The Story of Recovery

To all of our readers, this is what we're looking at today.

Enjoy.

Looking Back on a Hundred Posts…

WAYLA is proud to announce that today is our 100th post! We decided to take a look back at some of the things we’ve been looking at since we launched the blog over four months ago.

At first we brought you (what seemed like) day-to-day analysis on the race between Barack Obama and John McCain. We looked at polls, ads, and campaign tactics to determine the strength and smarts of each side.

After the election, we began our first series: Know Your Third Parties. This fun and informative string of posts introduced you to the Greens, Libertarians, Constitutionists, Communists, Nazis, Prohibitionists, Modern Whigs, and more.

Between the beginning of 2009 and the Inauguration on January 20th we asked a panel of political consultants and professionals - as well as an academic and a political observer - to give us their ideas on Why Obama Won Our panelists were:
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• Kelly Fero - Democratic Strategist from Austin, TX
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• Jason Rae - Superdelegate from Milwaukee, WI
• Arnold Shober - Professor of Campaigns and Elections in Appleton, WI
• Scott Simpson - Political Consultant in Washington, DC
• Derrick Shapley - a former Field Operative from Starkville, MS
• Sherwin Hughes - Political Strategist in Milwaukee
• Dan Weinberg - a Political Observer in Gary, IN

Lately we have been bringing you coverage of local politics as the nation holds spring elections. Places include Chicago, Virginia, Los Angeles, Louisiana, New York and others. We also conducted our first contest, "Can You Find Your Congressman?"

As we continue in the future, we want to know what you think we should be looking at! Leave a comment below to let us know!


What on WAYLA have you liked the most so far? "Know Your Third Parties", "Why Obama Won" or "Can You Find Your Congressman?" Tell us on our Facebook Page!

New Campaign Ads for the IL-5 Race

Today WAYLA Reports on local politics from Chicago.

The race to replace Rahm Emanuel in the House of Representatives has headed into the final few weeks before the March 3rd primary. The “leading candidates” for the Democrats are State Rep. John Fritchey, State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, and Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley.

However, several candidates that are not among the “leading” contenders have come out with campaign ads for television. Here are a few.

We have already seen Economist Charlie Wheelan under water, now he has another hokey spot to win over your heart.



Feigenholtz touts her legislative experience in her first ad.



And Physician Paul Bryar campaigns by jumping into a workingman’s car.




Can candidates like Wheelan and Bryar pull it off?

Television ads may be able to make up years of press coverage in the way of getting the voters to know you, but it takes a variety of media (and a generally well-rounded campaign) to win.

However, this should send a signal to Fritchey and Quigley that it may be time to do some ads of their own before it’s too late.

Your Economic Stimulus

It’s Saturday, February 14, 2009. Here is what we’re looking at:

The economic stimulus bill passed the Senate last night 60-38. The vote lasted several hours in order for Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to fly back to Washington from his mother’s wake and cast the critical 60th vote.

President Barack Obama gives his weekly address and speaks about the stimulus package.



Politico interviews several economists on the outlook of the stimulus plan - despite GOP reservations this week, the experts expect it to be generally stimulating.

What exactly can you all find in the stimulus bill? The AP breaks it down.

Finally, a sign of the times: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s childhood home has been sold after foreclosure.


Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

The New and Emboldened GOP

In its second time through the US House of Representatives, the economic stimulus bill - once again - passed without a single Republican vote.

Just a day before the GOP tried to embarrass President Obama in terms of bipartisanship on the stimulus package, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) - Obama’s pick for Secretary of Commerce - withdrew his nomination on the grounds of policy differences on the stimulus bill and conducting the 2010 Census.

In these new political stunts the Republican Party appears to be an emboldened force again on Capitol Hill. As Charles Mahtesian at Politico writes:

“the New Hampshire senator's surprise decision to remove himself from consideration as President Barack Obama’s commerce secretary Thursday has provided the GOP with a new rallying cry, and a new hero against a foe who just a few weeks ago seemed almost unassailable.

