Author: Lauren Torlone

Senator Bennett, R-Utah, has just announced he will not mount a write-in campaign for the Senate race in Utah. Bennett acknowledged the urging he has received from people around the country and from colleagues in Washington nudging him to run a write-in campaign.

At a press conference on Capitol Hill Thursday, he called the race up until this point “nasty” and the atmosphere “truly toxic.”

The lawmaker then thanked his staff and said his 18-year run is more than most senators get. Bennett has made no decision yet on endorsing any candidate.

The senator’s announcement comes after he failed to place in the top two during Utah’s GOP convention on May 8, thus ejecting him from the primary race.

Bennett came in third behind attorney Mike Lee and businessman Tim Bridgewater. Lee and Bridgewater are set to face-off again on June 22 to determine the GOP’s nominee.

Whoever wins the primary will go up against the Democratic candidate, Utah Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission Chair Sam Granato.

While Bennett came up short at the GOP convention, his loss isn’t seen as a threat to Republicans, who are widely favored to win the seat in November.‬‪ No Democrat has won in a Utah Senate race since 1970.

Nationally, Bennett’s loss has been cited as an example of a growing anti-incumbent sentiment across the country in 2010 elections.‬‪

Initially following the May 8 defeat, a spokesperson for Senator Bennett said he had made no decision about whether he might consider a write-in campaign.‬‪‬‪

Independent Wayne Hill and “Constitution Party” candidate Scott Bradley are also vying for the seat.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon (D) is vehemently opposed to Arizona’s new immigration law.  Sunday on Fox News, Gordon railed against the legislation, labeled it unconstitutional and described it as “trampling civil rights.”  The law’s new identification process will require suspected illegals to produce legitimate forms of identification when questioned about their status by law enforcement.

The mayor described the process as unfair because “those that don’t have an Arizona driver’s license, children under 16, seniors that don’t drive and people coming from out of state” aren’t able to comply with the law and are therefore “at risk of being arrested and turned over to I.C.E. [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].”

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed the nation’s toughest crackdown on illegal immigration into law Friday, a move that’s fueling the illegal immigration debate across the country.

Since Friday, protests have been erupting outside the Arizona state capitol, with those in attendance urging others to join boycotts of the immigration law.

Despite lambasting the law, Mayor Gordon offered a potential “silver lining,” adding that the federal government will now have to address the immigration policy and enforcement “that they have been turning a deaf ear to.”

Arizona physician Joseph Scherzer says he plans to close his office by 2014 unless the new health care law is repealed by Congress or the courts, despite the fact that new health care regulations won’t fully kick in for a few years.

He’s one of several doctors across the country preparing for changes that will greatly impact the way they operate. Earlier this week Dr. Scherzer posted a sign on the front door of his practice that read, “If you voted for Obamacare, be aware these doors will close before it goes into effect, unless Congress or the Courts repeal the bill.”

Dr. Scherzer, who has more than 30 years of experience practicing medicine, told Fox News on Sunday, “We need to be unafraid. This is an important time…many doctors talk about it in the lunch room, but don’t do anything. And if there is a chance to speak out, you need to take it.” He went on to urge patients to do the same.

“This bill could really represent the death of professional medicine,” Scherzer said.

He said that if his friends and peers are any indication, most physicians feel the same way. Dr. Scherzer told Fox News “patients need to talk to their doctors and get them to see that now is the time to act.”

Scherzer says his main problem with the new health care regulations stems from the headache of even more government involvement in health care. He points specifically to Medicare reform and his past experiences dealing with Medicare patients — a process Scherzer has found to be unncessarily complicated and confusing.

For those who think he is doing it because of the money, Dr. Scherzer says, “In my case, it is not a worry about financial loss of income because I voluntarily cut my own income this past year.” He points instead to a fear of “government threats and financial threats of extremely horrendous fines that are present in Medicare if you…diagnose and treat.”

Dr. Scherzer went to Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and has been a practicing Dermatologist in Scottsdale, Ariz., since 1976.

Lexi Stemple contributed to this report.

The latest attorney general to join a lawsuit aimed at federally mandated health care tells Fox News this is not a political move.
Republican Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller says attorneys general are largely unpolitical and the lawsuit exists “to check…whether the federal government has overextended itself” and “used its authority where it really doesn’t have it.”‪
Zoeller went on to say, “anything that comes out of Washington these days is so hyperpolitical” and isn’t reflective of “what’s going on in each of the individual states.”

 
To date, 15 attorneys general (14 Republicans and 1 Democrat) from states including Washington, Utah, Colorado, Texas and Pennsylvania have joined the lawsuit.  Attorneys general getting the most pressure to sign on to the lawsuit hail from states with Republican legislatures that tend to vote Republican in national elections.

 
In spite of the growing number of attorneys general on board, many legal experts say its unlikely the suit will actually stop the law from taking effect.  Some experts believe the major issue is with the constitutionality of health care reform, and whether states have the authority to force taxpayers to purchase health insurance.  Those who have already joined the suit hope to see it go to the Supreme Court, where no decision has been made on whether or not the government has the power to mandate health insurance.

White House Drug Czar Chief Gil Kerlikowske said on Saturday that the U.S. has a responsibility to bear when it comes to the ongoing drug war in Mexico.

Speaking on Fox News, Kerlikowske admitted that the U.S. is “a large consumer nation” of drugs and that the Obama Administration is working hard to combat the problem and  “reduce the amount of drugs that we consume.”‪

Kerlikowske’s comments come as violence in Mexico has continued to escalate in recent days, notably in the border city of Juarez.  He says the U.S. is working to seize money that fuels Mexican drug cartels and to ”stop the flow of guns” between the two countries.

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a high level White House delegation to Mexico. Secretary Clinton told the Mexican government the two countries will work “together to solve the problems posed by the criminal cartels that stock the streets on your cities and ours.”‪

Following up on a promise to support Mexico, the United States has provided the Mexican government with a gun tracking system called “E-Trace” that will allow Mexican authorities to trace firearms from their point of sale, including within the United States.

Former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings on Sunday did not give high marks to President Obama’s proposal to overhaul the nation’s education standards.

“It’s a mixed bag,” Secretary Spellings told Brian Wilson on America’s News Headquarters, adding “There are some encouraging things that I think we can take away. A lot of it is built on things we did in the Bush administration giving educators credit for progress they make along the way. But there is also worrisome things, as I understand in the blueprint. They’ll take away the school choice and the opportunity that parents have for tutoring services, things like that…As I understand it, the Obama administration is going to lay out a plan that will actually give all of that latitude back to the states. And, you know, we tried it for 40 years and our kids suffered greatly.”

The plan – highlighted in the president’s weekly radio and internet address on Saturday – essentially rewrites the much-maligned No Child Left Behind education law implemented in 2002, of which Spellings was a key architect.

No Child Left Behind has come under considerable criticism by administrators, teachers and parents groups who say the law encourages educators to place a disproportionate focus on test scores. When asked if the act has been positive, Spellings said “absolutely”. In response to criticism the act holds back gifted students, Spellings said there’s no evidence advanced students are inhibited by the education law, and that a “rising tide lifts all boats.”

Craig Schulz contributed to this report.