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US Senate Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 25, 2016 64 Comments
In August, the GOP and PACs associated with it, started preparing ads that target Hillary in case Donald Trump couldn't make a comeback. Now that it's almost certain we will end up with Hillary, the GOP knows the importance of holding the Senate and the House has only grown stronger. With two weeks left, the candidates have unleashed these ads across the country, mirroring their opponents as too similar to Hillary and promise to keep her in check in the White House.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 24, 2016 3 Comments
The Chamber of Commerce has endorsed a bill that would stop President Barack Obama's administration's new estate tax rules, which they insist would keep those mean wealthy people from reducing value on their assets. GOP senators proposed legislation to stop these rules because they believe it will harm small and family owned businesses because the owners would not be able to easily transfer the business to future generations. This is what the administration proposed:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 23, 2016 61 Comments
It's been a while since I've written about the Senate, but as the prof did an analysis of the GOP keeping the House, I am revisiting the question of whether or not the GOP can keep the Senate.  As a recap:  The Democrats need to win five Senate seats to win back the majority, only four if Hillary is elected and Kaine, as VP, holds the tie-breaking vote.   Republicans, by contrast, are defending 24 Senate seats to the Democrats' 10. As the professor noted, "In the case of the Senate, it will pave the way for Hillary to push through disastrous judicial nominations. And yes, expect Majority Leader Schumer to raise the nuclear option to the Supreme Court level if Democrats control the Senate by even a single (tie-breaking) vote." This holds true even if Trump wins the White House and the GOP loses the Senate.  Without the Senate, Trump won't be able to get the type of justice/s confirmed that he promised.  They simply won't make it through a Democrat-controlled Senate.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 17, 2016 7 Comments
The fight for the Senate continues to grow tighter, which has led Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to push even more of her campaign money to Democrat senate candidates. The Democrats only need five seats to take the majority or four if Hillary wins. Politico reported:
Clinton, who entered October with more money than any other candidate ever at her disposal, will spend more than $6 million total on paid media and get-out-the-vote efforts in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Iowa, and New Hampshire — each of which also has Senate races — said campaign manager Robby Mook on a conference call with reporters on Monday.

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 15, 2016 12 Comments
The fact that Russ Feingold is even running for Senate is proof that the Democratic Party has no back bench. Feingold is a re-run who served in the Senate from 1993 to 2011. He is a big fan of Hillary, too. He even thinks she's trustworthy. The Journal Sentinel reports:
Russ Feingold calls Hillary Clinton 'trustworthy' Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Russ Feingold called Hillary Clinton "reliable and trustworthy" Monday but reaffirmed his stance that if she's elected president she should consider shutting down the Clinton Foundation.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 10, 2016 10 Comments
Technology giants in Silicon Valley have donated money to Democrat Deborah Ross against Sen. Richard Burr (R), which has become one of the tightest races in the country. The Hill reported:
Laurene Powell-Jobs, the widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, tech venture capitalist Brook Byers and tech executive Amy Rao have all donated $2,700 to Ross, the maximum allowed. Paul Haahr, a top engineer at Google, has also donated $2,000 to Ross via the Bay Area based PAC, WomenCount.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 06, 2016 1 Comment
The Democrats salivated when Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) called GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump a role model. Her opponent Gov. Maggie Hassan held a press call and released a web ad over it. Pollsters even said the comment and Ayotte's attempt to walk back hurt her chances for re-election. But did it? From The Boston Globe:
Ayotte, a Republican, leads her challenger, Governor Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, 47 percent to 41 percent, in poll of the high-stakes race for US Senate. The poll was performed on Monday to Wednesday this week, surveying voters before and after the US Senate debate earlier this week during which Ayotte said “absolutely” Trump is a role model for her children. Hours later Ayotte said she misspoke. In any case, the poll did not show any erosion of support for Ayotte following her comment. But Hassan’s campaign will begin airing a one minute-long television advertisement Friday that highlights her debate mishap.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 05, 2016 9 Comments
James O'Keefe of Project Veritas has released a video that exposes Ohio's Democratic Senate candidate Ted Strickland's real positions on coal and guns while confirming that the Democrats have given up on his campaign. According to Strickland, 87% of Ohio's energy comes from coal, but he admitted on camera that coal isn't a big deal to him:
"No, I'm not big on coal. I'm not big on coal. I understand coal. Coal is dying," he said.
Yeah, it's no wonder why the United Mine Workers of America decided to endorse Strickland's opponent Sen. Rob Portman.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 05, 2016 29 Comments
The GOP has recently gained momentum in its race to keep the majority in the Senate, but a slip of the tongue from incumbent Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) could bring everything down. During her debate with her opponent Gov. Maggie Hassan, Ayotte told the moderator she considers GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump a role model:
“I think that certainly there are many role models that we have and I believe he can serve as president, and so absolutely I would do that,” she said awkwardly.
Democrats wasted no time jumping on her comments and using it to their advantage. It may just work