In a way, it’s all a testament to just how far the Republican Party have fallen; what passes for victory now is an embarrassing flip-flop by an admired GOP senator and the passage of a massive economic recovery bill that most Republicans on the Hill oppose bitterly.”

Does an emboldened GOP mean danger for Democrats?

Despite this unity against the new President, the Congressional Republicans are taking some serious risks pertaining to how they will be viewed by the public. Not only will the withdrawal make Gregg and the GOP look undesirable in New Hampshire in 2010, but the opposition to the stimulus plan banks on the hope that the plan fails.

As a recent Gallup poll shows, nearly 60% of Americans currently support the stimulus plan. Even 28% of Republicans support the stimulus, which is only striking because exactly 0% of House Republicans do. More importantly, 56% of independents support the stimulus - enough that Republicans should be concerned about appearing too far to the right.

So the GOP is not showing this stubbornness out of popular opinion - they are specifically going “all-in” at the poker table, waiting for the final card to be flipped. And because the ideas of contracyclical economics are pretty solid, the odds are stacked against them.

Will Redistricting Make Virginia More Competitive?

Today WAYLA reports on local politics from Virginia.

Last month, Virginia State Senator R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) introduced a bill to require a bipartisan commission to redraw the state’s districts after the 2010 US Census. The goal was to make redistricting “less political”, reduce gerrymandering, and make elections more competitive for incumbents.

Earlier this month, the State Senate approved the bill unanimously. Democratic Governor Tim Kaine likes the bill. Yet it had already been shot down by the House of Delegates in a 4 to 2 decision within a Privileges and Elections subcommittee.

In fact, this is the seventh time Deeds has introduced the bill and the third time it has passed in the State Senate, but it has never been approved by the House of Delegates subcommittee.

Why won’t the lower House approve?

Backdrop: With their second Democratic governor in a row, two Democratic US Senators, a Democratic Congressional Delegation, a new Democratically-controlled State Senate, and their electoral votes for President Obama, the Commonwealth is quickly turning blue. The last bastion of GOP power is in the House of Delegates.


To make incumbents vulnerable with redistricting would put the Republicans at serious risk of losing control - or at least edging their control - of the House of Delegates where they currently hold an eight-delegate lead.

To make matters worse for them, seven Republican delegates have announced they are retiring or running for higher office. The blog Virginia Political Wire also expects as many as seven more Republicans to retire from the lower House. The Virginia GOP will not want to lose seats due to retiring incumbents north of Richmond.

In fact, this is not at all surprising. It is very typical for redistricting to protect incumbents when two state Houses are controlled by different parties. It is only when one party controls both Houses that redistricting makes elections competitive - and in such a way as to favor the party with power.

In Virginia, redistricting will favor incumbents of both parties - so long as the GOP can hold on to the House of Delegates after the 2009 elections. Other than that, races in the Commonwealth may become more competitive as the Democratic surge continues, but it will not be because of redistricting.

To see a great map of the House of Delegates districts - according to party - please visit http://www.bluecommonwealth.com/vahousemap

WAYLA Launches on Facebook!

“What Are You Looking At?” has joined the social networking world of Facebook with a new page!





Visit our page and become a fan today!

How Does Louisiana See Jindal?

Today WAYLA reports on local politics from Louisiana.

Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA) has gained considerable attention in his state’s blogosphere lately concerning trips he has made across the country. The trips are often for fundraisers on behalf of other Republican politicians and conservative organizations.

Yet many are aware of his potential - and his ambitions - to be the Republican nominee for President in 2012.

From a recent editorial in the Daily Advertiser:

Jindal, who has been identified as "the rising star" in U.S. politics, seems to be rising higher as he travels around the country speaking at Republican gatherings. While the exposure will benefit him in whatever political path he takes, it will surely keep alive rumors of a run for the presidency.

He has also developed a mantra about the GOP: Republicans need to stop worrying about themselves and start worrying about the country by working with Democrats. He even went so far as to call the GOP the “party of corruption, big spending and earmarks”. Nonetheless, he has been strong to his ideology.

