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GOP Presidential Debate Tonight
The first GOP presidential debate will be held tonight, broadcast at 6 p.m. on MSNBC. Chris Matthews will moderate the debate at the Ronald Reagan Library. Romney for President will hold a debate fundraising party, 5:30 p.m., Wells Fargo Building 23rd Floor, 299 South Main. Special guests include Sharlene Wells Hawkes, Derek Parra, and Jimmy Shea. For more information contact Brad at 801-961-1134 or email bsmith@jrmiller.com.
Utah GOP in Disarray
Does anyone want to be state GOP chair? Maybe not, and for good reason. The Utah Republican Party is in a general state of disrepair, deeply in debt, without an executive director, and with angry activists making trouble wherever they can.
Who wants to step into that mess? With the party organizing convention coming up on June 9, there is no consensus candidate for chair, and plenty of good people are declining to run. Interim Chair Enid Greene’s very public firing of Executive Director Jeff Hartley is just the latest symptom of trouble in the GOP. The current party debt may run above $350,000.
By contrast, the Utah Democratic Party, run by Chair Wayne Holland, has little or no debt, is more disciplined, and appears better organized with an excellent communications program and web site.
None of this means that Republican candidates are necessarily in trouble. Most candidates and officeholders, especially statewide officials, simply ignore the party and do what they need to win. Sometimes working with the party is more trouble than it’s worth. Dealing with angry GOP activists is especially frustrating. They care more about ideological purity and lost causes than they do about winning elections.
Among names being mentioned for GOP state chair are Todd Weiler, Derek Smith, Stan Lockhart, Dave Hansen, James Evans, Dave Simmons, Tim Bridgewater and Marty Stephens. Bridgewater, who is helping coordinate regional activities for presidential candidate John McCain, is said to be willing to consider the job.
National Day of Prayer
Today is National Day of Prayer. In 1775, the First Continental Congress called for a National Day of Prayer. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln urged that a day of prayer be established. In 1952, Congress established NDP as an annual event by a joint resolution, signed into law by President Harry Truman. In 1988, the law was amended and signed by President Ronald Reagan, to be the first Thursday in May.
On May 6, 1982, Reagan offered these words: “Today, prayer is still a powerful force in America, and our faith in God is a mighty source of strength. Our Pledge of Allegiance states that we are ‘one nation under God,’ and our currency bears the motto, ‘In God We Trust.’ The morality and values such faith implies are deeply embedded in our national character. Our country embraces those principles by design, and we abandon them at our peril.” (Source: Patriot Post)
Washington Watch
Hatch Speaks to U.S. Chamber
“Well, here we go again. Many of you have heard Yogi Berra’s expression: ‘It’s like déjà vu all over again.’ I feel a little bit like that today when talking about the so-called Employee Free Choice Act since it is all too reminiscent of another bill you and I fought against, and stopped, back in 1977 and 1978, the Labor Law Reform Act. We thought back then that organized labor had a lot of nerve calling that bill a ‘reform’ bill, but it is nothing like the nerve they have today in naming this bill employee free choice” (See speech text)
Matheson: Renew Head Start
Congressman Jim Matheson said Utah's low-income children and their families will have a better chance to succeed in life thanks to legislation that will renew the Head Start program. Matheson voted for HR 1429-the Improving Head Start Act. (Read press release)
Bennett: Health Care for All
‘Pointing to growing support in Congress to work now to fix America's health care system, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Bob Bennett (R-UT) and U.S. Reps. Brian Baird (D-WA) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) announced they are proposing the first bipartisan, comprehensive health care reform bill in more than a decade to guarantee health coverage for all Americans.” (Read press release)
Today in Political History
May 3, 1971: National Public Radio begins programming with All Things Considered, a daily news program.
May 3, 1971: Anti-war protesters calling themselves the Mayday Tribe begin four days of demonstrations in Washington, D.C., aimed at shutting down the nation's capital. (Source: New York Times)
May 3, 2006: Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a descendant of ethnic Germans who migrated from Russia in 1909, posthumously pardons 75 German men and three women who were convicted of sedition in Montana during World War I. One man was sentenced to 7-20 years in prison for calling wartime food regulations a "big joke.” (Source: perspicuity)
Wise Words
“All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.”
– Benjamin Franklin (Source: Brainy Quote)
Utah Trivia
Utah is the fifth fastest-growing state in the nation. In 40 years Utah’s population will double. In 2005, some 26,800 new homes were permitted in the state, enough for a city larger than Layton. If current trends continue, an additional 308 square miles – an area equivalent to the size of New York City – will be newly developed along the Wasatch Front by 2030. (Source: Deseret Morning News)
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
New York Times: The Republican presidential candidates wrestle over how to deal with the president as they gather tonight for their first debate.
Washington Post: George Will outlines how Republicans plan to retake the House in 2008.
National Journal: Election guru Charlie Cook says if Fred Thompson gets in the presidential race he will pull votes from Rudy Giuliani, and minimally from John McCain and Mitt Romney.
RealClearPolitics Blog: Latest presidential poll numbers from key states.
Wall Street Journal: John Fund writes about the art of being a non-candidate presidential candidate like Al Gore, Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich.
Washington Post: David Broder quotes Sen. LaMar Alexander noting hardly anyone noticed that the Senate passed America Competes Act, authorizing $16 billion over four years as part of a $60 billion effort to "double spending for physical sciences research, recruit 10,000 new math and science teachers and retrain 250,000 more, provide grants to researchers and invest more in high-risk, high-payoff research."
Blog Watch
-- Rob Miller at Utah Amicus publishes press release about new Democratic Party communications director, Bill Keshlear, a veteran newsman.
-- Phil Windley: “I don’t agree with a lot of things Rocky Anderson says and does, but I’d like to see more cities (not to mention the State) follow his example in establishing a fund for renewable energy technologies.”
-- Ed Meyer at Rural Blogging praises Sen. Bill Hickman’s “Rural Fast Track” legislation designed to create jobs in Utah’s smaller, rural communities.
Lighter Side
Best of Late Night Humor
Conan O’Brien: In an effort to help the environment, Sheryl Crow has proposed using only one square of toilet paper when going to the bathroom. In a related story, don’t ever shake hands with Sheryl Crow.
David Letterman: “Top Reasons Rosie O’Donnell Is Leaving The View”: Couldn’t maintain rigorous one-hour-a-day work schedule; It’s been awkward ever since she threw Joy Behar through a plate glass window; Gearing up for the Kucinich-O’Donnell 2008 campaign; She feels she can get more feuding done by working at home; Can make more money wrasslin’ gators in Florida; Tired of empty gin bottles in Barbara Walters’ office; Tested positive for steroids.
Jay Leno: Senate Majority Harry Reid says his fellow Democrats in Congress will pass a bill to start pulling our troops out of Iraq on October 1st. He said October 1st is the day, but says he won’t say what time of day because he doesn’t want to tip off al-Qa’ida. ... Eight Democratic presidential candidates squared off in the first presidential debate. Did anybody watch it? Nobody watched it. We need to make it like ‘American Idol.’ Each week we vote another one off. ... They were all talking about the environment. Of all the candidates in the debate, not one of them took a commercial flight or even shared a jet to help cut down on fuel and emissions. They each took their own separate jet plane to get there. They said this way the breeze would cool the earth. I’m not buying it. ... John Edwards apologized for his $400 haircut. He said it was a mistake, especially in the back, where they didn’t feather enough. (Source: Patriot Post) |
