"

In that coordinated future, GM is planning to inject a minimum of $4.5 billion into German operations and probably much more over time. But since the company is only being kept afloat by taxpayer dollars, that means a pretty hefty investment in German auto plants with public money.

That was too much for Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.):

"The Obama Administration should not be in the car business in the first place and when there's 10.2 percent unemployment in the United States, now is not the time to use U.S. taxpayer dollars to protect jobs in other countries, particularly when its leaders have their own plans to protect those jobs."

If GM were a real co...

Even more lies, damned lies and stimulus jobs

11/06/09 1:00 PM

Earlier this week, we discussed the White House's was claiming the "stimulus saves nine out of every five jobs." Then we noted how the White house was counting stimulus-funded payraises for government workers as jobs saved, because "If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job," according to a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman. Then we noted the reports of stimulus jobs being overcounted in Illinois and Wisconsin. Now the Sacramento Bee has taken a look at California's stimulus jobs numbers, and guess what?:

Up to one-fourth of the 110,000 jobs reported as saved by federal stimulus money in California probably never were in danger, a Bee review has found.

California State University officials reported late last week that they saved more jobs with stimulus money than the number of jobs saved in Texas – and in 44 other states.

In a required state report to the federal government, the university system said the $268.5 million it received in stimulus funding through October allowed it to retain 26,156 employees.

That total represents more than half of CSU’s statewide work force. However, university officials confirmed Thursday that half their workers were not going to be laid off without the stimulus dollars.

So we've now seen reports of goosing stimulus job stats in Georgia, Illinois, Wisconsin, California, New Hampshi...

Poll: Huge majority doesn't want Democrats' health care bill

By: Byron York
11/06/09 1:00 PM

With House Democrats racing to pass their 2,000-plus page health care reform bill this weekend, a new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows that an overwhelming majority of those surveyed -- 72 percent -- want Congress either to make major changes, start over from scratch, or simply stop working on health care legislation. Just 26 percent want Congress to pass the current health care proposal as is, or with minor changes.

This was the question asked by the CNN/Opinion Research pollsters:

As you may know, several health care bills have been passed by committees in the U.S. House and Senate and they can be brought before Congress for debate and a final vote at any time. Which of the following do you think Congress should do:

** Continue working on those bills this fall and make relatively minor changes before passing final legislation.

** Continue working on those bills this fall but pass final legislation only if major changes are made.

** Start work on entirely new bills that would not be ready until some time next year.

** Stop working on any bills that would change the country's health care system.

The results: 26 percent want the bills passed with relatively minor changes; 33 percent want the bills passed but only with major changes; 24 percent want Congress to start work on entirely new bills; and 15 percent want Congress to stop work altogether. Just one percent have no opinion.

That me...

You can identify SF trees on iPhone

By: Mike Aldax
11/06/09 12:26 PM

If you care to know what those trees are that you pass on the way to work, there’s an app for that.

A new software application allows you to search and identify trees in San Francisco from where you’re standing, using information provided by the San Francisco Department of Public Works.

Just type in an address, the cross streets or even a ZIP code and mapping software will pop up with images of the trees on your block.

The application, which costs 99 cents “contains details of the nearly 65,000 trees from the Golden Gate Bridge down to Daly City that they keep track of and/or maintain,” according to an advertisement for the application.

The use of city data to provide information for residents is the goal of DataSF, which was recently launched by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

More on the election's impact on the health care vote

By: Michael Barone
11/06/09 12:00 PM

As I noted Wednesday, Republican governor candidate Bob McDonnell won 62%, 61% and 55% of the vote in the three Virginia congressional districts in which a Democrats Glenn Nye, Tom Perriello and Gerry Connally, replaced Republicans in 2008, and McDonnell won 67% in the 9th district long represented by senior Democrat Rick Boucher. That’s got to make the health care vote a painful one for Nye, Perriello, Connally and Boucher. Looking at the http://www.nj.com/politics/map/ New Jersey returns by city, borough and township, I see that 3rd district Democrat John Adler, elected to replace a retiring Republican in 2008, faces the same situation, with his district clearly voting for Republican Chris Christie over Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine on Tuesday. In addition, two other more veteran Democrats, Rush Holt of the 12th district and Frank Pallone of the 6th district saw large portions of their constituencies deliver big margins for Christie.

