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Wisconsin Lawmakers May Change Recall Rules

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Wisconsin Republican lawmakers signaled that they will likely give Gov. Scott Walker (R) authority “over how recall petitions can be gathered, just as Democrats gear up to recall him next year,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.

“The move would allow Walker to halt a policy developed by nonpartisan election officials that, at least in theory, could make it easier for groups to gather signatures to recall the governor, as well as legislators from either party.”

Perdue Suggests Suspending Elections

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North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D) said the country should suspend congressional elections for two years “so that Congress can focus on economic recovery and not the next election,” the Raleigh News and Observer reports.

Said Perdue: “I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that. You want people who don’t worry about the next election.”

Update: Was Perdue joking, as her staff now claims? Audio of her remarks was just posted.

Trust in Government at All Time Low

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A new CNN/ORC International Poll finds that only 15% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what’s right just about always or most of the time.

Said pollster Keating Holland: “The previous all-time low was 17 percent, set in the summer of 1994. Before the Watergate scandal, a majority of Americans said they trusted the government always or most of the time, but since 1974 that has happened only during a brief period in 2001 immediately after the 9/11 terrorism attacks.”


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Running with a Record

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The Concord Monitor reports that mayoral candidate John Cook spent a night in jail “after he was charged with disorderly conduct and exposing himself to two Concord police officers.”

“Cook has had three run-ins with the Concord police in recent years that have led to criminal charges, including a 2005 incident when he allegedly kicked two police officers as they took him to Concord Hospital while he was ‘heavily intoxicated,’ according to court records.”

Christie’s Numbers Improve at Home

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While New Jersey Gov. Chris Christe (R) has been getting an
enormous amount of national attention around his will-he-won’t-he-run
presidential prospects, a new Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey
shows Christie’s approval numbers bouncing back in his home
state. Christie has a 54% approval and 36% disapproval among registered
voters in New Jersey, a significant improvement over his numbers in May,
when the fierce spring budget fight brought his numbers as low as 44%
approving and the same percentage disapproving.

The Hotline:
“The new poll, ironically, counters one of the main arguments for
Christie to enter the White House race: If he’s not going to win
reelection in 2013, why not take a shot nationally in 2012, the argument
goes. But if the boost in his numbers is a lasting one, and Christie is
seriously interested in reelection, there is less incentive to opt for
higher office this early in his tenure.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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.

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