Weekend Open Thread

Hello Saturday.

President Barack Obama signs a wall during a tour of the International Brotherhood of Electricians (IBEW) Local 26 headquarters in Lanham, Md., Feb. 16, 2010. Photo by Pete Souza.

Friday Open Thread

Happy Friday.

President Barack Obama speaks with John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, while dining in the President's private dining room, Feb. 18, 2010. Photo by Pete Souza.

11-Year-Old Asks Members of Congress to Support Reform: "The health care system is broken and it caused my mother's death."

As members of Congress ready for a vote on health reform, today they heard from 11-year-old Marcelas Owens, whose mother died in 2007 because she lacked health insurance.

Tiffany Owens suffered from pulmonary hypertension, which forced her to stop work, and in turn, she lost her medical benefits. She spent the final part of her life fighting for health insurance reform -- and now her 11-year-old son is working to finish her fight.

Marcelas Owens, who just turned 11 today, told MSNBC:

"I'm telling the members of Congress that the health care bill should be passed, because everybody deserves health care.

...I wanted to finish [my mother's] fight for health care."

The Final March for Reform: Call Congress

Yesterday, the Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America kicked off the Final March for Health Reform -- an unprecedented week-long campaign sprint featuring powerful ways for supporters to weigh in directly to Congress.

Today, Day 2, people are calling their representatives to express their support for health reform in the final days before a vote. Click here to make your call now.

After you've made a call, check out yesterday's action here: a page where you can find a fact sheet to show friends and co-workers on how the plan will specifically help them, posters to display, Facebook notes to post, and more.

And watch a video about joining in and taking part in the Final March:

What John Boehner's offered on the floor of the House

Privileged resolutions aren’t all John Boehner likes to offer on the House floor.  He also has handed out checks cut by Big Tobacco on the floor of the House at a time when the House was considering ending a subsidy for tobacco companies. 

John Boehner is all too ready to cast stones from glass houses – even though he was part of and a leader of one of the most corrupt Congresses in history.  The Abramoff fedora didn’t become famous as a fashion choice – it became famous as a symbol of the widespread, systemic corruption that existed for years during Republican rule which Boehner and his colleagues were part of, participated in and benefited from. 

John Boehner is exposing himself as one huge hypocrite when he offers this resolution today but hasn’t lifted a finger to note or deal with his own ethical short comings or that of his caucus.   We look forward to Boehner’s return to the floor to call for a re-opening into that investigation as well as a further examination of the following members of his caucus who have or have had troubling ethics and/or legal questions raised against them.

·         Representative John Boehner, (R-OH-8th) – House Minority Leader John Boehner handed out campaign checks from the tobacco industry to members on the House floor at a time when lawmakers were considering eliminating a tobacco subsidy.  Former Representative Chris Shays, a Connecticut Republican, criticized Boehner’s ties to lobbyists. ``The problem John faces is that he's so close to K Street; that's the challenge he's got,'' said Shays. [Bloomberg News, 1/10/06]

·         Representative Eric Cantor, (R-VA-7th) – House Minority Whip Eric Cantor has faced a number of ethical questions including ties to lobbyists and misuse of taxpayer money for political purposes. In 2009, he started the National Council for a New America, a group that ultimately ”flamed out” after a number of questions about its use of taxpayer money for political meetings. A Roll Call editorial said, “Cantor should reimburse his House account from his campaign account or leadership political action committee for the staff resources that he has used.” Cantor also had close ties to disgraced lobbyists Jack Abramoff who actually named a sandwich at his deli after Cantor during a fundraiser, an even that drew criticism since Cantor initially failed to report the debt to Abramoff’s deli. During legal problems surrounding Tom DeLay, Roll Call wrote that “Cantor appears to have acquired a new role: chief defender of Majority Leader Tom DeLay.” [Roll Call, 5/13/09; Time, 11/28/05; Jewish Forward, 6/20/03; Politico, 8/10/09]

• Representative Pete Sessions, (R-TX-32nd): Just hours after federal agents charged banker Allen Stanford with fleecing investors of $7 billion, the disgraced financier received a message from one of Congress' most powerful members, NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions. ‘I love you and believe in you,’ said the e-mail sent on Feb. 17. `If you want my ear/voice -- e-mail,’ it said, signed ‘Pete.'' [Miami Herald, 12/27/2009] Earlier in the year, Sessions came under fire for steering a $1.6 million earmark for dirigible research to a company with no experience in government contracting or building blimps. The company hired a former aide to Sessions to lobby on their behalf. [Politico, 7/30/2009] Sessions held a fundraising event at a Las Vegas strip club for his leadership committee, joined by casino executives and payday lenders at Forty Deuce nightclub, located in the Mandalay Bay Restort. [NPR, 7/22/08]

• Representative Don Young, (R-AK-AL): Yes, Rep. Don Young is still in Congress, even though he has been the subject of at least two recent federal criminal investigations. One involved a $10 million earmark for a Florida company Young dropped into a 2006 bill just before it passed; another dealt with a broad investigation into political corruption in Alaska, tied to the (ultimately flawed) case that led to former Sen. Ted Stevens's defeat. [Salon, 3/5/10]
• Representative Ken Calvert, (R-CA-44th): Rep. Ken Calvert has reaped the benefits of his own earmarks. Calvert is under investigation by the FBI after a story in the Los Angeles Times alleged that Calvert’s earmarks have benefited his own property holdings. In one particular case, Calvert sold a property less than a year after purchasing it for a 79 percent markup after earmarking almost $10 million for the area. Despite his ethically questionable land deals, the House Republican leadership chose Calvert to replace Rep. Doolittle on the powerful Appropriations Committee. In an attempt to make up for his tarnished reputation, Calvert plans to run all earmarks through the House ethics panel in the future. In addition, Calvert is involved in a community controversy surrounding a parcel of land he and his partners bought without competition. In 2007, a Riverside County grand jury found that the services district violated state law when it sold the land to Calvert and his partners. [Los Angeles Times, 5/15/06; Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 2008; Washington Post, 6/22/06; Riverside Press-Enterprise, 5/23/07; Riverside Press-Enterprise, 7/03/07]

• Representative Marsha Blackburn, (R-TN-7th): Rep. Marsha Blackburn admitted to federal elections officials in 2008 she had failed to report $286,278 in campaign expenditures over her time in Congress, as well as $102,044 in contributions she had never disclosed. Some of the unreported expenditures were payments to her daughter and her son-in-law. [Salon, 3/5/10]

• Representative Jerry Lewis, (R-CA-41st): Rep. Jerry Lewis was investigated by federal agents four years ago as part of the same investigation that led Cunningham to plead guilty to taking bribes. He's also been investigated for his relationship with a lobbying firm, the clients of which Lewis helped obtain millions of dollars in earmarks. [Salon, 3/5/10; Los Angeles Times, 6/8/06]
• Representative Gary Miller, (R-CA-42nd): News reports confirm that the FBI and “federal agents” are investigating Rep. Gary Miller’s possible involvement with attempts to secure federal earmarks to purchase tracts of land Miller owns in California.  Miller has denied any wrongdoing. Despite the ethical questions surrounding Miller, House Republicans named him the ranking Member of the subcommittee on oversight and investigations of the Financial Services Committee. [Washington Post, 10/30/09; Associated Press, 8/14/06; Los Angeles Times, 8/13/06; The Hill, 1/31/07; Orange County Register, August 10, 2006; Washington Post, 6/22/06]
• Representative Vern Buchanan, (R-FL-13th): Rep. Vern Buchanan has a wide array of serious ethics problems.  During his first campaign in 2005, Buchanan received $110,000 over the course of a single week from employees of his numerous car dealerships.  Two employees gave sworn affidavits stating that they were asked to donate $1,000 to Buchanan’s campaign with the understanding that they would be reimbursed by the company.  At least ten lawsuits have been filed by employees and business partners alleging harassment or fraud.  [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 2009; Sarasota Herald Tribune, 7/24/08; Roll Call, 6/2/08; Sarasota Herald Tribune, 7/29/08; Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/31/06; Huffington Post, 8/19/08 Sarasota Herald Tribune, 10/6/05]
• Representative Harold Rogers (R-KY-5th): As ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Homeland Security, Rep. Harold Rogers was responsible for the $41.1 billion Department of Homeland Security budget. Rogers has a history of steering earmarks to campaign contributors and those who fund his travel.  In 2009, it was reported that Rogers steered $30 million in earmarks to companies that donated $48,000 to his political committees. The most egregious case, though, was his earmark of ID cards to a company that paid for 11 trips for Rogers and his wife to Hawaii, Ireland, California, and other locations even though the earmark was opposed by the Bush Administration, the Republican Chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and industry leaders. The congressman, who was described as the “prince of pork” by his hometown paper, has repeatedly taken official actions on behalf of the top contributor to his PAC, even sponsoring an earmark for a private parking lot in a resort owned by one of his large donors, and even helped secure a $4 million contract for a company while they hired his son. [New York Times, 5/14/06; McClatchy, 4/19/09; Associated Press, 1/19/05; Lexington Herald Leader; 1/19/05]
• Representative Sam Graves, (R-MO-6th): Rep. Sam Graves has been the subject of a new scandal every few months over the past two years. Graves has been the beneficiary a contributor's plane -- and Graves "frequently flies the airplane to events around the district."  Yet, ethics experts have stated the trips are concerning since travel on corporate flights for free is not permitted and because the company in question had business before the House. Graves’ failed to disclose his personal financial stake in an ethanol company while he invited members of the company to testify before a House committee.   In 2008, the Missouri State Auditor claimed that Graves was avoiding paying taxes on two of his eight planes by not listing them with the county assessor’s office. [Roll Call, 11/7/07; Roll Call, 12/04/07; Kansas City Star, 12/06/07; Kansas City Star, 10/7/08; Roll Call, 3/9/09]
• Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10th): Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is a third-term member of Congress, representing North Carolina’s 10th congressional district. McHenry spent the early part of 2007 trying to answer questions about possible voter fraud engaged by a campaign staffer who were registered to vote at McHenry’s home while payroll records showed he lived in Tennessee.  McHenry paid $20,000 to the defense fund of the staffer and his spokesman accused the prosecutor of a “three-year smear campaign,” even though the prosecutor had only recently taken office and had even helped host a McHenry fundraiser. [Roll Call, 4/16/08; Shelby Star, 5/11/07; CBS News, 5/11/07; Charlotte Observer, 5/15/07]
• Representative Mike Turner (R-OH-3rd): In 2007, Roll Call broke the news that the “largest year-end legal payment – more than $115,000 belonged to Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio who paid the law firm Freund, Freeze & Arnold to “dig up dirt on himself.” That begs the question – what is Mike Turner so afraid of?  It seems the research was related to a $1.5 million no-bid contract received by his wife’s marketing company, The Turner Effect.  Half of the funding for the contract came from a major donor to Turner’s campaign.   The ethical cloud resulted in the naming of Turner in 2008 as a “dishonorable mention” in the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s annual list of the Most Corrupt Members of Congress. [Roll Call, 2/1/07; Dayton Daily News, 2/1/08; Dayton Daily News, 3/1/08; Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 2008]
• Representative Tim Murphy (R-PA-18th): Rep. Tim Murphy has been the target of an FBI investigation for his misuse of his taxpayer-funded official office for campaign activities. Six former and current Murphy employees came forward in late 2006 to state that they had been coerced into working on campaign activities including door-to-door campaigning, use of the office for campaigns strategy sessions, use of office equipment for campaign work, and preparing a mailing to campaign contributors. Since news of the FBI probe against him broke, Murphy has spent at least $79,000 on legal fees from his campaign account. Murphy was so intent on covering up his abuse of taxpayer money, that he fired one of the whistleblowers in his office, and physically took documents showing misconduct from a reporter asking him questions about the scandal. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/06; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/11/06; KDKA, 12/14/08; CREW Press Release, 5/18/08; FEC]
• Representative Nathan Deal, (R-GA-9th): Rep. Nathan Deal is leaving Congress to run for governor of Georgia. But even conservatives have pointed out that he's also the subject of a House ethics investigation into contracts between a business he owns and the state government. [Salon, 3/5/10; RedState, 3/1/10]
• Representative Steve Buyer, (R-IN-4th): Rep. Steve Buyer helped found the Frontier Foundation, Inc in 2003 and was its honorary chairman. Family members, including his daughter and son, make up its board and ran its day-to-day operations. Although Frontier claimed its central purpose is to provide scholarship for Indiana students, in its six years of existence it has not awarded a single scholarship. Even the paltry donations the foundation has made have no relationship to scholarships - largely, they went to a charity run by a drug company lobbyist and the NRA. Instead, Frontier has held fundraisers at golf resorts where representatives from corporations and trade groups with issues before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on which Rep. Buyer sits, have access to the congressman. [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 1/25/10; Fox News, 1/29/10; CBS News, 11/11/09]
• Representative Henry Brown (R-SC-1st): In 2004, Rep. Henry Brown started a fire on his property despite an alert that the day’s conditions were particularly hazardous. When the fire skipped onto federal property and burned part of a national forest, Brown refused to pay the fine, demanded the federal regulations be retroactively changed to clear him and made an “implied threat” that he would more closely scrutinize the USDA Forest Service budget. Some four years later, $1,000 in fines were waived without an explanation as to how that agreement was reached and the fine was paid. A whistleblowers report was filed by Forest Service officials who claimed that that Brown and other officials engaged in congressional and ethical violations and possibly bribery and/or extortion. Editorials criticized Brown for the special treatment he received and the apparent “congressional muscle” that was misapplied. [McClatchy-Tribune News Service, 9/18/08; Georgetown Times, 9/20/08; Associated Press, 10/15/08] 

"Day 2: Call for reform"

Organizing for America Director Mitch Stewart just sent this email to supporters:

President Obama has called for the House to vote to move health reform forward as early as next week.

Today, across the country, supporters of President Obama are calling their representatives to thank them if they've been fighting for reform, and ask them to support it if they haven't made up their mind. The final vote will be very close, and we need to let members of Congress know that voters at home are standing with the President on health reform.

Click here to look up your representative and make a call today.

We know the stakes: Coverage for millions of uninsured Americans. Ending insurance company abuses, like denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and drastically raising premiums. Reining in costs that are bankrupting families and crushing businesses. Putting life-and-death decisions in the hands of patients and doctors, not insurance company bureaucrats.

Everything we've worked for depends on winning this upcoming vote in the House of Representatives -- and it's going to be very, very close. If there was ever a time to pick up the phone and make a difference, that time has come.

Please call today:

http://my.barackobama.com/FinalMarchCall

Thanks for joining together for this Final March for Reform. Because of you, we're going to win this.

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Vice President Joe Biden talks with National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform co-chairs Alan Simpson, center, and Erskine Bowles, far left, in the Outer Oval Office prior to a meeting with President Barack Obama, Feb. 18, 2010. Also present in the room, from left, are Director of White House Economic Council Larry Summers, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Christy Romer. Photo by Pete Souza.

VIDEO: DNC Chairman Kaine on Insurance Companies and the Republicans Who Refuse to Hold Them Accountable

In a new video released today, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine takes to task insurance companies and the Republicans who defend them even in the face ofjaw-dropping premium increases and discriminatory practices that deny care to those who need it the most. As Kaine notes, while the President and Democrats are pursuing reform that ends the worst practices of insurance companies, reduces costs for families and businesses large and small and extends coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans – insurance companies are pouring millions into efforts to derail reform and preserve their record profits. What’s worse - Republicans are standing with them in an effort to block reform.

Yesterday, the nation’s largest insurers kicked-off a meeting at the luxurious Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC to plot how they will attempt to thwart the President’s proposed health insurance reforms. Also yesterday, a leading economist praised the President’s reforms, noting that they draw broadly from Republican and Democratic ideas for controlling costs and represent “the most significant action on medical spending ever proposed in the United States.” If insurance companies were truly committed to reducing costs for their consumers, they would embrace these reforms. Instead, they are spending millions on lobbyists and misleading ad campaigns aimed at spreading fear and killing the President’s proposed reforms. Why? Because the insurance companies know that the President’s reforms put consumers back in control of their health care by placing long over-due restrictions on insurance companies’ ability to impose ad hoc rate hikes and drop patients when they get sick.

And, while Democrats and the President are standing up for the American people, Republicans are promising to campaign to repeal reform after it becomes law. As Chairman Kaine says in his video, “if Republican leaders want to campaign on the belief that there is nothing wrong with the way insurance companies currently do business, then that’s a fight we’re ready to have.”

As Chairman Kaine states in the video, the President’s reforms put an end to insurance company practices that put their profits over Americans’ care. The final march for reform has begun and Republicans must decide who they will march with – the American people or the insurance providers.

Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

President Barack Obama gestures during a meeting with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in the Oval Office, Feb. 16, 2010. Photo by Pete Souza.

Fight the Fear

Last week we learned that the express strategy of the Republican party is to use “fear” to stoke opposition to President Obama’s agenda for change. And as we approach the finish line on health insurance reform, we are seeing Republicans try to implement that strategy now more than ever.

Sensing change on the horizon, the insurance industry and their allies in the Republican party will say and do anything to protect their profits and political contributions. This shouldn’t be a surprise from the party that, instead of bringing you news ideas meant to help, brought you refrains of “death panels” and “government takeover” meant to scare.

On the campaign we fought smears by exposing misleading attacks quickly and forcefully and making sure people got the truth from their friends. We can use the same approach to defeat Republican “fear” tactics now. So, today we launched our “Fight the Fear” effort, and we need your help in aiding us to keep track of Republican “fear tactics.

As DNC Executive Director Jen O'Malley Dillon wrote in an email to supporters:

We'll count on volunteers like you all around the country to let us know at FightFear@DNC.org when Republican candidates or groups:

-- Air misleading ads or offer false claims intended to poison the political debate,

-- Incite fear of President Obama and Democratic leaders in an attempt to stir up their base, or

-- Align themselves with the most extreme fringes of the Republican Party.

We'll read the responses and call out the most egregious examples to continually expose the GOP's fear tactics. And we'll hit back hard with the truth in ads and by organizing against the Republican candidates involved.

Together, we'll fight back and prove that Republican scare tactics are no match for our collective grassroots strength.

We’ve already heard from folks about a new Republican fear tactic hitting the airwaves in many communities across the country this week. The national Republican Party launched a new television ad this week featuring embattled RNC Chairman Michael Steele. The ad attempts to stoke fear that health insurance reform is a ‘massive government expansion’ that ‘threatens our freedom.’

There’s nothing in ensuring that every American has access to affordable, stable health insurance that represents a government takeover or that threatens anyone’s freedom. It’s a lie being perpetrated by Michael Steele and the national Republican Party meant to scare people and protect insurance companies, plain and simple. And we’re not going to let them get away with it. Here are the facts, and they’re not scary at all.

Health Insurance Reform Will Not Create a Government Takeover of Health Care

Politifact: “Obama Health Plan Does Not Call For Government-Run Health Care.” “Obama health plan does not call for government-run health care.” [Politifact, 3/5/09]

Factcheck.org: "President Obama Hasn’t Proposed A Government-Run [Health Care] Plan And, In Fact, Has Rejected The Idea." FactCheck.org: "President Obama hasn’t proposed a government-run [health care] plan and, in fact, has rejected the idea." [FactCheck.org, 5/6/09]

Factcheck.org: President Obama Hasn’t Proposed Government-Run Health Care. FactCheck.org: "We’ve written before about conservatives claiming that Congress, or Obama, or Washington, or Democrats in general want the U.S. to have a Canadian-style, government-run health care system. The truth of the matter is that the president has repeatedly said he doesn’t." [FactCheck.org, 8/10/09]

AMA President-Elect Reassured: Physicians And Patients Don’t Need To Fear The Rise Of A Monolithic Health System With No Choice From President Obama. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported that “American Medical Association president-elect Dr. James Rohack told Mississippi doctors Friday…Physicians and patients don't need to fear the rise of a monolithic health system with no choice, because it's not something the American people would accept, Rohack said. The president didn't advocate a single-payer system for the United States at the meeting, Rohack said. Obama said he believes in access to health care for all with a system that is a mix of public and private sources with patients still able to see the physicians of their choice.” [Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 5/30/09]

New campaign: "Fight the Fear"

Last week, DNC Executive Director Jen O'Malley Dillon sent an email asking supporters to help fight the RNC's scare tactics -- including Republicans' plan to run a campaign capitalizing on 'fear' of President Obama.

Today, the DNC is launching a new campaign to fight the GOP's fear-mongering, which will only intensify as the November election approaches. The new campaign asks volunteers around the country to speak up when they see misleading information or tactics that use fear to try and stir up their base.

Read today's email from Jen O'Malley Dillon thanking those who chipped in last week and announcing "Fight the Fear:"

I'm writing to thank you again for chipping in last week. With your help, we're going on offense against Republican fear-mongering and their outrageous depictions of President Obama and Democratic leaders.

It's working: The Washington Post, Associated Press, New York Times, and media outlets around the country have all run stories on the GOP's despicable fundraising strategy.

Republicans are back-peddling, scrambling to disassociate themselves from the presentation, even while following its prescriptions. And a conservative donor even called the plan "indefensible and destructive" and publicly announced that he'll no longer give to the RNC.

But as the November election approaches, we know that their scare tactics will intensify. So today, we're launching a new campaign, powered by your donation, called "Fight the Fear" -- and I wanted you to be the first to know.

We'll count on volunteers like you all around the country to let us know at FightFear@DNC.org when Republican candidates or groups:

-- Air misleading ads or offer false claims intended to poison the political debate,

-- Incite fear of President Obama and Democratic leaders in an attempt to stir up their base, or

-- Align themselves with the most extreme fringes of the Republican Party.

We'll read the responses and call out the most egregious examples to continually expose the GOP's fear tactics. And we'll hit back hard with the truth in ads and by organizing against the Republican candidates involved.

Together, we'll fight back and prove that Republican scare tactics are no match for our collective grassroots strength.

Thanks for being a part of it,

Jen

Jen O'Malley Dillon
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee

Recognizing Women's History Month

This March, we recognize Women’s History Month.

From DNC Chairman Tim Kaine:

“Women’s History Month is an opportunity for our nation to reflect on and recognize the important role of women in our society. From the Seneca Falls Convention, to the 19th Amendment guaranteeing equal suffrage, to inspiring the Montgomery Bus Boycott, to Title IX, American women have a rich history of breaking down barriers.

“Democrats are proud that in the last year President Obama and the Democratic Congress have taken important steps on behalf of American women. Last summer President Obama nominated, and the Senate confirmed, Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, making her the third woman and the first Latina to serve in the nation’s highest court. Seven women (Hillary Rodham Clinton, Lisa Jackson, Janet Napolitano, Susan Rice, Christina Romer, Kathleen Sebelius, and Hilda Solis) currently serve in President Obama’s cabinet. President Obama pledged during the Presidential campaign that he would ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work, and he kept that promise. The first major piece of legislation President Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which legally entitles women to equal pay for equal work.

“But we have much more work to do. Women have a great deal at stake with the President’s health insurance reform bill – women are often charged higher premiums than men and are denied coverage because of so-called pre-existing conditions like c-sections or domestic violence. Democrats are committed to passing comprehensive health reform legislation that will once and for all end gender discrimination in our health insurance system.”

DNC Women’s Caucus Chairwoman Mame Reiley:

“During March we reflect on the great strides women have made in our march towards equality, and we recommit ourselves to the work we have left ahead of us. Trail blazers like Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, Rosa Parks and Shirley Chisholm laid the groundwork that has allowed today’s women to work in the professions of our choosing, pursue economic security, and seek elective office at all levels.

We have made great progress since we gained the right to vote in 1920 – women currently hold 76 seats in the House and 17 U.S. Senators are female. However, even though 53 percent of the electorate in 2008 was female, our elected bodies still do not reflect the composition of America. During Women’s History Month, let us remind ourselves of the progress we have made as we pledge to continue the work that our sisters began over 150 years ago."

Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

President Barack Obama reads a letter he received from Natoma Canfield of Medina, Ohio, during a meeting with insurance company executives hosted by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, March 4, 2010. Photo by Pete Souza.

Donna Brazile: “Protect voter gains of 'Bloody Sunday'”

To commemorate yesterday's 45th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” DNC vice chair for voter registration and participation Donna Brazile published an op-ed on CNN on the progress made on voting rights as well as the struggles that continue up to today:

On Sunday we commemorate the courage and sacrifice of 600 men and women who dared 45 years ago to take the first steps in a 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital, Montgomery, for the right to vote. That day, Sunday, March 7, 1965, would come to be known as "Bloody Sunday."

As these unarmed civil rights patriots attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where fewer than one percent of eligible black voters were allowed to register, they were gassed and beaten with billy clubs by state and local police, some on horseback, ordered to break up the demonstration.

Captured by television cameras and broadcast nationwide, the suffering of these nonviolent activists, 50 of whom required hospitalization, awoke the nation's consciousness to the importance of voting rights and the entire civil rights movement.

Within 10 days, President Johnson would send a bill to Congress, the National Voting Rights Act of 1965, that would outlaw the discriminatory Jim Crow-era practices that had long worked to disenfranchise African-Americans and other minorities across the United States.

Brazile then goes on to detail some of the current fights in states across the country:

Last month, voting rights advocates filed suit against Virginia state election officials, following the advocates' investigation of rejected voter registration applications in 2008 from students at historically African-American Norfolk State University and the state officials' subsequent refusal to make certain voter registration records publicly available.

While Virginia was rejecting minority voter registrations in 2008, Colorado was purging voters from its registration rolls. Earlier this year, Colorado settled a lawsuit brought by Mi Familia Vota and other voting rights advocates. As a result of the Colorado suit, usage of lists of purged voters was stayed and the approximately 31,000 voters illegally removed from the registration lists were permitted to cast provisional ballots in the 2008 presidential election.

Forty-five years after Bloody Sunday, another march is under way, but it aims to turn back the clock on voting rights. Last month, the South Carolina state Senate passed legislation to require voters to show a photo ID before casting a ballot -- a measure that disproportionately excludes low-income, minority, elderly, and student voters, all of whom are less likely than majority voters to have ready access to a government-issued photo ID.

Brazile closes by highlighting several ways to improve our voting system, making sure every eligible voter has the right to have their vote counted:

We should start by modernizing the voter registration system by making it more automated and keeping eligible voters on the rolls permanently. We should take voting out of the artificial confines created by a limited and literal "Election Day" by providing for universal early voting.

To live up to our constitutional mandate to continue to form a more perfect union -- and to truly honor the brave men and women who marched and were beaten and bloodied, and especially those who were murdered defending their right to vote -- we have the duty to ensure that every eligible voter has an equal and meaningful opportunity to cast a ballot and have it counted.

Read the full op-ed on CNN.

Monday Open Thread

Good morning.

President Barack Obama signs the Travel Promotion Act in the Oval Office, March 4, 2010. Photo by Lawrence Jackson.