So it doesn’t come entirely as a surprise to me that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has said the leadership may have to put off the vote scheduled for Saturday until Sunday or a later date. As Matt Drudge would say, developing . . . .

Newsom Tracker: Quietly back in The City

By: Mike Aldax
11/06/09 10:49 AM

Mayor Gavin Newsom is back in City Hall, though you wouldn’t know it by his schedule Friday.

Newsom reportedly walked into his office around 9:30 a.m., according to a television news crew that was camping out in front of Room 200, the mayoral quarters.

The reporters said Newsom would not comment.

It has been a week days since the mayor has appeared publicly following his withdrawal from the 2010 governor’s race. The mayor abruptly left The City on Tuesday morning to join his family at a Big Island resort.

Nathan Ballard, the mayor’s spokesman, said Newsom may or may not speak publicly Friday. He will hold meetings Friday, possibly with the players involved in an ongoing hotel labor dispute, Ballard said.

Unemployment numbers sharpen the debate on health care

By: Susan Ferrechio
11/06/09 11:00 AM

Republicans pounced on the latest unemployment report from the Department of Labor as evidence that Democrats' $787 billion stimulus plan was a waste of money and that the House health care bill set for a vote as early as Tuesday could kill an additional 5.5 million jobs.

The Department of Labor Friday announced the jobless rate has climbed to 10.2 percent, the highest level in more than 25 years. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the news shows that more work needs to be done, but that Congress has taken steps "to protect the middle class and set the stage for economic growth."

But House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio said the Democratic health care bill will do just the opposite by hurting small businesses and raising taxes. Boehner pointed out that 3 million people have lost their jobs since stimulus spending began in February.

"Americans are asking, 'Where are the jobs?, but all they're getting from Democrats here in Washington is more spending and more debt," Boehner said.

Pelosi used a different set of statistics to make her case on Friday. She said the stimulus has created or saved nearly 1 million jobs and that job loss has slowed since President Obama took office.

"After watching an average of 673,000 jobs disappear in the final three months of the Bush Administration, the 190,000 jobs lost in October are fewer than the jobs lost in S...

Exchange of park, wasteland OK'd

By: Kamala Kelkar
11/05/09 9:47 PM

The City could soon own all of Little Hollywood Park in the Bayview, but it would have to give Norcal Waste Systems a strip of land to expand its facilities in Potrero Hill.

Currently, Norcal Waste leases the 35,250 square feet of land at the southwest corner of Tocoloma and Lathrop avenues – a little more than half of Little Hollywood Park.

What the company wants is a 50-by-628-foot strip of Channel Street on the southwest side of Seventh Street adjacent to one of its facilities, which is too small to make into a highly recreational area, the Recreation and Park Department said. In addition, Norcal Waste is offering The City $400,000. The offer was tossed around before, but did not get the go-ahead.

The Recreation and Park Commission decided this time before recommending the exchange to the Board of Supervisors that it would request that the $400,000 be given to the open-space fund specifically for creating more open space on eastern side of The City. Neighbors in the area were sad to see their only strip of open space go, but were hopeful The City might find other ways to compensate for it with the $400,000.

Since the Rec and Park Commission approved the proposal, the Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on the issue in December.

Republicans Get Back in the Saddle

11/05/09 9:05 PM

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Bids open for CleanPowerSF

By: John Upton
11/05/09 6:49 PM

Bidding has opened for power providers interested in selling electricity to San Francisco residents through the Pacific Gas & Electric Corp.-owned grid.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on Thursday released its request for proposals for a Community Choice Aggregation program named CleanPowerSF.

