Who said you can't use a tea bag twice?

The little 'bagger that couldn't, Doug Hoffman, is poised to cost the GOP in NY-23 for the second time in a less than a year.

Doug Hoffman, the conservative activist that spoiled the GOP's chances in a New York special election last year, may be hurting their prospects again despite suspending his campaign.

Democrats have been hoping that conservative third party candidates sink the GOP's chances in several targeted House races, and new polling suggests this race may be the most likely to achieve that goal.

According to a Siena Research poll released Thursday, Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) leads Republican Matt Doheny by only three points -- 40 percent to 37 percent, with Hoffman pulling in 15 percent.

The poll shows that Doheny is making up ground but that Hoffman continues to take support from him among Republicans. In an Oct. 13 Siena poll, Doheny trailed by a larger, 11 point margin -- 42 percent to 31 percent. Hoffman still pulled 15 percent in that survey.

Clinton Asked Democrat to Quit Florida Senate Race

And someday, when Marco Rubio is president, he should really consider giving Kendrick Meek some kind of appointment as a thank you being such a boneheaded idiot right now.

Former President Bill Clinton tried to persuade Florida Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek to drop out of his U.S. Senate race and support Gov. Charlie Crist's independent candidacy in hopes of thwarting a victory by Republican Marco Rubio.

People familiar with the matter said the former president and other top national Democrats worry a win by the charismatic Mr. Rubio, a 39-year-old Cuban-American, would make him a political phenomenon capable of boosting the GOP's chances with Hispanic voters. These people said the conversation occurred during Mr. Clinton's Florida visit on Oct. 19. Mr. Meek wavered for several days—suggesting to some that he could leave the race—but decided against it.

"They had a conversation about the fact that the prospects of him winning had passed him by and that the only way the Republican would be defeated is to jump on board with Crist," said a Florida Democrat familiar with the discussion.

The best and smartest president the Democrats have is still Bill Clinton. He's the only one who seems to see the forest (stopping the ascendancy of a young, articulate Hispanic Republican who could mess with the Democrats' long-term political calculus) through the trees (allowing Meek to bumble to a third-place finish in order to drum up African-American votes in an attempt to help Alex Sink, who in turn could help Obama's chances in Florida in 2012).

Kentucky Tea Partiers keep it classy

Tea Party Etiquette Tip #22: If you don't agree with what a woman has to say, throw her on the ground and step on her head.




Then again, perhaps they were just trying to tie her up and make her pray. Their candidate's way into that.

NPR screws the pooch on Juan Williams firing

So NPR fired Juan Williams (a personal favorite of the Playground) for the following thoughts he shared on The O'Reilly Factor earlier this week:

"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country," Williams said.

"But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Whether we like to admit it or not, there are lots of people in America - maybe even the majority of people - who would have the same visceral reaction to the scenario that Williams laid forth. It's not something we should be necessarily proud of, no different than if a woman crosses the street to the other sidewalk at night rather than pass a group of African-American men. But the truth is that people make behavioral decisions all the time based on superficial realities.

That's not particularly a good thing. But why is it that NPR is so uncomfortable with Juan Williams expressing that reality out loud? Aren't good journalists supposed to shine sunlight on some of these cultural taboos? Aren't they supposed to encourage enlightened dialogue on controversial matters?

The trouble with being overly attentive to matters of political correctness is that it quickly wades into the area of censorship. As someone who was in college at UW-Madison while its faculty were actively contemplating the appropriateness of their speech code, the arguments in play are well-known to me. Should people not speak to reality if reality hurts some people's feelings or makes them uncomfortable?

Williams wasn't providing a defense of his feelings. He was merely acknowledging that they exist, and in doing so, provided an example of the walking contradictions that most all of us are. It's unfortunate that an institution like NPR that wants to pride itself as such a marketplace of ideas is so obviously uncomfortable with ideas or feelings that it finds politically unattractive.

RoJo articulates his jobs plan...

... or at least he tries. Details are hard, you know - especially for a guy who had his life's path set forth for him by his father-in-law.



Wowsers. Not only does he need a plan, he needs a crash course at Toastmasters.

Does Russ Feingold even care anymore?

I've been wondering this for months, but this morning's article from Real Clear Politics sort of drove the whole point home.

Feingold spokesman John Kraus dismissed the lack of visibility on State Street on Sunday afternoon, explaining that it was anathema in the Badger State to campaign during Green Bay Packers games. Feingold was in Green Bay on Sunday, instead, for a tailgating rally with steelworkers.

Kraus said the Feingold campaign's Madison efforts for the day included volunteer recruitment calls and "Get Out The Vote" preparation.

He added that 18 canvassers knocked on 481 doors in Madison, Fitchburg, Stoughton and Cottage Grove; 10 people made 553 persuasion calls; and staffers handed out about 50 yard signs.

You sure you want to crow about having ten volunteers in your office making calls on a weekend the month before an election?

Feingold, of course, faces a number of logistical issues. The guy's been in Washington a little too long for that shake-em-up outsider image to carry him. Ron Johnson's ability and willingness to self-fund means that Feingold is probably going to get outspent, but not by so much that he can try to dress himself up as the cutesy underdog a la 1992.

And instead of finding a new approach, we seem to be getting a tired, three-term incumbent who's made peace with cashing out the chips and exploring other options.

This isn't to say Feingold hasn't got some potential weapons. People hate frauds, and when it comes to Ron Johnson's claim of being self-made, that's about as fraudulent as it gets. Johnson earned his money the old-fashioned way - he married into it and let his father-in-law set everything up for him. Those are the kinds of candidates that mainstream voters are inclined to hate (John Kerry, anyone?). But you can't hurt Johnson if you're not willing to throw the punches.

So is Feingold going to fight in the next month? Or is he content to put up a token effort and ride off into the sunset an eight-point loser?

California shows how it's done

Why raise taxes or cut spending to balance your budget honestly when you can just hold hands and bullshit some revenue re-estimates to get you across the finish line?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After a record-long impasse, California legislators are set to vote this week on a no-new-taxes budget that relies on a combination of spending cuts and optimistic financial projections to close a $19 billion deficit.

Details of the agreement between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders began emerging Saturday ahead of a vote by rank-and-file lawmakers planned for Thursday. If approved, it would end a budget stalemate that has already stretched for 94 days.

The state would cut about $7.5 billion in spending as part of the deal, down from the $12 billion Schwarzenegger proposed earlier this year.

To make up the shortfall, the agreement counts on an improving economy and the federal government to provide more money than previously projected.

Sound familiar, Wisconsin? Yeah, I thought it did.