Reid My Lips

I've just been hit up - again - for money from the Democratic Senate Campaign, or whatever it is they call themselves. This time the appeal came with a big picture of fat ol' Rush Limbaugh and told me how Rush was going to derail the Obama administration. It went on to tell me how important my contribution would be to get a 60 vote majority in the Senate in 2010.

I'm not giving a dime and not just because I want the Rush Limbaugh Follies to go on and on. Between Rush and Michael Steele the Wingnut Party just gets better and better. And after you've caught those acts, you can tune into the Bobby Jindal show! Too funny.

I'm not poney-ing up any money because right now the biggest obstacle to getting bills through the Senate is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. I complained about Reid some weeks ago in a post here and nothing that has happened since has given me any more confidence. Indeed, Reid's failure to get the votes in order for the big omnibus spending bill - a virtual no brainer - suggests that I was too kind about the Senator from the great state of Nevada.

Let's be clear: 60 votes are necessary to close off a filibuster. To date, Senate Republicans have only hinted that they might, perhaps maybe filibuster certain bills or nominees. They have, in fact, initiated exactly zero filibusters. Yet those threats have been enough to put Reid in a tizzy and driven Democratic operatives to dream about a filibuster-proof 60 votes.

The solution to the filibuster - and I'm certainly not the first or only person to say this - is for Reid to call the bluff. Give the minority party, the party of flat-earthers and Limbaugh-lovers, the opportunity to stall the business of the nation even as the economy goes down the drain. Poll numbers don't go as low as the Republicans would sink.

If he forced an actual showdown, Reid might discover A) that he gets the few votes he needs from Republicans like Arlen Specter, Jim Bunning and Olympia Snow who are terrified about their re-election or B) that the Republican threat is simply empty noise. Like everything else about the Republicans at the moment.

So until Reid gets his Senate in order, I'm not giving him any money.

Buckeye Update

In a post from August, I drew a quick sketch of political dynamics in the great state of Ohio, where I reside much of the year. In it, I suggested keeping an eye on the 7th District race. The seat is open because 6 term incumbent David Hobson, the walking definition of a Bush Administration yes-man, was one of those many Republicans who jumped the ship after the 2006 elections. It has been such a safe Republican seat that Democrats have done little better than toss up sacrificial lambs - and sometimes not even that much.

Until this year.

Sharen Neuhardt, a well-respected Dayton attorney, is running a serious campaign against a Republican State Senator who has been term-limited out, who is himself a hard-right mediocrity and who has faithfully towed the Republican agenda in the State House. She's raised real money, put together a sharp staff, and been putting a lot of miles on her car.

The summer polling numbers generated even more excitement. She still has name recognition problems in certain areas of the thoroughly gerrymandered district, but was still running virtually neck and neck with her opponent. More than that, in this comfortably Republican district, Bush's negatives are running off the charts. The 7th district includes some of the poorest sections of Ohio, and some of the worst hit by the weak economy. People in the 7th are hurting and they're angry.

Well, apparently the folks at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have also taken notice. Yesterday they put the Ohio 7th District on their "Red to Blue" list - a list of about 50 races that the DCCC feels have a real shot at going Democratic.

This is tremendously exciting news for the Neuhardt campaign and for those of us in the 7th. And let me add that if Neuhardt wins this seat, then Obama will have won Ohio big. The latest Quinnipiac poll has Obama ahead in Ohio by 5%. So those of you in places like New York, or Massachusetts, or California let me only say that Ohio is lovely in the fall -- come on out and introduce yourself to Sharen Neuhardt!