With the midterm elections quickly approaching, the rate of ad spending by outside groups has been picking up, to the point where independent expenditures now exceed those by the campaigns.
Among the most active groups on this front has been the US Chamber of Commerce which, despite its name, gladly accepts foreign money, as is its Constitutional right.
So, while this all may be within the letter (if not the spirit) of the law, it's important to keep one thing in mind — endorsements aren't meant to be one-sided.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Illinois Senate Debate between Alexi Giannoulias (D) and Mark Kirk (R); Roundtable: Joe Klein (TIME) and Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal).
Face the Nation: White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod; Former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie.
This Week: Democratic Candidate for Connecticut Senate Richard Blumenthal; Republican Candidate for Connecticut Senate Linda McMahon; Former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf; French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde; Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Paul Krugman (New York Times), Amy Walter (ABC News) and Tavis Smiley (PBS).
Fox News Sunday: House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA); Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL); Republican Strategist Karl Rove; Democratic Strategist Joe Trippi; Roundtable: Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard), Nina Easton (Fortune magazine), Dana Perino (Fox News) and Juan Williams (NPR/FNC).
State of the Union: Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD); Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); Republican Strategist Whit Ayres; Democratic Pollster Celinda Lake; Former CIA Chief Gen. Michael Hayden (Ret.); Reliable Sources: Author Bob Woodward; Author Diane Dimond.
The Chris Matthews Show: Andrea Mitchell (NBC News); Bob Woodward (Washington Post); David Brooks (New York Times); Helen Cooper (New York Times).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Former "Car Czar" Steve Rattner; Author Richard Brookhiser; Author Robert Caro; Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal); San Francisco State University Professor Charles Postel.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an interview with rapper Eminem (preview); a report on the secretive world of "high frequency trading" (preview); and, an interview with the world's most generous philanthropists, Bill and Melinda Gates (preview).
On Comedy Central:
Jon Stewart looked for the silver lining in CNN's firing of Rick Sanchez, as Jews are wont to do.
The Daily Show
Monday: Actor Johnny Knoxville ("Jackass 3D")
Tuesday: Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Wednesday: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Thursday: Author David Rakoff ("Half Empty")
And Stephen Colbert read [loudly] between the lines of the Tea Party Coloring Book.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Former Labor Secretary/Author Robert Reich ("Aftershock")
Tuesday: Director of Federal & State Campaigns for FreedomWorks Brendan Steinhauser
Wednesday: Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee
Thursday: Author Bill Bryson ("At Home")
Elsewhere:
The NRSC got busted engaging in placial profiling on behalf of West Virginia Senate nominee John Raese.
"We are going for a 'Hicky' Blue Collar look," read the casting call for the ad, being aired by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "These characters are from West Virginia so think coal miner/trucker looks."
"Clothing Suggestions" included jeans, work boots, flannel shirt, denim shirt, "Dickie’s type jacket with t-shirt underneath," down-filled vest, "John Deer [sic] hats (not brand new, preferably beat up)," "trucker hats (not brand new, preferably beat up)."
And in other sartorial news:
Congressional hopeful Rich Iott isn't a Nazi, per se, but he does enjoy dressing up like one on weekends.
Iott, a tea party-backed candidate, spent time fighting another battle before he hit the campaign trail against Kaptur as a member of the 5th SS Wiking Panzer Division, a group of Ohio World War II reenactors.
According to their website, the Wikings strive to "salute" the "idealists" from occupied northern Europe who saw the Third Reich as "the protector of personal freedom and their very way of life" and signed up to fight for the Wermacht and "gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free."
Meanwhile:
Antics like Iott's might make things a bit harder for Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) to grow his peoples' numbers in Congress.
Mr. Cantor is the only Jewish Republican in the House and Senate (there are more than 40 Jewish Democrats), and we discuss why. "First of all," he laughs, "I’m looking for some company in Randy Altschuler," who is running in the first congressional district of New York. "Randy’s looking good in his race, so we are hoping to double the Jewish Republican caucus."
Mr. Cantor believes the American-Jewish community is overwhelmingly Democratic because Jews "are prone to want to help the underdog."
Amen to that.
- Trix