A new Dallas Morning News poll finds Gov. Rick Perry’s dismal showing in the Republican presidential race has plunged his approval among Texans to its lowest level in a decade.

Most striking: Perry’s 40% job approval rating in his home state is lower than President Obama’s 43%, despite the GOP’s domination in Texas.

The poll also showed that most Texans — 53% — do not want to see Perry seek another term as governor. Even some of his strongest supporters — 41% of Republicans and 35% of those who voted for him two years ago — don’t want him to run again.

A new Rasmussen survey in Florida shows Mitt Romney now leading Newt Gingrich by eight points, 39% to 31%, with Rick Santorum at 12% and Ron Paul at 9%.

Four days ago, just after the South Carolina Primary, Gingrich led Romney 41% to 32%.

Meanwhile, a new Monmouth University poll shows Romney with a 7 point lead over Gingrich among likely Republican voters, 39% to 32%, with Santorum at 11% and Paul at 8%.

A new InsiderAdvantage survey shows Romney with an eight point lead over Gingrich, 40% to 32%, followed by Paul at 9% and Santorum at 8%.

Nate Silver: “The FiveThirtyEight forecast model still projects Mr. Gingrich as the slight favorite in Florida, giving him a 2-point lead and a 60 percent chance of victory. However, this lead is diminished considerably from two days ago, when the model saw a potential double-digit win for Mr. Gingrich as polls released immediately after the South Carolina primary had him surging in Florida.”

“In fact, I suspect the model is being too conservative and that there is enough evidence — when you look carefully at the day-to-day results — to conclude that Mr. Romney has re-emerged as the slight favorite in Florida instead.”

First Read: “Five days until the voters go to the polls in the Sunshine State, the
GOP presidential contest is very volatile. It’s a pure coin flip… The bottom line is no one knows what’s going to happen, raising the stakes for tonight’s debate, the 19th of this cycle and the last one before this primary.”

Amy Walter points out that a win by Newt Gingrich in Florida would all but guarantee a long, drawn-out contest.

“It will legitimize Gingrich as a serious contender (not just a guy who got lucky in South Carolina). It will lead to lots of hand-wringing by GOP leaders. The cable chatterers will be in full-blown bloviate mode about the state of the dysfunction in the Republican Party. A Romney win doesn’t guarantee a quick end to the contest, but it would slow Gingrich’s momentum. Other factors that could dampen Newt-mentum include the fact that there’s just one debate scheduled for the entire month of February and that there are only caucuses, not primaries, for most of that month. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have all but conceded the state to the two frontrunners. Florida is a winner-take-all contest, which means all 50 delegates go to the top vote-getter. There’s no incentive to try and battle for third or fourth place. And while both remain committed to staying in the race, it’s clear that, for now, the battle for the nomination is a two-man race between Gingrich and Romney.”

First Read: “Just how important is Florida to both the Romney and Gingrich candidacies? Romney and Gingrich allies are spending more than $20 million between them to try and win it and possibly put away the GOP nominating fight.”

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D) is expected to announce today that she will not seek a second term as governor, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.

Her campaign began telling top North Carolina Democrats in the past 24 hours, setting up a scramble at the top of the state ticket.

The Washington Post says names that are likely to be bandied about as possible Democratic replacements include Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, Attorney General Roy Cooper, former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx.

Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) told the Raleigh News & Observer he would retire rather than face a primary challenge against Rep. David Price (D-NC) after redistricting redrew his congressional district.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) ripped Newt Gingrich in an interview on KTRH-AM:

“What has been said about Newt is pretty much true. He had to step down because Republicans, conservative Republicans, wouldn’t vote for him again as Speaker. Because he’s not really a conservative. I mean, he’ll tell you what you want to hear. He has an uncanny ability, sort of like Clinton, to feel your pain and know his audience and speak to his audience and fire them up. But when he was speaker, he was erratic, undisciplined.”

The AP
reports that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who will soon likely be
embroiled in a recall election, “has raised a record sum to fight a
recall and much of the money is coming from big donors from out of
state.”

“An Associated Press analysis of campaign finance reports Mr.
Walker submitted Monday shows more than 60 percent of his money raised
over the past five weeks came from out of state… The Wisconsin
Democracy Campaign, a government watchdog group, says roughly half of
the $4.5 million Mr. Walker raised over the past five weeks came from 33
individuals. The governor has raised $12.1 million since last year, the
most ever by a Wisconsin candidate for governor.”

A new Quinnipiac poll in Florida shows Mitt Romney deadlocked with President Obama in a possible general election match up, 45% to 45%, while Obama holds a strong lead over Newt Gingrich, 50% to 39%.

A new Suffolk University poll shows Romney beating Obama by five points in Florida, while Gingrich loses to Obama by nine points.

Mitt Romney seems to be smarting after watching Newt Gingrich once again
rise in the polls by attacking the media at debates, criticizing him
for playing to the crowd, The Hill reports.

Said Romney, “It’s very easy to talk down a moderator… The moderator
asks a question and then has to sit by and take whatever you send to
them. And Speaker Gingrich has been wonderful at attacking the
moderators and attacking the media… But it’s very different to have
candidates going against candidates, and that’s something I’ll be doing,
going against President Obama, if I get the chance to be our nominee.”

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found American voters feeling more positively about the economy and of President Obama’s handling of it. Some 30% believed the country was headed in the right direction, up eight points from a month ago. Some 60% said the country was on the wrong track, down from 69% in December.

For the first time in seven months, more people approve of Obama’s job performance than disapprove, 48% to 46%.

In an interesting ABC News interview, Warren Buffett lashed out at assertions from Republicans that the “Buffett rule” endorsed last night by President Obama — which says that anyone earning more than a million dollars a year should be taxed at at least 30% — is class warfare.

Said Buffett: “If this is a war, my side has the nuclear bomb.”

[Read more…]

A new CNN-Time poll in Florida finds Mitt Romney leading with 36%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 34%, Rick Santorum at 11% and Ron Paul at 9%.

Key findings: “Romney leads Gingrich among female and white voters, voters over 50, and those with a college degree… Gingrich holds leads among men, Tea Party voters, self-identified conservatives — among whom he boasts a 10-point advantage — and born-again Christians. His fans also appear to be more committed than Romney’s.”