This all being said, the people of Louisiana have not been too enthusiastic about their governor starting a campaign for an election four years away.

Columnist John Maginnis writes:

Most people don't mind that we have a governor who is going places. But in these uncertain times, more are asking where, or if, he is leading us.

Fear is running through state government and universities among employees who don't know if they will have jobs when projected budget cuts are made. Hospital administrators and college presidents have been directed to prepare worst-to-best-case scenarios, though none of them are good…

…Jindal knows how to delegate and he needn't be holding his administrators' hands with every controversy. Yet there are moments when they should know that he has their back, because he says so publicly, even if some other people don't like it.

It doesn't matter how many weekends he spends out of state, or even that he's back at his desk first thing Monday morning. When it comes to leadership, it's not his perfect attendance that we need, but, rather, his presence.

Stephanie Grace, another columnist, writes “in political circles around here, ‘Where's Bobby’ is becoming a punchline.”

Some news services have introduced polls about the subject. Fifty-five percent of respondents to a Business Report survey say Gov. Bobby Jindal is spending too much time out of state at fundraising events. A similar poll at LANewslink.com showed over 73% feel he is gone too frequently.

While these internet polls are completely unscientific, it should be embarrassing to Jindal that these news services are asking the question at all.

We have reiterated the words of Tip O’Neill before: “all politics is local”. How many Americans do you think notice Jindal’s trips? Probably not too many. But one group of Americans certainly does - residents of Louisiana.

Many politicians unpopular in their own state find it difficult to win on the national level - just ask John Edwards. While Bobby Jindal may have ambitions to reach the peak of American government, he will find himself suffering backlash from his own constituency if he is not careful - and that would be the surest way to lose the prospect of Presidency.

"Can You Find Your Congressperson?" - The Winner

Thank you to everyone who participated in “Can You Find Your Congressperson”, our first contest at What Are You Looking At?

Here are some of your entries.

The first is from a source who wishes to remain anonymous:


Caption: Congressman Steve Kagen (D-WI-08) thinking “I hope nobody thinks this is my wife sleeping on my shoulder but I surely don’t mind her using her fur to keep me warm.”

Randy Koehn used the same picture and said “Kagen Keen for Cameras”

Peter Griffith examined what Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) was thinking to himself:



Garrett FitzGerald - who lives in the 5th Congressional District in Illinois - currently is without a Congressman since Rahm Emanuel vacated it to be Obama’s Chief of Staff. But he did find this interesting glitch in the photo:


Caption: “I hope no one notices that the top of my head is gone!”

Finally, the winning picture and caption was from Henry Ventimilla:


Caption: Congressman Elija E. Cummings (D-MD-07) hoping that the representative in front of him would “clap, cheer, or something, instead of dancing (or at least what he thinks is dancing)”

For his victory, Henry will receive Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns-Goodwin, a critically acclaimed book on the Lincoln Administration.

Thank you again for all of your entries! Be sure to stay tuned to WAYLA for more contests in the future and - as always - in-depth news and analysis of campaign politics and the political community.

Last Day to Play “Can You Find Your Congressperson?”

Don’t forget, today is the final day we are accepting entries for “Can You Find Your Congressperson?” - the first ever WAYLA contest!

Again, here is our example of an entry:


Caption: Justice Antonin Scalia and his clothing from the late 1400s.

The winner - along with our favorites - will be announced here on Monday

Will the Wisconsin Supreme Court Race be Different in 2009?

Today WAYLA reports on local politics from Wisconsin.

In 2008, Justice Louis Butler of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court was ousted because of an expensive campaign against him. One year earlier, the same happened to another candidate that was typically seen as liberal.

But the money and the controversial ads it produced was not coming from the campaign budgets of their conservative opponents, but rather from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), the premier business lobby in Wisconsin.

In 2009, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson - who has voted with Butler against WMC in the past - will be facing the conservative Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick. The only difference this year: WMC has promised to stay out of the race - as has the Club for Growth and the Coalition for American families.

