Justin's Political Corner

The Republican Party is losing one of its potential front-running candidates for governor.

U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock has opted not to seek the governor’s mansion, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The young GOP rising star is expected to make a formal announcement Friday.

“He said back in the fall he was going to see whether he thought he could do more good running for re-election for Congress or running for governor,” Schock aide Steve Shearer told the Peoria Star late Thursday.

Schock, 31, ultimately decided to remain on Capitol Hill, where he serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, said Shearer, Schock’s chief of staff and campaign manager.

But the young third-term Peoria congressman also faced the reality of a crowded GOP field — and a tough general election race if he prevailed.

Republicans still potentially in the running include state Treasurer Dan Rutherford; state Sen. Kirk Dillard, of Hinsdale; state Sen. Bill Brady, of Bloomington; Winnetka millionaire Bruce Rauner, and WLS-AM (890) radio talk show host Dan Proft.

Rauner has already formed an exploratory committee stocked with business leaders capable of raising money to add to contributions Rauner can make from his own fortune.

“Aaron realized he is only 31 and is not willing to risk everything against Rauner’s millions and probably Lisa Madigan,” said one state House Republican familiar with Schock’s thinking.

Madigan, the Illinois attorney general and daughter of state Speaker Michael Madigan, is eyeing a primary run against Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. Former Commerce Secretary William Daley also is a possible Democratic candidate.

h/t: Chicago Sun-Times

By Christie’s deeds and his words, he is clearly committed to the death of the labor movement and every other sort of social progress.

Two years ago, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin introduced his falsely-named “budget repair bill.”  In doing so, he transformed himself from an obscure Midwestern Governor to the personification of a nationally-orchestrated, well-funded right-wing movement that was more – much more - than just an attempt to balance the budget on the backs of public service workers. His plan, concocted in quite public collaboration with the Koch brothers, was to gut public sector collective bargaining rights altogether.

The right had a new champion. Having weakened and nearly destroyed the private sector union movement in America over the last 30 years, it was time to hone in on a new target: public sector unions and, in fact, the very idea that a fair society requires a robust public sphere. (Hint: this is true for the non-wealthy, less so for people who can buy their way into private schools, private beaches, private jets and so on…).

As everyone knows, the people of Wisconsin fought back. Madison became our Tahrir Square. It was thrilling to watch, and the entire labor and progressive movement understood how important a battle it was. Tactics included civil disobedience on a scale rarely seen in the U.S. and an ambitious electoral recall of a handful of Republican State Senators and Walker himself. Several Senators lost their seats in the recall, but Walker won. Unfortunately, too many union members themselves voted for Walker, despite an enormous groundswell of progressive labor mobilization in the recall.  Walker’s re-election campaign in 2014 will be another “all or nothing” moment for labor and progressive forces as we learn whether Walker-Koch conservatism is here to stay.

Before we get to the 2014 re-match, however, there’s another Governor up for re-election in 2013 who is also in the public eye. I’m referring to the East Coast’s own version of Scott Walker. No one would confuse Chris Christie’s brash {pugilistic?} demeanor for that of a polite Midwesterner. But when it comes to strict adherence to right-wing ideology, Christie is every bit the match for Scott Walker — and in some cases, even worse. I’m from New Jersey, and it’s astonishing to me that someone this awful is the Governor of my home state. .

Before the dust had settled in Madison, Christie was pushing a similar package of collective bargaining “reforms” in New Jersey. Christie frequently made the comparison himself. During a series of press events in Wisconsin during the recall campaign, Christie rallied support for Walker by comparing and celebrating what he and Walker had done.The New Jersey Star Ledger reported it this way in May 2012:  

The Republican governor [Christie] drew no distinction between the pension and benefit reforms pushed through New Jersey’s Democrat-controlled Legislature and Walker’s near-elimination of collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions — actions that flooded the Madison statehouse with protesters and could make him Wisconsin’s first governor to be dumped during his term.

