Struggling Economy Will Take Center Stage In November Say Experts

Sarah Mamula - Talk Radio News Service

Former Commerce Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Robert Shapiro expressed confidence Thursday that the Democratic Party will continue to hold the majority in Congress after the midterm elections.

According to the NDN, a progressive think tank and advocacy organization, the focus for the midterm elections in November is the struggling economy. President of NDN Simon Rosenberg said issues such as the clean energy and comprehensive immigration reform will creep just below the public’s radar.

Rosenberg believes that if the GOP were to gain seats in Congress, Republicans would need to adjust their current economic policy of “do nothing” and come up with alternatives.

“I don’t think this set of leaders, Boehner and McConnell, have the intellectual capacity [for] a real economic strategy because they have utterly failed to do so in the entire time they’ve been in office,” Rosenberg said.

Polls indicated that people voted for Obama and Democrats in 2008 due to the policies he planned to implement to revive the economy, but Shapiro said that economic progress made by the government will aid Democrats come September.

“The economy is certainly in much better shape than when the president took office,” said Shapiro. 

Democratic Health Bills Don't Offer Americans Enough Freedom To Choose, Say GOP'ers

By Chingyu Wang - Talk Radio News Service

Members of the GOP Solutions Group blasted the White House's health reform proposal during a conference call with reporters on Thursday.

"The new plan looks a lot like the old plan, and every time when they are talking about the old plan I think Democrats lost this debate," said Group Chairman Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). "We'd like to see a plan that reduces costs, increases access and doesn't cripple the states."

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a physician himself, slammed a provision within both Democratic health bills that would require Americans to purchase health insurance. Price said the question of who should decide what kind of medical care individuals receive is one of the main factors dividing Republicans and Democrats on the issue of healthcare reform.

A proposal by the Republicans would allow Americans "To truly shop across state lines to purchase the insurance that you want for yourself or your family," said Price, adding that the Democrats' bills would allow the "government to dictate [your insurance policy] for you."

"Democrat solutions come down on the side of larger government [and] integrated bureaucracy." he argued.

VA Gubernatorial Race Not Indicative Of Changing National Mood

By Ravi Bhatia - Talk Radio News Service

Joseph Figueroa at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics says that today's Gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey and the Congressional election in upstate New York reflect little on national political trends. Figueroa's sentiment conflicts with Republicans who believe that GOP victories in the three races would serve as a referendum of sorts on the job performance of President Barack Obama.

“You really have to take the results for what they are, as a reflection of the campaign that the two candidates ran,” said Figueroa, referring to the race for governor in Virginia. “I don’t think you can really extrapolate a whole lot in terms of national or even state trends because Virginia is a purple state, and it’s gonna remain so for a while.”

In Virginia, polls suggest that former state Attorney General and Republican candidate Bob McDonnell holds a double-digit lead over Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds. In New Jersey, the race between incumbent Democratic Governor John Corzine and his challenger, Republican Chris Christie, remains deadlocked.

“New Jersey is a blue state - it’s dark blue,” Figueroa said. “It’ll be interesting to see because Christie did have a bit of an upswing in the polls at the very end there. But it is a deadlocked race. That’ll be the one to watch tonight.”

In New York’s 23rd Congressional District, Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race after being outpolled by Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. She has since endorsed Democrat Bill Owens.

“A lot of the people who were inclined to support Scozzafava because she’s running under the Republican banner may not be so quick to vote for Owens because of their own ideals,” Figueroa continued. “It’s gonna be really interesting to see - they have a very difficult to decision to make.”

The polls close in Virginia at 7 p.m. tonight. In New Jersey, the polls close at 8 p.m. and in New York, they close at 9 p.m.

In VA-35, Both Campaigns Predict Tight Race

The race to replace 35th District Delegate and Democratic Attorney General candidate Steve Shannon is within a 2-point margin – or at least it was two weeks ago, according to polls conducted for Republican candidate Jim Hyland.

Hyland’s margin, described by his campaign manager Kevin Conroy as “within the margin of error,” reflects a tightening of the race since a July benchmark poll, when pollsters Barry Zeplowitz and Bill Lee of TelOpinion Research indicated in a confidential memo posted on Hyland’s website that Hyland held a 7-point lead 43 percent to 36 percent lead, with 21 percent undecided. The memo did not indicate the size of the sample or whether “likely voter” filters were used.

Read more at Collins on Politics

Pelosi: Democrats Stand By The IMF

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

Despite the uncertainties that Congressional Republican leaders have on the efficacy of the reform of the International Monetary Fund, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is adamant that “The IMF will have a strong support from the Democrats.”

Pelosi defended the international organization today at her weekly press conference where she also mentioned the success of her recent bipartisan trip to China.

House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senate Minority Whip Eric Cantormay, backed by other House Representatives who fear that Democrats are fusing two very different entities, the IMF and a bill, together, said that "Weighing down this critical legislation with non-defense spending will only drag this process out further and cost it essential Republican support needed for passage."

Cantor added that “We should not be having this discussion. IMF funding has no business being included in the war supplemental bill,” while adding that the funding may result in helping terror-sponsoring states such as Pakistan.

The debate over funding of the IMF has stemmed from President Barack Obama’s announcement at the April Group of 20 meeting that $100 billion will be granted to the IMF as part of the U.S war-bill which should further the fight against the global economic crisis.

Obama also said that the U.S would support the IMF as it sell 400 tons of gold, whilst Pelosi reminded that “It [the IMF] has been reformed so that it will help the poor. They wanted to sell gold, we said you can, but the proceeds have to go to help the poor.”

Responding to Cantor’s allegations, Pelosi said “I don’t know why anyone would say that the money is going to the hands of terrorists, it’s simply not based on facts and is a scare tactic.”

Pelosi also said “There are two contradictory things: one says that one shouldn’t be on war funding, which is our responsibility to support our troops in the war in Iraq, end the war in Iraq, bring our troops home and fight terrorism where is it a threat to our country, which is in Afghanistan, and we know that we have to do that." She added that “The IMF, in its reformed state, can be a force for alleviating the despair amongst people in the world. It’s a very important national security initiative.”

“The issue of the IMF, I think, has strong support on the Democrats’ side; not any support we’re hearing on the Republican side,” Pelosi said.

This war-bill, which involves military and diplomacy costs for Iraq and Afghanistan, will skyrocket to over $100 billion.