March 23, 2012

Rail company proposes $1 billion Orlando-to-Miami train

A Coral Gables real estate and rail company announced ambitious plans Thursday to run passenger trains from Miami to Orlando as early as 2014.

The $1 billion project, dubbed All Aboard Florida, would be privately financed and operated, said spokeswoman Christine Barney.

"No risk to the state," Barney said.

The system would be owned by Florida East Coast Industries Inc., which traces its roots to railroad pioneer Henry Flagler, who was instrumental in the development of Florida in the late 19th century.

more: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-03-22/business/os-train-orlando-miami-20120322_1_private-sector-high-speed-train-system-passenger-trains

March 23, 2012

State Rep. Payton withdraws

STATE REP. Tony J. Payton Jr. withdrew from the April 24 Democratic primary Thursday evening, after a two-day Commonwealth Court hearing made clear that he didn't have enough valid signatures on his nominating petitions to stay on the ballot.

Payton submitted 1,854 signatures in his bid for a fourth two-year term representing the 179th District - but a line-by-line examination of those names, with the help of a handwriting analyst, resulted in most being disqualified.

The legal challenge against Payton was filed by Doris Robinson, a Democratic committeewoman in the 23rd Ward.

Payton claimed the challenge was spurred by Robinson's ward leader, former City Councilman Dan Savage, who lost his City Hall post to Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez in 2007 and lost a bid to retake the Council seat from her last year.

more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120323_State_Rep__Payton_withdraws.html

March 23, 2012

Dennis Kucinich offers no support for Marcy Kaptur after primary defeat

Source: The Hill

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) declined to offer his support for Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s (D-Ohio) reelection campaign Thursday, two weeks after Kaptur defeated him in a primary and ended his 8-term run in the House.

“I’m not going to talk about that campaign at all,” Kucinich told Current TV when asked if he would endorse Kaptur. “There are some things that need to be resolved."

Kaptur and Kucinich were pitted against each other by GOP mapmakers in Ohio who drew the two into a single Democratic district along the coast of Lake Erie. After his defeat in the primary by about 15 points, Kucinich accused Kaptur of running a campaign on his turf that was “utterly lacking in integrity, with false statements, half truths, misrepresentations.”

He said Thursday he wasn’t backing down from that claim.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/217787-kucinich-offers-no-support-for-kaptur-after-primary-defeat

March 22, 2012

John Edwards Reportedly Named In Investigation Of Alleged 'Millionaire Madam' Anna Gristina

Source: Huffington Post

MANHATTAN — A call girl working for alleged "Millionaire Madam" Anna Gristina told investigators she was paid to have sex with former U.S. Sen. John Edwards when he was in New York raising money for his failed presidential bid, DNAinfo has learned.

Edwards is the first big name to surface in connection to Gristina's alleged prostitution scheme run out of an Upper East Side apartment.

Edwards' lawyer declined to comment on when reached Wednesday. On Thursday morning, his attorneys issued a statement to Politico and other news outlets saying their client "categorically" denied the allegation. Later Thursday morning, DNAinfo was contacted by Edwards attorney Abbe Lowell demanding a retraction.

DNAinfo stands by its story.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/john-edwards-millionaire-madam-anna-gristina-upper-east-side-_n_1372316.html?ref=new-york

March 8, 2012

McCaskill: Obamacare Is Like Ryancare For Non-Seniors

Source: Talking Points Memo

Grilled about her support for the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told a home state radio interviewer that the law’s core structure is “exactly” like the House GOP Medicare privatization plan that conservatives support and liberals detest.

“The irony of this situation is that these are private insurance companies people will shop to buy their insurance. It’s not the government,” she told KMOX of St. Louis on Wednesday. “It’s exactly what Paul Ryan wants to do for Medicare.”

