Visit to Washington

I arrived back this week after a superb fortnight in Washington DC. As long time readers of this blog know, I love the city - its history, its buildings, its coffee shops - and its political activity. I was able to indulge myself with all these during my stay.

For me the highlights included

* watching the special Sunday session of the Senate on May 31st -
( To watch the video follow the links: C-Span video - Part 1 ; Part 2)

* sitting in two hearings of the House Rules Committee ( Rules Committee website - which has videos of all meetings 'Committee Hearings Archive')

* many hours watching the House of Representatives from its gallery

* A tour of Congress, led by a good friend of "Washminster", Bob Carr (a former Representative from Michigan, who served as Chairman of the Transportation Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee), and from whom I have learnt a lot about the workings and recent history of the House.

* Two events at the Bipartisan Policy Center . One on improving health and healthcare - focussing on avoidable lifestyle chronic disease (a particular interest of mine - and a political priority) - video available here and the other about  the challenges for leadership in the second term of a presidency.
C-SPAN 3 plans to broadcast the meeting on Sunday, Jun 28 at 4:30pm EDT (9-30pm UK)

* A visit to the battlefield of Gettysburg

* some great time spent with friends who live in the Washington area.

But now, I am back home - and will be commenting on events in the British Parliament (I will make my first visit to the 56th Parliament of the UK, later this week) - as well as events and issues in the USA, EU & France.

Dishonesty

Friend of Washminster, former Congressman, Bob Carr – is now teaching an "Ethics and Congress" class at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University [Legislative Affairs Course]- On the reading list is an interesting book which I read last weekend “ The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty”, by Dan Ariely.

Mr Ariely considers how widespread dishonesty is – yes, ALL of us have a penchant for dishonesty and cheating – though we are superb at justifying ourselves and our behaviour (and not bad in conning ourselves either). The book looks at this tendency – why it arises – and what can suppress it. He also discusses a “fudge factor theory”. There are some interesting results from behavioural studies. I would recommend to everyone.

Carr and Morgan on the Republican Convention

This is a recording (with pictures) of the interview former Congressman Bob Carr and I did last Friday following Mitt Romney's speech at the Republican Convention. The BBC Presenter is Stuat Linnell.

The Duke

The office in which Bob Carr works is undergoing some redevelopment. As a result there is a temporary entrance at the side. As I went in I noticed a wall mural opposite showing Duke Ellington, one of my favourite jazz musicians. (He was brilliant on so many counts - he wrote over a thousand compositions - created an incredible sound - and since you were going to ask, my favourite (but there are so many I love) is Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, as performed at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7th 1956). There was a plaque nearby indicating that the modern building stands on the site where the Duke was born.

The Quiz

This is the round of our family quiz that I set yesterday. All answers are multiple choice. I will publish the answers tomorrow.

Q1 Which Two States will have the highest number of Electoral College Votes in 2012?


A – California & New York
B – Florida & California
C – California & Texas
D – Florida & New York
E – Texas & New York

Q2 In which département does the Parti-Socialiste’s Presidential Candidate François Hollande have his political base?

A – Nord
B – Corrèze
C – Deux-Sèvres
D – Paris
E – Charente

Q3 Which Democratic held Senatorial seat this week was moved by the Cook Political report from “Toss Up” to “Likely Republican”?

A - Pennsylvania
B – Ohio
C - Virginia
D - Nebraska
E – Florida

Q4 Who is the Parti Socialiste candidate for the Assemblée nationale constituency which includes the United Kingdom?

A – Emmanuelle Savarit
B – Axelle Lemaire
C – Bruno Guillard
D – Ségolène Royal
E – Hélène Hayman

Q5 Which of the following represents Bob Carr (former Member of Congress & friend & contributor to Washminster) in the House of Representatives?

A – Gerry Connolly
B – Debbie Stabenow
C – Fred Upton
D – Ron Kind
E – none of the above

Wisconsin

Russ Feingold, the Democratic Senator since 1992, faces a contest which Cook has listed as a "Toss Up". Feingold, a co-author with John McCain of Campaign Finance legislation. CNN/Time issued a poll last week that showed him trailing by eight points. He is a native of Janesville, Wisconsin - a city which has been the home or birthplace of California Governor, James Budd (1895-99), who served in the House of Representatives (CA 1883-5) - as did Stephen Bolles (WI 1939-41); Bob Carr (MI 1975-1981, 1983–1995); Harmon Sweatland Conger (NY 1847-51); Gilbert Nelson Haugen (IA 1899-1933);  Ithamar Conkey Sloan (1863-67); Charles Grandison Williams (1873-83) and the current Congressman for the First District, Paul Ryan.