Why is WMC shifting gears?

There are several reasons that might explain WMC's actions. First is the image they built with the ads they ran against Butler. The commercials which described the African-American Associate Justice as "Loophole Louie" used techniques that were seen as racist. FactCheck.org even compared it to the notorious Willy Horton ad. As a result, several businesses left WMC and others declared they would not do business with any of its members.

The second reason is the changing tides of campaign finance reform in Wisconsin. Many in the state now contend that judicial races ought to be publicly financed as to not let special interest groups buy court seats. Recent action taken on campaign finance reform - the new ban on contributions to state legislators during the budget proceedings - suggests that the winds are heading in that direction.

Others are suggesting pragmatic reasons - perhaps they felt Abrahamson was too strong or Koschnick was too weak for them to take a chance with their money.

Should we be skeptical of WMC?

The recent campaign finance reports filed for state races in Wisconsin shows Abrahamson ahead of Koschnick financially with a 56-to-1 advantage. Koschnick has raised less than $15,000 - well short of the nearly $4 million spent in favor of Judge Michael Gableman (Butler's opponent) last year.

It is unlikely that he would raise so little without expecting some outside support.

A few potential support sources would be All Children Matter (a conservative interest group from Michigan that spent $900,000 against Wisconsin Democrats last year) and the Wisconsin Institute for Leadership.

It is not inconceivable that WMC could spend money through these groups or others for the Supreme Court race.

Abrahamson will face Koschnick on April 7th.

Going Solar with Un-Tied Shoelaces

Today WAYLA reports on local politics from Los Angeles.

On March 3rd residents of Los Angeles will use their Californian tradition of direct democracy to decide whether or not to boost solar energy for the city’s electricity consumption.


Measure B was originally proposed by the leadership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 13 due to fears that the city’s green energy plan was not moving along effectively. Under the measure, the solar panels would be owned by the union, installed for residents who wished to participate, and the city would provide initial financing as well as rebate programs to help residents afford the technology.

Yet the proposal has come under fire in recent days because David Nahai - head of the Department of Water and Power - was unable to provide the City Council with cost estimates. He will be delivering his report later this month - about four months after he urged the Council to place the measure on the ballot.

“Because the plan changed repeatedly until Nov. 7, the day the council put it on the ballot, there was no way to prepare an accurate analysis, Nahai said. ‘A fiscal analysis would have been meaningless had we done it before’ the final draft was adopted, he added. ‘What would we have analyzed?’

“Nahai has already had to contend with an unfavorable, if preliminary, analysis of the solar plan prepared by P.A. Consulting, a firm that expressed doubts about the DWP's ability to install so many new solar panels and obtain $1.5 billion in federal tax credits to pay for them.”

In addition to the IBEW, Measure B is supported by a large number of groups including the LA League of Conservation Voters as well as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Some on the Council are afraid they voted for it too quickly. "For some reason, they decided to wait until the last minute to take it to the council, probably because they thought they could slip it through without the facts, which they did," said Councilman Greig Smith, who now opposes the measure.

And the Los Angeles Times has turned critical to the way the issue was handled. This is what they said in a recent editorial:

"We remain open to the idea that this ballot measure may be the best way to get [smart solar power as an integral part of the city's green energy strategy]. But the process seems designed to get voters to sign off on a plan without sufficient knowledge of it, and it is undermining a broader discussion of solar power in Los Angeles. There is a point at which process gets so bad that it outweighs substance, no matter how good that substance may be. We're rapidly approaching that point."

In fact, it is not too uncommon that proposals are put to voters without a detailed analysis of the plan (especially in California - see Proposition 13) but it is especially detrimental when it becomes an issue that can derail a campaign. The nature of this new criticism makes Measure B seem unfit to support - not because it is a bad proposal, but because of procedure.

In this way, the Mayor and the City Council pursued a boost to solar energy like a child running through a hallway without his shoelaces tied. We’ll have to wait and see whether or not he trips.

