Senator

Want Healthcare Reform? Pick Up The Phone.

Chris Weigant | Posted 10.25.2009 | Politics


Chris Weigant

Yesterday, over 300,000 people picked up the phone and called Congress demanding health care reform this year. The phones ringing off the hook certainly did not go unnoticed by Congress.

Friday Talking Points: Is Opt-Out The Answer?

Chris Weigant | Posted 10.14.2009 | Politics


Chris Weigant

The plan isn't going into effect until 2013. Think you're tired of TV ads and screaming folks at town hall meetings now? Picture a more local version of that for the next four years -- not a pretty sight.

Erasing the Doughnut Hole for All Seniors -- A Senate Revolt Against Big Pharma Brewing!

Gail McGowan Mellor | Posted 09.26.2009 | Politics


Gail McGowan Mellor

An amendment offered by Senator Ben Nelson [D-FL] would reportedly lower the health care reform bill's cost by an additional $86 billion without reducing services.

Now It's Our Turn To Stand Up For Clean Energy.

James Boyce | Posted 11.10.2009 | Green


James Boyce

With clean energy, as with health care, there is the opposition of a well-funded minority willing to distort, lie, distract and do anything they can to delay action.

Friday Talking Points [92] -- The End Of Silly Season

Chris Weigant | Posted 10.20.2009 | Politics


Chris Weigant

Sadly, Obama's speech to school children has become mired in manufactured controversy from the right, with typical sky-is-falling rhetoric about the evil, evil man who occupies the Oval Office.

Friday Talking Points [91] -- Win One For Teddy

Chris Weigant | Posted 09.28.2009 | Politics


Chris Weigant

Calling for some sort of decorous avoidance of politics during politicians' funerals is downright ridiculous. It'd be like eulogizing Charles Lindbergh and not mentioning airplanes.

Friday Talking Points [90] -- Obama To Switch Parties

Chris Weigant | Posted 09.21.2009 | Politics


Chris Weigant

Ted Kennedy is putting both his legacy and his sense of entitlement to his office before the interests of his constituents.

Senator Or Ma'am? What To Call A Lawmaker

Politico | Andie Coller | Posted 07.23.2009 | Style


With all due respect, it ain't easy to be duly respectful on Capitol Hill. With regulations that govern everything from hemlines in the Speaker's Lobb...

Gay Marriage: A Question of Fairness

Lincoln Chafee | Posted 07.19.2009 | Politics


Lincoln Chafee

As a proud Rhode Islander, it troubles me to think we've fallen behind in granting our gay and lesbian family members and friends something as fundamentally important as the right to have their relationships fully recognized.

This Week in Cheating

Jeff Kreisler | Posted 06.01.2009 | Comedy


Jeff Kreisler

Build a $1.5-ish billion taxpayer-funded stadium, charge those same taxpayers $2600 to see a game, don't create the promised park for local kids (because they're poor). Now look around. Guess what? You're rich!

Coal Ash Crisis Management: What's It Going to Take -- Dead Bodies?

Jeff Biggers | Posted 02.11.2009 | Green


Jeff Biggers

Instead of crisis management, we need to phase-out all wet storage of toxic coal ash, inspect all toxic coal ash storage and disposal units and enact federal regulation of all toxic coal ash storage and disposal.

Friday Talking Points [59] -- New Year's Resolutions (For Democrats)

Chris Weigant | Posted 02.02.2009 | Politics


Chris Weigant

Happy New Year 2009! Because I've always felt it is more amusing to make new year's resolutions that others should follow, today's Friday Talking Poin...

Friday Talking Points [57] -- End Of Prohibition 75th Anniversary Edition

Chris Weigant | Posted 01.05.2009 | Politics


Chris Weigant

Brian Williams, NBC's talking head extraordinaire, is probably a decent guy, a guy with whom you could sit down and have a beer. [More on the alcohol...

Political Parties Are Not "Checks" Or "Balances"

Chris Weigant | Posted 01.01.2009 | Politics


Chris Weigant

I'm not worried about whether checks and balances will disappear if Republicans don't have more than 40 seats in the Senate. True checks and balances are more fundamental than party affiliation.

Friday Talking Points [55] -- "Bretton Woods II"? Not Quite.

Chris Weigant | Posted 12.15.2008 | Politics


Chris Weigant

I have to begin here today by stomping all over a cutesy term the media has come up with for the upcoming economic "summit" George W. Bush is holding ...

Feingold Could Lead Senate Foreign Relations

The Hill | Posted 12.08.2008 | Politics


Vice President-elect Joe Biden leaves an open chairmanship on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that could end up being filled by one of the mos...

Jesse Jackson Jr: I'm Ready For Obama's Senate Seat

The Chicago Tribune | Posted 12.08.2008 | Politics


CNBC's Donny Deutsch last night asked Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois if he'd be interested in an appointment to the opening seat of Sen. Barack Ob...

Ted Stevens Holds Slim Lead, Race Undecided

AP | MARY PEMBERTON | Posted 12.06.2008 | Politics


ANCHORAGE, Alaska — After a sometimes thrilling, sometimes bumpy run in the national spotlight, Alaska saw its governor defeated for vice presid...

Ignore the Negative Ads; Watch How He Treats His Wife

Pam Atherton | Posted 11.28.2008 | Home


Pam Atherton

There are quick ways to assess the measure of a man, whether he's a date or a guy running for office. Anybody can put on party manners for the camera, but what is he like underneath the show?

Political Tourists and Out-of-State Obama Activists in Indiana

Gail McGowan Mellor | Posted 11.27.2008 | Home


Gail McGowan Mellor

Red and blue state Obama supporters are putting their weight on the see-saw state of Indiana, crossing state lines to help. Political tourists from ot...

Friday Talking Points [52] -- What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been

Chris Weigant | Posted 11.17.2008 | Politics


Chris Weigant

I started blogging over two years ago. That is to say, right about the time the 2008 presidential campaign began. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration...

WATCH>> Al Franken and Norm Coleman Debate Tuesday Voting on YouTube

Jacob Soboroff | Posted 09.13.2008 | Home


Jacob Soboroff

"I think voting on the weekend is a great idea, even though that means standing up to the powerful Tuesday lobby."

Friday Talking Points [38] -- Whiners And Cheeseheads

Chris Weigant | Posted 07.19.2008 | Politics


Chris Weigant

Welcome back to Friday Talking Points, after a one-week hiatus! While plenty has happened in the past two weeks which bears close and careful analysis...

Interview With Al Franken

Chris Weigant | Posted 06.13.2008 | Politics


Chris Weigant

For all the people who scoffed at the idea of a former comedian running for such a high public office, it can now be strongly stated that Al Franken's Senate campaign is definitely no joke.

But I Want to Think Obama Understands Small Town Concerns

Carlotta Cooper | Posted 04.24.2008 | Home


Carlotta Cooper

Don't tell me about how Sen. Obama grew up. His statements demonstrate he doesn't understand small town life or rural voters. Sen. Clinton is the one connecting with us. He could learn from her.