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(CNN) – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie blasted Democratic political opponents Friday for criticizing his absence from the state during...

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/31/nj-governor-rips-critics-of-storm-response/

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UPDATE, 3:04 p.m.: Mayor Mark Mallory is taking issue with our story today which says he is expected to veto any budget that includes� managed competition. He never said that, he says now, and it’s not fair to quote others saying that he did. (Chris Bortz, Charlie Winburn and Chris Monzel say he did say [...]

Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2010/12/28/will-there-be-a-city-budget-today/

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Quadrangle investment group founding partner and former Obama "auto czar" Steven Rattner agreed Thursday to pay...

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/30/ex-obama-car-czar-settles-fund-scheme-charge/

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You'd like to think that people get what they deserve. The entire American political system — in theory, anyway — is dedicated to that proposition, among some others. In a monarchy, for example, you luck into a good king, or else you have the misfortune of living under the reign of a bucktoothed, inbred hemophiliac until such time as that person accidentally falls under the wheels of his own touring car. It's not your fault when His Royal Highness appoints his pet rabbit to be Chancellor of the Exchequer or ambassador to Finland. However, the American system is constructed such that if, like the people of the great state of Florida so did last month, you elect to be your governor the greatest Medicare swindler in the nation's history, you bear all the blame down the line if and when he starts handing over your public institutions like door prizes to his corporate cronies, or sees the public treasury as something of an ATM machine, some of which apparently is happening already, despite the guy not actually being in office yet.

But we would almost guarantee that this will not happen, that no burden shall be shouldered henceforth. We have insulated ourselves from the responsibility of what we are doing to our country and its politics and, therefore, its government, all of which belong to us — in theory, anyway. And that is what triumphed in 2010.

The national Id was the Creature of the Year, and any fair balloting wouldn't even have been close....

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/2010-political-issues?src=rss

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Can we get this man the Order of Canada already?

Source: http://www.stephentaylor.ca/2010/12/my-favourite-quote-from-coachs-corner-last-night/

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Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/12-22-2010-gop-died?src=rss

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Governor Paterson has just released another, and likely final, round of pardons. As was expected, all of them are related to immigration issues. Here they are: ? Khamsay Chanthavilaychit received a pardon for an August 2003 conviction for the Class A misdemeanor of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree, for which he

Source: http://www.capitaltonight.com/2010/12/more-paterson-pardons/

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Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison joined with fellow Republicans to block Senate passage of the DREAM Act today, and both defend their no-votes.

Cornyn said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "continues to play politics" with the proposal, which Texas' senators and many other Republican opponents have supported in the past.

Cornyn says border security and other aspects of immigration policy must come first.

"I am sympathetic to the plight of children who have no moral culpability for being in this country illegally and I support the intent of the bill today, but not this legislation and not this way," he said in a statement. "Despite years of objections this bill still allows illegal immigrants with criminal records to apply and receive benefits. It has never had a Senate committee hearing. It has not had any Senate committee process - of any kind - in seven years and Senator Reid refuses to allow any amendments. This is unacceptable and it is not the way to pass legislation.

"The DREAM Act is an important element in the larger immigration debate. A debate that Senate Democrats and President Obama - despite their campaign promises - have chosen to ignore in their pursuit of other policies they deemed more important. It deserves better than to be jammed through in the waning hours of a lame duck session of Congress."

Hutchison also defended her opposition.

"I could not support the DREAM Act legislation brought before the Senate today because it expanded the scope of the bill beyond the intended individuals who were brought here as children and grew up and were educated in the United States. Such serious legislation should be brought up in a time frame that allows for consideration, deliberation and consensus through full debate and amendments," she said in a statement.

The senators also voted against repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- it's a busy Saturday at the Capitol. That one passed a key test vote and is headed toward final approval this afternoon.

"With three of the four military service chiefs expressing clear reservations over the proposed repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, today's vote shows blatant disregard for the opinions of those who know our military best. With our troops engaged in combat overseas, now is not the time to increase the level of stress on our Armed Forces through such a dramatic policy change. It is a disgrace that this latest item from the liberal legislative wish-list is being jammed through at the expense of military readiness," Cornyn said.

