Hawaiians share West Virginians’ problem — but times two. Both of their U.S. Senators will soon be in their 80s. Akaka is 81 years old. Case is warning his fellow Dems that “the state would lose all clout in Washington if the state’s two US Senators, both of whom are over 80 years old, leave office within a short time of each other.”
Case knows about fighting Hawaii’s Dem party machine. Case challenged several insider Dems in the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary – “[r]iding on public anger over the status quo under the leadership of what was collectively known as the “Old Boys’ Network” of Hawai’i politics” – but narrowly lost. Check out Ed Case’s campaign Web site and MrLiberal’s Jan. diary at DailyKos.
P.S. I have nothing against elderly people in office. But it’s a worry from a practical political standpoint, especially for six-year Senate terms.
Do We Have an Issue to Turn Granny and Gramps into Ragin’ Dems?! Maybe We Do! … “Older voters, a critical component of Republican Congressional victories for more than a decade, could end up being a major vulnerability for the party in this year’s midterm elections, according to strategists in both parties. Paradoxically, one reason is the new Medicare drug benefit, which was intended to cement their loyalty.” (today’s NYT) Our Street Kid has done superb muckraking on this issue. In my own informal “man on the street” interviewing, I get mixed feedback. I always have to wait in line for my prescriptions, so I strike up conversations: The seniors I’ve talked to are mostly not unhappy and had no trouble signing up. My aunt tells me it wasn’t a big deal. Yet, I read lots of horror stories in the local papers about people who can’t get life-saving drugs. We shall see. If it is an issue — and I agree with Street Kid that it is — let’s read her work and get informed so we can spread her knowledge. (And, we want to correct these problems so that, as Ductapefatwa has alleged, the GOP can’t fix the budget by killing off all the old and disabled people. Ducky’s wry humor often has the ring of truth.)
Kitschy Brunch Mini-Quiches … The prez, reports Fred Barnes via the NYT, met with Michael Crichton, whose nutty novel, “State of Fear,” “suggests that global warming is an unproven theory and an overstated threat.” …
Montana’s three-term GOP senator, Conrad Burns, is being hurt badly by his ties to Abramoff, reports the L.A. Times today: “Some surveys show him tied or trailing his two leading Democratic opponents — state Auditor John Morrison and state Senate President Jon Tester.” Also, Burns is another aging pol: He’s 71 so probably has one more term left in him. Kos is actively backing Jon Tester, “an awesome guy, awesome candidate, the Montana netroots loves him, and he’ll win his primary and take out Conrad Burns” (written in August 2004).
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Predictably, the congressional ethics probe is lagging, reports The Seattle Times/WaPo. “The rush to revise ethics laws in light of the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal has turned into more of a saunter. … The primary holdup is in the House.” Now if they can just postpone until mid-November.