A new Public Policy Polling survey in Connecticut finds Rep. Chris Murphy (D) leading Chris Shays (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 43% to 39%, and beating Linda McMahon (R), 50% to 43%.
However, Shays would beat Susan Bysiewicz (D) if she was the Democratic nominee, 48% to 37%.
Though primary numbers were not released, they show McMahon “has a large lead” in the GOP primary contest with Shays.
Attention Chris Christie and Sarah Palin: The deadline to get on the Florida Republican party ballot is October 31, CNN reports.
The next filing deadlines: South Carolina on November 1, Michigan on November 15 and Missouri on November 22.
Meanwhile, New Hampshire’s filing period ends November 18, but Secretary of State William
Gardner has the authority to change the filing period to accommodate a possible earlier primary date.
“Not sure if he saw the movie?”
— Mitt Romney, quoted by Politico, on David Axelrod’s comment that Obama’s re-election was going to be a “titanic struggle.”
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Florida finds Mitt Romney leading Rick Perry in the GOP presidential race, 30% to 24%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 10%. All other candidates are in the single digits.
Key finding: “We started this poll on Thursday night before the debate and in those interviews the race was neck and neck with Romney at 33% and Perry at 31%. But in interviews done Friday-Sunday Romney’s lead expanded to double digits at 29-19. More telling might be what happened to Perry’s favorability numbers after the debate — on Thursday night he was at 63/23 with Florida Republicans. Friday-Sunday he was at 48/36. Perry’s poor performance may or may not prove to be a game changer nationally but it definitely appears to have hurt his image in the key state where it occurred.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) father tells National Review that his son will make the final decision about a presidential bid. But he claims not to know much about his son’s thinking.
Said Bill Christie: “I’ve never asked him if he’s going to run. I trust if it’s going to happen, I’d be hearing it from him. I tell him, just let me hear any good news, but let me hear it first, or at least before you announce it to the world.”
However, the elder Christie added: “I know he’d be a great president. He has always been a leader. I think he would beat Obama.”
A new American Research Group poll in Iowa finds Mitt Romney leading the GOP presidential field with 21%, followed by Michele Bachmann at 15%, Rick Perry at 14%, and Ron Paul at 12%.
All other candidates are in the single digits.
A video suggests someone played a childish joke on the Los Angeles City Council last night.
A reader has just confirmed that Political Wire looks great on the new Kindle Fire tablet.
At just $199, they’re going to sell a ton of these.
Alabama state Sen. Scott Beason (R) apologized for referring to blacks as “aborigines” and says his words were “careless and unnecessary,” the Montgomery Advertiser reports.
Beason was heard on FBI recordings made while helping investigate claims of gambling corruption.
This is a very funny video.
Despite a string of statements saying he wouldn’t run for president, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) left the door slightly open last night — if for no other reason that it would be insulting to the many urging him to reconsider.
First Read: “The news that Christie is reconsidering and has a few weeks to decide
on a White House run couldn’t have come at a worse time for current GOP
front-runners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. It freezes the field, and
might make it a little more difficult to raise money in these final days
of the 3rd fundraising quarter. (If you’re a GOP donor who
finds Christie appealing, and you think there’s the chance he might get
in, you’re not cutting a check to either Perry or Romney.)”
Ben Smith: “The most important Republican moneymen in the country, Paul Singer and David Koch, are waiting on him, as are any number of donors and elected officials. This makes it much harder for Romney to consolidate his advantage on Perry. It also makes it harder for Perry to expand his circle of support. And so we’re all pretty much waiting for Chris Christie’s inner guidance.”
Two new Quinnipiac polls provide more evidence the 2012 presidential election may be decided in the Rust Belt.
In Pennsylvania, just 43% approve of President Obama’s job performance, while 51% say he doesn’t deserve a second term.
In Ohio, just 42% approve of his job performance, while 51% say he doesn’t deserve re-election.
That said, Obama still holds narrow leads over Rick Perry and Mitt Romney in head-to-head match-ups in both states.
For more on the two polls, see Poll Watch Daily.
Whether it’s Republicans begging New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to run for president or President Obama being forced to simultaneously reassure and reprimand his base over the weekend, The Note points out, “The overall restiveness of voters out there should not be underestimated.”
“When almost 80 percent of voters say they believe the country is on the wrong track and more Americans than ever identify themselves as independents the major parties have to recognize that the same-old, same-old campaign strategies just aren’t going to cut it this time. We’ve also been struck by the number of seasoned campaign pros who are convinced that this will be the year where a strong third party candidate will emerge. Let the speculation continue.”
Prepare for another day of chatter about whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will run for president. But this video compilation is pretty much all you need to see to know he’s unlikely to run.
In a Washington Times op-ed, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) criticized the Obama administration’s investments in green companies like Solyndra, which recently declared bankruptcy.
Wrote DeMint: “Billions more have been wasted by politicians betting on favored companies and making Washington bigger, using the brute force of government to force liberal preferences into the economy. Mr. Obama calls them ‘investments,’ but this is really venture socialism.”
A new Quinnipiac poll in Pennsylvania finds that by a 52% to 40% majority, voters want to continue the state’s current winner-take-all Electoral College system, rather than switch to a system proposed by Republicans where Electoral College votes are awarded based on the winner in each congressional district.
Voters say by a 57% to 32% that Republicans want to switch to a district-by-district count to help Republican presidential candidates, rather than to better reflect the will of the voters.
A Bloomberg survey of economists concludes President Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan “would help avoid a return to recession by maintaining growth and pushing down the unemployment rate next year.”
Sarah Palin suggested to Fox News that being president might be too limiting:
“Does a title shackle a person? Are they — someone like me, maverick, you know, I do go rogue, and I call it like I see it, and I don’t mind stirring it up…. is a title and is a campaign too shackling? Does that prohibit me from being out there, out of the box, not allowing handlers to shape me?”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.