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   Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gnter Grass still thinks reunification was a bad idea.
 Forty years of writing from Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Katherine Boo, Marjorie Williams, Joshua Micah Marshall, and more.
 With help from Washington, the for-profit college industry is loading up millions of low-income students with debt they'll never pay off.
 The best recent memoir from republican Washington is a hoax. That should tell you something.
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January 30, 2009
FRIDAY'S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP....Today's installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn't generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers. * The newly-created Organizing for America, an outgrowth of the Obama presidential campaign, is taking on its first project: rallying support for the president's economic stimulus package. * The process of picking the next chairman of the Republican National Committee is already underway in D.C. With several top-tier candidates, and a minimum number of 85 votes to win, there will likely be several hours of balloting. * One candidate who won't be in the mix is Chip Saltsman, the former Tennessee Republican chairman and former campaign manager for Mike Huckabee. Saltsman, who gained national notoriety for distributing a holiday CD featuring "Barack the Magic Negro," withdrew from consideration yesterday. * Former Rep. Bill Sali lost his re-election bid last year, despite running in one of the most conservative districts in the country. The notion that he appears to be stark raving mad seemed to factor into his defeat. Yesterday, Sali filed for a re-match, hoping to once again take on Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho). Sali will likely face a few primary opponents. * Despite rumors to the contrary, Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.) announced yesterday that he's not running for governor next year. * If Judd Gregg leaves the Senate to join Obama's cabinet, who would New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) choose to replace him? There's some talk that former Gov. Walter Peterson, a liberal Republican, would be among the leading candidates, though he probably wouldn't seek re-election. —Steve Benen 12:00 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (8)Comments
Why did Saltsman drop out? He saw he didn't have the support? Or he decided he just couldn't give up whites-only golfing? Posted by: shortstop on January 30, 2009 at 12:01 PM | PERMALINKWalter Peterson, a liberal Republican Oxymoron alert. Posted by: Danp on January 30, 2009 at 12:03 PM | PERMALINKWalter Peterson?!? The man is 86 years old. And he was no liberal. He wasn't as bad as some of the other GOP governors in NH, like Mel Thompson John Sununu, or Craig Benson, so he seemed liberal by comparison. Posted by: Mike on January 30, 2009 at 12:29 PM | PERMALINKSo much for the Democratic majority if Lynch puts a Republican in that seat. Posted by: why would Lynch appoint a Republican? on January 30, 2009 at 12:32 PM | PERMALINKI guess it depends on what a liberal gooper is. Fiscally conservative and socially liberal? That would be me...mostly. It also depends on what that fiscal conservatism is (assuming that is what it is to start with.) Maybe someone knows this man and can tell us what liberal gooper means. Anyone? Posted by: MsJoanne on January 30, 2009 at 12:38 PM | PERMALINKTo the left of Sununu? Oooh...BFD. (rolling eyes) Posted by: MsJoanne on January 30, 2009 at 12:39 PM | PERMALINKBy appointing 86-year-old Peterson, Lynch creates, presumably, an open Senate seat in 2010, and gets himself reelected easily. That's good politics for him, but doesn't help the Senate situation now. Peterson would only be a pawn for the Republicans, and who knows if he still has any marbles. Might make for some interesting theater. Posted by: rich on January 30, 2009 at 12:51 PM | PERMALINKGregg should be replaced by a Republican, for the same reason we would have screamed if a Republican Governor had replaced Clinton, Biden, or Salazar. A Senator is much less likely to accept a Cabinet position, whichever party he is in, if there is a danger it will cost his Party a seat. (I believe Wyoming demands that the vacancy is filled from a list provided by the Party of the Senator.) This is also why I worry about those who say 'elections are the only answer.' Remember, we were very lucky this time. We started out with a gigantic majority, even if the Franken case is technically unsettled. We wouldn't suffer, this time if all the vacancies remained unfilled for three or four months. But imagine if it had been closer. We had, before Georgia was settled and Franken eventually won his case, say a majority of 50-46 with 4 vacancies before Cabinet appointments (Ga, Minn, Obama, Biden). Clinton and Salazar are appointed, Chambliss wins Ga, and Franken's win is not official. It's 48-47 until elections can be held in April. Sure you want this? I'd personally want an Amendment requiring a Governor to fill a vacancy -- ideally from the party who held the seat, but this can't go into the Constitution -- but for no more than six months, until an election can be held -- sooner if there is a general coming up more than 30 and less than 180 days from the appointment. And maybe that 'six months' can be shortened to three. 
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