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Disconnect for Democrats in new poll

Disconnect for Dems in new poll

Jordan Fabian - 10/02/10 12:45 PM ET

A poll released Friday gave mixed results to Democrats with the mid-term elections, in which they are expected to lose a large amount of seats in Congress, just one month away.

Democrats beat Republicans on almost all policy issues in the latest Newsweek poll, but the public is virtually undecided on whether or not they should keep their majorities in Congress:

Democrats more than Republicans to handle pretty much every problem currently facing the country: Afghanistan (by 6 points), health care (by 12), immigration (by 2, though that figure is within the margin of error), Social Security (by 14), unemployment (by 12), financial reform (by 14), energy (by 19), and education (by 19). Voters even prefer Democrats to Republicans on federal spending (by 4 points), taxes (by 5), and the economy (by 10)—the GOP's core concerns. The only area where Republicans outpoll Democrats is the issue of terrorism, where they lead by a 6-point margin.

[...]

Still, voters are split on which party should control Congress after November—44 percent went for Republicans, 46 percent for Democrats.

The poll says mixed things about the Democrats strategy heading into the November mid-terms. Many political observers are predicting that Republicans could take control of the House and make large gains on the Democrats 59-seat Senate majority.

National Democrats have framed the election as a choice between themselves and the GOP, arguing that while the economic recovery has been slower than expected, the passage of key measures such as the stimulus, healthcare reform and financial regulation, have put the country on the right track.

They have painted Republicans as a group that wants to restore Bush-era policies that triggered the economic crisis and end popular entitlement programs like Social Security.

While the public appears to have gotten the message on the issues, it has not resonated as greatly as a case for allowing the Democrats to keep their control of Congress and thereby continue implementing those policies. 

Republicans have said that the Obama administration's policies have increased the federal deficit, deepened the nation's debt and failed to create jobs. The public appears to be partially receptive to that with unemployment still standing at 9.6 percent. 

Even though Republicans have attempted to make the election a referendum on the Obama administration, the president's approval rating remained at 48 percent, "roughly where it has remained since January of this year." 

Obama's approval rating is better than President George W. Bush's 33 percent approval rating in 2006 when the GOP lost control of the House. It is also higher than President Bill Clinton's 36 percent rating in 1994, just before the Republican revolution.

The Newsweek poll was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from Sept. 29-30 of 1,025 adults. The margin of error was 3.8 percentage points.

Entry #3,281

Burly the Bankrobber was the Greyhound bus driver

Greyhound bus driver admits to 11 robberies

 

Jonathan Saltzman
 
Globe Staff
  October 2, 2010

 

A Greyhound bus driver nicknamed the “burly bandit’’ by the FBI pleaded guilty in a Maine court yesterday to robbing 11 banks and credit unions in New England and New York during a three-month spree, including several along his bus route.

Robert Ferguson, 47, of Lowell admitted in US District Court in Bangor that he stole about $107,000 from the banks and credit unions, including four in Massachusetts. The robberies began April 9 in Buffalo, N.Y., and ended hours after he held up a bank in Bangor on July 13.

Prosecutors said tips they received after surveillance photographs of the robber were distributed to news outlets helped solve the case. An employee of a Days Inn where Ferguson was staying after his last robbery contacted authorities to say a guest resembled the burly man in a photograph taken hours before at the Bangor Savings Bank in Orono.

Numerous other people identified Ferguson from the photographs taken at the Orono bank, including his fiancée, his brother, and a co-worker, prosecutors said.

The four Massachusetts robberies took place at Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank in Tewksbury April 29, Digital Federal Credit Union in Tyngsborough May 5, Rollstone Bank & Trust in Fitchburg May 17, and Rockland Federal Credit Union in North Attleborough May 27, prosecutors said.

He also robbed banks in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, authorities said.

US Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II of Maine said the robberies fit a pattern. The robber would show a gun or indicate he had one and threaten to harm bank employees if they did not follow orders. He wore disguises, including a beard, and walked a considerable distance before he got into a getaway vehicle.

After Ferguson’s arrest, authorities searched a Greyhound bus that he drove and found a blue nylon bag containing $10,925 behind an access panel in the luggage compartment, prosecutors said.

No sentencing date has been set.

Entry #3,278

Biden vs. the tea party 'Not the same breed of cat, man'

Biden vs. the tea party

'Not the same breed of cat, man'

 

POLITICO STAFF | 10/01/10 11:46 PM

'Not the same breed of cat, man'

'Look up and down the Republican ticket. This is not your parents' Republican party,' Joe Biden said on Friday. AP Photo Close

Vice President Joe Biden late Friday took his road show to California to raise funds for Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Jerry McNerney.

The Boxer fundraiser at the Orange County home of Joe and Sarah Kiani was expected to raise $250,000 for the Democratic senator, who's locked in a tight race with former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina.

After predicting -- again -- that Democrats would keep control of Congress, Biden went after the tea party, linking Fiorina to the movement that has shook up the GOP this election cycle, and, he said, scared moderate Republicans away from cooperating with the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress. 

“Look up and down the Republican ticket. This is not your parents' Republican party.This is not the same breed of cat, man,” Biden said. “The choice throughout this county is between two philosophies that are really stark, and its one that is especially on display here in California."

