Thread: Drudge Report: NOW THEY RUN FROM REID...FEAR DEBILITATING MIDTERM LOSSES...

Crowd Begins to File Out While Obama Speaks in WI...


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NOW THEY RUN FROM REID...


FEAR DEBILITATING LOSSES...

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House Dems fret debilitating losses



Operatives from both parties expect Republicans to net five to 10 seats. | Getty

By ALEX ISENSTADT | 10/28/14 5:06 AM EDT
Updated: 10/28/14 11:58 AM EDT

The political environment continues to deteriorate for House Democrats ahead of a midterm election that’s certain to diminish their ranks.
With President Barack Obama’s unpopularity hindering their candidates and Republican cash flooding into races across the country, Democrats are increasingly worried that the election will push them deep into the minority and diminish their hopes of winning back the majority in 2016 or beyond.
Looking to contain the damage, Democrats are pumping money into liberal congressional districts that were long thought to be safely in their column. Over the last several days, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has directed resources to maintain seats in Hawaii and Nevada, both of which broke sharply for the president in 2012 — an indication of just how much the terrain has shifted against the party over the past two years.
(POLITICO's polling center)
Other unexpected races are suddenly in play. Some Democrats, for example, have begun to worry about the prospects of California Rep. Lois Capps, an eight-term congresswoman who is typically a lock for reelection but who now finds herself in a competitive race against Republican Chris Mitchum, a perennial candidate and the son of the late actor Robert Mitchum. In a sign of how seriously national Democrats are taking the threat, the DCCC is making a last-minute purchase of $99,000 worth of radio advertising in the Santa Barbara area to boost Capps, according to a committee aide.
Operatives from both parties expect Republicans to net five to 10 seats, which would give them some cushion heading into what’s expected to be a much more challenging 2016. Some Republicans, trying to tamp down rising expectations of even bigger gains, point out that a recently-redistricted congressional map has dramatically narrowed the playing field of competitive districts and limited potential pick-ups.
They also caution that they have yet to put away Democrats in many races that remain close.
Still, as the election heads into the final week, it’s clear that the landscape is tilting against Democrats. Of the 30 House races seen as most likely to change hands, 23 are held by Democrats.
(Full 2014 election results)
Capps isn’t the only incumbent Democratic officials are scrambling at the last minute to defend. DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) recently coordinated a fundraising event for Rep. Dave Loebsack, a fourth-term Iowa incumbent who has recently come under barrage from GOP groups, and reached out to donors on his behalf.
On Tuesday afternoon, Israel and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will hold a hastily-planned conference call for members to provide them with an update on the political terrain and to press them to contribute to the party’s coffers.
“There’s no question it’s a tough climate for Democrats right now but it certainly doesn’t come as a surprise,” said Emily Bittner, a DCCC spokeswoman. “Heading into the final week of the election every single Democratic incumbent is still competitive, which is drastically different from the situation in 2010.”
Party operatives say Obama is weighting down House candidates across the country. In the districts of 24 of the 30 most vulnerable Democratic incumbents, more voters say they view the president unfavorably than favorably, according to polling data conducted over the last month for party strategists and provided to POLITICO. In 10 of those 24 races, Democratic lawmakers have recently lost ground along with the president.
(POLITICO's 2014 race ratings)
The effect is particularly acute in culturally conservative bastions like West Virginia and downstate Illinois, where Democratic strategists say Reps. Nick Rahall and Bill Enyart are watching their reelection hopes fade due in large measure to Obama’s diminished standing. Republicans have tethered both incumbents to the president: One new TV ad against Enyart imagines him and Obama together on posters made famous during the president’s 2008 campaign.
“Make no mistake,” the commercial says. “The Obama-Enyart agenda is devastating to our families and bankrupting southern Illinois.”
Other House Democrats have been encumbered by subpar performances of their party’s statewide candidates. Leading that list is Iowa Senate hopeful Bruce Braley, who party operatives say is dragging down three of their congressional contenders in the state.
Money is another worry. Republican groups have poured cash into House races in the final weeks, erasing a once formidable Democratic financial advantage. Since July 1, GOP outfits have spent $99.4 million, while Democrats have invested $81.9 million, according to campaign filings.
In many instances, Republicans are spending money to put races in play that had long been considered safe for Democrats. American Action Network, a national group with ties to House Speaker John Boehner, has begun airing TV commercials in blue districts in Hawaii and eastern Iowa.
The maneuvering has prompted Democratic groups to yank money from districts they’re trying to seize from Republicans in order to protect seats they already control. Over the past several weeks, the DCCC has pulled funds from top recruits in Colorado and Virginia and begun running TV ads in two eastern Iowa districts, both of which Obama won in 2012.
On Monday, House Speaker John Boehner visited the Iowa districts to campaign for GOP hopefuls Rod Blum, a software company owner seeking the seat Braley is vacating to run for Senate, and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, an opthamologist waging a campaign for the seat Loebsack occupies. A poll released on Monday showed Blum climbing to a narrow 43 percent to 42 percent lead over his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Pat Murphy.
“All year,” said Cory Fritz, a Boehner spokesman, “the speaker has been emphasizing the importance of making the most of every opportunity.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/1...es-112248.html

