A Pennsylvania House candidate who lost the Republican primary has been presented with the unexpected possibility that he might compete in the general election — as a Democrat.
An early tally of write-in votes on Tuesday put tea party-backed conservative Art Halvorson slightly ahead of Democrat Adam Sedlock in the Democratic primary, potentially giving Halvorson the option of accepting the nomination from the rival party, the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown reported.
Halvorson, a retired Coast Guard captain and businessman, would then face a general election in the 9th Congressional District against incumbent Rep. Bill Shuster, who beat him in the April Republican primary by a little more than 1 percentage point.
But first, election officials must finish counting the ballots in a race that was so close that the candidates had to petition some precincts to accept every possible misspelling of their names.
Halvorson said he did not pursue votes from the other side of the aisle, but, while he had not made a decision about the Democratic nomination, he appreciated the support, the paper reported.
The captain of the duct tape brigade appears to have found his inner political peace.
Jerry Brown, the current and former governor of California, has decided a capstone to his political career will be casting his lot with the Clintons, a quarter century after positioning himself among the early Democratic standouts in the dark arts of driving them to distraction.
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Jerry Brown Picks Hillary Clinton Over Bernie Sanders
] Brown was to Bill Clinton in 1992 what Bernie Sanders is to Hillary Clinton in 2016 — always trailing, but never failing to scold the front-runner for the nomination, tossing nettlesome anti-establishment liberal barbs that delayed his insider rival’s path toward the reconstruction of party unity.
“The prince of sleaze,” Brown dubbed the Arkansas governor back then, an epithet Sanders has never come close to matching while working to derail the former secretary of state’s campaign.
But perhaps the most melodramatic move Brown has ever orchestrated came at the start of the 1992 Democratic convention in New York, when he instructed his 600 delegates to press for an open and competitive gathering — at least until he could secure a prime-time speaking slot without his having to first promise he’d endorse the guaranteed nominee.
A spending bill that funds watchdog agencies overseeing Wall Street will offer lawmakers one of their last opportunities to undercut President Barack Obama’s signature financial overhaul before the November elections.
Financial interests are pushing for big changes, championed mostly by Republicans, to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the $21.7 billion House Financial Services draft appropriations bill . The debate will also give Democrats a chance to rail against big financial firms and reinforce a popular campaign trail refrain.
In addition to the CFPB, which was authorized by Dodd-Frank, financial industry lobbyists say they’re pushing for changes to insurance regulations as well as to the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which monitors the stability of the financial system.
“This particular bill is a magnet for Wall Street’s lobbyists and Wall Street’s allies,” said Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets and a proponent of Dodd-Frank.
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On Fifth Anniversary, Dodd-Frank Financial Regulations Appear to Be Here to Stay
]
Over the weekend, conservative provocateur, Twitter troll and Weekly Standard boss Bill Kristol teased us with a tweet declaring , “Just a heads up over this holiday weekend: There will be an independent candidate–an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance.”
The “player to be named later” turned out to be an anti-climactic one, David French . Considering the names that had been bandied about to lead Kristol’s crusade—Mitt Romney, former Sen. Tom Coburn , Sen. Ben Sasse , et al.—this was an unsatisfying dénouement. Having over-promised with flashy trailers, Kristol released what might be the biggest summer flop since Water World trickled into theaters.
It’s not that French doesn’t have much to recommend him; he does. He’s a terrific and eloquent writer, a decorated veteran and a constitutional lawyer. I'd love to have him as a colleague or a neighbor. What he is not, however, is a serious presidential contender.
Unlike past ubiquitous TV commentators like, say, Pat Buchanan—or even Bill Kristol (why didn’t he just run?)—French isn’t all that well known outside the tight confines of conservative intellectual circles.
This may well change, but—as of today—I’m more famous than he is.
In his 1944 play "No Exit ," John-Paul Sartre has a character declare, "Hell is other people." These days an innovative theatrical director could shift the locale of "No Exit" from an anteroom in hell to a hellish airport security line.
It could have been a Donald Trump rally . Except it wasn’t. It was a doctor’s office , a place usually associated with quiet visitors minding their own business. But not on a recent afternoon, with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump over the top in delegates and in his rhetoric on the television screen in the waiting room, and a couple of folks loudly declaring their support and amusement. “This is going to be fun,” joked one middle-aged white man to another. I glanced up from the week-old People magazine and said, matter-of-factly, “Not everyone may be laughing.”
And then the torrent started, for a very long 10 minutes or so, as guy No. 1 started his speech, directed at me in particular and the room in general, until even his comrade-in-yuks inched away.
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The One Thing Trump Got Right in New Mexico
]
Trump’s messaging has certainly been successful, and his supporter repeatedly brought up the theme of winning. His voice grew louder and louder as he said Trump was a truth-teller who will fix the economy and make America strong. Trump isn’t perfect, he conceded, and can be rude. But he justified that with the JFK defense. “John Kennedy was a sleaze,” he said, “and everyone loved him.”