Blagojevich Goes Out as Classy as Blagojevich Could

It's Tuesday, February 3, 2009. Here's what we're looking at:

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) will be the next Secretary of Commerce after his Democratic governor, John Lynch, agreed to replace him with a Republican. The replacement will be the moderate Bonnie Newman. While Obama may have tried to squeeze out the filibuster, the Democrats have only two years before they can target the New Hampshire senate race.

The American Heart Association sounds pretty concerned about the stimulus bill, arguing that the language could dissuade schools from building athletic facilities. Thus, they say, the package might be encouraging childhood obesity.

Tom Daschle has withdrawn from his HHS nomination. Hours earlier, Obama's pick for Chief Performance Officer (a new position) withdrew because of her own tax problems.

The Department of Justice has rehired Leslie Hagen, an attorney removed during the Bush Administration due to rumors that she was a lesbian.

Finally, the New York Times gives a good account of Blagojevich spending his finals hours in office. He told employees "We should have been more selfish, not selfless" (yes you're reading that right), that his successor "has done a whole bunch as the lieutenant governor — taken all kinds of trips all over the world and trade missions — like he's got anything to do with anything as lieutenant governor" and that he always thinks "creatively", saying "I don't give up".

Short of Cash in South Carolina

Today WAYLA reports on local politics from South Carolina.

The hard economic times facing the nation are especially hard in South Carolina, where the recession has hit yet another industry - campaign politics.

According to an article in The State yesterday, campaigns and fundraising consultants throughout South Carolina are finding it especially difficult to raise money in the current economic environment. It may even make the campaign timelines there shorter.

Techniques such as small frequent donations and payment plans aren't working. Many frequent contributors are still tapped out from the last election cycle, and the recession is not helping them regenerate.

In part, the Palmetto State is getting hit by the recession harder than most places. South Carolina now has the third highest unemployment rate in the country at 9.5% - the national rate is 7.2%. State budget difficulties convinced the State Senate to work only once a week this week in order to "cut back" as they claim.

Yet this is particularly scary for those of us who work in campaign politics - for we have always felt this was a safe industry given that politics doesn't stop with a recession. Perhaps South Carolina is only the first to see such a trend. After all, President Obama has said it will get worse before it gets better.

In other unfortunate news (for those of us in the North) the Groundhog did see his shadow today - which means six more weeks of winter. Nonetheless, happy Groundhog Day.

What’s the Story with Rush?

It’s Friday, January 30, 2008, and a very busy day. Here’s what we’re looking at:

Rush Limbaugh somehow convinced every House Republican to vote against Obama’s stimulus bill. One blogger writes “Is Rush Limbaugh the de facto leader of the GOP?” With the bill facing the Senate now, Americans United for Change are asking constituents of Republican Senators “Is (senator) with Obama or Rush?”

With a Special Election coming up fast, one candidate to replace Rahm gets a little...can we say fishy?



Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell lays down some ideas for a reemergence of the GOP. He is particularly concerned with the Republicans becoming a regional party based solely in the South.

Governor Rod Blagojevich has been removed from office with a unanimous vote by the Illinois State Senate. Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn has already signed the oath of office.

SCHIP expansion has passed in the Senate. It wasn’t the first bill Obama signed but it could be in the first five.

Finally, President Obama tells reporters who he will be supporting in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Need something to do this weekend before the Super Bowl? Why not play in the “Can You Find Your Congressperson?” Contest!

Introducing the "Can You Find Your Congressperson?" Contest!

For a little fun, we thought we would give you an opportunity to show off your political humor by introducing a contest to find your House Representative from the giant Inauguration photo and add an “insightful” (i.e. amusing) caption.

The winner - who we will choose at our discretion - will win a copy of Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns-Goodwin. The book has drawn a lot of attention because President Barack Obama (it is thought) has modeled his administration around similar principles of the Lincoln Administration.

The winner will be announced on the blog in a post on Monday, February 9th. We will also be sure to post as many entries as we can.

Here’s how to play:

First click on the “Terrific Inauguration Photo” link under the “This is what we’re looking at” column to your right.

