Republican Congressional Prospects Continue to Dim

After losing 3 reliably-Republican seats:

Stomping Mad: And NBC's Mike Viqueira reported on Capitol Hill that there were lots of very glum faces among House GOP members this morning as they emerged from their weekly closed-door session. Rep. Tom Davis stomped on the concrete floor of the Capitol basement when asked by reporters about Republican fortunes at the moment. "This is the floor," he said, by way of explanation. "We're below the floor." http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/14/1019748.aspx

Declared candidate for the 6th District Congressional District, Roger Kittelson has made it into the New York Times!

To find out more about Roger, email him at: kittelsonforcongress@gmail.com

Here is the full article (usually only up for a few days w/out a subscription):

Here are some excerpts:

Wisconsin Dem Says He Can Test House GOP Veteran — B’Gosh
By Jessica Benton Cooney, CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY

Wisconsin Republican Rep. Tom Petri has now served more than 28 years in the House, and the last time Democrats in his 6th Congressional District waged a serious effort to unseat him was in 1992. In fact, Democrats in 2006 did not even field a challenger — the sixth time that has happened in the 15 elections dating to Petri’s first victory in an April 1979 special election.
…
Democrat Roger Kittelson, a dairy marketing specialist, has entered next year’s race against Petri and contends he should not be counted out.

Kittelson enters the race with little experience as a candidate: His only past run was a defeat in a state House race in 1982 in his native Minnesota. By comparison, Peggy Lautenschlager, the Democrat who held Petri to 53 percent of the vote back in 1992, was a state House member and former county district attorney, who would go on to serve between 2003 and 2007 as Wisconsin’s first woman attorney general.

But Kittelson can’t be accused of not aiming high. His Republican opponent in his 1982 candidate debut was then the Speaker of the Minnesota House.

“I think I can win,” said Kittelson, who in an interview with CQPolitics.com said his determination to run is attributable “in part because of the direction of the country,” and also, he said, because “Petri tends to support the president’s lack of direction on the war in Iraq.”

Kittelson, who lives in the small town of Lomira, calls himself a conservative Democrat and says he plans to tout his support of affordable health care and a balanced federal budget.
…
Another Democrat from the district, state Rep. Gordon Hintz, noted that Republican Mark Green — a former four-term representative of the neighboring 8th Congressional District — barely carried the 6th District with 51 percent of the vote in his unsuccessful 2006 bid to unseat Democratic Gov. James E. Doyle.

Hall, Petri’s 2004 foe and now chairman of the Winnebago County Democratic Party, said there has been a huge political swing in the district that he suggested might be following a national change. “People don’t want to be Republican anymore,” he said. “Republicans don’t even want to be Republican, people here are clamoring for a change. The numbers are more on our side than they ever have been.”

A Few Reasons I'm Glad Kagen Won...

The first few paragraphs of a Post-Crescent Story:

U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen plans to introduce legislation in Congress later this year for universal health care coverage.

His announcement to seniors at the Thompson Community Center on Friday came after he told them that he and U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., have introduced a bill to repeal the Medicare Part D late enrollment fee.

The bill, if approved, will be the first step to reform health care, he said.

Seniors who qualified to enroll in Medicare Part D but missed the May 2006 deadline and do not fall into a special enrollment period, pay 1 percent of the national average premium multiplied by the number of months they delayed enrollment.

"You shouldn't be fined for what the government can't explain to you," Kagen, D-Appleton, told a group of 30 seniors in attendance.

Additionally, Kagen said he has called on U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to grant Wisconsin a waiver to let SeniorCare continue.

Approve - 35% Disapprove - 60%

Those are Bush's current numbers.

(I suppose it is far to late for 'We told you so'?)

Some highlights from the poll:

When President Bush delivers his next-to-last State of the Union address Tuesday night, he will confront this reality, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll: Nearly two-thirds of Americans appear to have given up on success in Iraq and also on his presidency.

In addition, the poll finds that nearly another two-thirds believe he shouldn’t move ahead with his troop increase to Iraq, if Congress passes a non-binding resolution opposing it. And it shows that just two in 10 want Bush taking the lead role in setting policy for the country.
...
Perhaps more significant, a whopping 65 percent believe that Bush is facing a longer-term setback from which he’s unlikely to recover. That’s compared with 25 percent who think he’s facing just a short-term setback, and 7 percent who believe he’s facing no setback at all.

What’s more, only 22 percent say they want the president taking the lead in setting policy for the nation. Fifty-seven percent say they would prefer the Democratic-controlled Congress holding the reins.

I don't know if anyone is watching C-SPAN...

... but Rep. Tammy Baldwin is acting chair of the House right now.

It is awesome.

Benefits of a Democratic Congress....

Friday, the House of Representatives will meet on:

H. R. 4

To amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower covered part D drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries.

A BILL

To amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower covered part D drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007'.

Read the rest here!

The Pleasures of Majority

I get the House Whip's email of scheduled business. I like the look of it:

TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2007
On Tuesday, the House will meet at 10:30 a.m. for morning hour and 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. There will be no votes earlier than 3:00 p.m.

Suspensions (1 bill):

1) H.Res. 15 - Mourning the passing of President Gerald Rudolph Ford and celebrating his leadership and service to the people of the U.S. (Sponsored by Rep. Ehlers / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

H.Res. 35 - Select Intelligence Oversight Panel (Martial Law Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Obey)

H.R. 1 - Not Fully Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations (Martial Law Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Thompson (MS))

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2007
On Wednesday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business.

H.R. 2 - Minimum Wage Increase Without Assistance for Small Businesses (Martial Law Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. George Miller)

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2007
On Thursday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business.

H.R. 3 - Expanding Stem Cell Research (Martial Law Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. DeGette)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2007
On Friday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business.

H.R. 4 - Democrat Drug Price Control (Martial Law Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Dingell)