-
Website
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/ -
Original page
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2009/11/evening-open-thread-126/ -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
All Comments
VERY CURIOUS!!!
Now if "anonymous sources" would just shut the hell up, we could find out what's going on.
CNN Breaking News (BreakingNews@mail.cnn.com)
Sent: Thu 11/05/09 7:47 PM
To: textbreakingnews@ema3lsv06.turner.com
-- Alleged Fort Hood lone gunman -- U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- is alive and in custody, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone.
Is "PRESIDENT POPPA" PROUD? :>) YES! HE! IS! :>)
Me 2! :>)
Poor baby.... Reminds me of when my policeman Daddy stopped by to pick me up from school -- on report card day -- IN HIS POLICE CAR!!!!
He thought it would be cool. As it was, I had straight A's that report period. All I remember to this day was the other kids going ""OOOoooooh, she musta a had a bad report card. The cops came and got her..."
I was embarrassed beyond belief. I wanted the ground to swallow me up. Still loved me some Daddy though!!!
Still loved me some Daddy though!!!
U BETCHA!! :>) ***WINK!***
+Pressley to be first African-American woman on Boston City Council
Come the end of January there will be two new faces sitting on the Boston City Council after newcomers Felix G. Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley were elected to office. Stephen Murphy and John Connolly, the two incumbents on the ballot, will join the two new councilors, as both were reelected.
Pressley will be the first African-American woman to serve on the Boston City Council. Arroyo will follow in the footsteps of his father, Felix Arroyo, who was also an at-large Boston City Councilor.
Connolly, a West Roxbury resident, took first citywide according to unofficial results from Boston’s Election Department. In total, Connolly netted 51,308 votes, or 18.35 percent of votes cast citywide.
Murphy was a mere 346 votes behind Connolly, finishing with 50,962 votes or 18.22 percent.
“The strength and breadth of support that I received today from Boston residents is truly humbling,” said Connolly. “I am honored and excited that voters have given me this show of confidence to continue my work as an at-large city councilor.”
Arroyo placed third, the same as he did in the preliminary election. On Tuesday he garnered 16.13 percent (45,099) of the vote citywide, while Pressley took 14.96 percent of the vote (41,847).
In total about 31.16 percent, or 111,067 people, of Boston’s 356,453 registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday.
Tito Jackson had a strong finish to place fifth in the at-large race. Jackson works for the state in economic development, and passed out homemade cornbread to voters at Parish Hall in West Roxbury on Tuesday morning.
Jackson garnered 30,173 votes or 10.79 percent of the citywide vote. He was followed by West Roxbury native and East Boston resident Andrew Kenneally, who received 24,215 votes or 8.66 percent of the vote.
In seventh place citywide was Tomas Gonzalez, who finished with 18,297 votes or 6.54 percent of the vote. Finishing in eighth citywide was Doug Bennett, who took 16,817 votes or 6.01 percent of the vote.
There were 654 write-in votes.
As expected Kenneally did very well in West Roxbury, finishing third behind Connolly and Murphy.
Connolly came in first in Ward 20 with 22 percent of the vote (8076 votes), then Murphy had 18 percent (6870), followed by Kenneally with 14 percent (5234 votes) and in fourth was Arroyo with 11 percent (3848 votes). Pressley came in fifth in Ward 20 with 10 percent of the vote (3856 votes), followed by Jackson with 6 percent (2599 votes), then Doug Bennett with 6 percent (2514) and last was Tomas Gonzales with 3 percent (1538 votes).
Ward 19, which consists of Roslindale and Jamaica Plain, saw very different results than Ward 20. Arroyo convincingly finished first by netting 22 percent (4183 votes) of the votes cast in the ward. Next up was Connolly with 17 percent (3251 votes), then Pressley with 16 percent (3165 votes) and in fourth was Murphy with 12 percent (2449 votes).
Finishing outside of the top four in Ward 19 was Jackson in fifth with 10 percent (1988 votes), then Gonzalez at 8 percent (1633 votes), Kenneally with 4 percent (1032 votes) and in eighth was Bennett with 2 percent (2449 votes).