Boehner seeks to run up score

The Hill
Scott Wong
1 hr ago

© Provided by The Hill Boehner seeks to run up score DAVENPORT, Iowa — Speaker John Boehner is crisscrossing the country in a bid to run up his House majority and ease his job leading a fractious GOP conference.

The Ohio Republican is spending the final, precious days of the 2014 campaign flying into House races that had been seen as out of reach for the GOP just weeks ago.
His goal is to build a Republican majority of as many as 245 seats — and earn some loyal friends along the way.
That could leave Boehner with an enduring legacy as he heads into what could be his final term as the top House Republican. The last time Republicans had a larger majority was at the end of World War II when Harry Truman was occupying the White House.
“Obviously if we can get to a number like that, that would be an extraordinarily positive thing that [speaks to] what he’s accomplished and what Republicans in general have accomplished,” retiring Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) says in an interview.
It also could greatly ease Boehner’s job of legislating in the final two years of the Obama presidency, and ahead of a new race for the White House in 2016.
Boehner's frantic fall offensive has taken him into traditionally blue territory — New York, the Northeast and California, as well as three congressional districts here in Iowa earlier this week that went for President Obama in 2008 and 2012.
On Tuesday, the Speaker traveled next door to Illinois where he appeared with state Rep. Mike Bost, the Republican taking on freshman Democratic Rep. Bill Enyart.
Next stop: West Virginia, where Boehner will boost the Republican trying to oust a Democratic fixture, Rep. Nick Rahall, and help hold on to the neighboring seat being vacated by GOP Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who’s headed for the Senate.
Most political pundits scoffed in May when the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) launched its “Drive to 245,” a campaign to expand its 17-seat majority by a dozen seats in the midterms.
But with President Obama’s low popularity dragging down Democrats and GOP donors opening their wallets, few are laughing now. Two Beltway prognosticators, the Cook and Rothenberg political reports, have said the GOP will pick up anywhere between two and 10 seats on Tuesday night.
Electing candidates like Republican David Young — someone he called “a solid guy” at a time he needs “some solid people” in Washington — means he’ll have one more vote he can count on when it’s time to take up must-pass legislation, like a government-funding bill, which has encountered resistance from his unruly caucus in the past.
And winning a bigger majority would guarantee his reelection as Speaker when lawmakers return to the Capitol after the election.
Despite grumblings from some disaffected Tea Party members, Boehner’s reelection is “looking good,” says House GOP Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.)
“He does have a tough job,” she says in a phone interview. “I see him as someone who has the right temperament, and has built trust with the members as Speaker.”
Coordination between the NRCC and the Team Boehner political operation has been particularly close. A top Boehner aide, Cory Fritz, works just down the hall from top NRCC officials including political director Rob Simms and communications director Andrea Bozek.
But the Speaker, who scans news stories on his iPad each morning, has a big say in his campaign schedule.
“He’s got a good eye,” says Fritz as supporters wait for Boehner to arrive in Urbandale, a conservative suburb just north of Des Moines where the Speaker is hoping to help Young succeed Latham. “He wants to go to places where he can make an impact in races that are a dead heat.”
He’s also raised $100 million for GOP candidates this cycle, a personal best, as he’s campaigned on the ground with candidates in dozens of districts across the country.
