Today is primary day in Tennessee. (Why you would stage an election on a Thursday instead of a Tuesday is beyond me. I can see moving election day to the weekend but can’t understand why a different mid-week work day is preferable.)

The big race tonight is the GOP primary for governor, but congressional retirements have created heated primary battles in a few districts.

Rangel has been dogged by long-simmering ethics investigations and charges that he violated house rules. GOP House members have vowed to bring a resolution to the floor calling for the Harlem Democrat’s removal as chairman. When CBC member Arthur Davis and 13 other Democratic representatives called on Rangel to step aside earlier today, leadership no doudt feared that additional defections in this election year could push the resolution over the top. Rangel and Speaker Pelosi met earlier this evening, where it is believed Rangel agreed to step aside.

It’s said that politics creates strange bedfellows. I was reminded how true this can be when I traveled to D.C. in recent weeks to figure out why several advocacy groups and legislators with histories of advocating for minority interests are lining up with big telecom companies in opposition to the FCC’s efforts to pass “Net Neutrality” rules.

Most unsettling about their position is the argument that maintaining Net Neutrality could widen the digital divide.

A strange result today in the House Financial Services Committee. Today, the committee passed their bill on financial regulatory reform, which was mostly completed before the Thanksgiving break. At that time, the Congressional Black Caucus asked for a delay on the vote, to try and gain leverage over passing some package to relieve the massive [...]