“You see what I’ve been able to do is give Scott and the people of Wisconsin a little preview of what good conservative governance can do for states,” Christie told several hundred people at a landscaping equipment maintenance shop near Milwaukee.

But Christie isn’t just hostile to working-class organizations. He has an all-encompassing right-wing philosophy that seeps into every aspect of his agenda. No matter the issue – minimum wage, marriage equality, climate change, directing public money to private corporations, lowering taxes on the rich – Chris Christie is a hard-right Republican. He may be a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen, but I can guarantee that Springsteen is not a fan of his.

So, as a public service for any progressive or labor-friendly voter who might have been disoriented by Christie’s post-Hurricane Sandy photo opportunities with President Obama, here’s a short dossier on why we should not be confused by this guy. Sadly, some New Jersey-based building trades locals have already endorsed Christie in his 2013 re-election bid. But hopefully everyone else will line up with his Democratic opponent, State Senator Barbara Buono. Christie is clearly the odds on favorite in the race– he’s got a ton of cash, his opponent is relatively unknown, and he taps into a deep well of suburban anger about stagnant wages and soaring property taxes. But he is in fact as bad as Scott Walker.  Period.

He’s firmly on the side of the 1%.

Last year, Governor Christie proposed a $1.2 billion tax cut, with the bulk of the cuts going to the top, even though the state faced enormous budget gaps. He has repeatedly vetoed Democratic legislative efforts to close those gaps by raising taxes on millionaires.  Romney would be proud, and surely, Christie’s wealthiest donors are too.

But here’s where it gets even more unbelievable.  Since taking office, Christie has awarded more than $2 billion in tax breaks to huge corporations like Prudential Insurance, Panasonic, and Goya Foods. They promise new jobs, but in fact just shuffle around existing ones. Prudential got a quarter billion just to move its headquarters a few blocks in Newark. Instead of investing precious tax dollars in actual job creation, New Jersey wastes it on hand-outs to well-connected corporations.

… and not the 99%

Meanwhile, he did raise taxes on one group: the working poor. Christie cut the Earned Income Tax Credit, a program with a long record of bipartisan support that puts more cash in the pockets of struggling families. And just for good measure, Christie also vetoed a modest $1.25/hr increase in the minimum wage.

Need to keep the beer cold?  As Jim Hightower would say, put it next to Chris Christie’s heart.

But isn’t he a social liberal?

People sometimes get the idea that Northeastern Republicans are “fiscal moderates and social liberals.” Not Christie.

On Marriage Equality: Christie is not only against same-sex marriage, he vetoed a bill that would have given equal rights to same sex couples.

On the DREAM Act: He killed it. This was a bill to allow the children of immigrants who graduated high school in New Jersey to attend state colleges at in-state tuition rates.  

On women’s health and abortion rights: He eliminated all funding for women’s health, cutting $7.4 million to Planned Parenthood and other clinics that offer contraception, cancer screenings and other essential services.

That’s not all.

Christie’s blind faith in trickle-down economics has left New Jersey with the seventh highest unemployment rate in the country (9.3%). Yet Christie single-handedly killed the biggest public infrastructure project in the country. The ARC tunnel would have connected New Jersey to New York and created 45,000 permanent jobs, but Christie blocked the project. He’s like one of those moronic Republican Governors who turned down high-speed rail money from the Federal Stimulus Act in Florida or, you guessed it, Wisconsin.

He’s also endangering New Jersey’s reputation as a state that cares about education. In his first year in office he cut $1.2 billion in state aid to public schools. The cuts were so deep that the state Supreme Court found they violated students’ rights. As a candidate, Chris Christie pledged to increase funding for higher education. But then he was elected. And he turned around and cut higher education funding 15%.  All the while, referring to the leaders of the state’s teachers’ union as a “group of political thugs” for opposing these policies.

But what about that great moment after Sandy? Doesn’t that mean anything?

No. Not really. Christie said he didn’t ‘give a damn’ whether global warming contributed to the storm. And while climate scientists agree that climate change will produce worse and worse storms, Christie pulled New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The RGGI is a compact among the northeast states to limit carbon emissions, and is widely seen as a very smart policy. .