Feingold is being challenged by Ron Johnson (Republican), their websites can be accessed here - Feingold; Johnson.

District 07 is an open seat. David Obey, who has sat in the House of Representatives since 1969 - and is the current Chair of the Appropriations Committee is standing down. The seat, listed by Cook as a "Toss Up", is being contested by Julie Lassa (Democrat) and Sean Duffy (Republican). The Seventh District is in the North West of the State. Ron Kind's district is listed as "leaning Democratic". He represents the 3rd District which is the South West seat. Kind gained his Masters degree at the London School of Economics, and worked as an intern for Leicester West's MP, Greville Janner.

The other competive seat is the 8th District where Steve Kagen is defending the seat he first won in 2006. The Eighth is the North Eastern district which includes Green Bay.

Navigating around Washminster

This blog has evolved since it first appeared on 7th March 2007. All entries can be read by using the Blog Archive on the right hand side. They are sorted by Year and Month. Alternatively it is possible to search for particular words or phrases. [Towards the top right hand corner].

Over the next few weeks - as a number of my Open University students face exams - I will be preparing new posts about issues that may well come up in the exam [W200 Law: Understanding Law; W201 Law: The Individual & the State]. However further information may be uncovered by using the search facility!

A "Twitter" stream is available under the the Plaxo Badge. These tweets may, or may not, be related to Washminster matters - but I often use twitter to highlight a matter in the news.

Under "Watch" there are direct links to
"BBC Democracy Live" - which has feeds from the House of commons; House of Lords; Select committees; the Scottish Parliament; Welsh Assembly; and the European Parliament;
"C-SPAN 2" - The US Senate, live when the Senate is in session - other programmes when it is not sitting
"C-SPAN 1 " - The House of Representatives

Under "US Congress" there are direct links to
"Bob Carr's HoR Schedule" - Bob Carr represented Michigan districts (the boundaries and District Number changed with redistrictings). He lives and works in Washington DC and maintains this schedule of sittings.
and the official websites of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

A direct link to the UK Parliament is available below that.

David's Favourite Blogs - links to the latest posts on a number of blogs which deal with the US Congress and UK Parliament.

The headings of "Parliament" and "Congress" are fed with news stories in which the terms above are used - they often are about the US Congress and UK Parliament, but may not necessarily be so.

C-SPAN Video Library

The searchable archives of C-SPAN are now available at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/. Every C-SPAN program aired since 1987, now totaling over 160,000 hours, is contained in the C-SPAN Archives and immediately accessible through the database and electronic archival systems

An excellent video on how to use the library is available here.

Retirements

This week has seen the announcements that Senators Dodd of Connecticut and Dorgan of North Dakota will not be seeking re-election. This will make the November elections even more interesting. Former Congressman Bob Carr has written in his blog about the factors which lead to politicans deciding to stand down - and not follow the example of Senator Byrd.

Bob Carr's blog is one worth following. He gives an insight into the workings of Congress - and I wish him every success as he develops the blog.

To read Bob's blog press here - and follow his blog - I certainly do.

The Special Relationship

On Saturday I went with Bob Carr, former Member of the House of Representatives from Michigan, to Bletchley Park - the Codebreaking centre which was vital to the conduct of the Second World War - and was the place where the first programmable computer was constructed.



For more information on Bletchley Park press here.

Obsessed by the Polls?

As Election Day gets closer - Tuesday 4th November [38 days to go!]- real addicts can get their fix from a number of websites which draw together the many polls being taken - and analyse them to give predictions about the results in the Presidential; House; Senate and Gubernatorial races.

Bob Carr , the former Michigan Congressman, http://www.dowlohnes.com/bcarr/

has recommended the following sites -

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

Not only do they give daily snapshots put together from a large number of different polls; they explain their reasoning for converting that, and other information, into predictions for electoral college votes and seats in the two houses of Congress.

I'll be visiting these sites on a daily basis - as well as looking at The Cook Political Report - http://www.cookpolitical.com/ and the Rothenberg Political Report - http://www.rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/. For detailed studies I find the reports of Greenberg Quinlan Roser very useful - http://www.greenbergresearch.com/index.php?ID=457.