Found some additional info:
+AYANNA PRESSLEY WEBSITE
Dr. zackboston: Any comments? THANK U! :>)
SORRY!! It was replaced. But, I have seen it B4. sooooo, it may return! :>)
Nevamind. HERE IT IS! :>) :>)
THAT was the JAM, back in the day. Had it on the wall in the basement with the black/blue lightbulb. Whhheeeewwwww! Slowdraggin' to
Blue Magic or
the Stylistics or
the Main Ingredient.
Wheeeeewwwww!! How did we ever get away with the stuff we THOUGHT we were doing.... LOLOLOLOL
DING! DING! DING! We have a WINNER!!
+HERE IT IS!! :>) :>)
Loved the "TUNES!!" :>)
+Heartbeats - A Thousand Miles Away (Acappella) :>)
I WAS in the DOO-WOP Era! :>)
SAME SLOW-DRAGGIN' [THEY called it "GRINDIN'] :>) :>)
Regardless, if I've described it right, you probably fount the right one...
GLH, you are too cool!!!
This was the LABEL!
Tijuana Black Velvet Painting of a Nude African-American Couple with Giant Afros Hugging and Kissing on Their Knees in Orange by L. Zamora for Indignico Inc. (Dimensions: 18" x 24") by Indignico.
OH!!! TRY THIS!
+NUDE VELVET PAINTING: Afro Hairdo-Sportin' Naked Couple :>)
Let me know. O.K? :>)
down in the basement. . . LOL!!! :>) :>)
Here's another one. . . :>)
I KNOW!! 2 FAST!! :>) :>)
And I thought women went thru changes with their hair! WHEEeeeeew!!!
I hadta do 2 much RESEARCH to get 2 the "bottom" of this "NATURAL" Hair Product - - "fixer-upper!" :>) :>)
Sooooo, Ima SHARE it with U! :>)
Think Ima keep all this VALUABLE- - HAIR-raisin' [welllll, flattening] info 2 m'self?? Ohhhhhhhh! Nooooo!! :>)
What is congolene?
It's a form of hair straightener. People of African descent tend to have "kinkier" hair1. In the 1940s, it was common for some African Americans to emulate the straighter style as seen on European or "white" people.
In order to do this, some African Americans used congolene - a gel-like substance that contained lye - to "cook" their hair until it was limp. This style was known as the "conk2". Congolene could be made at home from potatoes, eggs and lye3 and was applied to the hair like shampoo. Since lye is a very corrosive substance, it was washed off very quickly after being applied and the hairdresser would wear protective gloves. The resulting hairstyle would be limp, straight hair which could then be styled further.
Congolene and Conk hairstyling started to die out in the 1960s/70s with the advent of "natural" Afro hairstyles being embraced by African Americans, as well as the mainstream cultural acceptance of these styles. Hair straightening products for less-extreme "straight" styles such as the Jheri curl4 were also a lot more safer.
References:
1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_hair
2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conk
3: http://www.scribd.com/doc/29978/My-First-Conk
4: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=826118
Annnnnd, NOW, the EDUCATIONAL/ARTISTIC side of the matter:
Hair
from The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Malcolm X with Alex Haley :>)
Shorty soon decided that my hair was finally long enough to be conked. He had promised to school me in how to beat the barbershops’ three- and four-dollar price by making up congolene and then conking ourselves.
I took the little list of ingredients he had printed out for me and went to a grocery store, where I got a can of Red Devil lye, two eggs, and two medium-sized white potatoes. Then at a drugstore near the poolroom, I asked for a large jar of Vaseline, a large bar of soap, a large-toothed comb and a fine-toothed comb, one of those rubber hoses with a metal sprayhead, a rubber apron, and a pair of gloves.
“Going to lay on that first conk?” the drugstore man asked me. I proudly told him, grinning,“Right!”
Shorty paid six dollars a week for a room in his cousin’s shabby apartment. His cousin wasn’t at home. “It’s like the pad’s mine, he spends so much time with his woman,” Shorty said. “Now, you watch me—”
2
He peeled the potatoes and thin-sliced them into a quart-sized Mason fruit jar, then started stirring them with a wooden spoon as he gradually poured in a little over half the can of lye. “Never use a metal spoon; the lye will turn it black,” he told me.