Christie is up for re-election this November. It will tough to defeat him, even as he richly deserves to go down. The media like him, and some Democrats in the State Legislature have on occasion made it too easy for him to look effective and far-sighted. If we tell the truth to ourselves, the truth is – right now, Christie is popular. The latest polling has him ahead of his likely Democratic opponent by 35 points. And he has a huge financial advantage.

Still more alarmingly, Christie has somehow secured support from some segments of organized labor, notably the laborers and plumbers unions. No doubt the leaders of these unions see themselves faced with a difficult choice. With Christie so far ahead in polls, it’s tempting to play the percentages and bet on the likely winner in the hopes of securing some small advantage for your members. Pragmatism has its place in politics. We get it.

But in this case, it’s deeply troubling.  

Sometimes, even when the odds are bad, you have to fight. The alternative is simply making an enemy stronger.

This isn’t the first time labor has made this mistake. There are many famous examples of letting short-term pragmatism blind you to a longer term reality. The Air Traffic Controllers backed Ronald Reagan for President in 1980, and he turned around and crushed them. Richard Nixon was backed by many construction unions in 1968 and 1972, and he then worked to undermine them. And of course in Wisconsin, the police and firefighters unions endorsed Walker in his first campaign, and have to know what a gigantic mistake that was.

Christie’s record speaks for itself, and his kind words for Scott Walker should erase any doubt: Christie is no moderate. His worldview should be an anathema to progressives everywhere.  He’s also dangerous, because he’s popular and is a strong contender for the Republican nomination in 2016. A landslide victory in 2013 will be a launching pad for his 2016 race—“I won a bi-partisan landslide in a blue northeastern state (one that Barack Obama won by 18 points and Bob Menendez won by 20 points), I tamed the unions, and I can make a conservative message work everywhere from New Jersey to New Mexico.”  Being able to point to labor support will only bolster his case.

h/t: AlterNet

AUSTIN, Texas—Big in all things, Texas leads the nation in failing to provide health insurance. About one in four Texans are uninsured, the highest percentage in any state. That’s some 6 million people, the total population of Missouri.

Yet Gov. Rick Perry, back from his stumbles in the 2012 GOP presidential race, has insisted that Texas will not accept the federal money provided by President Obama’s health care law to expand Medicaid coverage. As Republican governors from Arizona to New Jersey have joined the program, Perry has amplified his opposition. In a bristling speech to conservatives last week, he said governors who accepted the money had “folded in the face of federal bribery.”

In no state does the decision to expand present such profound political and policy issues as in Texas. Whatever Perry decides, many Texans will benefit from the subsidies in the 2010 law that help the uninsured in lower-to-middle-income families purchase private insurance on health care exchanges. Perry has also refused to establish such an exchange, but the law allows Washington to step in, and Texans who qualify will receive those dollars. Rice University demographers Steve Murdock and Michael Cline recently projected those exchanges will cover up to 1.7 million of the state’s uninsured.

The law’s other mechanism for increasing coverage is to broaden Medicaid eligibility for adults near poverty, but Washington can’t mandate this expansion if states refuse it. Murdock and Cline project that another 1.5 million to 2 million Texans would receive coverage if the state participated.

The state medical establishment, reluctant to cross the governor too publicly, has been restrained in pressing for expansion. But Republican state Rep. John Zerwas, a health care leader who represents a district outside Houston, says legislators are getting an earful at home from providers and local officials worried about the state rejecting the money.

Key state Senate Republicans, though, are striking a harder line. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Tommy Williams says he will support enlarging Medicaid only if Obama allows Texas to transform the way it delivers Medicaid, not only to the expansion population but also to the current recipients. “The existing program is not sustainable,” Williams says.

That’s a hardball position, but not necessarily disqualifying: The administration has reached an agreement in principle with Florida, for instance, to move more Medicaid recipients into private managed care. Many here, though, wonder if Perry would take any deal. The widespread belief is that he intends to seek the GOP presidential nomination again in 2016, and accepting more Medicaid money would smudge his image of Alamo-like resistance to Obama.

