Gallup: Republican Poll Numbers Drop For Midterms
GALLUP: Republican registered voters’ enthusiasm about voting in this year’s midterm elections has declined significantly in recent weeks. As a result, Republicans’ advantage over Democrats on this measure has shrunk from 19 points in early April to 10 points in the latest weekly aggregate.
In late March and early April, after Congress’ passage of healthcare reform, both Republican and Democratic registered voters became more enthusiastic about voting in this year’s elections. Republicans’ enthusiasm peaked at 54% “very enthusiastic” in late March and early April, but is 43% in the latest weekly update, from April 27-May 2 — essentially where it was before healthcare passed. By contrast, Democrats have more or less retained the slightly higher level of enthusiasm they showed right after the healthcare bill milestone.
Republicans’ current 10-point lead is the smallest Gallup has measured since it began tracking 2010 election attitudes in March.
For the second consecutive week, registered voters remain evenly divided in their current vote preferences between the Republican and Democratic candidates in their congressional districts on Gallup’s “generic ballot.” Republicans had enjoyed a slight edge for most of the period after the passage of healthcare reform in late March until mid- to late April, but had trailed prior to that.
If registered voter preferences remain evenly divided, turnout will ultimately decide which party has a better night on Election Day. Historically, Republicans turn out at higher rates than Democrats, which means a tie among registered voters is generally more indicative of a stronger Republican than Democratic showing on Election Day.
As long as Republicans maintain an advantage in voting enthusiasm, it would appear unlikely that Democrats would be poised to upset this typical pattern on Election Day. As the campaign continues, two indications in Gallup’s data of a possibly strong Democratic showing would be a continued closing of the enthusiasm gap versus Republicans, and the Democrats’ moving ahead of Republicans in registered-voter preferences on the generic ballot.
Tom DeLay: GOP Is Leaderless, Health Care Will Pass
The party-discipline master formerly known as “the Hammer” predicts health reform will pass and he says his own Republican Party has no leader, is mired in infighting, and can’t take advantage of President Obama’s stalled popularity. Politics Daily caught up with Delay on the sidewalk of a strip mall where he was practicing up for his gig on Dancing with the Stars.
On that lack of GOP discipline: “Republicans are leaderless…so we’re just fighting each other instead of Obama’s radical policies. There’s no political leader of the party taking control. So, Republicans are just attacking each other for being too far right or too far left. Even Rush and Hannity are doing it.”
“The Democrats will do exactly what we always did, rewrite the bill over and over until they give all the members what they need to get to 218 votes. The Senate will do the same thing.” It will, he predicts, be a straight party-line vote, and “maybe a few Republicans voting for it, but not many.”
“This new bill is just providing political cover for the Democrats to vote for health care reform.”
So who does DeLay see as the GOP’s up-and-comers? “No one,” he replied in exasperation. “It’s all the same old guys who were in leadership with me, and those old guys aren’t the leaders the party needs.”
Eating Their Own: Conservatives Turn on Liz Cheney
From Huffpo
The backlash is growing against Liz Cheney after she demonized Department of Justice attorneys as terrorist sympathizers for their past legal work defending Gitmo detainees — and now it’s coming from within deeply conservative legal circles.
On Friday, the conservative blog Power Line put up a post titled, “An Attack That Goes Too Far.” Author Paul Mirengoff, called Cheney’s effort to brand DoJ officials the “Al Qaeda 7,” “vicious” and “unfounded” even if it was right to criticize defense lawyers for voluntarily doing work on behalf of Gitmo detainees.
Reached on the phone, Mirengoff offered an even sharper rebuke, contrasting what Cheney is doing to the anti-communist crusades launched by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and, in some respects, finding it worse.
“It could be worse than some of the assertions made by McCarthy, depending on some of the validity of those assertions,” Mirengoff said, explaining that at least McCarthy was correct in pinpointing individuals as communist sympathizers. “It is just baseless to suggest that [these DoJ officials] share al Qaeda values… they didn’t actually say it but I think it was a fair implication of what they were saying.”
Mirengoff isn’t alone among conservative legal theorists who think the ad campaign by Cheney’s group, Keep America Safe, is distasteful. In a statement to the American Prospect, John Bellinger III, a former legal adviser to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, called the effort “unfortunate.”
