A divided government

The U.S. is almost certainly promised a divided government again, we had a short term of divided government for two years from '06-'08. Divided government is not bad in fact this may be exactly what it takes to recalibrate the country. A divided government will make both sides work together even if hardcore partisans on both sides hate it it is good for the country. When you have divided government you have pragmatism come through you can't be a hardcore ideologue because then you will simply be pushed aside for members in the House or Senate that want to work and do the business of the people.

What's the Tea Parties Problem?

The Tea Party has now set its sights on Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware as their next republican in their sights. Do they not understand that Castle is a shoo-in he was a popular two-term Governor and has easily been elected and re-elected to the House ever since in an at-large seat. Mike Castle is a good long serving republican and he is a Yankee republican so what. He is the type of republican that can make the party competitive again in the Northeast which they are now not. If the Tea Party knocks off Rep. Castle then the democrats will keep the Senate seat once held by Vice President Biden if republicans want to take control of the U.S. Senate Castle has to be the nominee.

The Tea Party Versus Republicans

This last week in several primaries the Tea Party candidate has beaten the establishment. In Alaska Sara Palin has continued her battle against the Murkowski family. This time targeting Sen.Murkowski the daughter of former U.S. Senator and Governor Frank Murkowski. Joe Miller a little known Judge and attorney was backed by Sara Palin and the Tea Party is currently ahead of Murkowski with more than 16000 ballots left to be counted. In Florida a mega millionaire was able to knock off the sitting Attorney General in the Republican primary Bill McCollum has yet to endorse Rick Scott. But Rep.Kendrick Meeks easily handled his primary billionaire challenger by more than 10% points. In Arizona John McCain pounded former congressman J.D. Hayworth and Tea party favorite by 20% points however McCain spent 21 million dollars defeating Hayworth McCain will easily win in November however the Tea Party is costing Republicans lots of money in primaries they will need to become the majority in the fall. Primaries are a good thing but they quite often valuable resources from incumbents that need them especially in this economy money will be tight and the Tea Party has made Republicans primaries very expensive once again the Tea Party is not helping the Republican party and is not making it better.

Nelson will oppose Kagan

Democratic Senator Ben Nelson has said he will oppose Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan. Since Kagan has five Republicans and presumably the rest of the Democrats voting for her she will be easily confirmed so losing Nelson doesn't mean much. so lets look at why Nelson will vote against her. Can anyone say looking towards 2012 even though Governor Heineman is leaning against running for Senate in 2012. So who is going to challenge Nelson Attorney General Bruning he wants to be governor but he could beat Nelson turn around run for Governor and appoint his own successor. This is doubtful to happen I think if Governor Heineman turns down the Senate bid then you can look for Congressman Fortenberry to probably jump into the Senate race. If Heineman is out, Bruning is the Republican candidate with the best chance of beating Nelson but its no secret that Bruning wants to be Governor and if he beats Nelson the question would be will he even serve a whole term in the Senate if elected. If Bruning and Heineman both choose to pass on the Senate race the Republicans could be in real trouble to knock off Nelson. The rest of the republican state wide office holders don't pose much of a threat to Nelson. The three Congressmen from Nebraska would be hard pressed to raise enough money and none of them have ever ran a statewide race. So Nelson voting against Kagan has big implications for 2012 but Senator Nelson knows this.

Tea Party agenda

We as citizens keep seeing the Tea party rallies and Sarah Palin speaking at them and all of the new one liners that seems to come out of the rallies. We know that the Tea party is against out of controlled spending congratulations so is a vast majority of Americans. The tea party wants its elected leaders to be more accountable and responsive to its fellow citizens what an amazing new idea. The Tea party wants a balanced budget again the Tea party is just full of brand new ideas.

The point is that the Tea party favors ideas we all support but outside of those few ideas that are as old as the republic itself the Tea party really does not stand for anything. We know that the Tea party is against just about everything except those previously mentioned ideas. The Tea party offers nothing new and they get out of responsibility for the rally actions saying they are not a centrally organized group and cannot be held accountable for the actions of some of their members. However they were the first to crow about the defeat of U.S. Senator Bob Bennett R-Utah in the primary that it was the tea party that defeated Bennett interesting for a group that has no central organization.

The Steele Republican Problem

RNC Chairman Michael Steele is a gift for the democrats in a year the republican party should gain one house if not maybe an outside chance of gaining both houses. However Michael Steele just keeps opening his mouth and with his comments about Afghanistan he keeps making mistakes that a person in his position should not make. An individual in a leadership position such as an RNC chairman should be intelligent enough to know that everything he says is going to be scrutinized especially with previous gaffe's he has made. The RNC cannot toss out the chairman but they need to make sure at the very least that he is on the same page as the minority leaders and the republican leadership in both houses.

Kagan hearings begin

As the confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan began in the Senate with Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions drilling Kagan on the restrictions she placed on the military as her time as Harvard Law School Dean. After Sessions South Carolina Republicans Lindsey Graham made it clear that Kagans liberal up bringing and activism during her life does not disqualify her for the Supreme Court. Its interesting to see the tact that Republican Senators are taking with Kagan they are not wholeheartedly attacking even Texas Senator John Cornyn said that her history with the military needed more inquiry in the hearings but thats about it. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein had issue with Kagan saying that a ruling that is only a day old is settled law. Kagan will be grilled continuously about her military position but other than that its hard to see any other real bumps in the road Kagan will be easily confirmed.