The Hawkeye State has quickly become one of the hottest battlegrounds. GOP campaign aides point to a strong ground operation, a GOP-trending Senate race that could aid down-ticket Republicans and deep frustration with Obama as reasons why the state’s entire congressional delegation could turn red this year.
During a two-day visit this week, Boehner stumped in Urbandale; Hiawatha just outside Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities to boost three GOP House hopefuls.
“I could be in a lot of places in America tonight, but I’m right here because this is a race we can win,” Boehner tells 100 supporters in Davenport on Monday at a rally for Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks. The ophthalmologist and Army veteran is challenging Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack, a former college professor, for a third time, though this looks to be her best shot.
In Urbandale a day earlier, both Boehner and Latham praise Young, a former chief of staff to GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, as a son of Iowa who already knows his way around the halls of Congress. Casually dressed in a blue pullover and jeans, Boehner appears relaxed. He and Latham, with whom he dines a couple times a week when they’re in Washington, get a bit nostalgic over Latham’s retirement, and Latham ribs his old buddy, saying: “We’re going to do the Boehner weep.”
Then all three men escape out the back door to an idling SUV. They’re on their way to a private residence where Boehner will huddle with about 25 donors and raise some much-needed cash for Young. The low-key policy wonk matched his Democratic opponent, Staci Appel, in the money game, but had to take out a $250,000 loan and only had about $30,000 cash on hand.
A visit from the Speaker — with local reporters and TV news cameras in tow — give his campaign and its coffers a shot in the arm in the homestretch.
“He’s not going to waste his time anywhere; he’s going to make sure his time is maximized,” Young says in an interview. “The Speaker’s time is precious and he will make sure his time is spent on races where people are gonna win.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politi...Nz?ocid=TSHDHP

Mark Levin

The collaborators




Conservative Review - Harry Reids Chamber of Collaborationists
Specifically Webster?s definition of ?collaborationist?, which reads: ?A person who collaborates with an enemy.? Which quickly brings us to the US Chamber of...
www.conservativereview.com


Harry Reid's Chamber of Collaborationists

By: Jeffrey Lord October 28th, 2014

Let’s start with the dictionary. Specifically? Specifically Webster’s definition of “collaborationist”, which reads: “A person who collaborates with an enemy.”

Which quickly brings us to the US Chamber of Commerce. Whose political director is making news with a speech at the Clinton Library (yes, you read that right) predicting that if the GOP does win control of the U.S. Senate this year they will lose it two years hence, with Democrats winning back control in 2016. Well isn’t that interesting. Curiously, there is no reporting in this Washington Examiner story about this Chamber official’s speech that indicates the Chamber would regret a GOP Senate loss in 2016. Why, pray tell, might that be? Let’s start with a look at this year’s Senate race in Louisiana and see just what the Chamber is up to.

So of course, the supposedly “conservative” and “pro-business’ US Chamber of Commerce endorsed Landrieu for re-election.

Louisiana’s Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu, now in a tight race for re-election, is ranked by Congressional Quarterly in 2013 as having a 97% support rating for President Obama. Asked on MSNBC if she would support Harry Reid for Senate Majority Leader if Democrats retain the Senate, Democrat Landrieu replied: “Well if he runs, I will.” So of course, the supposedly “conservative” and “pro-business’ US Chamber of Commerce endorsed Landrieu for re-election. As it were, collaborationism exemplified.