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/sen-john-cornyn-defends-no-vot.html

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Former Paladino Campaign Manager Michael Caputo has re-emerged to take a shot at Andrew Cuomo. In Italian. He just sent a press release entitled, “Te l’avevo detto”, which means “I told you so.” He goes on to blast Cuomo for letting another “VIP Democrat” get a walk. Of course, he is referring to Steve Rattner,

Source: http://www.capitaltonight.com/2010/12/caputo-i-told-you-so/

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Government sources are sounding confident about tonight's vote. One just claimed that 21 Lib Dem MPs would vote against higher fees and five would abstain. They expected four or five Tories to vote no and around the same number to abstain.

That would - if correct - give the government a majority in the low 20s.

Update 1747: Three-quarters knocked off the government's majority... the biggest Lib Dem rebellion since the party was formed... a coalition with a healthy majority having to haggle, woo, persuade to get its policy as the streets around Westminster were filled with angry protesters.

This will come as a relief to the coalition but also a warning of what could lie ahead.

The House voted for both measures - raising the cap to �6,000 and up to �9,000 in exceptional circumstances - by 323 votes to 302.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/12/looking_confide.html

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The�city planning and buildings department �gave its OK to a new downtown store, known only in documents as HH. HH, the city believes,�stands for Hustler Hollywood. HH provided to the city a list of things the company expects to sell at 16/18 E. 7th St. �The city requested the list�to make sure the place doesn’t [...]

Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2010/12/27/flynt-store-gets-city-approval/

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Even when they were sent up to Capitol Hill and down again into the trenches of recovery, it was a very good year for bankers: record revenues, salary increases, cute new nicknames from Matt Taibbi — it was almost like 2008 never even happened. The money kept flowing, and yet it didn't; for the denizens of Wall Street still small enough to fail, the cash kickbacks amounted to a new trend this bonus season: the Zeros.

But you can't believe everything the Times tells you, even if the Street's biggest firms have set aside more than the GDP of 13 entire countries (see left). You believe in the people. So we went down to the financial district late last week asking every banker we could find — at the bars, on the street corners, out front of a steakhouse — to take a short, unscientific, yet revealing survey. Here's what the 98 respondents (81 men and 17 women) told us....

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/wall-street-bonuses-2010?src=rss

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Wade Phillips (pictured) is probably gonna be looking for a moving company. It looks like he’s gonna be the defensive coordinator for the Houston Texans according to the Houston Chronicle.
If memory serves me right, his dad, Bum, was head coach when the Houston’s pro football team was the Oilers.

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You'd like to think that people get what they deserve. The entire American political system — in theory, anyway — is dedicated to that proposition, among some others. In a monarchy, for example, you luck into a good king, or else you have the misfortune of living under the reign of a bucktoothed, inbred hemophiliac until such time as that person accidentally falls under the wheels of his own touring car. It's not your fault when His Royal Highness appoints his pet rabbit to be Chancellor of the Exchequer or ambassador to Finland. However, the American system is constructed such that if, like the people of the great state of Florida so did last month, you elect to be your governor the greatest Medicare swindler in the nation's history, you bear all the blame down the line if and when he starts handing over your public institutions like door prizes to his corporate cronies, or sees the public treasury as something of an ATM machine, some of which apparently is happening already, despite the guy not actually being in office yet.

But we would almost guarantee that this will not happen, that no burden shall be shouldered henceforth. We have insulated ourselves from the responsibility of what we are doing to our country and its politics and, therefore, its government, all of which belong to us — in theory, anyway. And that is what triumphed in 2010.

The national Id was the Creature of the Year, and any fair balloting wouldn't even have been close....

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/2010-political-issues?src=rss

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CORRECTION: Rep. Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, says he signed a letter demanding a House GOP caucus meeting because he wants to get the speaker's race over, not because he's switched horses in midstream.

"I haven't removed my pledge" from Speaker Joe Straus, said Hardcastle. He said my earlier blog post describing the 10 signers of the letter as "anti-Straus" was overblown. It incorrectly assumed that several people on Straus' list -- Hardcastle and Reps. Allen Fletcher and Kelly Hancock -- are yanking their support from the current speaker.

"That's not necessarily anti-Straus folks," said Hardcastle (above, AP photo). "That's just Republican caucus members who wanted to call an end to all this bickering over the speaker's race, and go ahead and have the caucus and have the vote."

