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Another Poll Confirms Obama Losing His Edge

March 13, 2013 at 1:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

If President Obama “had piled up political capital with his impressive re-election, it’s largely gone. His approval rating has dropped to the lowest level in more than a year, with more voters now turning thumbs down on his performance than thumbs up,” according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.

“The measure of how much people like him also has dropped. He’s still vastly more popular than Congress, particularly congressional Republicans. But in the biggest political clash of the year – over the federal budget and how to curb deficits – voters split 44 percent to 42 percent between preferring Congress or Obama. At least some of the president’s fall to Earth lies in the fact that voters no longer see him in the context of an election. He has to stand alone in the eyes of voters again and doesn’t benefit from the comparison with Republican rival Mitt Romney.”

Which State Has the Highest Turnout?

March 13, 2013 at 1:54 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Minnesota topped the
turnout list for the eighth time in the last nine presidential and
midterm elections, with 76.1 percent turnout. Hawaii came in last, with
turnout at a mere 44.1 percent. Overall turnout was down from 62 percent
in 2008, when the possibility of the nation’s first black president
caused a surge at the polls, to 59 percent in 2012. Low turnout in the
nation’s three most populous states — Texas, New York and California —
contributed to the drop. All saw declines of nine percent or higher.”

Florida Lt. Governor Resigns Unexpectedly

March 13, 2013 at 1:47 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll (R) “abruptly resigned amid law enforcement questions about a Florida Internet sweepstakes company at the center of a nationwide criminal investigation,” the Miami Herald reports.

“It’s unclear if Carroll is the target of any criminal charges. Attorney General Pam Bondi and law enforcement officials have scheduled a 2:30 p.m. press conference in Orlando to discuss the case. Gov. Rick Scott also has announced an afternoon press conference.”


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More Buy Guns for Protection

March 13, 2013 at 9:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Pew Research survey of gun owners finds that 48% said they own them for protection, while 32% said they own a firearm mainly for hunting purposes.

That’s a large shift from 1999 when 26% of those surveyed said they owned a gun for protection, while 49% said they used it mainly for hunting.

Still Waiting on Obama’s Budget

March 13, 2013 at 9:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

David Hawkings reports that “never before in the history of the modern budget process (which dates to 1975)
has the president submitted a budget after the House and Senate have
produced budget resolutions of their own.”

“That’s what’s happening this year. President Obama’s proposal looks
likely for a rollout on April 8, the Monday Congress returns from its
spring break. And he’s not likely to offer any specifics about it
during his meetings with the four congressional caucuses during the next
three days.”

Obama Keeps Pushing for Elusive Grand Bargain

March 13, 2013 at 8:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Obama “pushed Senate Democrats to support a grand budget bargain, even as the prospects for such a deal seemed as distant as ever,” Roll Call reports.

“Seeking to unite his party during the first of three expected sojourns to Capitol Hill this week, the president again vowed not to negotiate over the expiring debt ceiling later this year — even as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was telling reporters that he hopes the debt ceiling brings the president to the table to cut entitlements without securing new taxes.”

David Drucker: “Republicans remain skeptical of President Obama’s charm offensive — very, very, very skeptical.”

Romney Brother Declines Senate Bid

March 13, 2013 at 8:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Scott Romney told the Michigan Information & Research Service that he will not run for the open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan in 2014.

Roll Call notes Romney “would have kicked off the primary in the strongest position in the field.”

Obama Miscalculated on Taxes

March 13, 2013 at 7:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Obama “faces huge, and probably insurmountable, obstacles to reviving a grand bargain — none higher and more difficult to overcome than his decision to increase taxes by $600 billion in December,” Politico reports.

“Obama thought he would be able to stare down Republicans over the sequester, and get them to double the size of his tax increase to avoid heavy defense cuts. He was wrong. Once Republicans swallowed the $600 billion in hikes, they made plain they were done raising taxes for this Congress. And they really are done, Republicans say.”

Quote of the Day

March 13, 2013 at 7:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“This to us is something that we’re not going to give up on, because we’re not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people.”

— Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), quoted by the Maddow Blog, apparently misspeaking.

Corbett Trails All Likely Challengers

March 13, 2013 at 6:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Pennsylvania finds Gov. Tom Corbett (R) with a dismal 33% job approval rating and trailing five potential Democratic challengers — some by double-digits.

