August 21, 2010
If Newt Gingrich does jump into the 2012 Republican presidential primary, his forthcoming book,
Valley Forge, could be key, says
Washington Whispers.
"Indications are that Gingrich, with coauthor William Forstchen, who together have penned seven books, will hit the road post-midterm Election Day to promote the book and its message, which aligns nicely with the Tea Party pitch."
A last minute
Mason-Dixon poll in Florida finds Kendrick Meek (D) leading Jeff Greene (D) for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination, 42% to 30%.
In the GOP gubernatorial primary, Bill McCollum (R) leads Rick Scott (R), 45% to 36%.
The primaries are on Tuesday.
The physical location of a poling place not only affects how many people vote -- it may also influence last-minute decisions regarding which box to mark or lever to pull.
Miller-McCune: "Polling places are, in theory, scrupulously neutral places, devoid of visual cues like campaign signs. But according to two recent studies, the building in which a polling place is located can exert subtle but perhaps decisive influence on how votes are cast."
Coming next month:
Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future by Robert B. Reich.
"When the nation's economy foundered in 2008, blame was directed almost universally at Wall Street. But Reich suggests a different reason for the meltdown, and for a perilous road ahead. He argues that the real problem is structural: it lies in the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top, and in a middle class that has had to go deeply into debt to maintain a decent standard of living."
President Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia went book shopping on Martha's Vineyard today. Their picks: John Steinbeck's
The Red Pony, Harper Lee's
To Kill A Mockingbird for the girls and Jonathan Franzen's new novel,
Freedom, for the president.
New York Times: "Call it a presidential perk, but the store let Mr. Obama buy an advance
copy of
Freedom even though it is not officially on sale until the end
of the month."
The RNC "spent twice as much as it raised in July, leaving the committee with just over $5 million on hand with less than three months left before the 2010 midterm elections," the
Washington Post reports.
Haiti's electoral council announced that Wyclef Jean "had been disqualified as a candidate for president of his earthquake-shattered homeland," the
New York Times reports.
No official explanation was given but Jean "said he was rejected because he did not meet the requirement of having lived in Haiti for five consecutive years before the Nov. 28 elections. Born in Haiti, Mr. Jean left as a child for the United States and now, based in New Jersey, travels often to his homeland."
"The statement said his heart was heavy but that he accepted the decision and urged his followers to do the same."
August 20, 2010
With the primary behind them, a new
SurveyUSA poll in Washington shows Dino Rossi (R) leading Sen. Patty Murray (D) in the U.S. Senate general election match up, 52% to 45%.
Said pollster Jay Leve: "The race may tighten, which is what we might expect, but I do think that we can say going in as this first poll shows, is that this is not a layup for re-election and that there's a real fight here."
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich told
ABC News he sees "a triumphant political comeback in his future that will be no less dramatic than the one pulled off by Winston Churchill."
Said Blagojevich: "I'm not ruling out doing something I've spent my whole adult life doing and doing something. I believe some of the greatest stories in history are some of the great comebacks. You think about Winston Churchill, I mean he spent years in the political wilderness. If Churchill can comeback from something like that, when I'm vindicated, I certainly don't write myself off."
"If you're a Democrat, you need to hold your head up. I'm tired of reading about how we're all belly-aching."
-- Bill Clinton, quoted by the
New York Times, "delivering the pep talk of a coach who is disappointed with his team's behavior."
Steve Forbes, who ran for president in 1996 and 2000, will be in Iowa next week to sign copies of his book,
How Capitalism Will Save Us, the
Mason City Globe Gazette reports.
But is he also laying the groundwork for a presidential bid?
Said Forbes: "The answer in this case is no. I'm an agitator. It's fun to watch others do the sweating and running."
A new
Clarus Research poll in Louisiana shows Sen. David Vitter (R) leading Rep. Charlie Melancon (D) in a head-to-head match up for U.S. Senate, 48% to 36%.
Pollster Ron Faucheux notes "there are many more African-American voters who are undecided. 20% of African-American voters are undecided, as opposed to 12% of white voters. So Charlie Melancon does have some opportunity for some growth there."