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 01, 2016 2 Comments
I discussed yesterday how GOP Super PACs have poured more money into saving its senate seats even though it appears the party will maintain its majority. Yet the GOP may lose a seat in Missouri as Democrat Jason Kander moves up in the polls and displays fresh confidence against incumbent Roy Blunt:
“The momentum is really clearly with us,” Mr. Kander, a Georgetown Law School graduate who served a term as a state legislator before being elected secretary of state, said at a small but lively campaign event in St. Louis on Saturday. ”It’s a very clear choice between somebody like myself, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who is focused on a new generation of leadership, and someone like Sen. Blunt, who has been in Washington for 20 years doing what special interests want to him to do.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 30, 2016 2 Comments
The GOP looks like it can maintain its majority in the Senate, but the main Senate super PAC has decided to spend $21 million more in six races just to be on the safe side. The Senate Leadership Fund has moved its concentration to New Hampshire, North Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Republicans have become more confident since they have seen voters separate GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump from the Senate candidates. This week, The New York Times Upshot blog said the GOP had a 53% of maintaining the majority. That same blog gave the GOP only a 40% chance in August.

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 29, 2016 23 Comments
For months now, "smart" people on the left and the right have claimed that Donald Trump would destroy the Republican Party's chances of holding onto the Senate. It's now looking as though those predictions were premature. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post:
Democratic hopes of winning Senate fade as Trump proves less toxic for Republicans Democrats are now facing a tougher road to capturing the Senate majority as the presidential race tightens and Donald Trump is not proving to be the dramatic drag on down-ballot candidates that Republicans once feared.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on September 28, 2016 17 Comments
Yesterday, I wrote about today's Senate vote expected to override Obama's veto and today they voted overwhelmingly to do just that. Fox News reports:
The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to overturn President Obama’s veto of a bill letting families of Sept. 11 victims sue the Saudi Arabian government, bringing Congress within reach of completing the first successful veto override of Obama’s presidency. The Senate voted 97-1 to reject the veto. The measure heads next to the House, where lawmakers will need to muster a two-thirds majority, as in the Senate, to override.

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 27, 2016 18 Comments
The fight over the short-term spending bill continues to grow as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) warned that his party will vote against the GOP bill if it doesn't include funding for Flint, MI. He said:
"Democrats have been clear that Congress should not leave Flint and other lead-tainted communities out of any (stopgap spending) negotiation that includes emergency disaster funding," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other top Democrats in a Tuesday morning letter to McConnell. "Our request is simple: include both bipartisan disaster relief packages for consideration in the CR. We urge you to include bipartisan Flint legislation in the CR."

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 26, 2016 12 Comments
It's that time of year when Congress will fight over a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown. We all know what will happen. They'll talk tough and then pass something at the last minute and go their merry ways. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has faced criticism from Democrats and members of his own party for the Senate's version of the bill. Some of his fellow GOP members believe the version "doesn't include conservative policy proposals." House conservatives want to do what they can to extend this stopgap bill into January so Congress isn't rushed to pass a full spending bill before Christmas.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on September 17, 2016 22 Comments
As Marco Rubio faces a tough battle for his Senate seat in Florida, he introduces a new gun bill aimed at limiting terrorist access to guns. The legislation, according to Rubio's Senate website, "builds on some of the best ideas that have been proposed, and improves them in ways that I hope will make a bipartisan solution more likely."
Rubio’s Terror Intelligence Improvement Act would:

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 08, 2016 5 Comments
I continue to keep an eye on the vulnerable Republicans in the Senate because the Democrats only need four seats to retake the majority. Not helpful is that Hillary and her campaign hope to raise $1 billion to help unseat vulnerable GOP senators. Their efforts may not come to fruition as Sen. Jon Tester (MT), the campaign chairman for the Senate Democrats, sounded the alarm on Wednesday. He claimed the party could only regain three seats if they held elections today.
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