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/hardcastle-says-hes-not-anti-s.html

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(CNN)–Senators take the floor of the 111th Congress for the last time to address their colleagues and say their farewells.

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/29/senators-bid-farewell-to-colleagues/

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Vince Cable was sacked yesterday - not from the cabinet of course but from "all responsibility for competition and policy issues relating to media, broadcasting, digital and telecoms sectors" which will be transferred immediately to the secretary of state for culture, media and sport. He survived as secretary of state for (rather less) business (than before).

This, some will say, is vindication of the Telegraph's decision to send undercover reporters into MPs' offices posing as constituents to record what they heard. The public, they argue, has a right to know the private policy disagreements of those around the cabinet table. Besides, they may add, Vince Cable spoke candidly to two total strangers who could have called a paper with the story or written a blog post about it even if they weren't reporters themselves. I am not convinced.

Undercover reporting is legitimate, necessary indeed, to uncover wrongdoing. At the BBC a decision to carry hidden cameras or microphones requires high-level prior authorization and prima facie evidence of wrongdoing. It's been used with great effect to expose football hooligans, violent racists, fraudsters and the like. I know that the paper's executives considered the press complaints code and the law before deciding to proceed, but where was the evidence of wrongdoing amongst Liberal Democrat ministers which justified bugging them?

Be clear: the one thing the paper was not examining was the business secretary's attitude to the takeover of BSkyB. It was Vince Cable who raised the subject of BSkyB's bid, not the undercover reporters. It's now obvious why: Cable was the ally of the Telegraph which wants to block the advance of the Murdoch empire. The truth is they stumbled across a story which Robert Peston then scooped them on.

The paper's stated aim was to highlight the gap between ministers' private conversations and their public statements - in other words, to expose hypocrisy. This argument could have been used to justify the bugging of ministers in any government. Should reporters have bugged Gordon Brown to reveal his policy disagreements with Tony Blair or Liam Fox and David Cameron?

Now I should declare an interest. Political correspondents thrive on hearing, analysing and reporting on the gap between private and public statements. Save the Murdoch story, none of what Lib Dem ministers said in private comes as a surprise to me. I would suggest, however, that the idea that Lib Dems are worried about child benefit and housing cuts would not come as a surprise to anyone who follows politics.

Some might believe - in the spirit of Wikileaks - that it would be better for what some see as a cosy Westminster club to be smashed so that the public can hear everything for themselves. After all, they might argue, political journalism did not reveal the MPs' expenses scandal. It took a leak and the Telegraph's willingness to risk a political storm.

Here's why that argument doesn't convince me. Starting from today, politicians will be more wary about what they say to their own constituents, more suspicious of journalists and more keen to meet behind closed doors without the risk of microphones, cameras, prying eyes and straining ears. Candour will be less common, not more.

Sympathy with politicians is in short supply so perhaps the easiest way to think about this is to ask yourself this: how would you feel if that chat about a relative, a workmate or a boss at the water cooler, in the canteen or at the pub was secretly taped, transcribed and distributed in order to expose your hypocrisy?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/12/somethings_bugg_1.html

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Mike Ward of the Austin American-Statesman had this exclusive story today about convicted felon and South Texas Rep. Kino Flores: He can still draw his pay. Until Jan. 11, at least.

Flores, D-Palmview, was sentenced to five years' probation, a $1,000 fine and 40 hours of community service on felony ethics charges, for not properly disclosing his income. But there's no law or rule preventing convicted felons from serving in the Texas House. So he can still draw his $600 a month salary as a legislator, per diem reimbursements and legislative benefits.

That Flores is still on the payroll alarms some government watchdog groups.

Earlier this year, Dallas Rep. Terri Hodge, another veteran Democrat, resigned before she was sentenced to a year in federal prison. Giving up her House seat was part of Hodge's deal, in which she pleaded guilty to not paying taxes on $74,000 in income, including what prosecutors in the City Hall corruption case said was more than $32,000 in bribes.

In Flores' case, though, Travis County prosecutors in a public ethics unit have said one reason they didn't ask him to give up his House seat is they want him to file amended financial disclosure reports with the Texas Ethics Commission -- and if he is no longer in office, he might not have to do that.

