Friday, June 22, 2012

JuiceBlender: Daily Kos Prefers O'Malley to Cuomo, Cuomo Hesitates on Dream Act, Bartlett Slams Obama on Immigration

Here's a random blend of political tidbits from recent news, starting with commentary from journalists and pundits comparing MD Governor Martin O'Malley with NY Governor Andrew Cuomo:

JUICE #1: DIFFERING RESPONSES FROM O'MALLEY & CUOMO TO OBAMA DREAM ACT ANNOUNCEMENT - Maryland Juice recently reported on President Barack Obama's major announcement that his administration would halt the deportation of young undocumented residents (aka Dreamers). This week, Politico's Maggie Haberman covered the differing responses to the new policy development from Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo -- two rivals in the 2016 Democratic White House race.

Initially, Haberman wrote about O'Malley's support for Obama's actions, compared to Cuomo's silence. But days later, Cuomo is now praising Obama's immigration position. Notably, Gov. O'Malley had backed a Maryland version of the Dream Act which provides for in-state college tuition for all high school graduates, regardless of their immigration status. Gov. Cuomo apparently did not support the New York version of this legislation. See excerpts from the pair of articles below:

POLITICO ARTICLE #1: President Barack Obama's policy move on immigration last week has prompted a flood of commentary among Democrats, most of it supportive — including from Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who signed a version of the DREAM Act in his own state and is widely seen as interested in the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016....

He also sent out an email solicitation to his list this morning off his own state's DREAM Act support.

The president's measure has gotten, as a Bloomberg poll showed this morning, support not just among Hispanics but among independents.

So it's been notable that, five days later, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — seen as another top prospect for 2016 — has yet to comment on the policy shift.

A number of New York pols speculate that he's silent because he doesn't support a version of the DREAM Act that's circulating in his state....

Apparently the New York Dream Act failed in the state legislature on Wednesday night. In a follow-up article, Politico's Maggie Haberman noted that Gov. Cuomo came out in support of Obama's immigration decision only after the death of the NY legislation (excerpt below):
POLITICO ARTICLE #2: I wrote earlier this week that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, widely seen as a major 2016 presidential contender, had stayed silent on President Obama's immigration move, even as one of his top potential rivals, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, spoke out strongly in support of it.

Cuomo finally broke his silence on it today - after the in-state version of the DREAM Act died in the legislature last night, and hours after Mitt Romney declined to say what his own long-term plan would be for halting deportations of some younger immigrations...

JUICE #2: DAILY KOS & PROGRESSIVES CURRENTLY PREFER O'MALLEY TO CUOMO - In the midst of the news coverage of O'Malley and Cuomo's chess match on immigration, the national progressive blog Daily Kos took notice. Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the Democratic netroots blog, compared O'Malley and Cuomo's records on immigration, redistricting and progressive taxation. Kos notes that O'Malley and Cuomo both oppose medical marijuana, but he came to the conclusion that, so far, O'Malley is the better choice for progressives. He cites O'Malley's support for the Maryland Dream Act, Maryland's aggressive redistricting plan, and the Free State's progressive tax policies as reasons why Cuomo is currently the inferior 2016 candidate:
DAILY KOS: But if we simply look at the Cuomo-O'Malley examples above, it's clear that only one of these probable candidates thinks that the Democratic nomination runs through progressives. The other one seems to be drawing from Joe Lieberman's playbook.
In a modern Democratic presidential primary, wooing rank & file party activists is a key priority for a winning campaign and leads to volunteers in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Increasingly, the heart and soul of Democratic activism is embedded in the progressive Netroots community. The Internet is where small donors today aggregate their efforts to provide critical early support for candidates like Howard Dean, Barack Obama, and even the Tea Party. Duh.


JUICE #3: CD6 GOP CANDIDATE ROSCOE BARTLETT SLAMS OBAMA ON IMMIGRATION ANNOUNCEMENT - Meanwhile, on the Republican side of the equation, embattled Rep. Roscoe Bartlett decided to condemn President Obama's recent decision to halt the deportation of young immigrants. On a press statement on his website, Bartlett stated:
ROSCOE BARTLETT: I am very disappointed that President Obama chose to undermine our Constitution by refusing to enforce current immigration law and bypassing Congress. President Obama’s decisions will encourage more illegal immigration, weaken our border security and make it more difficult to have a bipartisan dialogue to reach consensus to fix our national immigration crisis.

JUICE #4: ROMNEY SILENT ON DEPORTATION OF YOUTHS, BUT WOULD VETO DREAM ACT - The Obama campaign recently noted GOP candidate Mitt Romney's silence on whether or not he would overturn Barack Obama's decision to halt the deportation of undocumented youths. They also highlighted Romney's pledge to veto the federal Dream Act:

STATEMENT: Romney Promised to Veto DREAM Act

CHICAGO, IL – Obama for America Director of Hispanic Press Gabriela Domenzain released the following statement in reaction to Mitt Romney’s NALEO address:

“Today, Mitt Romney told the largest national gathering of Hispanic elected officials: ‘When I make a promise to you - I will keep it.’ But in front of an audience of Republican primary voters, he called the DREAM Act a ‘handout’ and promised to veto it. Now, after seven days of refusing to say whether or not he’d repeal the Obama administration’s immigration action that prevents young people who were brought here through no fault of their own as children from being deported, we should take him at his word that he will veto the DREAM Act as president.”




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