NEW YORK - From coast to coast, politicians want to hike the minimum wage. New York State legislators aim to lift it from $7.25 to $8.50 per hour. California lawmakers are weighing a boost from $8 to $8.50.
Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who says he once made $20 million in a year before going to federal prison on public corruption charges, wants to produce movies and a reality television show. And he would like to help reform the political system he exploited for years.
So long as the Washington establishment continues to underestimate - and even misunderstand - the Tea Party, insiders will continue to be pummeled by the grass-roots giant that no longer sleeps. Democrats dismissed the Tea Party in 2010 and took a historic shellacking. Republicans would be wise to learn from their mistake.
Glenn Beck said on Monday that he could support a third-party challenge if Republicans nominate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to run for president against Barack Obama. "If I had a gun to my head, I'll vote for Mitt Romney," he explained. "If it's Newt Gingrich, and there's a third party, and it's Ron Paul. ... I might consider Ron Paul as a third party." This position is nuts. Obviously Mr. Beck needs to generate attention for his new GBTV venture since giving up his popular Fox News platform, but promoting ideas that would lead to an Obama second term is reckless and bad for America.
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray is again using the dedication of the Martin Luther King National Memorial to help draw attention to the city's efforts to achieve voting rights in Congress. But this time he must also rekindle the momentum he generated earlier this year and channel the energy of competing interests.
Quick quiz: Who's behind "Women Working For Change"? Progressives and hippies? This upcoming political training conference was organized by Project GOPink.
President Obama is facing an internal revolt. Liberals are openly considering a primary challenge for the Democratic presidential nomination. Ralph Nader, a big-government maverick and former Green Party candidate, recently called for a group of left-leaning Democrats to run. If a prominent opponent emerges, Mr. Obama's re-election efforts would be fatally crippled.
Pressure is mounting on Barack Obama to throw in the cards and announce that he won't seek re-election as president. Surprisingly, the push is coming from the left. This has many in mainstream America scratching their heads asking why liberals want to dump the most hard-left president in American history. The answer is they're worried Mr. Obama has moved too far, too fast - and revealed too much of their big-government agenda - to win a second term. This is Hillary Clinton's moment.
Worried the liberal voice is being drowned out in the presidential campaign, progressive leaders said Monday they want to field a slate of candidates against President Obama in the Democratic primaries to make him stake out liberal stances as he seeks re-election.
