by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By David Dayen
d-day

This is going to leave a mark.

Tom McClintock, California's Alan Keyes, is supposed to be this rock-ribbed conservative who never voted for a budget and who rails against "wasteful spending." I guess it's OK if it's McClintock doing the wasting:

“State Sen. Tom McClintock, a fierce critic of government spending, has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax-free per diem payments from the state that are meant to help legislators who, unlike McClintock, live far from the capital.

“The Republican lawmaker said he is entitled to the $170-a-day payments because his legal residence is a family home in his Senate district of Thousand Oaks, where he is registered to vote.

“McClintock and his family live year-round in Elk Grove, 14 miles from the state Capitol. He moved to the Sacramento suburb in 1996, when he was elected to the state Assembly, and he bought a five-bedroom, 4,090-square-foot home in 2004. His children attend Elk Grove schools and his wife works at a Baptist church there.

“The intent of the payments is to help defray the living costs of lawmakers attending the eight-month legislative session far from their homes.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

From an email to supporters from Charlie Brown, here are the 9 - count 'em, 9 - elections that Tom McClintock has run for in California, culminating with his entry into the CA-04 race today:

Chair, Ventura County Republican Party

CA State Assembly, District 36 in Southern California

U.S. House of Representatives, District 24 in Southern California

CA State Controller

CA State Assembly, District 38 in Southern California

CA State Senate, District 19 in Southern California

CA State Controller - Again

CA Governor in the recall election

CA Lt. Governor

U.S. House of Representatives, District 04

You could conceivably make it 10, because he was prepping a run for the state Board of Equalization before bolting to head 418 miles north to Roseville to run for Congress.

All he needs is a site called "Renew America" or something, and several failed runs for President and US Senate in states where he doesn't live, and he'd give Alan Keyes a run for his money.

by Kevin Shaw [courtesy of Blog for America]

From USA Today's OnPolitics blog:

By: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence

Six-term Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is crying foul over tomorrow's Des Moines Register debate for Democratic presidential candidates. The campaign today issued a lengthy protest against his exclusion from the debate, the last before the Jan. 3 caucuses.

The newspaper's standards for participation include at least 1% in its statewide poll and an office and paid staff in Iowa. Republican Alan Keyes, who has not been in any debates this year and has done little if any campaigning, has made the cut for today's GOP debate,...

Kucinich's campaign said today he has been excluded because "his Iowa field director operates from a home office rather than a rented storefront." The campaign quoted newspaper editor Carolyn Washburn as saying, "It was our determination that a person working out of his home did not meet our criteria for a campaign office and full-time paid staff in Iowa."

read more »

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Rob Richie
Executive Director
Fair Vote

Facts in the Spotlight

• Number of U.S. Senators appointed without election since 1913: 179
• Number of U.S. House members ever to serve without election: 0
• Number of states that always fill U.S. Senate vacancies by election: 3
• Number of states that always fill U.S. House vacancies by election: 50

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]