Rejecting the federal money might not pose an immediate political threat to Texas Republicans, whose coalition revolves around white voters responsive to small-government arguments. But renouncing the money represents an enormous gamble for Republicans with the growing Hispanic community, which is expected to approach one-third of the state’s eligible voters in 2016. Hispanics would benefit most from expansion because they constitute 60 percent of the state’s uninsured. A jaw-dropping 3.6 million Texas Hispanics lack insurance.

Texas Democrats are too weak to much affect the Medicaid debate. But if state Republicans reject federal money that could insure 1 million or more Hispanics, they could provide Democrats with an unprecedented opportunity to energize those voters—the key to the party’s long-term revival. With rejection, says Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia of Dallas, Republicans “would dig themselves into an even deeper hole with the Hispanic community.”

In 1994, California Republican Gov. Pete Wilson mobilized his base by promoting Proposition 187, a ballot initiative to deny services to illegal immigrants. He won reelection that year—and then lost the war as Hispanics stampeded from the GOP and helped turn the state lastingly Democratic. Texas Republicans wouldn’t be threatened as quickly, but they may someday judge their impending decision on expanding Medicaid as a similar turning point.

H/T: National Journal

Democratic Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan reportedly met with strategists at two prominent progressive groups during a visit to Washington, D.C., last week, further fueling speculation that she plans a Democratic primary challenge to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn next year.

“She’s leaning heavily toward a run and was doing rounds to build relationships and gauge potential support,” one unnamed source familiar with the meetings told POLITICO, which reported the meetings this morning.

As we’ve reported here, Madigan, daughter of powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, has long been viewed as a future candidate for governor.

h/t: STLtoday.com

Progress Illinois is reporting that Republican Congressman Aaron Schock of the 18th Congressional District of Illinois is contemplating a 2014 run for Governor of Illinois.

However, Schock has an “Eric Cantor” problem.

Schock goaded House Majority Leader Eric Cantor into donating $25,000 from Cantor’s own SuperPAC, ERIC PAC, to the Campaign for Primary Accountability, which supported Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger in the 16th Congressional District of Illinois Republican Primary, who narrowly won an incumbent-versus-incumbent primary against Donald Manzullo.

In the last 15 years, two of Illinois’s former governors, George Ryan, a Republican, and Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, have been sentenced to prison after being convicted on corruption charges. Simply put, Illinois does not need yet another unethical governor.

h/t: BlueDownstate

Virginia chooses a new governor this November, and Democrats are already firing with both barrels at state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the likely Republican nominee to replace Gov. Bob McDonnell (R).

Cuccinelli makes a very easy target, especially when — like he did once again Monday — he compares his fight against the contraception coverage mandate found in ‘Obamacare’ to the non-violent civil rights struggle led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Monday, MLK Day, Cuccinelli again made the comparison between his fight against the federal requirement that birth control be offered with no copay by insurance plans to King’s fight for equal rights for African Americans. Cuccinelli earned some headlines earlier this month when he told an Iowa show that opponents of the mandate need to be prepared to “go to jail” in protest of the law. (He later tried to walk that back a bit.)

Cuccinelli was asked Monday about the controversy on The John Fredericks Show, a conservative talk show in Virginia. He was shocked Democrats would raise the issue, casting the battle as a struggle for rights rather than an attack on contraception.

“Whenever I talk about religious liberty, you know they turn it around. All they talk about -they don’t talk about denying religious liberty. They talk about contraception. And I’m not talking about contraception. Government doesn’t have a role in contraception,” Cuccinelli told the radio show. “Government does have a role in protecting your civil rights especially today on MLK Day. The man who really came up with the American non-violent protest theory of civil disobedience. It’s pretty egregious that they can’t get any higher than contraception when we’re talking about protecting people’s religious liberty.”