A jellylike, starchy-looking glop resulted from the lye and potatoes, and Shorty broke in the two eggs, stirring real fast—his own conk and dark face bent down close. The congolene turned pale yellowish. “Feel the jar,” Shorty said. I cupped my hand against the outside and snatched it away. “Damn right, it’s hot, that’s the lye,” he said. “So you know it’s going to burn when I comb it in—it burns bad. But the longer you can stand it, the straighter the hair.”
THERE IS MORE! :>) :>)
ENJOY! :>)
You all come home
Since we R "DWARFIN'" ourselves in print, I'll make a new post. O.K? :>)
2 SHARP!! :>)
Let's C now; IFFF we do the math. . . .
[. . multiply the co-efficient by the cosign of Pi times the radius annnnnd divide by 4, less the coefficient's square. . . THEN take it's square root. . .]
Coupled with THESE FACTS:
-Boston was founded on September 17, 1630, by Puritan colonists from England.[13]
-As of the 2005-2007 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, White Americans made up 56.3% of Boston's population; of which 50.0% were non-Hispanic whites. Blacks or African Americans made up 23.5% of Boston's population; of which 22.2% were non-Hispanic blacks. American Indians made up 0.4% of the city's population; of which 0.3% were non-Hispanic. Asian Americans made up 8.3% of the city's population. Pacific Islander Americans made up 0.1% of the city's population. Individuals from some other race made up 8.9% of the city's population; of which 2.1% were non-Hispanic. Individuals from two or more races made up 2.6% of the city's population; of which 1.4% were non-Hispanic. In addition, Hispanics and Latinos made up 15.6% of Boston's population.[73][74]
THEREFORE: 2009 - 1630 = YEP! U RIGHT! - - 379 YEARS!!
"WHYCOME?" One might query!! :>)
"Bad" prosecutors become judges and appeal court judges who get to rule against a defendant they framed.
+Michael Jordan's son keeps his Nikes; UCF loses $3m adidas deal
The University of Central Florida has lost its $3 million exclusive contract with adidas after basketball player Marcus Jordan's insisted on wearing his father, Michael's, Nike Air Jordans for the school's opening basketball game, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
While the rest of the team wore their adidas shoes with black trademark stripes, Marcus Jordan laced up his pair of white Air Jordans Wednesday night, although he did add a pair of black ankle braces with the adidas logo prominent displayed.
Marcus, 18-year-old son of the NBA legend, says UCF had promised when recruiting him to the school that he could wear the famous Jordan brand.
As a result, the Sentinel says, adidas spokeswoman Andrea Corso told the newspaper in an e-mail that the UCF "has chosen not to deliver on their contractual commitment to adidas. As a result we have chosen not to continue our relationship with them moving forward."
UCF Athletics Director Keith Tribble tells the paper, however, that he thought negotiations with the shoe company were still going on.
The paper reports that high-level adidas officials had overturned an agreement that UCF had reached with an adidas regional representatives to allow Jordan to keep his Nikes, despite the exclusive contract.
On a possibly related matter, UCF won the game, beating St. Leo, 84-65.
Seeeeeeee, all UCF hadta do was what I did with "Little Barack". I marched his "little feet" down to PAYLESS!!- - -annnnnnd he was still able 2 score a basket or 2!!! :>)
Just sayin. . . . . . :>)
LAWD HA'MERCY!! :>)
this is some CRAZY SHYT.
G-T-F-O-H
should have cut his ass from the team.
if he wanted to wear Nike, then he should have gone to a school with a NIKE CONTRACT.
this school is stoopid
I'm STILL - - -***shakin' my head***
$3 MILLION - - STOOPID!!
Annnnnd, they told the WORLD!! :>)
I would hope they had a back up plan with either MJ or Nike. I don't know a whole lot of schools who could take a $3M hit to their budget without serious consequences.
I'm makin' progress! 2-day is a GOOD DAY!! THANK the LORD!! :)
Good 2 "hear" from U!! THANK U! :>) :>)
I don't know a whole lot of schools who could take a $3M hit to their budget without serious consequences.