Scan through the Inauguration photo until you find your Representative. If your Congressperson wasn't present pick your favorite Representative instead. To give you an idea of what to do next, follow the example below (we will use Associate Justice Antonin Scalia as our model).

Step 1: Find your target.



Step 2: Perform a “Print Screen” function by pressing the appropriate key on your keypad.



Step 3: Paste the image into Microsoft Paint, Apple Paint, or another appropriate program.



Step 4: Crop your zoomed-in image of your Congressperson and copy (ctrl C) and paste (ctrl V) the new image into a new file. After redrawing the boundaries, save the file and you have your picture!







Step 5: Come up with a clever or otherwise humorous caption. (For this picture we would say something like: “Justice Antonin Scalia and his clothing from the late 1400s”)

Then email your picture and caption to Katy@HogensenStrategies.com. Don't forget to identify the Congressperson by name, district, and party!

Good Luck!

How Does Bloomberg Plan to Win?

Today WAYLA reports on local politics from New York City.

The mayoral race in the Big Apple is heating up. Incumbent Michael Bloomberg has hired several Democratic consultants and strategists for his re-election bid this year.

Not only will this help his campaign terms of strategy and effectiveness, but it is also taking these consultants off the market for his two challengers - Rep. Anthony Weiner and City Comptroller Bill Thompson.

Political professionals he has hired so far include:

Bradley Tusk: Now installed as the mayor's campaign manager, he worked as a spokesman for Chuck Schumer and then became a top aide to the mayor during the first Bloomberg term.

Howard Wolfson: Another distinguished Schumer alumnus, his Democratic credentials are impeccable: Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, New York's Democratic Party.

Josh Isay: He's yet another Schumer guy, and a founding partner of Knickerbocker SKD and partner at Squier Knapp Dunn Communications, which did print, radio and television ads for Bloomberg's 2005 mayoral campaign.

Basil Smikle: Just a few months ago, this former Hillary Clinton aide was working for Mr. Weiner. Now, the AP reports, he's signed on with the incumbent.

Hank Sheinkopf: The colorful and unflinching operative who was the general consultant on Bill Thompson's 2001 citywide campaign for comptroller is not signing on for Mr. Thompson's 2009 mayoral campaign. Now he's on the mayor's campaign payroll.

Doug Schoen: A founding partner in the firm that helped define its most famous client, Bill Clinton, Mr. Schoen has worked on both of Mr. Bloomberg's previous campaigns.

Ken Strasma: A number cruncher who worked on Barack Obama's presidential campaign, he will focus on analyzing poll numbers and targeting a message to a niche audience.

Maura Keaney: A top aide to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, she did field operations for the mayor's reelection campaign in 2005 and is returning this year in a similar role. Ms. Keaney is married to Democratic consultant Mark Guma, who worked on the mayoral campaign of Alan Hevesi in 2001.

Patrick Brennan: He's a former staffer in the Community Assistance Unit who traveled to various states to lay the groundwork for Mr. Bloomberg's much-discussed hypothetical presidential race. He left City Hall to work at the Parkside Group.

Larry Scott Blackmon: He just left his job as chief of staff and deputy commissioner for intergovernmental affairs at the city's Small Business Services Department to lead the campaign's outreach to black voters.

Neil Giacobbi: A former chief of staff to Democratic City Councilman David Yassky of Brooklyn and aide to Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, Mr. Giacobbi, 35, helped organize the Republican National Convention in 2004.

Micah Lasher: He's not yet 30, but Mr. Lasher is among the most capable political operators in the city. He worked for Mark Green's mayoral campaign in 2001 and worked until 2007 with Mr. Isay at Knickerbocker. He just left his most recent job, as an aide to Representative Jerry Nadler, to work for the city's Department of Education. Which would seem to rule out a role on any Democratic mayoral campaign against his new boss.

Mayor Bloomberg has one advantage over the other candidates in buying up consultants and operatives: a virtually unlimited amount of cash. The billionaire mayor spent tens of millions of dollars on his last campaign, and is expected to spend plenty again this time around.

