Most voters now believe it is at least somewhat likely that Republicans will win control of both houses of Congress in this November’s elections, and nearly half say there will a noticeable change in the lives of Americans if this happens.
West Virginia Senate—It is looking very likely that we’ll have a 37th Senate election to noodle about, the extra being held in the Mountain State to choose the successor to the late Senator Robert C. Byrd (D), the longest serving member of Congress in history who passed away on June 28. At first, all indications were that a gubernatorial appointee would fill the seat until November 2012, when Sen. Byrd would have come up for his tenth Senate term. The Secretary of State in West Virginia tentatively ruled so, though West Virginia law is somewhat ambiguous on the point.
The notion that governments derive their only just authority from the consent of the governed is a foundational principle of the American experiment.
With a dozen weeks to go before the 2010 midterm elections, speculation is rising about the possibility of the Republicans retaking the House. On Sunday, that speculation rose to a fevered pitch when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs conceded during a Meet The Press appearance that there are enough House seats “in play” this November to put control of the chamber at risk.
One of the interesting things about the Obama administration is the strange dominance of labor unions. Yes, Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders do owe the unions something: Unions gave $400 million to Democrats in the 2008 campaign cycle, and they expect to get something in return.
Republican State Attorney General Tom Corbett holds a 10-point lead again this month over Democrat Dan Onorato in Pennsylvania’s race for governor.
Congressman Mike Castle’s support has fallen below 50% for the first time in his race with Democrat Chris Coons for the U.S. Senate in Delaware.
Mississippi voters are strongly supportive of both offshore and deepwater drilling even after nearly three months of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from a deepwater site. Voters in the Republican-leaning state are also more critical of President Obama's handling of the cleanup from the oil leak than they are of the drilling companies involved.
Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown remain virtually tied in the race for governor of California.
By a two-to-one margin, voters in Colorado oppose the U.S. Department of Justice’s challenge of the recently enacted immigration law in Arizona. Similarly, voters in the state favor such legislation in their own state by the same margin.
The frustration that voters are expressing in 2010 goes much deeper than specific policies. At a more fundamental level, voters just don’t believe politicians are interested in the opinions of ordinary Americans.
When the pollster calls and asks whether I think the country is going in the right direction, I will say "no." When she asks if I approve of the job Congress is doing, I will say "no." And when she follows up with a question on President Obama's performance, I will answer: "Sometimes good, sometimes bad. The guy drives me nuts at times."
The headline for the latest poll says that public confidence in President Obama has sunk to a new low, with a majority of Americans saying they don't trust him to make the best policy choices, especially on the ailing economy. These same voters, surveyed by The Washington Post and ABC News, are even more disdainful of Congress, split almost evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Those numbers may portend a shift in partisan control of the House and a loss of Democratic seats in the Senate if citizens express their anger by punishing incumbents.
Republican incumbent Rick Perry holds a modest lead over Democratic challenger Bill White again this month in his bid for a third term as governor of Texas.
Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold and his chief Republican challenger Ron Johnson remain locked in a neck-and-neck battle for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin.
Boosted by major endorsements this week, ex-Congressman Nathan Deal and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel are tied for the lead in the state’s Republican Primary contest for governor. Both, however, are far short of the number of votes needed to avoid a runoff.
When Julia Gillard, 48, orchestrated the ouster of Labor Party Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whom she replaced, she made history as Australia's first female prime minister. But Gillard is much more than that. Gillard is the rare national leader of a modern country -- in fact, I cannot think of another, male or female -- who is not married and has never been married. Moreover, Gillard has not been a parent, and she's an atheist.
The Missouri Senate race has squeezed to a near tie but remains largely the same way it’s been for months with Republican Roy Blunt barely ahead of Democrat Robin Carnahan.
Democratic hopeful Paul Hodes has lost ground this month with all four Republican candidates now leading him in the race for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire.
Like Americans across the country, voters in Illinois aren’t too optimistic about economic conditions in the United States.