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/flores-a-felon-keeps-drawing-h.html

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Lock 'em up. That's been the approach of ministers, first Tory then Labour, for more than 15 years - but the coalition's justice secretary is different. The prison population is now double what it was when Ken Clarke was Home Secretary in the early 1990s. Now Mr Clarke says that we can't afford to keep imprisoning more and more people and, what's more, it doesn't work.

Today, he got the backing of some of those serving time at Her Majesty's pleasure in Wormwood Scrubs - including Bob, a thrice-convicted drug dealer and Sayed, a twice-convicted burglar and drug user. They told him that jail doesn't work and criticised it as "a revolving door". Ken Clarke joked that they'd been reading his speeches.

In an interview afterwards he told me that the "vast population" housed in prisons could be reduced with "a bit of effort" to "get them off drugs, get them off alcohol. Get them some sort of employment prospects."

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A cut of almost a quarter in the prison budget assumes that there will be 3.000 fewer prisoners in four years' time than now. So where, I asked Mr Clarke, did that leave the Tories' manifesto pledge to crack down on those carrying a knife?

"We are not setting absolute tariffs for particular things. What happens is pundits on newspapers suggest tariffs for particular forms of crime. Anybody who's guilty of serious knife crime will go to prison... I'm not in favour of absolute rules; I'm in favour of actually allowing judges to see how nasty the offender is, see what the offence was, see what the best way of protecting the public from him is... I'm more interested in actually will we stop this man doing this again in future now we've caught him?"

The Conservative manifesto stated that:

"We have to send a serious, unambiguous message that carrying a knife is totally unacceptable, so we will make clear that anyone convicted of a knife crime can expect to face a prison sentence."

Labour is likely to pounce on this as an embarrassing U-turn.

However, all the main parties now agree on the need for what Mr Clarke will hail tomorrow as a rehabilitation revolution to stop prisoners re-offending.

It may not have helped Mr Clarke make his case that when he departed from the Scrubs, his car passed a bread delivery lorry with the slogan "Voted Britain's softest".

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/12/prisons_a_rehabilitation.html

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Governor Paterson thinks an investigation should be launched into today’s NY Post report that some sanitation department bosses specifically told workers to take off routes and plow major arteries less frequently in order to send a message to Mayor Bloomberg for cutting their budget. During an interview on WOR’s John Gambling show, Paterson agreed with

Source: http://www.capitaltonight.com/2010/12/gov-says-sanitation-bosses-actions-could-be-criminal/

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Surely you didn’t think you’d heard the last of the Rent Is Too Damn High party candidate, Jimmy McMillan. Now, the fast-talking, mustachioed New Yorker is preparing to take on Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election. He made the announcement last week and explained his decision in a Christmas Eve interview with Curtis Sliwa

Source: http://www.capitaltonight.com/2010/12/jimmy-mcmillan-prepares-for-presidential-run/

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(CNN) - President Barack Obama is the most admired man of 2010, according to a new national poll. The Gallup...

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/27/poll-obama-clinton-remain-no-1/

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Not sure where you should celebrate Earth’s completion of its annual trip around the sun?
Our nightlife guide rounds up the best options.

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I'm on record as a big fan of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, regardless of whether he's running for president. (My take: he's not, and thank goodness for that: he's a great mayor because he's a strong mayor. A far different position than the presidency. He also insists he won't run — but I expect him to throw his weight behind some big centrist/independent candidates in 2012, for the presidency and/or the Senate and/or governor.)

But I've consistently differed with Mayor Mike on one issue: civic investment in sports venues...

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bloomberg-accidental-gold-medal?src=rss

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I have now learned that the migration cap that the home secretary will announce today will actually be lower than 43,000 because it will exclude senior staff transferred to Britain by their companies. However, I'm told by Home Office sources that if you add the number of senior staff who entered the UK last year to the new cap you do, indeed, reach a figure of 43,000.

This was the highest figure recommended by the migration advisory committee which included so-called "intra-company transfers" in their recommendations. The government's decision to exclude intra-company transfers means that next year's figure for the number of skilled migrants entering the country could be higher or lower than 43,000. It could be higher or lower than the number who came in last year. It means that, in effect, there is no firm cap on skilled migration since the numbers entering the country will depend on the decisions of companies about how to deploy their staff.