He finished by talking about “the illegals” and his belief that Trump will fix what he thinks is one of America’s biggest problems, “illegals who commit half the crime in the country.”
Heard on the hill
Wings, Beer and Baseball
The pregame to the Congressional Baseball Game you’ve been waiting for is finally here. Can’t get into Roll Call’s Taste of America party? Buffalo Wild Wings and Anheuser-Busch have you covered.
The two are co-hosting the inaugural Official Pregame Party at Nationals Park from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m., before the 7:05 p.m. game on June 23 .
With a ticket to the game, you can enter the party located on the Budweiser Terrace behind the scoreboard.
The first 1,000 fans get free wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and there will be live music and America-themed beers for all.
You can keep the wings coming when you show your e-ticket, which are on sale now , and receive a $5 coupon to Buffalo Wild Wings near the ballpark.
Heard on the hill
Feinstein Dangles Chardonnay Before Casey, Portman
California has a team in both sports finals this week, and the state’s senior senator hopes to trash talk her way to victory.
The NHL final is between the San Jose Sharks and the Pittsburgh Penguins. What’s on the line?
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wagered California chardonnay while Sen. Bob Casey , D-Pa., bet Wigle Whiskey, made in Pittsburgh.
“The Penguins may have star power, but I don’t think they can match our depth,” Feinstein said in a news release .
Casey disagreed, saying, “The Penguins have been the hottest team in hockey since January, so I have no doubt that they will win against the Sharks.”
A Republican Senate candidate in Florida is firing a warning shot at Sen. Marco Rubio and the party leaders trying to persuade him to run for re-election: GOP voters have already moved on.
Carlos Beruff's campaign released an internal poll Tuesday showing the wealthy developer in a dead heat atop a five-man field for the GOP nomination. The survey, conducted by OnMessage Inc. pollster Wes Anderson, found Beruff winning 17 percent of the primary vote, higher than Rep. David Jolly 's 16 percent.
The poll — which, as an internal survey, should be viewed with a dose of skepticism — touts the gains Beruff made since November, when the campaign found the Miami native drawing just 1 percent of the vote.
But its real target appears to be Rubio, whom Republican leaders have argued gives the GOP its best chance of holding a battleground Senate seat in November.
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Republicans Urge Rubio to Reconsider Senate Run
]
Politics
Legal Ruling in Colorado Senate Race but No Clarity for GOP
A Denver judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the primary race of a the Senate candidate who Republicans had hoped would pose a serious threat to Democratic incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet in a race considered a Senate battleground.
But the judge's decision did not address lingering questions about forged voter signatures — including one of a dead person — that Jon Keyser's campaign submitted to get him on the ballot, putting him in a weakened position as he faces a crowded June 28 primary.
As such, the ruling is a negligible victory for the GOP, which had targeted Bennet as the only Democratic senator the party had a chance of knocking off this year.
Colorado District Judge Morris Hoffman dismissed the case against Keyser on procedural grounds, ruling that was filed weeks after a state deadline to challenge petitions in the race, the Denver Post reported.
The lawsuit cited as many as 60 forged signatures based on an analysis of a handwriting expert, although only 10 voters signed affidavits saying their signatures were falsified.
In Indiana's Safe Republican 9th District, Democrat Shelli Yoder and Republican Trey Hollingsworth begin the general election with equal support, according to internal polling from the Yoder campaign.
Both candidates start with 41 percent of the vote, with 18 percent undecided.
Garin Hart Yang Research Group surveyed 401 likely voters from May 23 to May 25. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 points.
As the Yoder campaign's polling memo points out, the district "remains challenging territory for Democrats."
But with Hollingsworth, who moved from Tennessee last fall , having won last month's crowded GOP primary , the Yoder campaign sees an opening.
In just a few short weeks on Capitol Hill, Majid “Sal” Salahuddin drafted and garnered enough bipartisan support to pass his first piece of legislation.
The measure, which reinstates a reporting requirement for the Department of Veterans Affairs, was adopted as an amendment in the Senate’s version of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs spending plan.
But Salahuddin is neither a sitting congressman nor a senator – he’s a 25-year Army veteran who is part of the Vet Voice fellowship program that aims to let post-9/11 service members lend their military experience to elected officials on the Hill. Citing a congressional report, Vet Voice said only 98 veterans from that period work among the more than 6,000 employees who work on the hill.
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Getting a Job on Capitol Hill: For Veterans
] Salahuddin, 42, says veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan bring a unique skill set that adapts naturally to congressional work, given their interaction with locals and other workers during deployment.
“The 10-year war has made us become efficient in so many different things that we didn’t have to do in previous wars,” he said. "We didn’t have to negotiate contracts. We didn’t have to speak to tribes.”