Where in the World Is Arne?

This from Politics K-12:

Politics K-12 wants to know, as does Rick "Straight Up" Hess.

Race to the Top started out as a new, exciting adventure with the promise of billions of dollars in prize money to help the nation's students. And now, reality is setting in—and the adults are fighting.

In the run-up to the first round of the competition, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was a dominating presence, not hesitating to praise the well-behaving and model states...

Now, it seems Duncan has dropped out of the Race to the Top picture, like a parent leaving town for the weekend, leaving the states to run amok.

That means, in Indiana, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett is pulling the plug on the Hoosier State's application, citing lack of union cooperation. In Colorado, the union and the state—which engaged in an enviably collaborative process in round one—are at odds, big time, over a teacher tenure bill. Rhode Island, which had a very strong round-one application, is now trying to court the unions. And the National Education Association is saying a jobs bill in Congress is more important than Race to the Top...