It’s not the first time Cuccinelli has compared the fight over the contraception mandate to King’s fight for civil rights. From the Virginian-Pilot last week:

Last year, he shared the anecdote about his chat with the bishop [who he said should be prepared to go to jail] at an event for a prison ministry group and obliquely invoked Martin Luther King Jr. for emphasis, asking the crowd “Ever read a little item called Letter from Birmingham jail?”

Democrats leapt on Monday’s remarks, seeing a fresh vulnerability for the conservative Cuccinelli, who is best known nationally as a tea party rockstar. The state Democratic Party sent over a blistering statement from former Delegate Ferguson Reid (D), the first African American legislator elected in Virginia in the 20th century. Reid was a leader during Virginia’s civil rights struggle, and a founder of the state’s Crusade For Voters in the 1950s.

H/T: Evan McMorris-Santoro at TPM

Democratic Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is reportedly considering a run for Governor of Illinois, an office currently held by a fellow Democrat, Pat Quinn.

Republican State Representative Ron Sandack of the 81st Representative District of Illinois tweeted that, at one of the festivities surrounding President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, Lisa Madigan listed herself as “considering” a 2014 run for Governor of Illinois.

Unless Quinn decides not to run for a second full term, Madigan would have to run against Quinn in a Democratic primary. Polling conducted by Public Policy Polling two months ago showed Madigan defeating Quinn by over 40 points in a hypothetical Quinn-Madigan primary matchup. 

h/t: BlueDownstate

Bill Daley, former White House chief of staff to President Obama, is considering a 2014 gubernatorial run in the state of Illinois, the AP reports:

Daley, who has mulled campaigns for the state’s highest office before, spoke about leadership during a campaign-style speech Thursday before Chicago’s business and political elite. After the speech, when an audience member asked if he was running for governor, Daley said he was “thinking about it seriously.”

Although he didn’t criticize Quinn by name, Daley said Illinois needs better leadership, particularly with its shaky finances — billions in unpaid bills and the worst-in-the-nation pension problem. Quinn has said he’ll seek a second term in 2014.

H/T: TPM LiveWire

NEW YORK—Cory Booker said Thursday he won’t run against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the state’s gubernatorial race next year—choosing to “explore” a run for U.S. Senate instead.

The Democratic mayor of Newark, N.J., announced his decision on Twitter, pointing followers to aYouTube video in which he declared he wanted to serve out his current term at City Hall and “finish” the work he started.

He said he would consult with New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who is widely expected to retire after this term. “It would be a privilege, an honor to continue his legacy,” Booker said.

Booker’s decision is a major blow to New Jersey Democrats, who had viewed the mayor as the party’s best chance to defeat Christie. But Christie, who had been viewed as vulnerable in the race, has enjoyed a bump in popularity for his leadership in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, making him a stronger candidate than expected.

Booker initially said he would announce his decision about his political future just after Election Day, but the mayor delayed that decision after Sandy—telling reporters that he needed more time to weigh his options.

In the video, Booker said he will still be active in the state’s 2013 election, insisting that “nobody is going to fight harder than me for the entire Democratic ticket.” But he also laid the tentative groundwork for his own 2014 Senate bid, addressing several issues he said would be important to the nation’s future, including education, gun control and job creation.

h/t: Yahoo! News

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat and the only announced candidate for governor in 2014, admitted Tuesday that he had an inappropriate relationship with a Hot Springs attorney after court documents were filed alleging they had a sexual affair.

McDaniel, who has been married since June 2009, said he had a relationship with Andrea L. Davis, but would not offer details.

McDaniel announced in June that he would run for governor in 2014, and has already raised more than $1 million for his bid. Tricia Wallace, a spokeswoman for McDaniel, said he did not plan to drop out of the race due to Tuesday’s admission.

McDaniel was first elected attorney general in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010 without any major party opposition.

The admission is a major setback for Democrats, who had hoped to rebound from an election this year where Republicans won control of thestate Legislature for the first time in 138 years. The state GOP had targeted the governor’s race and Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor’s re-election bid as their top prizes in two years.

Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2014.

Republicans stopped short of criticizing McDaniel, but indicated they viewed it as an issue in the governor’s race.