The so-called immigration cap was always rather less than it seems. Immigration from within the EU cannot be capped. Migrant workers were only ever one of four immigration flows into the country - the others being students, family members and illegals. Now, we learn that the cap on migrant workers is only a cap on certain categories of workers.

Am I being too cynical to think that ministers would like a headline figure which sounds like a dramatic cut when, in fact, it isn't?

PS. This is not to suggest that this government is not limiting immigration. Its proposals have been welcomed by the hawks at Migration Watch. In the next few weeks they will publish proposals to cut the number of students on below-degree-level courses coming to the UK - the number last year was 160,000.

Update 1420: I await the home secretary's statement with interest. The latest I'm told is that 43,000 is equal to the new cap plus last year's level of intra-company transfers. However, the tougher policy for ICTs to be unveiled this afternoon means that the figure will be lower.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/11/migration_cap_lower.html

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The CNN Washington Bureau?s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world....

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/28/political-hot-topics-tuesday-december-28-2010/

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Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, landed a top post in the House Committee on Homeland Security, his office announced today.

Rep. Peter King, R-NY, who chairs the committee, appointed McCaul chairman of the Oversight, Investigations and Management subcommittee for the next congressional session. The panel oversees all Department of Homeland Security operations, including border security, intelligence gathering and risk assessment, air travel and cybersecurity.

"This committee's priority is to ensure the security of our borders, our transportation systems, computer networks and critical infrastructure, and to make sure that vital intelligence is shared in order to prevent terrorist attacks before they are carried out. All of our operations must be both effective and fiscally efficient," said McCaul in a statement.

"As a member of the Homeland Security Committee since 2005, Michael has demonstrated his steadfast commitment to protecting our homeland from the terrorists who continue to plot and execute attacks against our nation," King said in a statement. "I am confident that Michael will ensure that the Department of Homeland Security is effective in its mission and maximizes its resources."

McCaul joins several other Texans with high-ranking committee posts in the next Congress: Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall will chair the science committee, with Dallas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson serving as the panel's top Democrat; Rep. Michael Burgess will be vice-chair of the health subcommittee on the House energy panel; and also on the House energy committee, Rep. Joe Barton will hold the (largely ceremonial) title of chairman emeritus.

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/mccaul-to-chair-homeland-secur.html

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Concede and move on. That was always the mantra of Team New Labour when something went wrong.

Interesting then that Douglas Alexander has just delivered an important speech about what has gone wrong for Labour on the economic argument. In it he concedes that his old boss and mentor, Gordon Brown, got it wrong on the politics of the deficit and made it look as if Labour were in denial about the need to cut public spending.

His key quote is that:

"[R]epeated refusal by some to use the word 'cut' for many months after the global financial crisis and the repetition of phrases like 'Mr 10%' gravely damaged voters' confidence that we got it...too many people still got to polling day with the impression that Labour preferred to talk about familiar political dividing lines rather than future policy consequences."

The person who refused to use the word "cuts", labelled their opponent "Mr 10%" and preferred to talk about dividing lines lived in No 10.

Let's be clear. Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary is not criticising Gordon Brown or Alistair Darling's economic policy.

"We got the recession response right, and yes that meant a temporarily higher deficit, but the politics wrong in leaving the impression that we were too unwilling to talk about the consequences of our decisions.

"I believe that the label of 'denial' was defied by the fiscal plan laid out by Alistair...In making the right judgements during the crisis, we saved the taxpayer from the untold cost of a recession turning into a depression. But, as with every important choice you make in government, there was a price to be paid - the public got that and they were worried that we didn't."

In terms of "moving on" Douglas warns that the experience of the United States where there's been a "jobless recovery" could be repeated here and notes, interestingly, that that was one of the causes of the rise of the Tea Party Movement.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/11/gordon_got_it_w.html

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Breaking news this morning! Sun TV News was just approved for category 2 licence. I just received the CRTC approval from my very excited friends over at QMI:

Source: http://www.stephentaylor.ca/2010/11/sun-tv-news-approved/

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(CNN) - President Barack Obama?s campaign strategy for the 2012 election will be very different from his 2008 approach that...

