[Peace-discuss] Dems to lose 'Kennedy's' Senate seat?

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Coakley in trouble? Pharma and HMO lobbyists to the rescue
	By: Timothy P. Carney
	Examiner Columnist
	01/09/10 1:55 PM EST

With Democrat Martha Coakley in trouble in the Massachusetts special election to 
fill Ted Kennedy's seat, Democrats could lose vote No. 60 for President Obama's 
health-care bill. In response, an army of lobbyists for drug companies, health 
insurance companies, and hospitals has teamed up to throw a high-dollar Capitol 
Hill fundraiser for Coakley next Tuesday night. The invitation is here.
Of the 22 names on the host committee--meaning they raised $10,000 or more for 
Coakley--17 are federally registered lobbyists, 15 of whom have health-care 
clients. Of the other five hosts, one is married to a lobbyist, one was a 
lobbyist in Pennsylvania, another is a lawyer at a lobbying firm, and another is 
a corporate CEO. Oh, and of course, there's also the political action commitee 
for Boston Scientific Corporation.

All the leading drug companies have lobbyists on Coakley's host committee: 
Pfizer, Merck, Amgen, Sanofi-Aventis, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Astra-Zeneca, and 
more. On the insurance side of things, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana, 
HealthSouth, and United Health all are represented on the host committee.

Those HMOs (like Aetna) or drug companies who don't have lobbyists in Coakley's 
top tier of fundraisers? They're covered, because the host committee includes 
four lobbyists representing the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of 
America (PhRMA), two representing America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and 
one representing the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)

So think of these top donors to health-care reform's 60th vote next time
President Obama claims that he's battling the special interests in this battle. 
The army listed below is on Obama's side, and these clients will all benefit 
from "reform."

Here are some of Coakley fundraiser hosts with some of their current health care 
clients:

Thomas Boggs, Patton Boggs: Bristol-Myers Squibb [COKIE ROBERTS' BIG BROTHER]
Chuck Brain, Capitol Hill Strategies: Amgen, BIO, Merck, PhRMA
Susan Brophy, Glover Park Group: Blue Cross, Pfizer
Steven Champlin, Duberstein Group: AHIP, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis
Licy Do Canto, Raben Group: Amgen
Gerald Cassidy, Cassidy & Associates: U. Mass Memorial Health Care
David Castagnetti, Mehlman, Vogel, Castagnetti: Abbot Labs, AHIP, Astra-Zenaca, 
General Electric, Humana, Merck, PhRMA.
Steven Elmendorf, Elmendorf Strategies: Medicines Company, PhRMA, United Health
Shannon Finley, Capitol Counsel: Amgen, Astra-Zeneca, Blue Cross, GE, PhRMA, 
Sanofi-Aventis.
Heather Podesta, Heather Podesta & Partners: Cigna, Eli Lilly, HealthSouth
Tony Podesta, Podesta Group: Amgen, GE, Merck, Novartis.
Robert Raben, Raben Group: Amgen, GE.
If Coakley pulls it out, this is the crowd that will have brought her here. If 
health-care reform passes, this is the crew that will have won.


Read more at the Washington Examiner: 
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Coakley-in-trouble-Pharma-and-HMO-lobbyists-to-the-rescue-81067542.html#ixzz0cSv5QNQw

C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> [A liberal medium sees the future?]
> 
>     Jennifer Donahue
>     January 12, 2010 08:53 AM
>     Republicans Have Already Won Massachusetts' Special Election
> 
> By virtue of the fact that State Sen. and military JAG Scott Brown had 
> Attorney General Martha Coakley are on the defense all night, on Obama's 
> core issues, Republicans have already won the debate in Massachusetts 
> and are poised to stay up late when the votes are counted Jan. 19th, 
> when voters cast ballots in the special election to fill the late 
> Senator Ted Kennedy's seat.
> 
> Mind you, this race is not about Ted Kennedy, and there is no way he is 
> resting in peace.
> 
> This is about how in one year, the day before Obama's first inaugural 
> anniversary, Democrats have gone from Superpower status to beating back 
> anything moderate or Republican in philosophy.
> 
> Even when Coakley had a chance to talk about the case to pull troops out 
> of the Middle East, a position she goes abruptly against the President 
> on, she bungled it.
> 
> No more troops to Afghanistan is a popular idea in Massachussetts. So 
> how did she fail to deliver that message?
> 
> Coakley spent more time commending her opponent's military and judicial 
> experience than explaining what an exit strategy would look like.
> 
> Make no mistake about it, this Special Election is about, as Scott Brown 
> put it, whether voters want to give Democrat Martha Coakley the 60th 
> vote in the Senate. He wants to be the 41st vote for "the people. For you."
> 
> At a time when jobs are scarce, terror is back at orange, and heating 
> oil is expensive, not to mention the rent, guess what: after one year, 
> Coakley and the Democrats can give up talking about Bush-Cheney-McCain. 
> They need to develop and focus on a clear consistent message that comes 
> from the leadership and transparency voters mandated a year ago. Change 
> can mean anything. But voters did not mean more of the same.
> 
> It happens to be a lousy week for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to 
> be under attack for word choices and imperfect vote counting. It could 
> just lead to a filibuster hungry GOP. And not because they picked up a 
> message. Just because they stepped back to watch Democrats try to find 
> their way in a time that is perhaps the most challenging to govern in 
> eighty years.
> 
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-donahue/republicans-have-already_b_419812.html 
> 
> 

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