“This is just another factor the voters of Arkansas will have to consider as they look to choose their next governor,” state GOP spokeswoman Katherine Vasilos said.

Potential rivals also held off on criticizing McDaniel directly over the relationship.

“That’s something he’ll deal with with his family. I don’t really have a response,” said Republican state Sen. Johnny Key, who is considering a run for governor in two years.

McDaniel’s campaign last week claimed its internal polling shows the attorney general could defeat former Lt. Gov. Bill Halter or highway commissioner John Burkhalter for the Democratic nomination in 2014, and that a general election race against Republican Asa Hutchinson would be closer.

H/T:  TheRepublic.com

Kablammo! There go GOP Gov. Rick Snyder’s approval ratings and his standing for re-election. PPP just lays him out:

Just last month when we took a first look at the 2014 landscape we talked about how much Rick Snyder had improved his popularity during his second year in office and how he led a generic Democrat for reelection by 6 points, even as Barack Obama won the state comfortably.

Last week he threw all that out the window.

We now find Snyder as one of the most unpopular Governors in the country. Only 38% of voters approve of him to 56% who disapprove. There are only 2 other sitting Governors we’ve polled on who have a worse net approval rating than Snyder’s -18. He’s dropped a net 28 points from our last poll on him, the weekend before the election, when he was at a +10 spread (47/37).

Three words are to blame here: right to work. Well, of course, Snyder himself is to blame: After telling the state of Michigan that he would not push through anti-union and anti-worker “right to work” legislation (that Orwellian epithet really means “right to work for less”), he went ahead and did exactly that during a shameful lame-duck session of the legislature. (Michigan Republicans lost seats this November, so they wanted to force a vote while they still had greater numbers.) Overall, voters oppose RTW 51-41, and a similar 49-40 margin says they’d vote to overturn the law if given the chance at the ballot box.

And now for the really fun stuff. If Snyder does indeed run for a second term—something he previously said he might not do—well, he’d get pummeled, if his fortunes don’t somehow turn around. Here’s how he does against a passel of possible contenders:

38-49 vs. 2010 nominee Virg Bernero
39-47 vs. Rep. Gary Peters
38-46 vs. state Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer
39-44 vs. ex-Rep. Mark Schauer

Note that ceiling of 38 to 39 percent for Snyder: All of his potential opponents are unknown to half the state, even Bernero. That means, at least right now, voters are really thinking “anyone but Snyder.” Hell, as Tom Jensen points out, Bernero lost by 18 points in 2010, so these new numbers constitute a remarkable 29-point reversal of fortune.

Don’t be thinking recall, though: Voters still oppose the notion 48-44, and as we saw in Wisconsin, those numbers tend to get worse over time, not better.

h/t: David Nir at Daily Kos Elections

Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois has had some terrible ratings for a long time, but these latest numbers from PPP are just disastrously bad. Thanks in part to presiding over an income tax hike necessary to pay for state government services, Quinn’s worked his way down to a 25-64 job approval score, and predictably, his numbers in hypothetical 2014 matchups with Republicans are just awful:

• 37-44 vs. state Sen. Kirk Dillard
• 39-43 vs. Treasurer Dan Rutherford
• 40-39 vs. Rep. Aaron Schock

Obviously, lots of Democrats are thinking about replacing Quinn, so Tom Jensen tested Attorney General Lisa Madigan (who has high name rec) and former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley (who doesn’t) as well. Madigan leads Dillard and Rutherford 46-37 and Schock 46-38, while Daley trails Dillard (34-36) and Rutherford (37-38) but edges Schock 40-35.

Madigan has long been mentioned as potential gubernatorial candidate and has a good 48-32 favorability rating overall and a 68-16 score among Democratic primary voters. In a direct head-to-head with Quinn, she trounces him 64-20. Even Daley comes out ahead, too, though, 37-34, which really should give Quinn second thoughts about seeking reelection. 