“It’s subsidized by the government — premium subsidies — which is exactly, this is the irony,” continued McCaskill, who faces a tough reelection battle this fall. “You think what Paul Ryan wants to do for seniors, you think it’s terrific. But when we want to provide private health insurance for people who don’t have insurance with subsidies from the government, you think it’s terrible.”

McCaskill’s point is an important one that exposes the real nature of the underlying fight over how to fix health care. The progressive ideal is a single payer system, a la Medicare, but for everyone. The conservative ideal is a deregulated market-based system with a diminished federal role. The Affordable Care Act, despite the right’s protestations of socialism, is a middle ground between the two. And the insurance exchanges mirror what the Ryan plan does to Medicare — as Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) have conceded.

Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/mccaskill-obamacare-is-ryancare-for-non-seniors.php?ref=fpb

March 7, 2012

Anti-abortion activist might keep Obama from unanimous re-nomination

Source: The Hill

Randall Terry, the controversial anti-abortion activist, won 18 percent of the vote in Oklahoma’s Democratic primary on Tuesday night, making him eligible for at least one of the state’s delegates.

President Obama had been the unanimous victor in every Democratic primary contest leading up to Tuesday.

Obama won Oklahoma with 57 percent, but Terry’s more than 20,000 votes was good enough to carry 12 counties in the deeply red state.

Obama secured 39 of the state’s 50 delegates on Tuesday, but Terry qualified for up to six. Another five remain uncommitted and will likely go to Obama.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/214635-anti-abortion-activist-may-keep-obama-from-unanimous-re-nomination

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Back in 2000 Lyndon LaRouche won some delegates in Arkansas, but the DNC denied them, citing the fact that he was ineligible to vote.

March 7, 2012

Kaptur defeats Kucinich, wins Democratic primary in newly-drawn 9th District

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Dennis Kucinich is out and Marcy Kaptur has captured the Democratic primary in the new 9th District, according to data analysis from cleveland.com

Kaptur, the longest serving women in Congress, has apparently won the Democratic primary.

According to The official Ohio Secretary of State site, Kaptur had won four of the five counties -- except for Cuyahoga -- although not all of the ballots have been counted in the five-county district.

But based on the vote totals around 11:15 p.m., even a big win in Cuyahoga County would not be enough for Kucinich to overtake Kaptur.

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/kucinich-kaptur_wins_democrati.html

March 5, 2012

Lois Frankel has big financial edge in District 22 congressional race

In the first face-to-face meeting between Democratic congressional rivals Lois Frankel and Kristin Jacobs, Frankel reminded voters at a Palm Beach County Voters Coalition meeting last week that her campaign against "tea party extremism" began nearly a year ago.

Jacobs entered the race for the Palm Beach-Broward District 22 congressional seat last month. She jumped in after redistricting prompted incumbent Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, and Democrat Patrick Murphy to leave District 22 to run in a new district to the north.

Whether Democratic primary voters will credit Frankel for her early willingness to take on West is difficult to measure.

But the former West Palm Beach mayor's 11-month head start has given her a money advantage that's easier to quantify. She raised more than $1.4 million in 2011 and began 2012 with more than $1 million in her campaign account.

more: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/lois-frankel-has-big-financial-edge-in-district-2216811.html

March 5, 2012

Occupy candidate won't make PA-13 ballot

Nate Kleinman, the Occupy Philadelphia protester and congressional candidate I've been following over the last few weeks, will not make the ballot in Pennsylvania's 13th district.

Two weeks ago, Democratic representative Allyson Schwartz contested Kleinman's right to be on the ballot after he submitted just 1,500 signatures -- 500 more than the required amount, but still a low offering -- and Kleinman was unable to convince a judge to dismiss the case.

"I made the determination that I didn't have the time to spend the next few weeks fighting this in court," Kleinman told me today. "There are only seven weeks to the election."

Kleinman will now run as a write-in candidate, and says he is confident that he has a serious chance.

more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/03/occupy-candidate-wont-make-pa-ballot-116206.html