Community Choice Aggregation laws were adopted by California in 2002 to foster power-sector competition. The bid documents were approved Tuesday by lawmakers. Bidders are urged to sell 360 megawatts of power into San Francisco — roughly the amount of power produced at the Potrero Power Plant — and to provide more than half of the electricity from renewable sources by 2017.

Two organizations have already registered interest in bidding on the project. Bids are due by Dec. 29.

Supes choose Hammer for commission

By: Joshua Sabatini
11/05/09 5:01 PM

The appointment of James Hammer to the Police Commission was sent out of the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee Thursday.

Hammer, who is thought to be a potential District Attorney candidate, was hailed by Supervisor Chris Daly. “What [Hammer} can do is he can go into the police commission and be an immediate game changer. I think that we need an immediate game changer right now,” Daly said.

Hammer’s public safety experience includes serving as a reserve police officer, an assistant district attorney and a law professor.

The seven-member Police Commission is required to set “policy for the Police Department and to conduct disciplinary hearings on charges of police misconduct filed by the Chief of Police or Director of the Office of Citizen Complaints, impose discipline in such cases as warranted, and hear police officers’ appeals from discipline imposed by the Chief of Police,” according to the commission’s web site.

One of Hammer’s goals is to erase the backlog of disciplinary cases. “There are discipline cases right now from several years ago, not months. That’s missed up,” Hammer told the committee.

Congressional staffer denies pushing visitor UPDATED!

By: J.P. Freire
11/05/09 3:37 PM

A heated exchange during a visit to the office of Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., led to a staffer putting his hands on Teri Christoph, executive director of Smart Girl Politics, in order to get her to put her camera down, reported Jillian Bandes of TownHall.

In a phone interview with The Examiner, the staffer, press secretary George Burke, said that claims that he had "pushed" Christoph were untrue. When asked about the report in TownHall, he replied, "Is that a reporter? Some right-wing blog?" Yes to both questions, but was the claim true?

"She came in and whipped out a camera. Staff people told her, 'we don't want you to use a camera in here.' I put a hand on her shoulder same way I put on my daughter's and of course she said that she was going to the media," he said.

The scuffle started when Christoph joined a number of Connolly's constituents in his office. A younger staffer was distributing pens to enable them to leave a message for their congressman. Christoph, Burke said, had started "badgering" the staffer, preventing him from being able to further help other constituents.

"Voices were raised, so I came out of my office and told her politely to put away the camera," he said. "I didn't even ask her to leave. Just to put away the camera."

I asked what the policy was about having cameras in the office. "Only credenti...

Newsom to return Friday after retreat

By: Mike Aldax
11/05/09 3:33 PM

Mayor Gavin Newsom will be back in City Hall on Friday, his spokesman said Thursday afternoon.

Newsom has presumably been at a resort in Hawaii since Tuesday. It has been six days since the mayor has appeared publicly following his withdrawal from the 2010 governor’s race.

The mayor announced his return to work while a major labor dispute is brewing in The City. Hotel workers at the Grand Hyatt Union Square went on strike Thursday morning.

He will meet with the union and hotels as soon as possible, spokesman Nathan Ballard said.

It has been six days since the mayor has appeared publicly following his withdrawal from the 2010 governor’s race. The mayor abruptly left The City on Tuesday morning to join his family on a Big Island resort.

The departure also left questions about whether the mayor followed proper protocol in designating Supervisor Carmen Chu as acting mayor.

On spending, Congress apparently has no priorities

By: David Freddoso
11/05/09 3:37 PM

Thanks to a 36-to-62 vote in the Senate today, the National Science Foundation will continue funding studies like this one, which concluded that congressmen can boost their approval ratings by holding Internet town halls. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., proposed an amendment banning the use of NSF funds for such political science studies. Nine Republicans voted to preserve the funding. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., was among those voting against it.

You can see how your senators voted on Coburn's amendment here.

