Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R), who is attempting a comeback of his own, had some words of advice for Sarah Palin--a possible 2012 rival--according to Politico. Boiled down to six items, the advice is:
- Write a bookA new Rassmussen poll shows former representative Pat Toomey (R) leading Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) 48% to 36%. Don't you believe it. Even though Specter now has a primary opponent in Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) and Specter has been heckled at town hall meetings, public opinion simply does not turn around that fast and Specter has had massive leads over Toomey all year. Either this is a statistical fluke or Rasmussen did something very wrong.
If Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) is confirmed as Secretary of the Army, his resignation from the House will trigger a special election in his upstate NY-23 district. Currently, his Senate confirmation is in limbo because both (Republican) senators from Kansas have placed a hold on it until President Obama promises not to transfer any prisoners from Guantanomo Bay to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Senate rules allow a recalcitrant senator to tie the Senate in knots when he or she wants to. Both Sen. Roberts and Sen. Brownback apparently fear that terrorists will somehow manage to escape from the maximum security prison at Fort Leavenworth and immediately set out to blow up cornfields across the state.
Assuming the hold is eventually released, the New York Democratic Party now has a candidate to run for McHugh's seat: lawyer and Air Force veteran Bill Owens. The Republican candidate, state assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, was chosen last month.
This race is atypical for House races where the Democrats often nominate a locl politician and the Republicans nominate a rich businessman. Here it is reversed, just like in the special election in NY-20 earlier this year. In that contest, Democrat Scott Murphy nosed out the minority leader of the state assembly, Jim Tedisco. NY-23 is a swing district so the battle between Owens and Scozzafava will be closely fought.