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Rachel Maddow and Rep. Pete Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) discuss the policy and politics of the Stimulus Plan.

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The RNC election was a wild ride to say the least. The race say the lead changes between former Chair Mike Duncan who led after the first ballot, then Michael Steele lead after the 3rd, and Katon Dawson with the lead after the 4th.In a surprising move…

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Paul Krugman explains why now is the time for the United States to implement a universal health care system…

The whole world is in recession. But the United States is the only wealthy country in which the economic catastrophe will also be a health care catastrophe — in which millions of people will lose their health insurance along with their jobs, and therefore lose access to essential care.

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168 voters (including proxies)Simple Majority needed to win.Mike Duncan: 52Michael Steele: 46Katon Dawson: 28Saul Anuzis: 22Ken Blackwell: 20 Picture is from Patrick Ruffini via his Twitter page, the KK budget doesn’t allow me to travel.You can watch i…

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The Marshalltown Times Republican did a story on the freshman legislators in the area. One of the newly elected legislators is Republican Rep. Annette Sweeney. Sweeney said she was surprised by the irresponsible spending.

One of the biggest things Sweeney said has to be dealt with is the budget and looking at all the ramifications.

“We’ve been told we’re looking at a 6.5 percent cut. People are assuming it’s 6.5 percent across the board but it’s not,” she said.

She noted that one agricultural area is looking at approximately a 25-percent cut, while other areas of the budget may be cut less than 1 percent.

“Irresponsible spending has been the biggest surprise,” Sweeney said. “We heard about it during the campaign but it’s really hit home now that I’m here and nobody wants to take responsibility for it.”

The current budget issues was caused when the State revenues were lower than expected. Democratic leaders knew there wasn’t going to as much money to go around this year because of the programs created the past two years. Then revenue estimates came in lower.

We don’t have irresponsible spending, we have lower than expected revenues.

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Krazy, but thats how it goes…House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen called on Speaker Pat Murphy to freeze spending on all Pork Projects like the Amtrak station in his home town of Dubuque since Amtrak doesn’t even service that community. The money…

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I posted on Tuesday that Michael Kiernan will be named the new chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, but missed that executive director Mike Milligan is stepping down.

From the Des Moines Register…

Milligan, 35, had been the top administrator for the party organization for four years, taking over after the 2004 election.

It was unclear why Milligan was leaving. He notified central committee members Friday.

Milligan was seen as a skilled manager, having run the party aparatus through the 2006 election, but more importantly, the watershed 2008 presidential caucuses. Roughly 240,000 Iowans participated in the leadoff presidential nominating contest last year, almost doubling the previous high mark.

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After careful consideration, I’ve decided form an exploratory committee to run for Governor of the great state of Iowa. I know, I know you thought I was running for U.S. Attorney against fellow blogger Gordon Fischer, but we all know you don’t cam…

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Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) talks about how the Republicans only answer to any problems is tax cuts and that hasn’t worked out so well the past 3 decades.

The Republican answer to everything is tax cuts, we’ve tried it for eight years it hasn’t worked for the economy, that’s what they always say…Their answer is always tax cuts no matter what the question is and it simply hasn’t worked. We’ve had eight years of deregulation, privatization and tax cuts for the rich and look where it’s gotten us. It’s not a surprise that this economy’s in such bad shape because of those policies, we don’t want to do more of them.

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In this morning’s press conference Governor Chet Culver bristled at David Yepsen’s question about whether or not he would have to come back and make more cuts.Again, another must read from Yepsen.

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