What U wanna bet that they will neva tell the CONSEQUENCES!? :>)
Posted by Bossip Staff
Lady
BOSSIP just got wind that the lady above has been cheating on her NBA fiancé with another NBA
player that is a married man. Then on top of all that, this lady is good friends with her lover’s wife, AND is also pregnant and due in December.
DAMN… This Sounds Messy!!! Flip it for the Scoop
It’s a lot, so let’s air it all out…
Laura Govan has been cheating on her NBA fiancé, Gilbert Arenas, with the one and only NBA baller Shaquille O’ Neal that’s married to Shaunie O’ Neal. Then on top of all that, Laura Govan and Shaunie O’ Neal are good friends and Laura Govan is also pregnant and due in December by her fiancé Gilbert Arenas.
Now let’s break it down…
mess
Laura has been cheating on her fiancé Gilbert Arenas, who plays for the Washington Wizards, with Shaq, for damn near five years, and they had just recently met up in March.
Laura Govan and Gilbert Arenas have been dating off and on since 2001. They had their first child together back in 2003 but fell out. Then the couple was having custody issues which they resolved and then started dating again somewhere around 2005/2006. Then they had another child and also got engaged, well actually, Laura proposed to Gilbert.
On top of ALL of this, Laura and Shaunie (Shaq’s Wife) are good friends. Our source says that the two are so close that Laura’s sister is going to be on Shaunie’s NBA Housewives TV show.
PH2009101802421
To make matters even worst, Laura is currently pregnant by Gilbert and is due around December 24th.
This whole thing is just dirty!!!
Story Still Developing….
http://bossip.com/175849/bossip-exclusive-one-n...
I thought that - - -THIS - - Rihanna ‘embarrassed’ she returned to Chris Brown was OVA!!??
WHAT UP???
this young woman has 'issues'.
I'll look 4 it.
THANKS!! :>)
The comment was in relation to her intial response to his beating. The articles I have read is she has come to understand what happened and how she fell into the cycle and her determination to get out. Chris Brown has a stay away order that literally puts him in NYC when she is LA.
THANK U. I haven't been readin' much.
Sooooo, I 'ppreciate your response. :>)
Have a GOOD DAY! :>)
+Congress giving homebuyers a $6,500 tax break
Buying a home is about to get cheaper for a whole new crop of homebuyers — $6,500 cheaper.
First-time homebuyers have been getting tax credits of up to $8,000 since January as part of the economic stimulus package enacted earlier this year. But with the program scheduled to expire at the end of November, the Senate voted Wednesday to extend and expand the tax credit to include many buyers who already own homes. The House could vote on the bill as early as Thursday.
Buyers who have owned their current homes at least five years would be eligible for tax credits of up to $6,500. First-time homebuyers — or anyone who hasn’t owned a home in the last three years — would still get up to $8,000. To qualify, buyers in both groups have to sign a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010, and close by June 30.
“This is probably the last extension,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., a former real estate executive who championed the credits.
The homebuyers tax credit is one of two tax breaks totaling more than $21 billion that the Senate included in a bill extending unemployment benefits for those without a job for more than a year. The other would let companies now losing money recoup taxes they paid on profits earned in the previous five years.
“We are still in a world of economic hurt, and Congress must continue to act boldly and creatively,” said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “With the right mix of tax breaks and investments we will get through this recession and get folks working again.”
The real estate industry has been pushing to extend and expand the housing tax credit. About 1.4 million first-time homebuyers have qualified for the credit through August. The National Association of Realtors estimates that 350,000 of them would not have purchased their homes without the credit.
Extending and expanding the tax credit for homebuyers is projected to cost the government about $10.8 billion in lost taxes. While the measure passed the Senate by a 98-0 vote, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., questioned its efficiency in stimulating home sales.
“For the vast majority of cases, the homebuyer tax credit amounted to a free gift since it did not affect their decision to purchase a home,” Bond said. “And for the small minority of buyers whose decision was directly caused by the credit, this raises the question of whether we are subsidizing buyers who may not have been able to afford buying a home in the first place.”
The credit is available for the purchase of principal homes costing $800,000 or less, meaning vacation homes are ineligible. The credit would be phased out for individuals with annual incomes above $125,000 and for joint filers with incomes above $225,000.
