Mediaboss Marketing

Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu lost her reelection bid Saturday in a runoff race with Republican challenger Rep. Bill Cassidy, despite a relentless, against-long-odds effort.

Landrieu, who was seeking a fourth term, trailed by double digits and had lost most of her support going into the election. With 100 percent of the precincts reporting late Saturday, Cassidy had received 56 percent of the vote, to 44 percent for Landrieu.

Landrieu barnstormed the state this week, driving some 1,200 miles in a rented SUV, stopping in little towns and bigger cities, making one last appeal to voters to give her another term in Washington.

There is no quit, Landrieu said in her concession speech. Its been nothing but a joy to serve this state for over 34 years.

Cassidys win extends the GOP's domination of the 2014 midterm elections that put Republicans in charge of Capitol Hill for the final two years of President Obama's tenure.

Republicans will hold 54 seats when the Senate convenes in January, nine more than they have now.

Once again, voters have spoken clearly, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said. They have rejected the Democrat agenda and the Obama-Clinton policies that have produced higher healthcare costs and job-killing regulations.

The race mirrored contests in other states that Obama lost in 2012, with Landrieu joining Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor in defeat. Democrats ceded seats in Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia after incumbents opted not to run again.

Like victorious Republicans in those races, Cassidy, 57, made his bid more about Obama than about his own vision for the job. An Illinois native and medical doctor, Cassidy made few public appearances during the runoff, seeking to avoid missteps that could change the race.

But in a state where 73 percent of white voters on Nov. 4 told pollsters they "strongly disapproved" of the president, that was enough to prevent Landrieu, 59, from finding her footing. Cassidy also enjoyed a prodigious advertising advantage in the runoff: Of every dollar spent by outside groups during the one-month runoff, 97 cents benefited the congressman.

Continue reading here:
Landrieu loses reelection bid in Louisiana to Republican ...

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Speaker John Boehner lays out a strategy to avoid a government shutdown showdown with President Obama. Tea party-aligned Republicans in the House and Senate complain about the Boehner plan, calling it insufficiently loyal to core convictions and too easy on Obama. Cue mishigas.

Had you been able to, you would have stopped me about halfway through that last paragraph. That's because the debate currently underway among congressional Republicans about funding the government and dealing with Obama's executive action on immigration is the exact same debate the party has been having on Capitol Hill in one form or another for the better part of the last two years. Last month's election may have added to the GOP ranks in both chambers, but it did not solve the fundamental problem that plagues the party. And that problem, simply stated is this: There are some Republicans who see any compromise as capitulation and any victory won without a fight as something short of a "real" victory.

Here's Politico on that group:

These hard-line Republicans are already expressing their dissatisfaction with the plan outlined by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) during a closed door meeting Tuesday morning. Instead of a spending bill that keeps the government funded through September with a chance to review the the Department of Homeland Securitys funding in March, the lawmakers want to pass a much shorter resolution....

....These conservatives estimate the number of Republican no votes to be near 30 to 40 enough to derail a vote on the government funding bill if Democrats oppose the measure.

As we have documented in this space in the past, there are somewhere between 15 and 45 House Republicans in the 113th Congress, which is in its dying days now, who regularly oppose Boehner on key votes on the House floor. (We once referred to them as "cast-iron conservatives.") There is a smaller group in the Senate -- Ted Cruz (Tex.), Mike Lee (Utah), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), to name three -- but they are a vocal minority.

The problem for Boehner, as mentioned in the Politico excerpt above, is that if 30 to 40 Republicans revolt against his funding proposal -- essentially to fund all of the government but the Department of Homeland Security through the next fiscal year -- he doesn't have enough votes to pass it, since Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) has zero interest in helping him out. If Boehner needs Democratic votes, he would have to tailor the bill to appease those Democrats, a move that could/would cost him more Republican votes. It would also be a violation of the Hastert Rule, which, at this point, has been broken so many times we should probably just shelve it.

It remains to be seen whether the 114th Congress will solve this long-lasting problem for Boehner. The 114th will not only include more House Republicans but also more -- like Bob Dold (Ill.) and Frank Guinta (N.H.) -- who want and need to find compromises.

It's also not clear whether the negative effects of the last shutdown, which fell most heavily on Republicans, and/or Boehner's work in guiding Republicans to a winning 2014 strategy, might change some members' calculus between now and next week.

As of today though, Boehner is where he's been for much of the last two years: Stuck in the middle. And that's a terrible place to be in politics.