Conservative Review took it’s own “Liberty Score” look at Landrieu’s record. To quote the CR directly on their methodology: “Liberty Score™ grades members of Congress on the top 50 votes over the past six years. The rolling six-year window shows a more accurate picture of a lawmaker's performance than traditional one or two-year scoring methods. The Liberty Score™ empowers conservatives to quickly determine if a politician is supporting conservative principles separating their rhetoric from reality.”

What grade did Landrieu get on her Liberty Score? That would be an “F.” Say again, an F. Her favorable score on conservative issues? A mere 2%. Why? On issue after issue after issue as CR documents in detail, Senator Landrieu was hanging tough for Harry Reid and President Obama. Landrieu voted in favor of extending the life of the crony capitalist Export-Import Bank. Illegal immigration? She voted for amnesty. ObamaCare? She loved it. Don’t forget that vote to put ultra-liberal Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court. And more. Oh so much more.

William Howard Taft is surely spinning in his grave. Presuming, of course, the president who famously weighed 350-plus pounds and once got stuck in a White House bathtub is capable of spinning.


A Chamber official actually had the brass to suggest a public EPA hearing on the science of climate change.

It was the conservative President Taft, history records, who requested that American business organize itself to balance the rise of organized labor. Taft saw the need for a “central organization in touch with associations and chambers of commerce throughout the country.” In 1912 the US Chamber of Commerce came to life, its identity then-synonymous with that of pro-business, conservative Americans. Today? As seen here that connection between the Chamber and small business is seen as having vanished, the left-leaning Washington Monthly reporting the following a while back:

“I now have a standard e-mail saying we’re not a chapter of the U.S. Chamber that I have to send out a couple of times a week,” says Timothy Hulbert, president of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. Stan Kosciuszko, president of the Butler County, Pennsylvania, Chamber of Commerce, which is no longer a member of the Chamber, said, “They’ve abandoned the interests of smaller chambers like mine for their larger corporate members.”

Realizing the Washington Monthly is on the left side of the line, the approving tone of the Chamber on climate change was evident when the WM story continued with this tale:

“But corporate members, including some of the larger ones, have been alienated too. The withdrawal of Apple from the Chamber’s membership roster was the result of a particularly clumsy campaign. It began last summer, when a senior vice president of the Chamber wrote a petition to the EPA calling for a public hearing on the science of climate change in order to present a “credible weighing” of the evidence. The author of the petition, William Kovacs, a vice president of the Chamber, told the Los Angeles Times that it “would be the science of climate change on trial” and referred it as “the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century.” Not only did Apple drop its membership in response; so did the utilities Exelon, Pacific Gas and Electric, and PNM Resources. Among those who stayed in the fold, several companies, such as Nike and Johnson & Johnson, wrote stern letters of rebuke to Donohue. Donohue upbraided Kovacs….”

Got that? A Chamber official actually had the brass to suggest a public EPA hearing on the science of climate change. Resulting in the withdrawal of the famously liberal Apple (among others) from the Chamber “roster,” with the Chamber official who made the request being “upbraided” and “rebuked.”


Bluntly put, today’s US Chamber of Commerce is no longer the champion of free markets that President Taft once envisioned. Neither, sadly, is the GOP Establishment.

Those “larger corporate members” as that kerfuffle over examining the science of climate change suggests, can be decided non-conservatives. Which perhaps explain why the Chamber has been out front supporting every liberal wet dream from the Troubled Asset Relief Program ($700 billion) to the Obama stimulus ($787 billion) to saving the crony-impaired Export-Import Bank to amnesty for illegal immigrants. No wonder they support Mary Landrieu.