The credit would be extended an additional year, until June 30, 2011, for members of the military serving outside the United States for at least 90 days.
Expanding the tax credit for money-losing companies is projected to cost $10.4 billion.
The business tax break would allow money-losing companies to use current losses to offset taxable profits earned in the previous five years, giving them refunds of taxes paid in those years. Under current law, businesses with annual gross receipts of more than $15 million can claim losses back only two years.
The tax break would help industries suffering losses in 2008 or 2009, including retailers, homebuilders and newspapers. Congress included a scaled-back version of the tax break — for companies with revenues of $15 million or less — in the economic recovery package enacted in February. The new tax break would be available to companies of any size, providing a quick source of cash.
The U.S Chamber of Commerce has been a big backer of the tax break for money-losing companies.
“It frees up capital that they can use to maintain jobs and potentially even hire new people as the economy returns,” said Caroline Harris, senior tax counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The tax breaks would be paid for largely by delaying a tax break for multinational companies that pay foreign taxes. It was passed in 2004 and originally was to have taken effect this year, but would now be delayed until 2018.
STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, AP
AS IN: BUT, . . BUT. .
1. When Mr. President made a similar proposal in the "stimulus packet", "HE don't know what he's doin'!"
2. He just wants to SPEND! SPEND! SPEND!!
3. IT WON'T WORK!!
4. He acts 2 bold and creatively!!
5. His "results" regarding the effectiveness of the "economic stimulus" are NOT CORRECT!!
WHAT! THE!! FREAK???
My point was that when Mr. President did the SAME THING- - -actually initiated the CONCEPT!- - -HE di' n't know what HE was doin!!
I LOVE the CONCEPT!!
I DECRIED Congress actin' like THEY were the ONLY ONES actin' on behalf of "WE THE PEOPLE!!"
Mr. PRESIDENT has been doin' this "SINCE DAY 1!"[ 2 bring back a popular phrase! :>)]
Wishin' the BEST 4 your niece & hubby!! :>)
SORRY that I wasn't CLEAR. YES, this is a GREAT IDEA!! :>)
My BAD!! :>)
By: David Dayen Thursday November 5, 2009 8:22 am
Fed up with waiting for the Republicans to stop their boycott, today the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed their climate and energy bill without a markup, sending the chairman’s mark directly out of committee.
Rep. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, had delayed the crucial vote for days because of a Republican protest over whether the cost of the legislation had been fully examined. But the California Democrat moved quickly to pass the bill, which for the first time would set mandatory limits on heat-trapping gases, without any of the seven GOP senators on the panel present. The measure cleared the panel on a 11-1 vote.
Boxer said the Republican demand for more analysis was “duplicative and waste of taxpayer dollars.”
The no vote came from – wait for it – Max Baucus. And his committee has jurisdiction. So this isn’t the end of the road by any means.
By the way, what does Max Baucus want? Believe it or not, a trigger.
Baucus specifically cited the bill’s call for a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020. He said he would like to see that target lowered to 17 percent, with a trigger to raise it to 20 percent if other countries adopted similar measures.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee rules state that the committee cannot mark up a bill unless two members of the minority party are present. So Boxer decided simply to not mark up the bill, and pass the base version.
As I noted yesterday, this process moves into the hands of John Kerry, and the bipartisan working group he’s leading to try and find a climate bill that can gather 60 votes. That bill may include a cap and trade element, but would also likely try to expand the role of nuclear power, clean coal technology and offshore drilling to capture ConservaDems and a few Republicans. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman are working with Kerry on that effort.
Regardless of whether this dual track negotiation yields something worth a darn, I consider it positive that Boxer refused to let James Inhofe and his cadre delay her bill forever. Better to pass it out and move forward than give in to Republican obstruction.
UPDATE: Shockingly, James Inhofe isn’t pleased. Here’s his statement:
I am deeply disappointed by Chairman Boxer’s decision to violate the rules and longstanding precedent of the committee. The Republicans offered a clear path forward to a bipartisan markup, but it was summarily rejected by Chairman Boxer. Instead, she decided to ignore the entreaties of all 6 ranking members from Senate committees with some share of jurisdiction over climate change legislation, as well as leading moderates in the Senate. Her action signals the death knell for the Kerry Boxer bill.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/05/boxer-de...
