Republican, Democratic party chiefs see victory in battle for the House
In dueling appearances on the Sunday morning news shows, the heads of the Democratic and Republican parties made the same prediction — After the Nov. 2 elections, our guys will control the House.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says his party’s going into the final campaign stretch on a winning combination of momentum, excitement and energy.
“There is a vibration out here that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, Steele said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I think you’re going to see a wave, an unprecedented wave on Election Day, that’s going to surprise a lot of people,” Steele said.
“As I like to say, we’re 38 seats and we need to get to 39 seats to… get control (of the House). But I think we’re more than there,” the RNC chief said.
The Senate’s going to be a bit tougher, Steele said, but he’s not ruling out a takeover there too.
“If this wave continues the way it’s going… I think you could see the Senate as well goes to Republicans,” he added.
Washington Extra – Obama and the young vote
If President Obama really wants to get his groove back with young voters, he might want to get a bit more in synch with their musical tastes and a bit less in line with songs their parents — and grandparents — listened to. He’s got about 2,000 songs on his iPod, but – as he put it – his selections are more weighted to his childhood – his very young childhood – than to much that 20-somethings are listening to today.
“There’s still a lot of Stevie Wonder, a lot of Bob Dylan, a lot of Rolling Stones, a lot of R&B, a lot of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Those are the old standards,” Obama said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine released on Tuesday. He also listens to a lot of classical music. “I’m not a big opera buff in terms of going to opera, but there are days where Maria Callas is exactly what I need,” he said.
The president was born in 1961, which makes him little more than a toddler when some of his favorite artists had their biggest hits, something he and his handlers might want to keep in mind as he tries to connect with young voters and urge them to turn out in force on Nov. 2. The famed diva Callas was born in 1923, and died in 1977, when Obama was 16.
One test of Obama’s appeal was coming on Tuesday night, at a Democratic National Committee event at the University of Wisconsin in Madison that the party hopes will be reminiscent of the triumphant rallies – drawing 20,000, 50,000 and up toward 100,000 people – during the last weeks of his presidential campaign in 2008. Those rallies helped drive Obama into the White House, and party leaders hope some of the same magic will convince the 18-to-28-year-old set to head to the polls – and back Democrats running for the House and Senate.
Obama drew 17,000 to a rally in Madison in 2008. The singer Ben Harper will open for the president on Tuesday, as an extra incentive for the students to turn out. It will become clear within the next few hours whether President Obama’s appeal is akin to Candidate Obama’s.
If the turnout is thin, despite everything, Obama might want to start sorting through his Maria Callas collection to get ready for Nov. 2.
For more on Obama’s efforts to regenerate enthusiasm among young voters, read here.
Obama Braves “Snowmaggedon” to Rally Democrats
The Obama family hails from Chicago, where heavy snowfalls are not uncommon. But that’s not the case in Washington, D.C., which was largely shut down on Saturday morning by a blizzard when the president headed to the Capital Hilton Hotel to rev up a gathering of the Democratic National Committee.
The short ride from the White House was not without glitches. First, a couple of the 15 or so vehicles in the presidential motorcade had a hard time getting up the icy White House driveway. Then an ambulance that was accompanying the group had a slight fender-bender accident with one of the SUVs. As the cars approached White House grounds on the return trip, a tree branch fell on the same vehicle that had been scraped earlier, momentarily blocking the way.
Obama had serious things on his mind, such as healthcare and financial reform, as he spoke to a Democratic Party that has becoming increasingly concerned about the shifting tides of public opinion ahead of November’s Congressional elections. But the weather was an unavoidable topic.
“Good to be among friends so committed to the future of this party and his country that they’re willing to brave a blizzard — Snowmaggedon right here in D.C.,” he said.
For more Reuters political news, click here.
Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (A fresh layer of snow covers the grounds at the White House in Washington, February 3, 2010, following an overnight winter storm.)
Media naysayers troubling Obama again
Those media naysayers are troubling President Obama again.
The U.S. leader, who hasn’t had a prime-time news conference in six months, made clear his aggravation with the scribblers in remarks Thursday to a Democratic fundraiser at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
As the tony crowd, who were asked to pay $30,400 per couple, dined on beet salad, beef and Brussels sprouts, the president laid out his case against the unruly nabobs of negativism.
They were the ones who declared his presidential campaign dead about a dozen times.
The ones who wrote him off after Hillary Clinton pulled out a surprise upset in New Hampshire a couple of years ago.
The ones who clucked about his naivete, said he was doing too much and thought Obama couldn’t bring change to Washington.
“Nobody gave us a chance. This campaign was declared dead, what, 10 times,” Obama told the 140 guests at the Democratic National Committee dinner.
More ‘Hope-Nosis’ served up by the Fresh Prince of Thin Air. Truly hilarious how much the elitist left will pay to be encouraged. I suppose having a ‘supermajority’ for a year is no reason to expect more ‘Progressive’ policy to
have been installed before Scott Brown came to town. With the money raised perhaps now BO can afford to pay Springfield Ill money owed from his 2008 campaign. Snip:
Obama’s presidential campaign was sent a bill for $68,139, and still owes the city $55,457, according to Ernie Slottag, the city’s spokesman. The city has been trying — unsuccessfully — to collect payment, Ken Crutcher, the city’s director of office of budget and management told aldermen recently. “We’ve spoken to a lot of people and have found a lot of circles,” Crutcher said. … “We’ve been kind of bounced from place to place with respect to that particular event.” Attempts to get a comment for this story from the Obama campaign were unsuccessful. The White House referred comments to the Democratic National Committee. A spokesman at the DNC didn’t respond to questions sent via e-mail. Oh Snap I forgot, leftists only spend other peoples money…
Obama’s tweets hit milestone, but Ashton is the twitterer-in-chief
President Barack Obama may be the leader of the free world, but actor Ashton Kutcher is the king of twitter and pop princess Britney Spears is, er, its princess.
Obama’s twitter feed recently attracted its 3 millionth follower, which was announced with this tweet — “As we kick off 2010, our Twitter community has grown to over 3 million. I continue to be grateful for your partnership as we work for change” — on Monday afternoon.
The development made Obama’s feed — actually run by the Democratic Party’s National Committee — only the fourth ever to garner such attention. But he still remains far behind the leaders, the Hill newspaper noted on its “Twitter Room” blog. They each have 4 million followers, the blog said, citing TwitterCounter .
The top three twitter feeds are those of Kutcher, pop’s Britney Spears and the U.S. comedian and talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres.
Of course, Kutcher sends his own tweets, of which he wrote: ”I make stuff, actually I make up stuff, stories mostly, collaborations of thoughts, dreams and actions. Thats me.” Recent samples of Kutcher’s missives — which can be up to 140 characters long — include a link to a “sick” snowboarding video, a short thank you note to his vacation (“Dear, Vacation You were amazing. Thank you, Ashton.”) and the observation “Hung over yoga hurts.”
Obama’s are less colorful. Recent tweets include a link to his address on the botched Christmas Day airplane bombing attack, best wishes to everyone celebrating Kwanzaa and Christmas and the notice on Dec. 24 that the Senate had just passed healthcare reform.
The president also admitted recently that he has actually never twittered. In November, during his trip to China, Obama told a group of Chinese students, ”My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone,” he said.
Atlas- How about loosening the straps on that aluminum hat?