The vote highlights the total lack of prioritization in federal spending. One would expect National Science Foundation money to go towardy...well, science. If this kind of flimsy study (it examined town halls with only 15 to 25 participants each) on a topic of questionable value isn't worthy of a cut, is there any place in the budget for Congress to begin cutting?

Ex-supe candidate leaves nonprofit

By: Brent Begin
11/05/09 3:20 PM

Rob Black, former candidate for supervisor and vice president of public policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, has parted ways with a Tenderloin nonprofit because of its stance on the controversial Proposition D — a measure that would have allowed billboards on a stretch of Market Street.

An e-mail went out Thursday from the Community Leadership Alliance saying Black resigned because the group aggressively opposed a measure that Black aggressively supported.

Black, reached at his office at the Chamber of Commerce, said the story isn’t that simple. He accepted an honorary position on the board of the nonprofit after running for District 6 supervisor (CLA backed his run for the SoMa district). He really hasn’t been involved in the decision-making.

“I haven’t been to a meeting in a year and a half,” Black said.

So, when the nonprofit started campaigning heavily against Prop. D, Black decided his name shouldn’t be associated with the group anymore. Black and the Chamber of Commerce were heavy supporters of the effort to clean up mid-Market Street.

By the way, Prop. D failed at the polls Tuesday, and a side note: CLA Executive Director David Villa-Lobos just happens to be running for D6 supervisor.

Democratic health care accounting gimmicks exposed

11/05/09 3:38 PM

I've written at length about how Democrats are hiding the real health care price tag through some dubious accounting. And now two former high ranking Department of Health and Human Services officials -- Ben Sasse and Jeffrey Anderson -- are speaking out:

First, we need to get past the misleading accounting games. Each bill is routinely “scored” for its 10-year costs from 2010-19. Yet this includes several years when the spending wouldn’t yet have kicked in. According to the Congressional Budget Office, fully 99.9 percent of the Pelosi bill’s costs would hit from 2013 onward. Similarly, 98.3 percent of Reid’s spending would come after 2014.

If you start the tally when the bills’ spending would actually start (in 2013 for the House bill and 2014 for the Senate bill), then the bills’ real 10-year costs become clear — and are remarkably similar.

The CBO reports that, in their true first 10 years, the House bill would cost $1.8 trillion, and the Senate bill would cost $1.7 trillion. Pelosi would raise Americans’ taxes by $1.1 trillion over that period, while Reid would hike them by $1 trillion.

So the financial bottom lines are almost the same.

And if we discount the bills' claims to divert hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare (which is already on the edge of insolvency), the CBO says the House bill would raise our national d...

Port of San Francisco, ferry agency, expected to enter into agreement today

By: Will Reisman
11/05/09 2:34 PM

The future expansion plans of the Ferry Building in San Francisco will take a vital step forward today.

The Water Emergency Transportation Authority, a regional body that regulates public ferry developments in the Bay Area, is expected to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the San Francisco Port Commission today. The MOU will define the responsibilities of the two agencies as they move forward with an ambitious plan to dramatically increase ferry service over the next decade.

WETA is overseeing a series of proposed ferry expansions, including new terminals in Martinez, Berkeley, and on Treasure Island, all of which will travel to the expanded berth at the San Francisco Ferry Building. The terminal in Treasure Island, which is expected to be fully operational by 2015, is the largest of the projects, with the ferry service expected to eventually carry 14,000 passengers a day.

On presidents and shouting questions

By: Julie Mason
11/05/09 3:38 PM

The president practices eye-contact avoidance. (ap)

It's a hoary cliche of movies and television shows about the White House: A clamoring press corps, jostling and barking questions at the president. In real life, that doesn't happen much.

Before going into the Oval Office, a Cabinet meeting or other tight presidential event, reporters generally know already whether the president plans to take questions. Getting him to spontaneously answer one he hadn't planned on is trickier, and that involves a shouted question. It's more a lone-gunman thing than the groupish clamor depicted in popular culture, and it demands a certain blustery finesse.