Meanwhile, on the GOP side, Rutherford noses Schock 27-26 in a hypothetical three-way primary, with Dillard at 17. He also takes the top spot in PPP’s kitchen-sink scenario:

• Dan Rutherford: 19
• Aaron Schock: 18
• Bill Brady: 14
• Kirk Dillard: 12
• Joe Walsh: 8
• Bruce Rauner: 7
• Someone else: 7
• Not sure: 15

As for the additional names there: Bill Brady was the GOP’s 2010 nominee, who barely beat Dillard for the nod and then barely lost to Quinn; Joe Walsh is the infamous loudmouth and soon-to-be-former congressman; and Bruce Rauner is a wealthy private equity titan.

h/t: David Nir at Daily Kos Elections

In the first major GOP primary fight after the 2012 race, it seems the right wing of the Republican Party has prevailed once again.

As their party wrestles nationally with how to appeal to a broader electorate, Virginia Republicans are all-but-guaranteed to see one of the most divisive conservatives in the nation as their gubernatorial nominee in 2013.

Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling — who had the backing of Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) — dropped out of the governor’s race Wednesday, clearing the way for Republican State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli is a tea party super star, known for drawing large crowds at national conservative events. As Virginia’s top lawyer, he was the first to sue the feds over ‘Obamacare’ and he’s taken on climate science and abortion access in controversial public fights.

The Republican’s public persona hews toward the far-right. Just this week, Cuccinelli drew criticism when he appeared to agree with fringe conservatives who say President Obama won on Nov. 6 thanks to voter fraud.

Bolling’s decision to leave the race follows polling showing him well behind Cuccinelli among Republicans as well as a move by the state party to shift the statewide nomination process from a primary to a state convention, putting more power in the hands of conservative activists more likely to support Cuccinelli.

Democrats say the rise of Cuccinelli is proof the GOP hasn’t learned the lessons of 2012.

“Ken Cuccinelli would be the most extreme major party nominee for governor in Virginia’s history,” Kate Hansen, spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association, said in a statement. “He has spent the last four years launching anti-science, anti-equality, and fringe partisan crusades at the expense of doing the people’s business.”

Most expect the Democratic nominee to be former DNC chair and Clinton family ally Terry McAuliffe. (Other Democratic names have been mentioned, such as former Rep. Tom Perriello, but McAuliffe is currently a declared candidate and is building a campaign infrastructure.) The Republican take is that despite Cuccinelli’s divisive reputation, a race with McAulliffe as the Democrat still favors the GOP.

h/t: Evan McMorris-Santoro at TPM

MADISON, Wis. — Every weekday as the clock strikes noon, dozens of demonstrators pass out songbooks inside the Wisconsin Capitol. Office workers who know what’s coming scramble to close their doors, and several police officers take up watch from a distance.

Then the group begins to sing, the voices echoing throughout the cavernous rotunda. The first song might include the lyrics, “Hit the road, Scott, and don’t you come back no more.” The next tune could say, “We’ll keep singing `til justice is done. We’re not going away, oh Scotty.”

Most of the protesters who hounded Gov. Scott Walker for his collective-bargaining law got on with their lives long ago. But one group still gathers every day to needle the state’s leading Republican – a tactic they promise to continue even as supporters suggest there are more effective ways to influence politics.

“We’re not just protesting,” said Brandon Barwick, a 28-year-old student and musician who is the unofficial leader of the sing-along. “We’re advocating for a way of governing, a way of living that preserves our freedoms, our rights.”

But the Solidarity Singers won’t accept defeat. Walker’s attack on Wisconsin workers was so severe, Barwick said, that he deserves constant reminders of the damage he caused.

Their efforts might seem puzzling. Protests generally persist only as long as there’s a chance to bring change. It can be hard to sustain that energy when there’s no clear goal or realistic chance of success.

That’s what happened with the Occupy movement, which grew out of anger at Wall Street and a financial system perceived to favor the richest 1 percent. The movement grew too large too quickly for organizers to keep up. Without leaders or specific demands, it eroded into an amorphous protest against everything wrong with the world and eventually fell apart.

h/t: Huffington Post