Corbett is down by 11 points each to Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D), Joe Sestak (D), and Rob McCord (D) all by margins of 45% to 34%. Tom Wolf (D) leads by 9 points at 42% to 33% and John Hanger (D) is up by 7 at 41% to 34%.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows Corbett doing slightly better but still in jeopardy of losing his re-election bid.

Scientists Will Study Possible Chavez Poisoning

March 13, 2013 at 3:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that planning was in the works for a commission of “the world’s best scientists” to investigate whether the late President Hugo Chavez had been poisoned, CNN reports.

Man Who Planted Hidden Camera Speaks

March 13, 2013 at 3:42 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ed Schultz gets an interview with the man who secretly recorded Mitt Romney making his infamous 47% comments at a fundraiser during last year’s presidential campaign.

The Huffington Post reports the still unidentified man was a bartender at the event.

“When the bartender learned he would be working at Romney’s
fundraiser, his first thought was to bring his camera, in case he had a
chance to get a photo with the presidential candidate. Romney, of course, did not speak to any of the staff, bussers or
waiters. He was late to the event, and rushed out. He told his dinner
guests that the event was off the record, but never bothered to repeat
the admonition to the people working there.”

Obama Loses Edge Over Republicans

March 13, 2013 at 3:19 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds the afterglow of President Obama’s reelection “appears to have vanished as increasingly negative views among Americans about his stewardship of the economy have forced his public approval rating back down to the 50 percent mark.”
 
“In December, just after he won a second term, Obama held an 18-percentage-point advantage over congressional Republicans on the question of whom the public trusted more to deal with the economy. Now, it’s a far more even split — 44% to 40%, with a slight edge for the president — but the share of those saying they have confidence in “neither” has ticked up into double digits.”

Meanwhile, Obama’s approval rate has dropped five points in the last month to 50%.

How Kwame Kilpatrick Went Bad

March 13, 2013 at 2:48 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Daily Beast: “On one fateful night in Boston, two dynamic speakers made waves at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Both men, young, black, and products of hardscrabble Midwestern cities, were considered rising stars and were getting major exposure on one of the country’s biggest stages. One of those men was a first-term state senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. The other was the charismatic first-term mayor of Detroit: Kwame Kilpatrick.”

“To say that the fortunes of those two men have gone in opposite directions is an understatement. Obama’s DNC speech, which followed Kilpatrick’s that night, helped propel him to national stardom, a seat in the U.S. Senate, and eventually the presidency. On the other hand, Kilpatrick, who narrowly won re-election in 2005 before a sex scandal and perjury conviction cost him the job in September 2008, was convicted on 24 counts including federal racketeering, extortion, mail fraud, and tax evasion on Monday. He was later sent to prison to await sentencing. He is one of 35 former city employees, including other elected officials, to be convicted by the federal government in the past eight years.”

Palin’s Next Book

March 13, 2013 at 2:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sarah Palin is writing a her next book about Christmas, the AP reports.

The former Alaska governor has a deal with HarperCollins for A Happy Holiday IS a Merry Christmas and will criticize the “over-commercialism” and “homogenization” of the holiday and call for a renewed emphasis on the religious importance.

Andrew Sullivan: “Well, if anyone’s an expert on miraculous births…”

Obama Rejects Calls for a Balanced Budget in 10 Years

March 13, 2013 at 2:24 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

In an interview with ABC News, President Obama “rejected calls to balance the federal budget in the next ten years and instead argued that his primary economic concern was not balancing the budget, but rather growing the economy.”

Said Obama: “My goal is not to chase a balanced budget just for the sake of balance. My goal is how do we grow the economy, put people back to work, and if we do that we are going to be bringing in more revenue.”

Wonk Wire: Why we don’t need to balance the budget.

Another Bush Runs for Office

March 12, 2013 at 7:29 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

George Prescott Bush filed the official paperwork to run for Texas land commissioner next year — and put out a campaign video — “hoping to use a little-known but powerful post to continue his family’s political dynasty in one of the country’s most-conservative states,” the Dallas Morning News reports.

[Read more…]

Copy and Paste Campaign Website

March 12, 2013 at 7:20 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Michael Sullivan (R) claims he’s a “tested and trusted” leader with experience that makes him the best GOP candidate in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Massachusetts.

But the Boston Globe finds that Sullivan’s newly launched website ­borrows heavily from the dormant site of Richard Tisei (R), the Republican who lost in his congressional bid last year.

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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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