...from Alexi Giannoulias' weblog from the other day (click through to the campaign blog to hear the whole interview):

Alexi on the Bill Press Show

This morning, Alexi had a great chat with radio host Bill Press about the issues that matter most in the election. You can hear the full interview below:

Bill: Listen as you move around to obviously, not just Chicago but downstate, upstate, around Illinois, what’s on people’s minds? What are the big issues you’re dealing with?

Alexi: Jobs, jobs, jobs...

Bill: Really?

Alexi: And it doesn’t matter whether you’re on the south side of Chicago, whether you’re in central Illinois, folks are scared and concerned and those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own because they’ve been shipped to China or because they’ve been, you know, fired and you have folks who actually have jobs who are so scared that they’re gonna be next that they don’t know what to do and it’s a genuine concern. You know, Ed was around, we stood up and saved as State Treasurer a company that’s been around for over a hundred years called Hart Schaffner Marx and make the President’s suits. They’re in Des Plaines, Illinois. Wells Fargo, which is a bank that got 25 billion dollars of tax payer money was gonna close them down. We stood up, we fought for them, not only do we keep that company in business, give them a chance to succeed because we told Wells Fargo they weren’t gonna do business with the State of Illinois if they closed them down but because we gave them a shot to succeed, they were able to make it out. They’re actually now hiring even more people. Not only are they still in business but they’re hiring more people but the most profound thing I heard was a woman named Marina, who’s been there over 50 years, over 50 years the same company and she told me early on during this battle that, you know, ‘we don’t want a hand out or a bailout, we just want a job’ and to see the middle class over the last 25-30 years get decimated, I think, takes away from what has always made this country so great and that’s what I’m fighting for every single day.

Also worth reading:

• Remarks ... on Restoring Fiscal Discipline in Washington
• Small Businesses Need Help

From the weblog of Scott Harper, Candidate for US Congress:

More Research in New Energy Technologies

The BP oil spill in the gulf, and yesterday the explosion on another rig in the gulf, show that we need to accelerate our push toward clean, renewable energy production.  Safe domestic oil exploration will remain part of our current energy strategy, but the future of energy must lie in new green technologies.

...

...from Ezra Klein's "Wonkbook" this morning:

Over a million Medicare beneficiaries have received a rebate under health care reform, reports David Herszenhorn: "In its news release, the White House said it expects to distribute some four million of the $250 rebate checks, and that one-quarter of those have been disbursed. 'Many seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare face extraordinary prescription drug costs, and too often stop following the drug regimens that their doctors have recommended as a result,' the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius, said in a statement."

Krugman and others have been saying this for a long time.  It's something of a hopeful sign to hear it coming from someone close to the Administration.

Why We Need a Second Stimulus

OUR national debate about fiscal policy has become skewed, with far too much focus on the deficit and far too little on unemployment. There is too much worry about the size of government, and too little appreciation for how stimulus spending has helped stabilize the economy and how more of the right kind of government spending could boost job creation and economic growth. By focusing on the wrong things, we are in serious danger of failing to do the right things to help the economy recover from its worst labor market crisis since the Great Depression.

The primary cause of the labor market crisis is a collapse in private demand — the same problem that bedeviled the economy in the 1930s. In the wake of the financial shocks at the end of 2008, spending by American households and businesses plummeted, and companies responded by curbing production and shedding workers. By late 2009, in response to unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus, household and business spending began to recover. But by the second quarter of this year, economic growth had slowed to 1.6 percent, according to a government estimate issued Friday. Clearly, the pace of recovery is far slower than what is needed to restore the millions of jobs that have been lost.

...

But can the government afford this additional spending? The answer is yes. Despite the large federal deficit, global savers, including savings-hungry American households, are snapping up United States government securities at very low interest rates. And they will continue to do so as long as there is ample slack in the economy and inflation remains subdued. Over the next few years, there is little risk that federal deficits will crowd out private investment or precipitate a crisis of confidence in the American government, a spike in American interest rates or a sudden drop in the dollar.

On the other hand, as long as private demand remains weak, the risk is uncomfortably high that trying to reduce the deficit — by cutting spending or increasing taxes — will tip the economy back into recession or condemn it to years of faltering growth and debilitating unemployment. In fact, either outcome would depress tax revenue and could mean larger deficits.

...

Now if we could just get the Republicans to either behave responsibly or get out of the way...  They don't seem inclined to do either of those things.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Martha de Hoyos - 310-402-9048 (Cell) 
Email: martha@bravenewfoundation.org
 
Coalition of Interfaith and Civic Leaders Expressed Outrage at Beck's Attempt to Usurp Martin Luther King Jr.'s Civil Rights Legacy and Debuted Brave New Foundation's "Glenn Beck Is Not Martin Luther King Jr." Short

"The hatred spewed by Glenn Beck reveals the deep wound of racism that is a contradiction to the message of love and equality conveyed by Dr. King,"- Rev. Eric Lee, SCLC Greater Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA - Religious leaders today unveiled "Glenn Beck Is No Martin Luther King, Jr." a new online short from Brave New Foundation to express outrage over Glenn Beck's 'Restore Honor' rally and his attempt to usurp the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream Speech' by holding the event on the anniversary of King's landmark speech. To view online short, click: glennbeckisnotmartinlutherkingjr.com

After citing some examples of the "angry, irrational extremism" we're hearing from the GOP of late ("Obama is a Muslim socialist who wasn't born in the United States", "terror babies", ...), E.J. Dionne asks:

Where are the responsible conservatives who should be denouncing such crackpottery?

...this election isn't even about whether we'll go back into the ditch. It's about whether a movement that's gone over a cliff will be rewarded for doing so. A victory for this style of conservatism will be a defeat for the kind of conservatism the country needs.

...from E.J. Dionne's column this morning:

...the exodus of moderates [from the GOP] over the past decade [... ] has shifted the balance of power in Republican primaries far to the right.

As a result, the main critique of Bush in Republican ranks casts him as insufficiently conservative -- too inclined to support federal action on education and in expanding prescription drug assistance to the elderly, and too ready to run up the deficit.

That the deficit increased primarily because of two tax cuts and two wars was not part of most conservatives' calculation because acknowledging this was ideologically inconvenient. In the meantime, the election of President Obama by a demographically diverse coalition anchored among younger voters helped unleash the furies inside an older, overwhelmingly white and Southern-leaning GOP coalition.

Thus Tuesday's results...

...

The paradox is that a Republican Party in the grips of ideology needs to shift the campaign in a less ideological direction, hoping that voters simply cast protest ballots against hard economic times. Democrats, who are more doctrinally diverse, have every interest in turning the election into a philosophical contest, arguing that even unhappy voters cannot trust their fate to a party in the grips of a right-wing revolt. Once again on Tuesday, Republican primary participants seemed determined to give Democrats that opportunity.