Florida governor Charlie Crist, running for the US Senate as an independent, called the legislature into session to pass a voter referendum on banning offshore drilling. The Republican House adjourned after less than an hour, Kate Pickert reports, and may have handed themselves in a neatly-tied bow to candidate Crist:
As a result, Tuesday's special session may well have been a win-win call for Crist – who a few months ago bolted the Republican Party to run as an independent in the Nov. 2 race for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat. If the legislature had voted to put a constitutional offshore drilling ban to voters, it most likely would have boosted his campaign against GOP candidate Marco Rubio, whom Crist is already leading in the polls. (Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek, the likely Democratic candidate, is in third.) But given the state's current mood about Big Oil, Tuesday's move by House Republicans could end up doing the same for Crist, who afterward called the chamber “a do-nothing legislature.” Sounding the populism that's been a trademark of his independent run, Crist said, “The people should be heard on this issue.”
If enough Florida voters feel the same way, then the state's GOP may have walked into a Tallahassee trap today. Its leadership calculated that by not even allowing a vote on the ballot initiative issue, the House would exact sharper humiliation on Crist – a reflection of their bitterness toward the moderate Governor since his divorce from a party he insists has moved too far to the right. But Sunshine State Republicans may have instead risked looking arrogant if not petulant – and, worse, the pal of Big Oil, given that the Florida GOP, according to a recent St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald review, have received almost 2 ½ times more in campaign contributions since the start of 2009 than the state's Democrats did. It just might have been a good day for Charlie after all.
Jay Newton-Small reports congressional Ds are planning to take up renewing President Bush's tax cuts- which expire at the end of the year- in the fall, before the elections.
Republicans have been balking at Democratic proposals to extend the cuts except for those granted to the very, very rich.
Republicans are saying it's all or nothing.
The questions are: will Republicans protest at a) such huge amounts of deficit spending, and/or b) extending the middle class cuts without those for the top two tiers?
Republicans argue that letting the top cuts lapse will hurt small businesses -- the engine of job growth -- at exactly the wrong time. Dems argue back that very few small businesses make more than $200,000 a year. But having this fight is exactly what Democrats want as they try to paint Republicans as defending the rich at the expense of the little guy ahead of the elections and, having been stymied in passing additional stimulus all year, Dems believe that the move is necessary to prevent a double dip recession.
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