“It reflects the politicization and the polarization of terrorism issues,” Bellinger said. “Neither Republicans nor Democrats should be attacking officials in each other’s administrations based solely on the clients they have represented in the past.”
Cheney, for her part, shows no signs of relenting. Hours after her organization was able to browbeat the DoJ into releasing the names of the seven officials who previously represented detainees, it put out a statement demanding even more disclosure.
“We regret that they still refuse to tell the American people whether any of these lawyers are currently working on detainee issues inside the Department,” said Aaron Harison, the executive director of Keep America Safe. “The American people have a right to know whether lawyers who voluntarily flocked to Guantanamo to take up the cause of the terrorists are currently working on detainee issues in President Obama’s Justice Department.”
IYFR: You complete me
Gay Republican State Senator Arrested – Log Cabin Republicans Going Broke
RELATED:
On the heels of the DUI arrest of ANTI-GAY State Senator, Roy Ashburn (Republican CA), after leaving A GAY BAR highly intoxicated, the openly gay political group, Log Cabin Republicans, is going broke.
Hampered by lackluster 2008 fundraising, Log Cabin Republicans are facing financial difficulties and ended the year at least $100,000 in debt, according to Patrick Sammon, the organization’s president.
Sammon said he expects the organization to have around $100,000 in debt or “maybe a little more,” adding that the figure is made up of consolidated debt.
Republican Senator Bunning: Filibusters Jobs Bill
Sen. Jim Bunning continues to object to extending unemployment benefits. On Monday, the Kentucky Republican once again prevented a vote on a bill that would extend eligibility for enhanced unemployment benefits and subsidized health insurance for laid-off workers by 30 days.
If Congress fails to pass an extension, the National Employment Law Project estimates that 1.2 million people will lose their benefits in March. Bunning’s action could cause thousands of people to miss their unemployment checks starting this week, though it’s likely that Congress will pass an extension within the next two weeks that will retroactively cover their losses.
Marco Rubio: Scandal For GOP Star
We knew it was just a matter or time, but less than a week? Hell no. The Rubio Effect from CPAC is still .. hot! Isn’t it?
As we went down the list of GOP 2012 hopefuls, Ron Paul was not on the short list but Marco Rubio was. After his “Obama 2004 convention” type moment at CPAC, we joked about how Rubio is their only hope for 2012. He’s a relatively unknown squeaky clean Cuba American. Just what the GOP needed. An ethnic with a great smile. What a find and Mitt’s smile was getting old. After we pinned Rubio the new 2012 poster child we kiddingly said, knowing the scandalous GOP track record, it only be a matter of time before some do-do hits the new kid of the Tea Bagging GOP.
We had no idea that would happen in less than a week after CPAC.
Marco Rubio released a crazy nuts letter accusing Gov. Charlie Crist’s campaign of leaking Rubio’s state Republican Party American Express statements showing nearly $110,000 in charges over 25 months.
Rubio also justifies the charges as legitimate travel to promote the Republican Party of Florida, help Republican candidates and participate in county party fundraisers around the state.
“It is clear these internal documents were taken from the RPOF by former Chairman Jim Greer, or someone working for him, and were leaked to the media by the Crist Campaign,” Rubio wrote to Chairman John Thrasher.
Rubio pointed out only top party officials had access to the statements and noted Greer was picked by Crist to run the party. Crist, who says he never carried a party charge card, has previously said the statements should be released.
IYFR: Paying for extravagant stuff on the people’s dime? Like we did with Sara Palin, we thank you Marco Rubio.
The GOP never fails to deliver!
SCOTT BROWN: RINO!
Well .. well. Seems Cosmo Scotty is a republican in name only. Why not, they have the cash.
**FYI: to the “Ha Ha a conservative took liberal Ted’s place. That’ll show you” ‘ crowd. Guess what? Brown’s always been a RINO. How do we know. We know and not for just his COSMO stint, which was fine by us. No! No matter what he said to dupe the right, Brown has always been … PRO CHOICE! You heard that right. Brown is PRO CHOICE.
For all of Brown’s conservative bravado, and because her voted YES for Obama’s jobs bill, the wing nuts want to eviscerate him! Go for it.
Heck, who know how Uncle Ted would have voted but apparently we have a friend in Scott Brown – Senator from Mass! And he’s still nice to look at.
Brown/Palin 2012!
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