For presidents, answering is matter of personal style. President Bush loathed the shouted question and would more often bestow a sour look than an answer. After a while, White House reporters didn't bother unless the news was so huge that not even trying to ask could be a firing offense. But in eight years, Bush probably bit on shouted questions fewer than a dozen times.

President Obama is sometimes game for shouted questions. Whether he responds seems to depend on a combination of his mood and the topic. On Monday, he ignored efforts by reporters to draw him out on Afghan elections. On Tuesday, he said, "Good try" to a reporter shouting one about the elections. Today, he twice ignored shouted questions about whether he endo...

Health care? There's an app for that

By: J.P. Freire
11/05/09 3:38 PM

A humorous video offered by the National Republican Congressional Committee spoofs the iPhone commercials, noting the bulky approach to "reform" offered by House Democrats.





The video is reminiscent of Daniel Henninger's Wall Street Journal column last week that suggested that Democrats are offering old school solutions to people used to the customized individualism provided by products like the iPhone:

In a world defined by nearly 100,000 iPhone apps, a world of seemingly limitless, self-defined choice, the Democrats are pushing the biggest, fattest, one-size-fits all legislation since 1965. And they brag this will complete the dream Franklin D. Roosevelt had in 1939.

In fact, the fight against socialized medicine has been waged for decades. Here's a now all-too-familiar speech by a young Ronald Reagan about the problems of government health care.









A key line is that a similar scheme was proposed under the Truman administration, and the American people rejected it. In a 2007 article in Slate, David Greenberg lamented that the term "socialized medicine" gave a good policy a scary implication:

To some, the prospect that socialized medicine would still frighten anyone is absurd. Fears that "creeping socialism" might insidiously erode American freedoms are a relic of a distant age, like worries about fluoride in the water. Even so, the socialized medicine m...

Newsom Tracker: Another day without him

By: Mike Aldax
11/05/09 12:04 PM

Mayor Gavin Newsom remains out of The City — presumably still at a resort in Hawaii — while a labor dispute grows.

Hotel workers at the Grand Hyatt Union Square went on strike Thursday morning.

Nathan Ballard, the mayor’s spokesman, said he has been in contact with Newsom about the hotel strike.

It has been six days since the mayor has appeared publicly following his withdrawal from the 2010 governor’s race. The mayor abruptly left The City on Tuesday morning to join his family on a Big Island resort.

The departure also left questions about whether the mayor followed proper protocol in designating Supervisor Carmen Chu as acting mayor.

Newsom is expected to return Sunday, Ballard said.

Oh, Hi! Obama stops by the briefing room

By: Julie Mason
11/05/09 12:35 PM

What, me worry? (afp)

Surprise! The POTUS made a little stop in the briefing room today to express his gladness over The AMA and AARP endorsement of the health care reform bill in the House. No mention of the elections, and he ignored a question about whether he also endorses the House bill. He said AARP gave the nod because they know the bill will help and not hurt seniors:

"I want everybody to remember that the next time you hear the same tired arguments to the contrary from the insurance companies and their lobbyists. And remember this endorsement the next time you see a bunch of misleading ads on television," Obama said.

Tomorrow, the president makes a rare visit to Capitol Hill to goose up the House Democratic Caucus. House members vote Saturday night on health care reform. Saturday Night Fever!!



"All right. Now that the warm-up band has finished playing," Gibbs said, as Obama left the briefing room.

He added, "I'll probably only get to say that once or twice in my life, so I might as well try today, right?" (ap)

City’s greening director takes post at EPA

By: Brent Begin
11/05/09 10:52 AM

Another Mayor Gavin Newsom appointment is off to greener pastures.

Jared Blumenfeld, who served as director of The City’s Department of the Environment and interim head of Recreation and Park Department, will take on the job of administrator for Region 9 of the Environmental Protection Agency, which includes Arizona, California, Nevada and Hawaii.

Employees at the EPA were notified this morning about the decision. Blumenfeld, an attorney who took on his role in the Department of the Environment in October, 2008, was not immediately available for comment.