A new
Rasmussen Reports survey in Arkansas shows Rep. John Boozman (R) crushing Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 65% to 27%.
In an interview with
ABC News, former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) blasted the media "for creating what he said was an impression that political corruption is far more widespread than it really is."
Said DeLay: "It's not bad enough now to just beat them at policy or let them ruin your reputation. They've got to bankrupt you, ruin your family, put you in jail, put you in the grave, and then dance on your grace. That's not good for the country."
The Texas Republican also did not rule out a return to elected office, noting "I don't know what the Lord has in store for me."
"It's a loser issue -- they have a big L on their foreheads. If that's all they've got, it's a pretty good indication of the problems that the Democrats face in 2010."
-- Jeb Bush, quoted by the
New York Times, on Democrats trying to use his brother, former President George W. Bush, as a campaign issue this year.
August 19, 2010
Test your prediction skills against forecasts from CQ-Roll Call and the Rothenberg Political Report by
rating November's races and then see how your results stack up against theirs.
A new
Public Policy Polling survey in Illinois finds voters say they would be negatively influenced if a candidate was endorsed by President Obama. In fact, 40% of voters in the president's home state say they'd be less likely to support an Obama endorsed candidate to only 26% who say it would be an asset.
Bottom line: "The reality at this point is that Obama turns Republican voters off to a much greater extent than he excites Democrats."
"The president is obviously -- he's Christian. He prays every day. He communicates with his religious adviser every single day. There's a group of pastors that he takes counsel from on a regular basis. His faith is very important to him but it's not something that's a topic of conversation every single day."
-- White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, quoted in the
Wall Street Journal, defending President Obama's faith.
A new
InsiderAdvantage/WSB-TV poll in Georgia shows Nathan Deal (R) with a 4 point lead over former Gov. Roy Barnes (D) in the race for governor, 45% to 41%.
Said pollster Matt Towery: "Barnes and Deal are splitting independents virtually even. So that's where the battleground is going to be. If one of those candidates can take control of those independent voters, then they have a good shot at winning."
A new
Braun Reseach poll in Kentucky shows Jack Conway (D) closing the gap with Rand Paul (R) in the U.S. Senate race.
The race is essentially deadlocked with Conway just ahead 41.7% to 41.2%.
A new
Clarus poll in Washington, D.C. shows Vincent Gray (D) leading Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) in the Democratic mayoral primary, 41% to 36%.
Dan Maes (R) rejected a proposal from Tom Tancredo (I) that they both drop out of the Colorado governor's race so the GOP could appoint a more formidable candidate to take on John Hickenlooper (D), the
Denver Post reports.
Countering two
recent polls that showed Pat Toomey (R) with solid leads in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate,
First Read reports an internal poll conducted by Democratic pollster Fred Yang shows Toomey with a more narrow two-point lead over Joe Sestak (D).
"Now, it's never a good thing when a party's own poll has its candidate trailing -- even within the margin of error -- as this poll finds. But Democrats want to show the race is in play for them."
"The answer is no regrets."
-- President Obama, quoted by
CNN, on whether he regrets saying he supported the rights of Muslims to build a mosque near the site of the September 11 terror attacks in New York. A new
Siena poll shows large majorities of New Yorkers opposed to the plan.
A new
Pew Research poll finds a "substantial and growing number" of Americans say that President Obama is a Muslim, while the proportion saying he is a Christian has declined.
Key findings: 18% now say Obama is a Muslim, up from 11% in March 2009. Just 34% say Obama is a Christian, down sharply from 48% in 2009. Fully 43% say they do not know what Obama's religion is.
Interestingly, the survey was completed before Obama's recent comments about the proposed construction of a mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center.
A new
Time poll, completed after the recent controversy, shows 24% mistakenly believe that President Obama is a Muslim.
First Read: "These results don't many anyone look good -- Obama's political opponents (who have helped spread false information about the president's religion and birthplace), the press (which obviously hasn't done its job here, thanks to some outlets even serving as a megaphone by running false equivalency debates), and the American populace (which should be embarrassed)."
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