Go here to see the original:
Meet the new Republican problem. Same as the old ...

Senator-elect Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., held a meeting with elected Republican leaders in Charleston Dec. 8.

We met together as federal and state leaders to talk about our combined efforts in terms of getting West Virginians getting good paying jobs, Capito said. We talked about what our visions are.

Capito was joined by Republican for the Second District Alex Mooney, Congressman-elect Evan Jenkins, as well as upcoming state leaders in the West Virginia House and Senate.

We're going to be talking about health care, jobs, energy, taxes, business friendly policies to really work for West Virginia, Capito said.

Capito said the delegation plan to meet quarterly and hopefully in different areas of the state to hear statewide concerns.

I'm very humbled by it, it's a great responsibility, Delegate Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, said, who was recently nominated for Speaker of the House. We've had a great number of discussions and are ready to get to work.

Armstead said the leadership teams are discussing the first round of bills they hope to push this upcoming session in January.

Our priority is job creation, Armstead said. Our first wave and round of legislation we want to see passed is putting West Virginians back to work and keeping our children and grandchildren here (in the state).

Armstead said the lawmakers feel confident in the responsibility they have been entrusted with.

We're ready to go to work, he added. The more debate we have, the better legislation we have. We want ideas from all sides. We want all the ideas brought to the table.

See original here:
Republican leaders meet in Charleston; discuss upcoming session

CONCORD House Speaker Shawn Jaspers upset victory last week continues to vex some Republican state representatives, who soon plan to caucus to select a Republican Leader.

The GOP state representatives had planned to hold a caucus today, but it was postponed due to the impending storm.

This caucus is being coordinated under the purview of the Republican State Committee, based on party bylaws that spell out that its executive committee includes the Republican Leader of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, selected by a majority vote of the Republican Caucus.

Rep. Bill OBrien, R-Mont Vernon, won the House Republican caucus nomination for speaker three weeks ago. When the full House convened Dec. 3, Jasper pulled off the upset when OBrien failed to capture a majority of votes. Jasper patched together a majority, including Democrats and some Republicans, to win on a secret ballot.

Until the GOP state representatives can reschedule the caucus, OBrien informed them he would serve as the elected Republican Leader from the House on the executive committee.

The caucus originally scheduled for today is not an official House Republican caucus.

Rep. Jack Flanagan, the Brookline Republican named Majority Leader by Jasper on Friday, underscored that after he called the first House Republican caucus for Dec. 17 in Representatives Hall.

Nevertheless, conservatives upset with Jasper relying on Democrats to win the gavel are openly questioning the legitimacy of Flanagan as the House Republican Leader.

Rep. Al Baldasaro, R-Londonderry, and Rep. Carol McGuire, R-Epsom, confirmed in separate telephone interviews that they plan to seek the Republican Leader post during the caucus. Baldasaro and McGuire are two of the three co-chairs of the House Republican Alliance, which was also scheduled to meet today for selection of leaders for the 2015-16 session. There was no immediate word on whether the HRA meeting would be postponed. Baldasaro is not seeking another term as HRA co-chair. McGuire said she is also running for HRA co-chair.

The House Republican Alliance mission is to focus on bills that embody traditional Republican values, the state party platform and fiscal responsibility.

See the original post here:
GOP reps plan caucus to select 'Republican Leader'

Former Republican National Committee member and party activist Ruth Ulrich was attacked by a raccoon at her home in Monroe on Monday, according to a report by The News-Star.

"Then it decided it was going to hiss and come after me and I had hit it in the face with a shovel three different times, and it would roll away and run right back at you," she told the paper. "Finally, I had Wildlife and Fisheries to come capture it." LDWF officials believe the raccoon was sick, and Ulrich was unharmed.

Ulrich was elected as a Republican national committeewoman in 2008 to represent Louisiana. She was unseated on the Republican Sate Central Committee by former U.S. Rep. John Cooksey in 2012.

Ulrich has been involved in Louisiana and national Republican politics dating back many years. In 2004 she was the chairperson of the Louisiana Bush-Cheney presidential electors.

She remains active in politics today.

To read the full story, click here.

* * * * * * *

Cole Averyis a legislative and state politics reporter based inBaton Rouge. You can reach him on Twitter@cole_avery1or emailravery@nola.com.

The rest is here:
Republican Party activist Ruth Ulrich attacked by raccoon in Monroe, newspaper reports