"He could just about put every consultant in the country on retainer," said consultant Jerry Skurnik.

But there is more. Ever since Bloomberg pushed for abolishing term limits last year - and signing a City Council bill to do so in November - he has been allowed to enjoy the power of incumbency. A new Quinnipiac poll shows the mayor has a 15% advantage over both of his opponents.

"Term limits? We love them and we want them back - after we re-elect Bloomberg," is how Quinnipiac pollster Mickey Carroll interpreted the numbers.

In fact, challengers city-wide (especially in the Bronx and Brooklyn) have been trying to use the term-limit issue to attack their opponents who would otherwise be leaving office. Because they did not expect to be challengers, many of these candidates are having unforeseen difficulty with their campaigns due to the changed layout of the city elections scene. But so far this argument is not working.

Weiner and Thompson are no different.

So Bloomberg is planning to win on two fronts: riding on his popularity (which overcomes concerns about term-limits) and buying up as many political consultants and operatives as he can - not just to assemble a crack team for his re-election, but to keep them from working for the opposition.

The Rush to Replace Rahm

Today WAYLA reports on local politics from Chicago.

The first and foremost news of interest in the state of Illinois this week is the Senate impeachment trial of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Despite his recent media blitz, it is unlikely he will fare well in the Illinois State Senate.

However, with spring elections coming up, many in the Chicago area are paying close attention to the race for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's replacement in the U.S. House of Representatives.

A humorous story that has developed recently is about a forum for the several candidates vying to replace the hyper-political Chicago statesman. The Democratic Party for the 43rd Ward in Chicago set the forum date for February 1st in order to allow the candidates the time they need under such a short campaign timeline.

The only problem is that February 1st is Super Bowl Sunday.

"As 43rd Ward committeeman Michele Smith explains, they didn't really have much choice. The special election's been on an expedited schedule … [Emanuel] officially stepped down to become President Obama's chief of staff earlier this month. The deadline for filing nominating petitions was January 19. The election is March 3. From start to finish the whole thing's over in a blink.

"'I realize there are better days to have a forum,' says Smith. 'But there really weren't a lot of days to choose from.'"

Of course, the forum is scheduled to end by 3:00 PM, giving attendees plenty of time to get home before kickoff (5:20 PM CST). Yet the Super Bowl has become more than the game in recent years - it has become a holiday for many, and the forum date is unfortunate.

Smith acknowledges she is not a big sports fan. As quoted by the Chicago Reader, she said "I don't know who's in the Super Bowl this year - New England, are they in it?"

However, this demonstrates the difficulty of spring races. Candidates are expected to work under a much quicker timeline to secure the votes they need - and typically in an environment in which very few voters are as engaged in politics. Even for a federal seat.

That being said, the only thing that WE'LL be looking at on February 1st is the television screen…though perhaps we'll glance at the nachos we're simultaneously eating.

Tracking the Races this Spring

In the beginning of the year we promised we would bring you coverage of local issues and campaigns from across the country as the nation gears up for local elections.

Some places we will be following will be Milwaukee, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Virginia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. We will dive into the campaigns for races pertaining to the courts, school boards, city councils, etc.

For those of you concerned about national coverage, we will continue to devote a day per week (usually Friday) to covering a topic of national concern - such as an important strategic move in Congress, by the new President, or the national parties.

As Tip O'Neill said, "All politics is local." It is with this important concept in mind that we bring you the true ground game of American politics.

Plenty of Somber Sunday News

It’s Sunday, January 25 - Here is what we’re looking at:

After an executive order was signed this week to close the prisons at Guantanamo Bay, national security officials have discovered that the case files for detainees are in disarray -at least the ones that exist at all.

In what are perhaps futile attempts to save his image, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) is appearing on several television morning talk shows. This morning on the Today Show, he compared himself to Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi.

President Obama’s chief economic advisor Larry Summers and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) make their cases for and against the stimulus package (respectively) on Meet the Press.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy