Republicans Have Hard Time Buying Senate
Democrats holding their own in Senate TV ad spending. Center for Public Integrity: "The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ruled the TV airwaves last week, even trumping the conservative super PACs and Koch brothers-backed nonprofits they’ve accused of trying to buy elections ... Overall, more than 33,000 TV ads aired in the nine most competitive U.S. Senate races from Sept. 16 through Sept. 22 ... Democratic candidates and their allies were responsible for 52 percent of them."
NC may keep Senate in Democratic hands. NYT: " If the Democrats assemble a firewall in defense of the Senate, the polling suggests North Carolina will be its bulwark. Ms. Hagan leads her Republican challenger, Thom Tillis, in nearly every survey over the last month by an average of more than three percentage points ... The reason for Ms. Hagan’s apparent strength seems to be her opponent, the speaker of the state’s controversial Republican-controlled House ... Mr. Tillis is struggling to counter relentless attacks on his handling of the state education budget..."
Jeb Bush doesn't help. NYT: "... as Mr. Bush made the case for an immigration overhaul and the Common Core standards, Mr. Tillis gently put distance between himself and his guest of honor, who had flown here from Florida on a dreary day to offer his endorsement in a race that could decide which party controls the Senate. 'You have to make it clear that amnesty shouldn’t be on the table,' Mr. Tillis said ... Mr. Bush supports a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants and complained that not addressing the immigration system had 'done us harm economically.'"
Gubernatorial Races On The Other Hand...
Leaked documents show Republican Governors Association trading access for donations. Bloomberg: "The Republican Governors Association, which is raising money to maintain the party’s power in a majority of the nation’s capitals, has routinely promised donors special access to top leaders, documents show. Dozens of fundraising invitations, meeting agendas and other records compiled by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, chronicle how corporate executives and other donors are rewarded with the chance to meet governors and their aides in functions at ski lodges, resorts and other venues not open to the public. Donors were offered the opportunity to lobby state leaders who have power over health care, energy production and other regulatory and contracting matters important to business. The most access went to those who gave at least $250,000..."
Investigation into Gov. Scott Walker can proceed again. NYT: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday removed an injunction halting an investigation into whether the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker illegally coordinated with conservative groups ... The decision by a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit raised the prospect that prosecutors could eventually resume the investigation ... But now the matter returns to Wisconsin’s courts, where a state judge had in effect stopped the inquiry in an earlier ruling, saying he had found no basis for pursuing an inquiry into campaign finance violations.
Another Obamacare Win
Big Obamacare savings for hospitals. USA Today: "The Affordable Care Act will lead to $5.7 billion in savings in uncompensated hospital care costs this year, the Obama administration said Wednesday, reducing one of the biggest financial challenges hospitals face. The states that expanded Medicaid so all low-income residents would have medical coverage will reap about 74% of the savings nationally ... because hospitals are reimbursed by Medicaid for patients they used to have to treat for free."
26% fewer uninsured so far, says HHS' Burwell. Bloomberg: "...HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said insurance programs created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have reduced the nation’s uninsured population by 26 percent. She called the reduction 'the most important number' to measure the law’s success. 'For those of you covering the private sector, any market that grows at that rate in its first year, those results would be considered pretty extraordinary,' she said."
Breakfast Sides
W. Post's Harold Meyerson explains Germany's economic success: "If you live in an advanced economy — in Western Europe, Japan or the United States — odds are you’re in a funk. Unless you live in Germany ... Fully 85 percent of Germans said their homeland’s economic situation was good ... part is due to the strength of the country’s manufacturing sector and the concomitant weakness of its financial sector. Many of Germany’s most successful companies are privately owned and not subject to investor pressure to reward large shareholders through practices prevalent in the United States, such as slashing wages, cutting back on worker training and research and development and buying back stock."
EPA to make economic case for capping carbon in think tank address. The Hill: "[EPA Administrator Gina] McCarthy will argue not just that climate change will mean economic ruin if it goes unchecked, but also that the power plant emissions rule would bring economic development and jobs that would not occur otherwise ... jobs in clean-energy fields increased 12,500 in the second quarter of this year, showing that environmentally friendly industries are reducing costs, bringing jobs and bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Previous environmental regulations spurred innovations in various industries, McCarthy will say."
