Pushing a Dead Jobs Bill
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on October 5th, 2011 4:39 am by HL
Pushing a Dead Jobs Bill
Although it is clear that President Obama doesn’t have the votes — either in the House or the Senate — to pass his American Jobs Act, The Hill notes that this “will not stop Obama from talking about the jobs bill and nothing else” for a while to come.
“That’s because the White House hopes the president’s steady drumbeat of “pass the bill” can become a rallying cry for his supporters even if it doesn’t create a single job… What matters to the White House are the politics of the battle. The president’s advisers want to ensure Obama has a vehicle to get him on the right side of the fear and loathing America feels toward Washington… Instead, they know the bill will be broken up, and smaller battles will break out, giving Obama smaller victories that officials hope will add up to a big win next November. But more important than that are the myriad opportunities available this fall and winter for Congress to act like Congress and for Obama to call them out for doing so.”
“And while it might seem to Washington like the president is tilting at windmills, the hope in Chicago is that voters want to fight windmills too, and they trust Obama to lead the charge. If that turns out to be the case, then folks in Washington might start wondering about the jobs bill the same way Elvis fans wonder about the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Maybe it’s not really dead.”
Quote of the Day
“Forbes magazine named Scott Brown Wall Street’s favorite senator. I was thinking that’s probably not an award I’m going to get.”
— U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D), quoted by the Boston Herald, taking a swipe at Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) in last night’s Massachusetts Democratic primary debate.
Romney Regains Status as Frontrunner
A new Quinnipiac national poll finds Mitt Romney leading the Republican presidential field with 22%, followed by Herman Cain at 17% and Rick Perry at 14%. All other candidates are in the single digits.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “After seeing his lead disappear with the entrance of Rick Perry into the trace, Mitt Romney has regained his position out front as the Texas governor’s fortunes have fallen. The GOP race, however, remains quite open… A big question now is whether Herman Cain is a serious candidate for the nomination. He has zoomed into second place ahead of Perry.”
Overall Fundraising Down in Q3
Roll Call reports 3rd quarter filings “will feature some of the most dismal fundraising numbers in the past few cycles, according to interviews with 20 operatives on both sides of the aisle. Consultants speculated fundraising across the board could be down about 25 percent this quarter, while others complained that it took twice as many solicitations to meet their goals.”