By: David Dayen Thursday November 5, 2009 11:11 am
Jay Rockefeller is making a lot of noise about a provision in the House health care bill that would fold the SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) into the insurance exchanges when they begin running in 2013. Rockefeller, who changed the Senate Finance Committee bill to rescue SCHIP from the same fate, released this statement yesterday:
The Congressional Budget Office has been very clear that replacing CHIP with private health coverage will lead some children to lose their health coverage altogether, which is harmful and intolerable. Health care reform should improve the coverage children have – not take their coverage away.
I have spent my entire career working to protect children and other vulnerable populations, and will keep fighting to protect CHIP as health care reform goes to the Senate floor, and then moves to conference with the House of Representatives. We must do all we can to shield children from harm. Always.
As I understand how SCHIP works, states and the federal government both contribute to a program for children whose families don’t qualify for Medicaid but who cannot afford insurance on their own, allowing them to purchase affordable state-run plans. The mechanism for the exchanges is similar in that affordable coverage would be provided for those above Medicaid eligibility, up to 400% of the federal poverty level, but those individuals would get subsidies to purchase either private coverage or, in the House bill, a federal public option.
Supporters say there are advantages to this. One of them is John Dingell:
Pelosi’s office did not respond to calls and e-mails for comment. But another one-time CHIP champion, former Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), said that moving kids from CHIP to exchange plans has at least two distinct advantages: First, CHIP requires renewal every few years, leaving the program’s longevity to the whims of Congress. And second, exchange coverage could wrap kids and their parents into the same insurance plan — a strategy the Michigan Democrat says will increase enrollment of youngsters.
“The most important thing is to cover the children,” Dingell said in an email. “As effective as CHIP has been, families constantly must deal with long wait lists or block grants running out. Families in the Exchange or Medicaid will not have the same problems.”
But detractors note that children could fall through the cracks if put onto the exchanges, being offered more expensive coverage that their families may not be able to afford. The private coverage in the exchanges also may not be as comprehensive as it is under the various SCHIP plans.
Mike Lillis notes a side benefit – for insurance companies:
A recent report from Inside CMS, a trade publication, points to another reason that Democrats might have proposed an end to CHIP: Moving kids to the exchange “would significantly improve the risk pools for private insurers, a boon for insurers,” the paper reported, citing an unnamed Senate Democratic aide.
Of course, those improved risk pools could lead to lower overall premiums.
There is unquestionably a benefit to returning SCHIP coverage to the federal level. Many states are facing budget shortfalls and scaling back their SCHIP coverage or wait-listing patients. States which cannot deficit spend are always threats to cut children’s health. However, putting it on partially private exchanges, albeit administered by the federal government with some basic minimum standards that need to be met, does leave low-income children at least in part to the vicissitudes of the market.
Rockefeller’s insistence that SCHIP be retained is a big boon to those who support it. He will probably play a major role in the final negotiations. That, combined with children’s health advocates, could be determinative. So the House’s dropping of SCHIP may amount to nothing.
But the politics of this are pretty bad. One of the major achievements of this Congress is the passage of a 5-year SCHIP extension. Folding it into the exchanges in the health care bill just opens Democratic leaders up to criticism. One Republican has already begun:
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told The Charleston Gazette yesterday that the proposed CHIP repeal “is yet another example of pieces of this bill that just don’t add up.”
Capito has supported the CHIP program since she was in the state Legislature, she said. “The fact that [the health reform bill] takes aim at a popular program that we know is effective only further demonstrates that this bill isn’t ready for prime time.”
That’s probably not the last Republican we’ll hear from on this.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/05/does-the...
Former HP CEO Fiorina targets Boxer’s Senate seat
Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday she is running for the chance to seize liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat, depicting the three-term Democrat as a Capitol Hill do-nothing who penned novels while jobs vanished and government spending soared.
The former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO’s entry into the race could present California’s junior senator with her most formidable re-election challenge, but Fiorina first will have to survive what could become a scalding Republican primary against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has worked feverishly to court GOP voters.
