The efforts of the Balloon Juice community are too good not to pass on:

From Here to Inanity
Citizen Vain
Red Yawn
The Aleutianist
The Scum Also Rises
Lost in Translation II
We’re Just Not That Into You
Chariots of Liar
Also Too: Electric Boogaloo
Brainspotting
Mentl
From Within Sight of Russia With Love
Not-Hur
The Devil Wears Mukluks
Swindler’s List
Juneau II: Post Partum
Mooseferatu
Dopey’s Choice
John McCain’s a Series of Unfortunate Events
The Lyin’, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Driving Miss Crazy
Grizzly Madams
Inarticulate Proposal
Mother, Uggs and Greed
Despicable Her
Chariots of Bile
Jackass 4
Brain Simple
The Lying Game
The Woman Who Knew Too Little
True Grift
Clueless
Fahrenheit All of Them
They Call Me Sister Fibs
The Incredible Sulk
The Iquitarod
The Big Shill
12 Million Angry White Men
Legends of the Fail
Something Wicked This Way Comes

Do you have any suggestions?

For some reason, I thought this was old news, but I just received the email from Katie Ellis, so I guess that makes it official.

On Wednesday, the Delaware Democratic Party announced the hiring of a new Executive Director, Joe Aronson. Aronson will be responsible for guiding the Democratic Party through the important 2012 election season.

Aronson joins the Democratic Party with an impressive string of accomplishments under his belt. Most recently, Aronson served as the Executive Director of the North Dakota Democratic Non-Partisan League. Under his leadership, the Party experienced its most successful fundraising year in Party history, and recruited hundreds of young progressives into the party organization. Originally from Minnesota, Aronson has worked on campaigns for Senator Al Franken, Representative Collin Peterson, and numerous Minnesota legislators in both their campaigns and government offices. Aronson is a graduate of Saint John’s University.

“I am extremely impressed with Joe’s credentials and his commitment to the progressive cause,” said State Chairman John D. Daniello. “I look forward to seeing what new ideas and perspective he can bring to our party organization.”

“I’m really excited to be part of this strong party with such great leaders and elected officials,” Aronson said. “I look forward to getting out across the state and meeting with all of our activists and supporters to ensure that 2012 is another successful year for the Delaware Dems.”

I don’t know much about Joe Aronson, and I hope to meet him shortly. I hope he is a committed Progressive, and I hope John Daniello is sincere when he says that he is impressed with commitment to the progressive cause.

The Delaware Democratic Party is the dominant party in Delaware. It has controlled the Governorship for nearly 20 years, and is well positioned to win reelection for Governor Markell. All of the statewide officers but for the Auditor are Democrats, some better than others (I am mostly thinking of the Insurance Commissioner here). All of our representatives in Congress are Democrats. Democrats control both houses of the General Assembly. We won all these positions because we had some good candidates, and we have the right policy solutions for the problems Delaware faces.

But…. sooner or later, a party in power for long periods tends to get corrupted and arrogant. And sooner or later, the Delaware Republican Party will get its act together and return to its duPont business moderation, rather than the fire and brimstone right wing screeches of David Anderson and Christine O’Donnell.

We must not become victims of the Delaware Way. And I am not talking about engaging in politics with civility and respect. I am talking about losing transparency. I am talking about “nominating somebody just because he is next in line.” Backroom political deals. That is how a governing party either loses touch or appears to lose touch. That is how a governing party or officeholders become corrupt.

In large part, this is more the job of Governor Markell, Speaker Gilligan and Senator DeLuca. They are responsible for making government open and transparent. But it is Joe’s job to make sure we are finding new progressive candidates committed to open progressive government. I hope he succeeds.

Katie’s email also announced that she is leaving her position as Communications Director to go to law school. Best of luck, Katie!!

1) Run against Republicans who are even worse then we are.
2) Democratic victory!

It is comforting to know that Democrats have worked out the winning formula. For a party that likes to over think everything, we sure have certainly conserved our brainpower when it comes to devising wining electoral strategies.

Take this DSCC fundraising email for example. The whole thing boils down to “We need to win, otherwise Republicans will win.” While that is true, it isn’t exactly stirring. And while Kathy Hochul’s special election win was the used as a pretext for sending the fundrasing email, there is no mention of why she won.

See for yourself.

Dear Jason,

Huge news! Last night, Democrat Kathy Hochul won the special election for a deep-red House seat in New York. Democrats won despite a huge Karl Rove cash infusion because of a tough campaign, backed by enough grassroots support to offset their special interest money. This is a clear sign that momentum is on the Democratic side!

We know what we need to do to win in 2012 – but we need the money to do it. Republican-aligned groups poured more than $1.2 million into this New York race in the final weeks. They’ll be investing a lot more in Senate races – and we’ve got 23 seats to defend. I need your help right now!

Keep the momentum going: Give an immediate $5 to the DSCC! We need $156,265 by May 31 to fight Karl Rove’s money and hold Republicans accountable – just like Democrats did in New York. Senate Democrats will match every dollar you give, meaning your $10 donation will only cost you $5.