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/26/inside-obama%e2%80%99s-2012-campaign-strategy/

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?Tis the season to mooch free booze. And mooch you shall, FrontBurnervians, because tonight, we?re featuring a double-dose of bars that are very much in the giving spirit. Start your evening at Three Sheets, where they?ll be hosting an understated holiday party (i.e. no tacky sweaters) that will include all sorts of freebies from 6 [...]

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Mississippi governor Haley Barbour said some dismissive, insensitive, historically inaccurate stuff about race relations in the South in the 1960s the other day. His take: things really weren't that bad. And the segregationist Citizen Council movement was just "an organization of town leaders."

Now Barbour has issued a grand apology and made it clear that he abhors segregation and racism, no ifs, ands, or buts. Another thing this makes clear is that his original statement really was a dog whistle: it was meant to send a message about his racial politics that only those who share them could hear. Barbour is a shrewd politician, and he would not have set foot near the racial borderline had he not wanted to plant his flag there. The apology may also be sending a message: by Economist blogger J.F.'s reading of it, he's indicating that he's going to run for president in 2012.

These events and their meaning will be debated by many for a long time, and many will (and already have) declared that Barbour is nothing but a closet racist himself. I understand things a bit differently...

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/haley-barbour-northern-race-vote?src=rss

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We know Ed Miliband's standing up for them but who exactly are they?

The Labour leader's phrase "the squeezed middle" is deliberately vague. It has the same widespread appeal as "hard-working families who do the right thing" - the phrase William Hague once used.

Pretty much everyone - bar, perhaps, the very poor and the very rich are meant to think Ed's talking about them. What's more, the phrase has the advantage that newspapers tend to replace it with the more reader-friendly words "middle classes". This morning's Telegraph, for example, implies he'll stand up for their readers even though he said no such thing. What's wrong with that, you may ask? After all, he's a political leader trying to re-build a widespread coalition of support.

The problem is that, as someone once said, to govern is to choose and when there's no money to spend you do really need to choose.

So, it matters whether Ed Miliband's standing up for people on �50,000 a year who stand to lose their child benefit or those on �40,000 who stand to lose their tax credits - both, incidentally, statistically part of the rich "few" rather than the poor "many" - or those he met in Tescos in Dudley yesterday who earn �6.81 an hour and had the same views about those on benefits as Howard Flight (even though they didn't use the word "breeding"). If he intends to stand up for them all at the same time that may tell people something about his willingness to make choices.

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When I interviewed Ed yesterday, he refused to define his terms beyond saying it didn't mean millionaires and that everyone knew what it meant anyway. This morning on the Today programme he was pushed again by John Humphrys. He explained that he meant those above and below the median salary and, in particular, those earning less than �45,000 and, therefore, on the basic rate of income tax. He went on to say that the words "squeezed middle" and "middle classes" meant something different.

This is the group who John Healey, the man who topped the shadow cabinet elections, identified as "one third of the population who manage with a household income either side of the UK's �22,000 median... more than 7 million families with an annual income between �14,500 and �33,800; 14 million people working hard for low and modest wages." Healey wrote that:

"The squeezed middle seem stuck in no man's land. Too poor to get the best from the market, too well off to claim state benefits. Not wealthy enough to get a mortgage, not sufficiently vulnerable for social housing.

We too easily allow a mobile, metropolitan class to skew our understanding of society. Too many of those in the media, political and public policy world take people earning 40 or 50 thousand pounds or more as typical of 'the middle'. The real squeezed middle are overlooked by the press, and overlooked by the modern Right."

This is the group Ed Miliband's really talking about but, spotting the danger of saying so this morning, he quickly reverted to saying that he meant everyone who wasn't rich and wasn't poor and were, after all, middle class.

Many wiser than me who've slogged through long years of opposition - whether on the Tory or the Labour benches - will tell you that Ed's wise not to pin himself down to policy positions early, that opposition's a marathon and not a sprint, that being seen to listen and learn is the most important priority after an election defeat.

However, definition matters too. At the moment Ed Miliband's struggling to find it.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/11/the_squeezed_muddle.html

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Can we get this man the Order of Canada already?

