Dem
47
GOP
53
Another roundup of news that doesn't quite merit a full item.
That's a Good Little Soldier: Yesterday, VP J.D. Vance proudly announced that he has referred Gov. Tim Walz and state AG Keith Ellison (both DFL-MN) to the Department of Justice for prosecution, since they were allegedly "aware of widespread taxpayer fraud in federally funded social programs for years" and did not take steps to stop it.
Our Take: There will probably be an investigation, and there will probably be some headlines, but this clearly isn't going to go anywhere, since even Vance isn't claiming the two men actually engaged in fraud. Vance is just kissing up to Donald Trump, and trying to make up a little ground on Marco Rubio in the 2028 Republican presidential horse race.
No Divorce Trial: Wannabe U.S. Senator from Texas Ken Paxton (R) won't have a messy and public divorce trial after all, as he and his soon-to-be-ex-wife agreed on settlement terms.
Our Take: No surprise here; Mrs. Paxton struck at the very best time to extract the very best deal she could possibly hope to get. Now, Democrat James Talarico will just have to content himself with pointing out that Paxton is still sleazy, still corrupt, still an adulterer, still a faux Christian, and is still responsible for letting several sexual predators off with a slap on the wrist. In other words, still plenty of material to work with here.
I Have Met the Enemy, and He Is Me... Sort Of: Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) is hopping mad, and has been telling anyone who cares to listen exactly why. As he faces a tough reelection battle, he's drawn a new opponent, and it's... Dan Sullivan. The new Dan Sullivan has the middle initial "J," and is a registered Republican, but has a history of donating to lefty causes. The Dan Sullivan who is a senator has the middle initial "S," is also a registered Republican, and believes there is some rat**cking going on, courtesy of the Democratic Party and the Senate campaign of former Rep. Mary Peltola (D).
Our Take: This almost certainly is rat**cking, though whether Peltola/the Democrats are involved, or if the non-senator Dan Sullivan is just doing some freelance rat**cking, is not clear. Certainly, "Freelance Rat**cker" would make a great business card. In any event, it up, Mr. Senator. There's no rule forbidding people with similar names from running for office and, as they say, politics ain't beanbag.
Sherrod Brown Can Still Get Down: Ohio is big and tough to poll, and so there haven't actually been that many polls of what figures to be a key U.S. Senate race. In fact, we just got our first high-quality poll of the Sherrod Brown (D) vs. Sen. Jon Husted (R) matchup since the primary last month (and, in fact, the first poll of the race in over 2 months), and it's a doozy. According to Beacon Research/Shaw & Co./Fox, Brown is up 8 points, 53%-45%.
Our Take: Probably no region of the country has been hurt more by Donald Trump's two wars—trade and Iran—than the Midwest. If voters there are really and truly angry, well, the Midwest is home to four potentially swingy Senate seats (Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan).
Pumped Up: Speaking of the Michigan U.S. Senate race, a picture of Republican candidate Mike Rogers was captured by the AP (left). The campaign then put that photo on its social media (right). Notice any difference?
Our Take: He must have been accidentally exposed to unfiltered gamma rays.
California Homelessness: We previously linked, a couple of times, to a libertarian-funded report that claims that the $24 billion California spent over 5 years, trying to improve on the state's homelessness problem, did not work, as the homeless population actually grew over that time. Now let us pass along news of a federal report, released just over a week ago, that says that homelessness is actually down nationwide (3.3% compared to last year) and also in California (2.8% as compared to last year).
Our Take: More evidence that Spencer Pratt really doesn't have a clue.
That's our story and we're sticking to it. (Z)