Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Busy, Busy

> Democrats won the open seats for Congress in NY-23rd and CA-10th. Bill Owens (NY-23) beat the far right conservative that had been endorsed by Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and other extremists. In California, Democrat John Garamendi, beat the Republican and some third party candidates.

>Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15) has been busy in Congress. HS Today:

...Finally, the Strengthening and Updating Resources and Equipment Act (HR 3837) would counteract a FEMA policy to bar state and local governments from using preparedness funds to maintain homeland security equipment.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio), would overturn a FEMA policy that prohibits recipients of homeland security grants to use their funding for sustaining equipment....

This would especially help smaller and rural communities, according to the article.

**** That Republican health care bill is nothing more than a rehash of all their previous cockamamie ideas--- tort reform, tax credits, health care savings accounts, same old, same old, same old. Did you really expect any original ideas from the Republicans?

>>>> A blog from the Stanford Review has a take on the replay of Democratic Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15) vs. Republican Steve Stivers, a former bank lobbyist:


...Ohio’s 15th District, a longtime Republican stronghold centered around Columbus, was one of the closest races in the country in 2008. An open Republican seat, Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy (D) barely prevailed after being behind State Sen. Steve Stivers (R) on election night. Stivers has opted for a rematch in 2010, in what would surely be a nail-biter. But as Politico recently reported, a Ron Paul acolyte, David Ryon, has decided to run as an independent in the general election rather than as a Republican against Stivers in the primary. In such a close race, that could be the difference that keeps the seat in Kilroy’s hands....

Very interesting. The other consideration for the 15th is that the district is trending more Democratic.