His enthusiastic approach to environmental issues found a sympathetic ear in Newsom. Blumenfeld was behind several issues, such as the mayor’s food policy and mandatory composting.

Obama: When in doubt, blame Bush

11/05/09 11:00 AM

With an unresolved strategy for the war in Afghanistan, the worst economy since the Great Depression, the White House facing intense criticism for an increasingly unpopular domestic agenda and Democrats reeling from resounding Republican electoral victories on Tuesday -- what does the president have to say about the state of affairs? How about "it's not my fault":

A year after his historic election, President Barack Obama sought to remind Americans on Wednesday the biggest problems he is grappling with -- from the economy to the war in Afghanistan -- are the legacy of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

[SNIP]

He used the preamble of his speech to insist his administration had indeed had important successes and also to remind Americans of the litany of daunting challenges he inherited when he took office in January.

"One year ago, Americans all across this country went to the polls and cast ballots for the future they wanted to see," Obama said.

But he said his administration was also confronted with a "financial crisis that threatened to plunge our economy into a Great Depression, the worst that we've seen in generations."

"We had record deficits, two wars, frayed alliances around the world," Obama added.

It may not all be Obama's fault, but it is his responsibility. The Blame-Bush well ran dry the moment he was inaugurated. And of course this w...

More thoughts on the oddyear election

By: Michael Barone
11/05/09 11:00 AM

In an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal this morning, I argue that labor union leaders were the biggest losers in Tuesday’s election results.

In Virginia Republican nominee Bob McDonnell campaigned hard against the union leaders’ card check bill, while in New Jersey Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine had been a staunch supporter of the public employee unions (indeed he even had an affair with a woman who headed one of the biggest public employee unions). McDonnell won handily and Corzine lost.

I’ll have more election analysis later, but for an intelligent take on the election results I recommend this memo from Republican pollster Ed Goeas and for a good analysis, with links to poll results, of Barack Obama’s position in the political firmament I recommend pollster Scott Rasmussen’s thoughts, complete with links to polling evidence.

More lies, damned lies and stimulus jobs

11/05/09 9:00 AM

Yesterday, David Freddoso discussed an AP report showing the White House is engaged in some pretty deceptive math in making the case the stimulus bill is responsible for creating jobs. I concluded "much, much more scrutiny needs to be given to the jobs numbers coming out of the White House." Well, newspapers around the country are taking a look-see and the results coming in are damning. Over at The Weekly Standard, Stephen Hayes has the rundown on reports from Chicago and Milwaukee. In both cities, local papers are finding the reports rife with errors grossly overcounting jobs in their area. Further, it appears that stimulus funds are being used to prop up bankrupt state governments, not create jobs.

Morning Must Reads -- Unemployment hits home for Democrats

By: Chris Stirewalt
11/05/09 7:00 AM

Wall Street Journal -- Democrats Confront Coalition Strains

Is it time for Democrats to galvanize the base or reach out to the middle?

With election results causing new anxieties in the party over the president’s big agenda, Democrats are looking for a new direction. In the short term, the answer from the White House/DNC will be to try to get beyond the dithering/bickering phase and pass something/anything on health care – water it down, get it passed, and start campaigning for 2010 and talking about jobs.

As I argue in my column today, not seeming obsessed with the economy and unemployment has been a major mistake for President Obama.

Writers Peter Wallsten and Jonathan Weisman share other signs to watch:

“One indicator of how Mr. Obama will respond to the election might be reflected in his decisions over the overhaul of U.S. immigration laws. The president's approval rating remains sky-high with Latino voters, one official said, but they didn't come out to vote Tuesday. To turn them out, Democrats may have to press ahead with a broad overhaul of immigration laws next year, including the creation of a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

That might seal defeat for some Democrats in southern Republican districts -- such as Rep. Tom Perriello of Virginia -- but could energize the Latino vote elsewhere and give Mr. Obama a head of steam heading into 2012.&r...