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Immigration backlash
The
Rocky Mountain News reports on a anti-immigration rally at the Colorado
state capitol. The group frequently invoked the name of Rep. Tom Tancredo as
an anti-immigration chant as other speakers spoke to the crowd. They would
shout," Tancredo, Tancredo, Tancredo..."
The group hopes to place an initiative on the state ballot to deny
government services to illegal immigrants:
If passed by voters, the measure would add language to the Colorado
Constitution saying that illegal immigrants would not be entitled to
government services other than public education and emergency room care,
both of which are required by federal law. It also would allow citizens to
sue agencies for non-compliance.
The measure was first proposed in 2003 by Tancredo, R-Colo., and later
spearheaded by Evergreen resident Bill Herron. The court challenge two years
ago prevented supporters from having enough time to gather signatures to get
it on the 2004 ballot.
Gingrich visiting Iowa’s 99 counties
The
Des Moines Register covered last night’s speech by Newt Gingrich and
Sean Hannity to the Iowa Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner in Des
Moines. In the speech, Gingrich indicated he was certainly interested in
having an impact on the agenda-- if not the presidential nominee of the
Republican party:
Gingrich told the audience that he would be back in Iowa to see the state
fair, that his wife had graduated from a college in Iowa and that "we hope
to personally visit all 99 counties."
"I'm doing a dinner in Sioux City in the near future," he said.
But Gingrich, who said after a lecture at Iowa State University on Friday
that he wouldn't decide whether he would run for president until 2007, was
coy about whether his future appearances would mean an actual bid for
presidency.
Democrat change agents
The
NY Times profiles the two Democrats charged with bringing their party to
a majority in Congress:
They are fast-talking, hard-charging, wisecracking graduates of two of the
most punishing political training grounds in the nation. Representative Rahm
Emanuel of Chicago and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York are loud,
garrulous urban brawlers: a blur of endlessly quotable attack lines,
opportunistic legislative proposals, relentless fund-raising and
big-shoulder tactics.
Mr. Emanuel is the head of the Democratic campaign committee in the House,
and Mr. Schumer has the same job in the Senate. And the Democratic Party
this year is counting on them more than anyone to return the party to power
in what is shaping up to be the most competitive midterm Congressional
election in 12 years.
To their supporters, they are energetic and creative — just the jolt
Democrats need to end their period out of power.
"They have the party by the neck and they are shaking it," said James
Carville, who met Mr. Emanuel in the 1992 presidential campaign for Bill
Clinton. Even Richard Bond, a former Republican National Committee chairman,
described them as "both brilliant at what they are doing: they are
performing the way party leadership ought to perform."
One of Republicans' concerns is just how effective these two are:
In one sign of how these men have sent waves of worry through Republican
circles, Mr. Schumer's committee reported in March that it had $32.1 million
in the bank, compared with just $16.5 million in the Republican Senate
account. Mr. Emanuel's committee had $23 million, almost the same as the
$24.4 million by the Republican Congressional committee.
Stuart Rothenberg, the publisher of the Rothenberg Political Report, said of
the two, "This is unusual, and it's quite fortunate for the Democrats."
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