What’s going on here? How in the world did the supposedly conservative and pro-business Chamber of Commerce wind up supporting a liberal US Senator whose election could well keep the Senate in the hands of liberal, Obama-supporting Democrats led by the famously uber-liberal Senator Reid?

Bluntly put, today’s US Chamber of Commerce is no longer the champion of free markets that President Taft once envisioned. Neither, sadly, is the GOP Establishment. Both foaming when it comes to dealing with the free market Tea Party. Which explains why Fox News reported in January that:
“The chamber -- the county’s most powerful and deep-pocketed pro-business lobby -- signaled last month its stake in the elections by telling The Wall Street Journal it would spend $50 million in this year’s GOP primaries to back establishment Republicans over Tea Party challengers.” And so it has.

This year alone it has made a point of taking on free market Republican members of Congress like Michigan’s Justin Amash (Conservative Review Liberty Score: “A”. Ranking: 94%) Not to mention that it has gone into various House districts to support GOP Establishment candidates facing Tea Party challengers, as was true in Idaho where incumbent GOP Establishment Congressman Mike Simpson has received a CR Liberty Score of “F” with a meager 45% rating.

In fact, so radioactive has the US Chamber begun to make itself in conservative free market circles that Georgia GOP Senate nominee David Perdue won his primary in part by attacking his opponent for taking the US Chamber endorsement. Today? The Chamber stiffly says it will sit out the Georgia Senate race, giving liberal Democrat Michelle Nunn a shot at taking the seat and keeping Harry Reid as the Senate boss. If both Nunn and Landrieu win their races - and Democrats manage to cling to a Senate majority with Reid continuing on as Majority Leader - they will have the US Chamber to thank.

Which doubtless will lead more and more conservatives to suggest that when it comes to defeating the Left in America, the US Chamber of Commerce has in fact become Harry Reid’s Chamber of Collaborationists.

Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com

https://www.conservativereview.com/c...laborationists

Drudge Report

DEMOCRAT HALLOWEEN: PARTY LOSSES 'COULD BE HISTORIC'



Obama's Midterm Loss Record Could Make History | Rothenblog
Obama campaigns with Mary Burke, the Democratic challenger for Wisconsin governor. (Win McNamee/Getty Images News) President Barack Obama is about...
blogs.rollcall.com

Article at the page link:

http://blogs.rollcall.com/rothenblog...m-loss-record/

First Maryland, Now Wisconsin: Crowds Flee Obama

October 30, 2014 - 10:14 AM
By Barbara Boland
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President Obama actually showed up on the campaign trail for Democrat gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke in Wisconsin last night - only for crowds to slowly exit the theater while he was speaking, a redux of what happened last week when he spoke in Maryland.
"Burke gambles that Obama will drive out the base more than he drives away those unhappy with him," Time reported.

Video at the page link:

It would seem she lost that gamble - although she did speak to an overflow crowd at North Division High School, reports Time.
Check out this tweet:

Camera Catches Crowd Slowly Exiting Mary Burke Rally While Obama Speaks https://t.co/ru2QStWW7i

Raffi Williams @Raffiwilliams Follow Camera Catches Crowd Slowly Exiting Mary Burke Rally While Obama Speaks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1NOwjlOocQ&feature=youtu.be …
9:24 PM - 28 Oct 2014

A reporter at the event tweeted:

Mike Lowe ✔ @MikeLoweReports
Follow
Some people --not a lot, but some -- are leaving as the President is speaking.
8:28 PM - 28 Oct 2014

Of course, Politico put their own spin on what happened at the event:



POLITICO ✔ @politico
Follow
Barack Obama boosts Mary Burke in Wisconsin http://politi.co/1vd0vTG | AP Photo
9:52 PM - 28 Oct 2014

“She will be your next governor as long as folks vote,” Obama told the crowd that remained.
Looks like folks at the event chose to vote with their feet.

http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/barbar...wds-flee-obama