My colleagues will match every dollar you give to the DSCC by May 31, because we know how important it is to have enough resources. Just ask me, or Barbara Boxer, or Harry Reid. Without the DSCC’s crucial investments, we might have lost our races, and the Senate might be in Republican hands. That would be a disaster for President Obama’s agenda.

We kept the Senate in 2010. But retaking the Senate is high on the Republican agenda for 2012. That’s why we’re fighting back already – recruiting strong candidates, building needed campaign infrastructure, and getting the message out about the extreme GOP agenda. None of this is easy. None of this is cheap. But it’s necessary if we’re going to win. And it requires full buy-in from the Democratic grassroots – which provides more than 90% of the DSCC’s donations.

Democrats won in New York. And we can win in states like Nevada, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Arizona, too. But I need your help now. We must raise $156,265 by May 31 to be in a strong position to win.

Give $5 to the DSCC right now! Senate Democrats will match every dollar you give, meaning your $10 donation will only cost you $5. But you must act now!

I’m so proud of Kathy Hochul and all of the Democrats who worked so hard to get her elected. If we can turn New York’s most red district blue, we can certainly keep our Senate majority. Let’s keep the momentum going.

Sincerely,

Sen. Patty Murray

Representative Dennis E. Williams is sponsoring a new bill tomorrow that would authorize two new casinos in Delaware. That would be in addition to the three already operating in the state (Dover Downs, Delaware Park, and Harrington), and also in addition to the Harrah’s in Chester, and the two casinos in the Philly Northeast section. And that is also in addition to whatever Maryland has got planned. And that is also in addition to Atlantic City. And that is also in addition to possibly more casinos in Pennsylvania.

ENOUGH!

I am not a moral prude who objects to casinos because they are immoral, or because they have the affect to vacuuming money up from those that can least afford it. In fact, I like gambling on occasion. And when I want to gamble, or play the ponies, or the slots, or some blackjack, I know where to go. It is a 20 minute ride from door to door to Delaware Park. It is also a 20 minute ride north to Harrah’s. If you live in Kent Co., you are close to Dover Downs. If you live in Sussex, you are close to Harrington. So I do not see anyone being in a desperate need to have a casino located closer to where they live. And where would you put it? I guess Dennis Williams will say the riverfront in Wilmington and somewhere along the shore in Sussex.

I want to see the three existing casinos in Delaware succeed and provide revenue to the state. Has it not crossed the minds of Dennis Williams or anyone supporting more casinos that if you add more options in the state, it will dilute the revenue from the other three sites? I mean, building two new casinos is not going to make more people go to casinos to spend money. Delaware is a small state with three casinos. I doubt there is an untouched gambling market anywhere in the state or in Maryland, New Jersey or Pennsylvania. If people have wanted to gamble, they have already gone and are going to Dover Downs, Harrington and Delaware Park. Williams is betting there is some idiot out there who has wanted to gamble but somehow objects driving more than 20 minutes. Please.

Our legislators need to stop looking for quick revenue fixes. You can’t really tax cigarettes any more than we already have. You can’t build more casinos without hurting the others. It is time our politicians get some courage and raise taxes on the rich.

EJ Dionne:

Hochul getting this close to half the vote is astonishing in a district where in 2010 the Democratic candidate got just 26 percent of the vote. Even in the very good Democratic year of 2008, the Democratic nominee got just 40.5 percent. To get a sense of how this result might extrapolate elsewhere, look at very Republican Wyoming County. Hochul lost it, as President Obama did in 2008. But Hochul matched Obama’s 36 percent share of the vote. If every Democratic House candidate in 2012 could reach Obama’s 2008 vote share, Democrats would be back in control by a substantial margin.

That’s correct. The only thing to prevent it would be a grand bargain on the budget and medicare. But with the GOP refusing to budge on tax increases on the rich, and with the Dems refusing to budge on more tax cuts and the killing of seniors everywhere, it is doubtful it will happen.

Christopher Hahn:

This is an absolute rejection of Paul Ryan’s budget plan and the GOP’s overreach since taking the House. The Ryan Plan will go nowhere and members who voted for it are in jeopardy, especially freshmen. Tuesday’s results will send shock waves in Washington. Ryan’s Purina Plan is dead. The only remaining question is will any GOP senator facing re-election next year support it? I can’t wait to see. To be clear, Western New York might as well be West Texas. The voters in this very red district told the GOP that their plans don’t work for them. I am looking forward to parsing the numbers in this race. Clearly Republicans crossed party lines to support Hochul.

Tommywonk on the costs, financial and otherwise, of the First State using coal power:

The report, “A Coal Plant’s Drain on Health and Wealth,” projects that the new coal power plant would lead to “442 asthma attacks, as well as 3,340 work days lost to sickness, 40 heart attacks, and an estimated 26 premature deaths” annually.

These findings square with a Harvard study, titled “Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal,” which was recently published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. The authors calculate the externalities (environmental and health costs) of coal power to be $345.3 billion annually.

