To commemorate the MLK holiday in a relevant way, begin by reading Ned Resnicoff’s “Four ways Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to battle inequality” at MSNBC.com, which includes this nugget: “The 1968 Memphis strike was not the first time King had reached out directly to the labor movement. He had been delivering speeches before crowds of union members for years, calling for greater cooperation between the civil rights movement and the labor movement…”The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress,” he told the Illinois State AFL-CIO in 1965. “Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old-age pensions, government relief for the destitute, and, above all, new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life.”
From Toluse Olorunnipa’s post “Christie Meets Florida Donors in Private Amid Democratic Taunts” at Bloomberg.com: It’s not every day that we have a governor visit Florida whose scandals burn so brightly that they outshine even those of our own scandal-plagued governor, Rick Scott,” said U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat and head of the DNC, at the press conference.
Nicole Hemmer’s “The Conservative War on Liberal Media Has a Long History” at The Atlantic illuminates the development of he environment that lead to the Roger Ailes/Fox News era.
Obama is cranking up the bully pulpit for the midterm elections, reports Jules Witcover at the Baltimore Sun.
Julian Zelizer’s CNN politics post “Five big questions on 2014 elections” offers this observation: “There are certain must-wins for Democrats if they are to show that they are capable of taking advantage of this moment. In Florida’s 13th District, Alex Sink, a well-known and well-respected Democrat, is attempting to win the seat of long-term Republican veteran Bill Young, who recently died, leaving open this highly competitive district. If Democrats can’t win this special election on March 11, it will signal trouble…Democrats will also be looking for a win in Florida’s 2nd District, where Gwen Graham is trying to defeat Rep. Steve Southerland in a test of whether the South has really softened as conservative territory. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been pouring resources into the district to paint Southerland as a poster child for the House GOP. “Congressman Southerland’s reckless plan to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act would mean 614,200 consumers in Florida would be left without health insurance rebates,” said one party spokesperson.”
And Kyle Kondik notes at the Crystal Ball that “we’re changing the rating in the FL-13 special election from Toss-up to Leans Democratic. Unless national factors become so unfavorable for Democrats that they lift Jolly, we think this race is Sink’s to lose.”
From The Salt Lake Tribune, in the mother of all red states: “Poll: Utahns favor stricter air quality rules for industry.”
Roxana Hegeman writes at AZcentral.com that “The U.S. Election Assistance Commission on Friday rejected requests by Kansas, Arizona and Georgia to modify federal registration forms to allow their states to fully implement proof-of-citizen voting laws for their residents…The agency found that granting the states’ requests would “likely hinder eligible citizens from registering to vote in federal elections,” undermining the core purpose of the National Voter Registration Act.”
Meanwhile, Michael Muskal reports at the L.A. Times that “Pennsylvania voter ID law struck down by judge as unconstitutional.”