The California primary could become a reprise of New York’s 23rd Congressional District race, where a bitter split between GOP conservatives and moderates opened the way for a Democratic victory Tuesday. DeVore, who calls himself a Reagan conservative, says the contest with Fiorina will test “two visions of the Republican Party.”
Fiorina, speaking to an invited audience in Orange County, a traditional GOP stronghold, described herself Wednesday as a Republican devoted to low taxes and tightfisted budgets. She called herself “a political newcomer who actually knows how to get something done.”
“What do you say that come next year, we give Barbara Boxer the chance to become a full-time novelist?” Fiorina said, alluding to the senator’s political suspense stories.
“Let’s start with living within our means. The rest of us do. Why not Washington?” she asked. She promised not to support higher taxes until Congress learns to spend responsibly.
Fiorina’s announcement comes a day after Republicans took control of governors’ seats from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, but Fiorina did not allude to those contests.
Boxer is no beloved figure in California, but she easily won re-election in 1998 and 2004. Any Republican will come to the contest with disadvantages in left-leaning California: Democrats hold a 13-percentage-point registration advantage, President Barack Obama carried the state in November by 24 points, and both of California’s U.S. Senate seats have been in Democratic hands since the early 1990s.
California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton mocked Fiorina as “yet another millionaire neophyte in search of a new hobby,” an apparent reference to former eBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman, a Republican running for governor.
“The last thing Californians need in a U.S. senator is a failed CEO who was fired by her last employer,” Burton said in a statement.
Hewlett-Packard’s board fired Fiorina in 2005 after she pushed through the company’s acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. in a deal that cost jobs and reduced HP’s value. The company has since rebounded, but opinions differ over how much credit Fiorina deserves for that.
Fiorina’s name is familiar in the business community, but she is virtually unknown to most voters.
The 55-year-old served as economic adviser to John McCain’s failed presidential bid last year, elevating her national profile, but an independent Field Poll last month found nearly three of four California voters didn’t know enough about her to express an opinion.
Yet Fiorina has plenty of money to broadcast her message. She received a $21 million severance package when she left HP — a cash cushion that has made Boxer’s team nervous.
Even before her announcement, Boxer used the threat of a Fiorina candidacy to boost her own fundraising, collecting $1.6 million in the last quarter and reporting $6.3 million in the bank last month.
“If Fiorina decides to fund the campaign with her own personal wealth, this could be the most expensive Boxer campaign yet,” said Rose Kapolczynski, a spokeswoman for Boxer’s campaign. “We could be looking at a $30 million or $35 million campaign. … She could do a lot to remake her image with that and do a lot to distort the Boxer record.”
Fiorina, who recently completed breast cancer treatment, gently teased herself about her close-cropped hair, apparently the result of chemotherapy. She said the cancer was behind her and “I feel absolutely great.”
Boxer, 68, has long been a target of conservatives — they pounced earlier this year when she chastised a brigadier general who called her “ma’am” during a congressional hearing — but has yet to face a serious re-election challenge.
Until now, Boxer’s only announced opposition was DeVore. A military officer and businessman from Irvine, he has been aggressively campaigning on a shoestring budget for months, styling himself as the only true conservative in the race.
He is appealing to the party’s base as the true candidate of limited government, lower taxes and conservative fiscal stewardship.
DeVore, 47, said Fiorina is “attempting to sound like a conservative, and yet when you actually probe the depths of her conservatism … it’s really not conservatism at all.”
Fiorina is the fifth Silicon Valley executive to compete in a statewide race in California next year. All three GOP gubernatorial candidates — Whitman, state insurance commissioner and high tech entrepreneur Steve Poizner, and former congressman Tom Campbell — have ties to the Valley.
Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer for the popular social networking Web site Facebook, has announced an exploratory bid for the Democratic nomination for attorney general.
GILLIAN FLACCUS, AP
KEEPIN' WATCH!! :>)
Ima add: Isn't it GR8 2 go back 2 OUR - - THIS :>)
Have a GR8 EVENING!! :>)
GOOD chattin' with U!! :>)