August 14, 2010
Meg Whitman (R) "has contributed an additional $13 million of her own money to her effort to become California's next governor, bringing the Republican nominee's personal stake in her election bid to $104 million," the
Los Angeles Times reports.
A year and a half after Congress passed the economic-stimulus plan, "some of the big infrastructure projects touted by the Obama administration are still months from visible development," the
Wall Street Journal reports.
"The administration said stimulus spending was always intended to roll
out in stages, over a period of two years, and that the pace of outlays
for infrastructure would be slower than for other parts of the package.
But recent opinion polls suggested the White House has struggled to
communicate that message, particularly after its emphasis on
"shovel-ready" projects during the debate over the plan's passage in
early 2009."
A new
Las Vegas Review-Journal/Mason-Dixon poll in Nevada shows Brian Sandoval (R) still with a big lead over Rory Reid (D) in the race for governor, 52% to 36%.
Said pollster Brad Coker: "
They might have changed one point here or one point there, but it is almost like a carbon copy of the last poll."
"Let me be clear: as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable."
-- President Obama, quoted by the
Washington Post, on plans to build a mosque near ground zero in Manhattan.
Dave Weigel draws an interesting lesson from the story that Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) kidnapped a woman and forced her to smoke marijuana and bow to "
Aqua Buddha."
"The anonymous woman...says
she wasn't kidnapped,
and that ends the story. In the year 2010, a Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky is revealed to have played around with marijuana in his college days, and basically no one cares, apart from their appreciation of the neologism 'Aqua Buddha.'"
"The election of Barack Obama hasn't created a post-racial America, but has it created an America where we just assume our candidates have done drugs -- and we don't care? That's progress!"
August 13, 2010
Top Republican "emissaries" are meeting with Dan Maes (R) in an attempt to convince him to drop out of the race for Colorado governor and let the GOP replace him with someone else, according to
Colorado Pols.
"From what we have heard over the last 24 hours, however, Maes is unlikely to agree to any terms that would see him remove himself from the race for Governor because he truly believes that he has earned the nomination. As part of a last-ditch effort, top Republicans may try to get Maes to agree to their choice for a running mate, in hopes that a stronger Lieutenant Governor could be in a position to take over the ballot at some point."
A new
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald/Ipsos poll in Florida shows Rick Scott (R) leads Bill McCollum (R) in the Republican primary for governor by ten points, 42% to 32% with 23% still undecided.
Two other polls
recently found McCollum back in the lead.
In general election matchups, Scott leads Alex Sink (D), 30% to 29%, while Sink leads McCollum, 30% to 26%. Each pairing shows high numbers of undecideds (26% and 29% respectively).
Nevada U.S. Senate hopeful Sharron Angle (R) says the nation's Social Security system needs to be privatized noting it was done before in Chile, the
AP reports.
Karl Rove once claimed that President George W. Bush read 95 books in a year as part of a bet.
Apparently, President Obama is not as well read.
Reporter Michael Powell to the
Columbia Journalism Review: "I got talking to him about what he reads and was telling me about these different policy tomes. And I said, 'Well, yeah, but come on. I'm out here on the campaign trail with you, you're up even earlier than I am, and I've been carrying around this Philip Roth book with me for two months and I'm yet to even crack it.' He actually laughed at that point, and said, 'Yeah, you have very little chance to really read. I basically floss my teeth and watch Sports Center.'"
A new
CNN poll shows Mitt Romney leading the pack of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates with 21%, followed by Sarah Palin at 18%, Newt Gingrich at 15%, Mike Huckabee at 14% and Ron Paul at 10%.
Romney confidant
Kevin Madden: "2012 horserace polls are like pre-season football: Fun to watch for a few minutes until you realize they don't matter."
South Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene (D) has been indicted on a felony charge of showing pornography to a college student, the
Columbia State reports.
A new
Public Policy Polling survey finds Republicans lead in the generic congressional ballot, 45% to 42%.