Source: http://www.stephentaylor.ca/2010/12/my-favourite-quote-from-coachs-corner-last-night/

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What on earth is happening to the local Liberal Democrats?� They have deselect David Watkins, one of just two councillors they have on the City Council.� It is not that the Lib Dems are top of the popularity stakes just now and can afford to dispense with the service of David who is well liked [...]

Source: http://brightonpoliticsblogger.wordpress.com/2010/11/28/brighton-and-hove-liberal-democrats-having-a-bust-up-in-a-telephone-box/

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In the years to come, the story of the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will come to be seen as the story of four senators: Obama, Reid, Lieberman, and McCain.

Obama, the one-term wunderkind who ascended to the presidency with astonishing speed and alacrity — and who then did the hardest thing: slowed himself down, shifted the spotlight back to the legislature, recognized that he was no longer the representative of one party but of a whole nation, and began to play what Andrew Sullivan has been calling "the long game." In two years, in the face of a uniformly cynical and hostile opposition, he has managed time and again to win political battles, any one of which can be called major: universal health care, banking regulation, fair pay for women, draw-down in Iraq and ramp-up in Afghanistan, the rescue of Detroit, the prevention of global economic collapse, the end of discrimination against immigrants with AIDS, same-sex benefits for government workers, two massive middle-class tax cuts, and, yes, the repeal of DADT. If, as suddenly seems distinctly possible, the new START treaty is passed this week, his place will be cemented as the shrewdest ex-senator in the White House since LBJ. And his record will be far more kindly viewed by history.

For his part, Harry Reid has quietly become one of the great Majority Leaders in the nation's history: Obama's victories are his, too, and in fact most of the heavy lifting is Reid's alone....

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/dadt-senators-4435494?src=rss

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So many promises, so difficult to keep, such little time to decide. Liberal Democrat MPs now find themselves under intense pressure over how to vote on tuition fees.

Should they stand by their pledge to students, even if that means not standing by their coalition agreement with the Conservatives?

This morning, 104 Lib Dem Parliamentary candidates at the last election insist that it's the pledge that counts and that as a pledge it's worth more than a mere manifesto promise.

They say:

"This is not an attack on the Coalition Government's policy programme generally; nor is it some kind of 'rebellion' and it should certainly not lead to the party splitting. However we feel that this is a pledge that cannot be broken due to the nature in which it was signed and publicised during the 2010 General Election. This separates it from manifesto promises that have had to be sacrificed due to the concessions that coalition government brings."

So, a pledge trumps a manifesto promise - but what about an agreement?

The Lib Dems were laboriously consulted on the deal with the Tories. It explicitly stated that MPs could abstain if they didn't like the new coalition's policy - which, it was clear, would be an increase in fees. If they now vote against then why, some Tories might ask, should others stick by the agreement?

This is why Simon Hughes is seeking to persuade all colleagues that the only way to look like they're at least trying to respect the pledge and not breaking the agreement and to stay united is to collectively abstain.

The problem is that this would entail Vince Cable, the minister who's proposing the legislation, to abstain on it and it would require MPs, like Charles Kennedy, who've re-stated their determination to vote against higher fees to double-rat.

Another idea, anyone?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/11/does_a_pledge_t.html

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It has been a good month, professionally speaking, for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who saw a number of legislative successes – from the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to the passage of the 9/11 health care bill. And now comes news of yet another win for New York’s junior senator – this time on the

Source: http://www.capitaltonight.com/2010/12/gillibrands-home-finally-sells/

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Another Texan is out of a job with the GOP takeover of the House.

Lorraine C. Miller, a Fort Worth native, is being replaced as Clerk of the House of Representatives. Miller was sworn in as clerk in February 2007, and had previously worked for Democratic House members Nancy Pelosi of California, Jim Wright of Texas, Tom Foley of Washington and John Lewis of Georgia.

Miller is the first African American and third woman to serve as an officer of the House of Representatives.

Taking her place will be Karen L. Haas, who has served as clerk once before from 2005 to 2007. House Speaker-designate John Boehner announced today he will nominate Haas for the job on the first day of the new Congress.

The clerk manages day-to-day operations of the House and oversees more than 270 employees in nine departments. The House holds election for clerk every two years, at the start of a new Congress.

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/fort-worth-native-to-end-tenur.html

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Washington (CNN) - A new political reality hits Washington next week, with the first split Congress since 2004 raising questions...

