Tom Diemer -- Politics Daily

Published: 03/11/11

Sarah Palin's Popularity Slips to 60 Percent Disapproval Rate in Poll

Sarah Palin, perhaps the most closely watched of all potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates, is viewed in an unfavorable light by 60 percent of those questioned in a new Bloomberg News poll. Palin's numbers suggest she would face a challenge in attracting voters beyond her conservative base if she decides to run for president next year. Bloomberg's survey of 1,001 adults was taken between March 4-7 by the Iowa firm, Selzer & Co. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Within the 60 percent who disapproved of Palin, 38 percent said they had "very unfavorable" ...

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Published: 03/11/11

Wisconsin Governor Signs Bargaining Bill, but Wider Political War Looming

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday signed a controversial bill sharply limiting collective bargaining rights for public workers, but it will take months, maybe years, to sort out the winners and losers. Walker, a Republican who sought changes limiting the clout of unions, also rescinded the layoffs of 1,500 mid-level state employees who were threatened with job losses because of a budget crunch and a stalemate on the bargaining bill, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Walker said the reforms, which also demand larger pension and health care contributions from workers, will save $30 ...

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Published: 03/10/11

Wisconsin Fight: Bill Limiting Unions Passes in Messy Process

A three-week stalemate that saw angry protests, the flight of Democratic state senators to a neighboring state and even a take-down tackle of one lawmaker by police came to an end Thursday as the Wisconsin Assembly gave final passage to a bill stripping public workers of key collective bargaining rights. Democracy is often a messy thing -- and that has been on display in Madison on an almost dally basis, leading up to Thursday's conclusive 53-42 vote. Last week, Democratic legislator Nick Milroy, whom authorities did not recognize, was wrestled to the ground by police as he tried to enter the ...

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Published: 03/10/11

Biden in Russia: Pegs More U.S. Trade to Corruption Cleanup

He mangled a couple of Russian names and scolded the government for not dealing more forcefully with corruption, but Vice President Biden got his point across in a speech at Moscow State University: the United States wants to do more business with the Russian Federation. "Some say, 'How can you say those things out loud and expect to have a better relationship?'" Biden said Thursday in remarks to students, business leaders and politicians. "They are necessary to have a better relationship." Biden said the United States supports Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization and believes ...

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Published: 03/10/11

Latest From Gingrich: Presidential Announcement Likely in May

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is taking the carefully choreographed process of launching a presidential campaign to a new level this year. After tiptoeing toward forming an "exploratory" committee earlier this month, Gingrich instead revealed only that he had created an exploratory website. In fact, NewtExplore2012.com is little more than a fundraising tool. As Politics Daily's Walter Shapiro put it, the on again/off again roll-out had "all the grace of a suitcase falling down a flight of stairs." But that was only the beginning. In a conference call this week to former ...

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Published: 03/9/11

Biden's Absence From Budget Talks Miffs GOP Negotiators

Where's Joe? With Vice President Biden on a five-day swing through Russia, Finland and Moldova, House Republicans are pressing for more direct involvement by the White House in negotiations to close a $50 billion gap between what they want to trim from 2011 spending and what President Obama and Democrats have been willing to accept. "The vice president is not even in the country today," complained House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). "We have less than a week to go [in the temporary budget]. . . . The vice president is the main negotiator." McCarthy referred to the latest in a ...

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Published: 03/9/11

Peter King's IRA Support Resurfaces as Lawmaker Probes Muslim Radicalism in U.S.

As Rep. Peter King gets ready to open hearings Thursday on Muslim radicals in the U.S., the New York lawmaker is facing questions about his own past as an unapologetic supporter of the anti-British Irish Republican Army. From his days as the elected Nassau County comptroller in the early 1980s, King has spoken out for the IRA, a nationalist group that waged a bloody bomb-and-bullet campaign for three decades in an effort to drive the British out of Northern Ireland. To King and other supporters, the IRA volunteers were freedom fighters. But to others, including many Irish Americans, the ...

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Published: 03/8/11

Donald Trump Lashes Out at Lamar Alexander for Dissing His Presidential Chances

Whether Donald Trump actually runs for president remains an open question, but the New York tycoon and reality show host certainly is milking the speculation for all its worth. Now he is miffed with Sen. Lamar Alexander for having the temerity to say that Trump "has absolutely no chance of winning" a White House race. Alexander, who ran for president in 1996 and 2000, told CNN that Trump is "famous for being famous." Alexander himself is at least semi-famous for being the former secretary of education and president of the University of Tennessee. Trump, who flirted with presidential politics ...

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Published: 03/8/11

'Daily Show' Hot on the Trail of AWOL Wisconsin Lawmakers

Where are the "Wisconsin 14"? "Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver tried to track down the missing Democratic state senators who are frustrating Gov. Scott Walker's bid to curtail the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions. Monday on the Comedy Central program, the trail led faux reporter Oliver to the "notorious, lawless region" of Illinois, where he was forced to go through a series of checkpoints -- fast food drive-throughs on a tacky commercial strip -- in the "Rockford Province" before finding former Illinois governor (and "notorious former warlord") Rod ...

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Published: 03/5/11

Mitt Romney in New Hampshire: Lots of Buzz but No Announcement -- Yet

It falls short of any campaign launch, but Mitt Romney's appearance at a Republican dinner in New Hampshire Saturday created plenty of political buzz over the weekend. Romney, who served as governor of neighboring Massachusetts between 2003 and 2007, finished a close second to Sen. John McCain in the state's first-in-the-nation GOP primary three years ago. And winning New Hampshire will be an imperative if -- as is widely speculated -- he runs for president again in 2012. Romney planned to give the keynote address Saturday at the sold-out Carroll County Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner in Bartlett, ...

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