What’s wrong in Appalachia (And what do we do about it?)

The early November statewide elections in Kentucky and West Virginia were something of a yawn compared to the excitement of 2009 where big Republican wins in Virginia and New Jersey presaged the 2010 wave that swept Republicans into a dominant position in the House and in states nationwide. In Kentucky, Republican nominee David Williams was [...]

 

An Exercise in Intentions: What the Congressional Committee targets tell us about 2012.

The DCCC has released its first list of targeted races for 2012. The NRCC has also announced some seats targeted for pick-ups. To most people these are just be a bunch of names that they have never heard of, but the target lists give us an insight into what smart people at the two committees [...]

 

POLL: Democrat Voters Losing Enthusiasm

A recent CNN survey shows Democrat voters drastically losing enthusiasm for the 2012 elections, while Republican voters are seeing a significant increase in their intensity.  Excerpts from the Washington Post article below: = In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll just more than four in 10 (42 percent) Democrats said they were either “extremely” or “very” enthusiastic [...]

 

Follow up on the special election in CA-36

The votes are in for the contest between LA city councilwoman Janice Hahn and Businessman Craig Huey in California’s 36th congressional district. Not surprisingly Hahn was elected to be the district’s next congressional representative. As discussed in a previous entry, CA-36 is a strongly Democratic district. In 2008, President Obama outperformed John McCain by over [...]

 

Gallup: Debt Ceiling Increase Remains Unpopular

PRINCETON, NJ — Despite agreement among leaders of both sides of the political aisle in Washington that raising the U.S. debt ceiling is necessary, more Americans want their member of Congress to vote against such a bill than for it, 42% vs. 22%, while one-third are unsure. This 20-percentage-point edge in opposition to raising the [...]

 

With Weiner Gone, Is NY-9 In Play?

Though New York City is among the most Democratic of American cities, newly-resigned Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D) now vacant Queens-Brooklyn seat is not as staunchly Democratic as one might guess.  In fact, the district is actually trending more Republican than any other NYC Democratic district.  Of course the Democratic special election nominee will be the [...]

 

POLL RESULTS: Specialty Physicians Strongly Oppose Government Run Health Care

Memorandum To:            Alfred Bonati, M.D.                 American Society of Medical Doctors From:        Chris Perkins, Vice President Subject:    Survey Results Date:        August 19, 2009   Key Findings   §  An overwhelming number of specialty physicians oppose President Obama’s and the Democratic Congress’ health care plan. o   We asked specialty physicians the following question As you may have heard, President Obama and [...]

 

Trending Republican

In 2000, George W. Bush won about 48% of the popular vote, and 271 votes in the electoral college. In 2008, John McCain won 46% of the popular vote, but only 173 electoral votes. A lot of attention has been paid to the decline in Republican voting power in much of the country, especially in [...]

 

Survey: Peter Schiff Competitive With Chris Dodd, Rob Simmons

PDF of Memo (content pasted below) Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research was commissioned by Peter Schiff to conduct a live-interview telephone survey of likely Connecticut voters to determine the feasibility of a run for U.S. Senate against Chris Dodd in November 2010. WPA completed the survey of n=400 likely voters June 24–25, 2009. The sample [...]

 

Peter Schiff Polling for Potential Senate Run Against Dodd in Connecticut

By: Emily Cadei (link to article) Investor and financial commentator Peter Schiff is doing polling in Connecticut to gauge support for a potential Republican Senate run. Schiff has signed on prominent Republican polling firm Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research to survey the state, his brother and spokesman Andrew Schiff told CQ Politics. “Peter is a [...]

 

Democrats Health Care Gamble Continues

In just one short week, the Democrats have lost their footing on getting out a “bi-partisan” health care reform plan after a series of setbacks with their own conference.  The Hill’s Young reports on the internal issues Senate Democrats are having: “…the unity that Democrats touted earlier this year has cracked. As conservatives lambaste Democrats, [...]

 

GOP Rising?

For the first time in over two years recent polling shows that Americans trust the GOP’s handling of 6 out of the top 10 issues over the Democrats facing Americans. Probably most importantly, because it will likely be the main issue facing candidates in 2010 is that Americans trust the handling of the economy to Republicans.  [...]

 

Democrats Gamble on Heathcare

With numerous surveys showing Congressional job approval near an all time low and the President’s job approval rating slipping, Democrats will now drop everything and pin their hopes on a successful legislative session on one issue: health care.  While it isn’t news that congressional Democrats want to pursue legislation designed to bring more government control into the system, it is rather [...]

 

Nothing Gained with Cheney

Last week, Gallup released a survey showing that Dick Cheney and Nancy Pelosi both carry similar image scores (see below).  But, why is the pundit class focused more on the negative impact of Cheney on the Republicans’ image without noting the possibility of a similar effect on the Democrats’ image by Speaker Pelosi?  The answer [...]

 

Leading the GOP Out of the Wilderness May Not Lie with Congressional Republicans

A newly released survey indicates that Republican Congressional Leadership may not be the best positioned to lead the party back to power.  When asked if the “policies being proposed by” Democratic or Republican leadership in the US House and Senate would move the country in the right direction or wrong direction, Americans came down hard [...]

 

Republicans Soft on their Congressional Representation

A recent survey indicates that Republicans are less enthusiastic about their representation in Congress (read: Republicans in Congress) than Democrats are about Democratic members. Republicans in Congress Very Fav among Republicans: 26% Smwt Fav among Republican: 36% Democrats in Congress Very Fav among Democrats: 41% Smwt Fav among Democrats: 40% This shows that the base [...]

 

Obama: 100 Days and Beyond

We release our National Political Environment Assessment today, focusing on the public’s perception of Obama’s first 100 days and the impact it has on the political landscape and the 2010 elections. Here are the key findings: Overall, Obama has had a successful first one hundred days as President; however, several cracks may have appeared in [...]

 

2010 Looking Better For GOP, as Independents Lean Right

A new survey out indicates that Independent voters view things more like Republicans than Democrats these days.  This is excellent news for a bruised GOP, searching for a way to come back (or to at least not lose any more seats in Congress). For the past several days, a number of news agencies have reported [...]

 

Specters Defection Was About Him Only

As the former Executive Director of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and as a resident of Pennsylvania it was extremely disheartening to hear the news yesterday, although not shocking. Sen. Arlen Specter claims that his reasoning for switching Party’s was because his “views” were more in line with those of the Democrats.  Read his press [...]

 

Maps for Hacks: 2010 Senate and Gubernatorial Races

Several new maps today from CQ, indicating a number of toss-up races for Seante and Governor.  This gives you an idea of how many major races are emerging.     Links to Senate Map/Gov Map

 

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