Entry #3,275

Titans clash: Bill Clinton vs. Sarah Palin

Titans clash: Bill Clinton vs. Sarah Palin in California

Bill Clinton (left) and Sarah Palin will be fundraising in the O.C. on consecutive days in October. . | AP Photos
Bill Clinton and Sarah Palin will be fundraising in the O.C. on consecutive days in October. | AP Photos Close

JONATHAN ALLEN | 10/1/10 4:38 AM EDT

The studio execs in nearby Hollywood couldn't have produced a better opening scene for Election 2010: Bill Clinton and Sarah Palin — two of the titans of their parties — will barnstorm through Orange County, Calif., on consecutive days in mid-October.

The former president is headlining an event for Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez on Oct. 15, POLITICO has learned. Sanchez, who supported Clinton's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, is locked in a tough re-election battle against Republican Van Tran in the 47th District.

 

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, will be in Anaheim the following day, raising money for the Republican National Committee, which has had difficulty stockpiling cash for GOP ground operations around the country.

The criss-crossing of two of the nation's biggest political celebrities appears to be a matter of pure coincidence, but it promises to provide compelling optics for both parties — and for cable television. 

Orange County is hallowed ground in political history, a longtime haven of conservative activism and a wellspring of cash for Republican candidates. Yet the county has been trending toward Democrats for decades because of an influx of Hispanics and Asians.

Republicans say Palin will be a big draw, especially for base voters whose importance is magnified in mid-term elections and particularly in an area of the country where conservative roots continue to run deep — even amid changing demographics. Her event is also in the 47th District.

The Palin event could also provide some added excitement for Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, Senate GOP nominee Carly Fiorina and Tran, according to some strategists.

"From a rock star perspective, she'll inject some energy," Republican strategist John Feehery told POLITICO.

And the money she raises is intended to help GOP candidates in California and across the country.

"Obviously, Gov. Palin will provide a boost to our fundraising and we’re thrilled to have her help," said a Republican National Committee source. "Any money raised will go to our victory program, which would include the victory centers we have throughout California."

Democrats contend that it's the former president whose star power will dominate the political scene that week in southern California.

"President Clinton oversaw the creation of 22 million jobs during his administration, compared to Sarah Palin, who fired the local Wasilla librarian," said a source familiar with the planning for the Clinton event. "Is there any comparison?”

 

Details about Clinton's visit weren't available as of press time, but he was expected to be in Santa Ana, where more than three-quarters of the population is Hispanic. Almost two-thirds of the 47th District's residents are Latino, but traditionally low mid-term turnout among Hispanic voters there could play into Tran's hands.

Karthick Ramakrishnan, an expert on Asian American voting patterns at the University of California Riverside, said an association with Clinton also "would be an asset" to Sanchez in the Vietnamese community, particularly among younger voters, because of the strong economy during Clinton's presidency.

Sanchez can use all the help she can get with Vietnamese Americans -- a group that she has long courted as a candidate and lawmaker -- because of an appearance on Univision in which she told viewers in Spanish that the Vietnamese community was trying to take the seat away from the larger Latino population. She described Tran as "very anti-immigrant and very anti-Hispanic."

She apologized to others who took offense, but didn't back down from her allegations about Tran's record.

Ramakrishnan said Tran's reaction -- he called Sanchez's remarks a "racial rampage" in a Los Angeles Times interview -- could backfire and help Sanchez "if this plays out in a way that Latinos countermobilize because they feel that their candidate is being beaten up upon."

Though Sanchez has a significant campaign treasury, California's 47th District is an expensive place to campaign. Not only is the Los Angeles media market one of the nation's most costly, but the district's diversity forces candidates to communicate to voters in multiple languages. That drives up the costs of basic campaign tools, such as polling and direct-mail literature.

Sanchez had more than $1.26 million in the bank at the end of June -- the last date for which reports were available -- and Tran had a little less than $290,000.

But it's been three months since then, and new reports are due the day Clinton comes to Santa Ana for Sanchez.

Ramakrishnan said the Palin visit is a good opportunity for the GOP to collect cash from the area's conservative base.

"Palin's appearance will be important not just in terms of mobilizing voters but in terms of fundraising," Ramakrishnan said. "There was some question as to whether the area was trending Democrat because of the growing Latino population. This is a good moment while the area is still heavily republican to do fundraising."

The largest of the nearly four dozen ballrooms at the Marriott Anaheim, where Palin is due to appear, holds about 3,500 people. Tickets for the event range from $20.10 to $1,000 (if purchased at the door), with the highest-end contributors getting access to a reception and photo-op with Palin, a commemorative copy of her book, two tickets to the rally and a one-year membership in the RNC's "president's club."

Entry #3,273

Hillary vs. Obama? Support for Clinton in 2012

Hillary vs. Obama?

Poll: Support for Clinton in 2012

MJ LEE | 09/30/10 3:06 PM

 

Poll: Support for Clinton in 2012

AP Photo

About one-third of Democrats say they would support Hillary Clinton if she challenged President Obama in 2012, according to a Gallup poll.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/143318/Obama-Clinton-2012-Democratic-Nomination.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=Politics 

Clinton, the secretary of state, has been asked if she would seek the Democratic nomination by reporters who note that some independents and disaffected Democrats are leaving Obama’s ranks. But she has said she has no interest in running.

According to the poll, 32 percent of Democrats say they would back her, while 52 percent say they would stick with Obama. Among conservatives, more respondents actually said they would pick Clinton – 48 percent, while 41 percent chose Obama.

Entry #3,270
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