Lather, Rinse, Resign

Dear Senator Gillibrand,

Please consider this my letter of resignation from the Democratic Party. I’ve been a Democrat ever since I was old enough to vote. It is with a heavy heart that I must resign, because I cannot possibly meet the new purity standards.

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The Date of the Union

From The Houston Chronicle:

There was U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, in her coveted State of the Union perch along the aisle. Wearing an eye-catching lime-green jacket, she got her brief moment of TV exposure and a handshake from President Barack Obama, as usual, as the president made his way into the august chamber of the House.

This time, though, instead of sitting in a bloc with her fellow Democrats, Lee sat beside a real live Republican, U.S. Rep. Pete Olson of Sugar Land.

The two Houston lawmakers were enthusiastic participants in the State of the Union “date night,” a bipartisan gesture prompted by the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., earlier this month.

The pre-speech curiosity was almost Oscar-night giddy — or maybe prom-night giddy — as lawmakers over the past several days paired off.

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Ask and Tell

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who helped shepherd through today’s Senate repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, told reporters after the final vote this afternoon that ending the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers is a big step for LGBT rights.

“To me, it is a step forward to a larger societal acceptance [of gay rights,]” Lieberman said. “This is a civil rights piece of legislation in my opinion.”

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Naked Ambition

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

A new Rasmussen poll of New York looks at how former Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN) might do if he ran against appointed Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the general election, as an independent, rather than challenging her in the Dem primary. The answer is that he wouldn’t get very far — but Gillibrand wouldn’t walk away with the contest itself, with a potential split in the Democratic vote.

The numbers: Gillibrand 39%, an unnamed generic Republican candidate 34%, and Ford 10%.  […] Rasmussen had to use a generic Republican precisely because there is no GOP candidate right now, and the party’s recruiting efforts have kept coming up short. (We’ll see whether the Republican victory in Massachusetts gets anybody interested in this race.)

Interested? Harold Ford, ever the opportunist, seeing the success of Scott Brown in the Massachusetts senate race, has changed his strategery for the New York senate primary accordingly, and he thinks he’ll have the same success.

Have You Driven Out a Ford Lately?

From The New York Times:

Under assault from allies of Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, former Congressman Harold E. Ford Jr. fired back on Friday afternoon, saying he would be not be “bullied or intimidated” by “party bosses” as he considers challenging her in this fall’s Democratic primary.

Mr. Ford’s interest in the race is triggering a growing sense of alarm within the Gillibrand camp, which has quickly sought to portray him as out of step with New York Democratic voters and, through supporters like Senator Charles E. Schumer, tried to dissuade him from entering the race.

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