Possible wildcard: "The undecided voters on the generic ballot tell an interesting story. They voted for Barack Obama by a 46/32 margin. But they now disapprove of him 38/48. And they disapprove of Congressional Republicans even more, 9/65. They dislike Congressional Republicans more than Obama- but will that be as important a factor in how they vote this fall? Hard to say at this point."
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's job approval ratings "have dropped to an all-time low for him -- 44% -- and represent the lowest posted by a Florida governor in 16 years," according to a new
Mason-Dixon poll.
This is the first time Crist's job performance has dropped below 50%.
The
Columbia Free Times reports U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene (D) began a campaign swing with a brief speech to the South Carolina Democratic Party executive committee. His speech "clocked in at around 23 seconds."
It was only Greene's second speech since his surprising win in the Democratic primary in June.
"I think I'm gonna be the best mayor I can be."
-- Levi Johnston, in a very entertaining interview with
Jimmy Kimmel about his mayoral aspirations.
See more...
First Read puts together its list of the 64 House seats most likely to switch parties. There are 55 Democratic-held seats on this list, and nine GOP-held ones.
Meanwhile,
The Fix looks at the top 30 House races and finds that 26 of them are currently held by Democrats.
"Check the poll numbers before I went and compare them to the election. You can draw your own conclusions."
-- Mike Huckabee, quoted by
RealClearPolitics, taking credit for Nathan Deal's (R) victory in the Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary by endorsing him.
Well that didn't take very long: Arizona House candidate Ben Quayle's (R) new
political ad calling Barack Obama the worst president in history is now the subject of an
amusing parody by Andy Cobb.
See more...
With signs the jury in his corruption trial is
deadlocked on a majority of counts against him, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will have to wait until at least Monday for a decision, the
Chicago Tribune reports.
Daniel Libit sees four possible scenarios:
1. The jury is completely hung.
2. Robert Blagojevich, the governor's brother, is off the hook.
3. The jury thinks Rod Blagojevich is guilty on two counts.
4. Deliberations could continue for quite a while.
The DNC launched a
new website "that showcases the party's open-source software efforts and offers easy access to voter registration tools for campaigns and state parties,"
The Hill reports.
The site has an application programming interface (API) that allows anyone to create voter registration applications "without being concerned with the details of creating PDFs, following up with voters, or the rules associated with registering in various states."
Kimberly Strassel: "Troll through the voting rolls, and you'll find an exclusive club of three House Democrats running for re-election who voted against the more controversial pieces of the Obama agenda: the $862 billion stimulus, Mr. Obama's $3.5 trillion budget, cap and trade and, of course, ObamaCare. Troll through the polls today, and you'll find a near-exclusive club of three House Democrats who are beating every electoral expectation. Were history, incumbency and the economy the main factors this fall, Idaho's Walt Minnick, Alabama's Bobby Bright and Mississippi's Gene Taylor would be packing up. That they aren't is a resounding statement on a failed Obama vision."
Flashback to 1994:
Josh Kraushaar notes "of the 16 House Democrats who voted against former
President Clinton on the controversial budget and assault weapons ban,
every single one of them won reelection."
A new
Tarrance Group survey in Florida confirms the findings of yesterday's
Mason-Dixon poll and shows Bill McCollum (R) has retaken the lead over Rick Scott (R) in the Republican primary for governor, 44% to 40%.
A new
Las Vegas Review Journal/Mason-Dixon poll in Nevada shows Sen. Harry Reid (D) edging challenger Sharron Angle (R), 46% to 44% with just 5% still undecided.
Key finding: 51% said Reid's clout as the Senate majority leader is not too valuable to give up, while 45% said Nevada can't afford to lose his influence.
Said pollster Brad Coker: "More people are saying we don't need him there. That's the kind of number that may foreshadow what the vote might look like when we get to the end. I think this race is more a referendum on Harry Reid than about Sharron Angle."
A new
Rasmussen survey in Colorado -- the first since the primaries earlier this week -- finds challenger Ken Buck (R) leading Sen. Michael Bennet (D) in the U.S. Senate race by five points, 46% to 41%.
August 12, 2010
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