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/26/obama-administration-congress-brace-for-new-political-reality/

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As expected former state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno’s attorneys have filed an appeal of his January 2009 indictment on federal corruption charges, arguing in part that the theft of honest services statute under which he was convicted has been invalidated by the US Supreme Court. The attorneys argue that the government “rolled the dice”

Source: http://www.capitaltonight.com/2010/12/brunos-appeal/

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Brookings Institution scholar Stephen Hess weighs in on the assessment that George W. Bush was ill-served by a small circle of people around him. I wrote about that today - noting that former East Texas Rep. Paul Sadler, who worked closely with Bush on education in the 1990s, worried when Bush went to Washington he would be swayed by "the voices in the room." Sadler has a keen sense of politics and his assessment that Bush might be susceptible to the Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove & Co. was prescient.

Fact is, says Stephen Hess of Brookings, many presidents fall prey to the blandishments and personal agendas of those around them. "All these people are sucking up to you and everything they say is how glorious you are. And you I think you fall back on these old friends because you an trust them. The really good ones know how to sort them out," he said in an interview.

As we reported today, former Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd believes the Bush White House was a place that rewarded likeminded thinking and discounted dissenting views. That trait has a name. It's called confirmation bias - the tendency to seek out information that reinforces your view and to disregard the rest. Dowd says it's why Cheney and Rumseld were so successful convincing Bush to invade Iraq based on selective, and erroneous, intelligence. They wanted to believe it was true, and their agenda was to make a case for war, whatever it took. Confirmation bias, the tendency to seek out opinion you already agree with, is what's driving the cable talkers - Fox News and MSNBC.

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/the-decider-bush-often-swayed.html

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West Chester’s John Boehner and the House GOP leadership unveiled new rules today that affect everything from how to pay for government programs to who can be in the House gym. For example, Politico reports:� On the spending front, Republicans plan to implement a series of rules called CUT/GO ? a conservative answer to the [...]

Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2010/12/22/boehner-gop-unveil-new-house-rules/

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Moscow (CNN) - The lower house of the Russian parliament gave preliminary approval Friday to START, a nuclear arms reduction...

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/24/start-gets-initial-approval-in-russia/

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I'm on record as a big fan of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, regardless of whether he's running for president. (My take: he's not, and thank goodness for that: he's a great mayor because he's a strong mayor. A far different position than the presidency. He also insists he won't run — but I expect him to throw his weight behind some big centrist/independent candidates in 2012, for the presidency and/or the Senate and/or governor.)

But I've consistently differed with Mayor Mike on one issue: civic investment in sports venues...

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bloomberg-accidental-gold-medal?src=rss

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(CNN) - He may not say 'bah humbug,' but that doesn't stop New Jersey voters from identifying their governor as...

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/24/nj-gov-scrooge-or-clause/

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It was a successful policing operation, according to the Metropolitan Police.� No students died!� We are entering a fascinating period in the political life of the UK.� The Government have lost control of the streets.� Tens of thousands of students up and down the country are being politicised by the Lib Dems�collusion with the Tories [...]

Source: http://brightonpoliticsblogger.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/lib-dem-betrays-and-police-heavy-handedness-is-seeing-the-politicisation-and-radicalisation-of-a-generation/

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I'm on record as a big fan of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, regardless of whether he's running for president. (My take: he's not, and thank goodness for that: he's a great mayor because he's a strong mayor. A far different position than the presidency. He also insists he won't run — but I expect him to throw his weight behind some big centrist/independent candidates in 2012, for the presidency and/or the Senate and/or governor.)

But I've consistently differed with Mayor Mike on one issue: civic investment in sports venues...

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bloomberg-accidental-gold-medal?src=rss

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Role of Honour: Caroline Lucas (Green; Brighton Pavilion) and Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat; Eastbourne). Role of Dishonour: Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat; Lewes). And then you have your traditional Tories supporting cuts cuts cuts.� At least they are consistent and behaving true to form. But Norman Baker has sold his principles to retain the trappings of [...]

Source: http://brightonpoliticsblogger.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/general-election-2015-vote-labour-or-tory-in-lewes-anything-is-better-than-the-dishonourable-norman-baker/

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