Delmarva Power’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), now before the Public Service Commission, projects the benefits of current plans to shift from coal to renewable energy to be $1.8 billion to $4.3 billion over the next ten years. That’s $2,000 to $4,750 for every Delaware resident, and 12 percent to 30 percent of retail electricity sales in Delaware. The PSC has extended public comment period on the IRP to May 31, and will likely hold hearings on the plan afterwards.

And then there is this:

Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.

A “two-hour-long, sweeping epic” movie reintroducing Sarah Palin to the nation is set to premiere in Iowa next month, Real Clear Politics reports.

The film, produced by conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon, “is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin’s prospective presidential campaign — an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won’t run.”

She is delusional enough to run. And the vast majority of the Republican base is crazy enough to vote for her. Sarah Palin will be your Republican nominee. Jason, send me the link to the Intrade site. Time to buy.

Part A
1) Cut Medicare and Medicaid
2) Blame Democrats for the cuts

Part B
1) Hold the Debt ceiling vote hostage to reckless ideological craziness.
2) Blame Democrats for the debt ceiling crisis and that economic calamity that may result from the GOP’s strategy.

The worst thing about the strategy is that Democrats are stupid enough to let them get away with it.

In case anyone cares… there’s an election tonight.  Use this thread to keep us informed!

Jon Chait thinks Tuesday’s NY-26 special election is a sign that Republicans are back to being blamed for the slowly recovering economy.

Now there are outdoor smoking bans. That’s too much in my opinion. In fact, since many jurisdictions have taxes on cigarrettes, and largely depend on that revenue in balancing their budgets, the government needs people to smoke. So outdoor bans are self defeating. It might force us to raise taxes on rich people, and we all know how horrible that prospect is.

House Republicans had ample warnings about the political pitfalls of the Ryan plan. And they committed suicide anyway just so Boehner could look tough for the teabaggers. Governor Rendell is right. Republicans are idiots and are unfit for office.

What the White House thinks about the horrid GOP presidential field.

The primary race, most of Obama’s team believes, is Mitt Romney’s to lose. And here’s the case they’d make for him: He was an effective governor of a very blue state with notable achievements (not just health care) to his name, a very smart policy-oriented brain, and an underappreciated asset: he saved the 2002 Olympics—or so the story goes. (Never underestimate the power of Americana during an election year.)

Romney’s problem is similar to Obama’s: he doesn’t play well with downscale voters. He comes off as the manager who fired them, or who cut their wages—the “Richie Rich” know-it-all. Obama’s demerits with these voters are different, but a general election race between the two would leave a large number of those voters up for grabs.

I don’t like ill-considered pardons being used against Governors turned Presidential candidates. A small possibility of clemency built into the machinery of our modern prison industrial complex is not a bad thing. If every Governor feels that they may be haunted by the future acts of someone who seemed deserving of mercy, I see the possibility of clemency evaporating.

But this Pawlenty Pardon – with the wiping clean of the sex offender record – seems like it could be damaging.

I thought W was a manly man.

VIDEO: Foul ball lands near President Bush: MyFoxORLANDO.com

Guess not.

Vice President Joe Biden will be 70 in 2012. He will be 74 in 2016, when he might consider running for President, at least according to what he allegedly told some Democratic donors at a fundraiser recently.

Democratic contributors said [Biden] alluded to the possibility during a fundraiser Thursday in Cincinnati while talking up the Obama administration. The reference itself was described as a vague, off-the-cuff comment. But the upshot was clear: He hasn’t ruled out a 2016 run. “When the words came out of his mouth, I thought, ‘Well, that’s interesting,’ ” said one attendee who asked not to be named.

…

Two guests said Biden was responding to a question about what he liked about being vice president when he briefly wandered into the topic of his own political prospects, speaking extemporaneously in typical Biden fashion. He said that while people don’t think he would run, he could seek the nomination, according to one of the guests. He didn’t give a year, but the guest assumed he was talking about 2016.
“The words were something to the effect of, ‘Yes, I might seek the nomination,’ ” the guest said. “He certainly didn’t rule it out.”

…

When it came to his future, Biden was basically saying that his next step is a long way away and a variety of things would affect his decision, including his health, the guest said. “It was not an aggressive statement,” said the longtime supporter and fundraiser. “If anything, it was more contemplative.”

Vice President Biden will not run for President in 2016. He probably waxes nostaglic about the prospect, and that is all this was. Or he was keeping the speculation going so that he doesn’t ever become a lame duck as Vice President. Regardless, he will not run. His health or age could be an issue. He may want to spend more time with Jill and his grandchildren. He may want to finally remove that shadow from Beau.

But the biggest reason is that the 2016 Democratic primary will be a wide open event, much like 2008 was in the beginning, with many candidates competing, regardless of whether the Vice President is in the race or not. Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Delaware Governor Jack Markell. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Montana Goveror Brian Schweitzer. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe. North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill. Ohio Senator Sherrold Brown. And I haven’t mentioned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yet, who, despite her frequent pronouncements to the contrary, I think will run.

And while Biden will have more cache this time as a sitting Vice President, the margin for error in a field that full of rising stars is nil. And the Vice President needs much more room for error than that. No, Joe knows that the Vice Presidency is his swan song. Unrealized dreams may make him wistfully speculate from time to time, but it is nothing more than that.