Briefing - Wednesday February 15, 2006

Posted at 8:06 AM on February 15, 2006 by Bob Collins

Before I go much farther (while noting that I haven't even taken a step yet), let me say for the record, that I love the City Hall Scoop from Tim Nelson & Jason Hoppin. There's a really fascinating piece today about the delay in the St. Paul Planning Commission's vote on the Holman Field dike, coupled with the fact that 7 terms on the board have expired. Good reading. The Scoop, by the was is celebrating its 1st birthday, which is....umm... a long time in dog...err.. blog years.

Here's a scary proposition: "The Senate has never been a bastion of managerial efficiency. But as the campaign season gets into full swing, lawmakers say things are clearly getting worse." It can get worse? Who knew? The New York Times, apparently, in the story Senate Scrubs Hearings as Politics Trump Policy in an Election Year.

Not that it's surprising, but isn't Judge Anton Scalia calling those who believe in a living Constitution "idiots" the most under-reported story of the last 24 hours. And I don't really need to point out the most over-reported story, do I?

Lots of views out there on the Hackett withdrawal in Ohio. Take this, for example, With Hackett Departure, Old Politics Win.

The Hill has a good read tha was printed yesterday. Voters prefer agendas.

This brings us to a larger problem for Democrats: the lack of a unified message. They have been hit hard by Republicans and some Democrats on a lack of a legislative agenda.

When did it become fashionable to use the phrase "Democrats" and "unified" in the same sentence?

Which brings us to Molly Ivins' column last month, Equivocation in Democratic party has gone on far too long -- time for real leadership, which in turn connects us to this on tompaine.commonsense, The Patriotic Bully Card, which I point out because it made my Barry-Casselman-O-Meter go off this morning.

Here's a prize example by someone named Barry Casselman, who writes, "There is an invisible civil war in the Democratic Party, and it is between those who are attempting to satisfy the defeatist and pacifist left base of the party and those who are attempting to prepare the party for successful elections in 2006 and 2008."

Charlie Cook introduced us to the Six Year Itch.

The point of all of this is not to dump on the White House, but to demonstrate that an examination of history reveals patterns and certain behavioral tendencies that emerge in presidencies and in the members of Congress of the president's party at various stages of their terms. None of this is unusual or unexpected.

It's always interesting to watch when folks who live in Washington -- 12 square miles surrounded by reality - tell us what people outside the Beltway are thinking. Roll Call (subscription) takes a swing at it with It Really Is Different Out There on Political Priorities today. Get this, in order to find what people are thinking, they're setting up a survey of ... reporters who work at capitols. OK, look, nobody likes state house reporters more than me. No reporter works harder and gets less credit from the bosses than state house reporters. Trust me on this. But Punxatawney Phil sees sunlight more often. And the article notes this.

For this first installment, we received responses from 21 reporters and editors working in 18 states. Inevitably, their assessments will be subjective — and admittedly, the view from a state house press room can be somewhat limited. But we hope to find some useful insights about the differences between national and local policy agendas.

Ten gazillion bloggers out there in every state in the union. Gosh, I wonder if there's a better way to find out what is turning people's cranks?

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