Recalls in Wisconsin, Rick Perry’s White House run, etc.
A wrapup of the world of politics:
In Wisconsin, voters in six state Senate districts are going to the polls today to decide whether to recall their Republican legislators, each of whom took active roles in passing controversial anti-labor legislation early this year.
If three or more of the seats turn Democratic, the GOP would lose control of the state Senate, Republican Gov. Scott Walker would be rebuked and could face possible recall himself, and Democrats around the country would see the populist-themed campaigns as a template for the 2012 elections.
If not, not.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Central, 9 Eastern, but the races are expected to be tight so we might not know the outcome until early morning.
In Iowa, Republicans are gearing up for the Ames Straw Poll on Saturday, an early test of strength in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. One person not on the ballot is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who this week has made it as clear as he can — short of a formal declaration — that he intends to run.
According to Politico, “the Texas governor will remove any doubt about his White House intentions during his appearance at a RedState conference in Charleston” Saturday.
According to Gallup, “Perry will start in a strong position relative to other candidates if he decides to enter the presidential race soon. Perry’s Positive Intensity Score is the highest of any Republican tested, and significantly higher than that of presumptive GOP front-runner Mitt Romney.”
Gallup derives its “Positive Intensity Score” by subtracting a candidate’s strongly unfavorable sentiment from strongly favorable.
And finally, in the first poll of its type I’ve seen in the aftermath of the debt ceiling debacle, CNN asked 1,080 Americans how they’re feeling these days about Republicans, Democrats and the Tea Party.
A month ago, the GOP’s numbers in the same poll were 41 percent approval, 55 percent disapproval. For Democrats, they were 45 percent approval, 49 percent disapproval.
And of course, as a variety of polls have reported, the reputation of Congress in general is in the pits. CNN reports that just 41 percent of Americans believe their own congressman deserves re-election, “the first time ever in CNN polling that that figure has dropped below 50 percent.”
“We could very well see a situation where voters just start throwing incumbents out of windows, with those in competitive seats situated closer to the open windows. Only in the 1992 election, just after the twin House Bank and House Post Office scandals, have we seen an election with more than 10 House incumbents of each party losing reelection to the opposite party, and that was after an unusually large number of retirements and primary-election defeats. Worth noting is that was a post-redistricting election, just as 2012 is. But this one could be much worse than 1992, this is far more consequential than personal financial peccadilloes.”
– Jay Bookman
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518 comments Add your comment
Mick
August 10th, 2011
8:30 am
People, people, some of you need to take a chill pill. When liberty city was on fire here during super bowl week you would have thought all of miami was engulfed in flames. There are people in extreme poverty right now in a difficult economy, I’m not excusing any behavior here but when you have nothing left to lose, there’s nothing left to lose. Racists, bigots will always be around, nobody or group has cornered that market, we need to move on and the solution for london as here in america is….jobs. “Idle hands are the workshop of the devil”….
Bruno
August 10th, 2011
8:31 am
Is that the only back up you have for your point or is there more?
You can thank AmVet for that poll, Granny. If you can find one that backs up Jay’s contention that most racists are conservative, have at it. So far, he, along with the rest of the Libs here are only going on “intuition”. Maybe Jay will write an article later today to back up his hateful claims. If so, Bruno will stop by to apologize.
Brosephus
August 10th, 2011
8:31 am
Bruno
There’s one particular poster, a “conservative” who can’t seem to mention London riots without throwing Blacks in there somewhere. It’s wrong to try to pin something on an entire group when there’s no proof. It’s completely wrong to continue to do so after video proof disproving it has been shown to the world.
You know I’m not one to take sides in most cases, but when you’re gonna try to push stereotypes just to further your agenda, I have no problem taking a side opposite that view. There’s the mobs in Wisconsin which I’m guessing you’re referring to. It could have been racial, or it could have been that the group of Blacks were jumping on Whites because they appeared the most afraid of them. You didn’t mention the White kids in MS who ran over the Black guy after stomping the crap out of him. In that instance, they were looking to mess with somebody Black.
All that stuff’s wrong, regardless of what group instigates it. This country was founded on violence, and it appears to only respond to and act out in violence. Until we change that part of us, things will never change.
Granny Godzilla
August 10th, 2011
8:35 am
Bruno
So that is all you got.
He’s a software developer with degrees in biology.
Seems “iffy” to me without additional support.
USinUK
August 10th, 2011
8:36 am
“I don’t think those “riots” have anything to do with protesting anything. What’s going on is nothing but criminal activity. Those riots are just like the G8 riots and such without the political motivation.”
exactly –
this is lawlessness, pure and simple. the people out there aren’t angry about university costs or program cuts or anything like that.
“I want to pi$$ off the police … the police can’t do nothing”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faPJx7zmbUk
Jay
August 10th, 2011
8:36 am
Kind of curious to see Bruno citing my friend Kyle this morning, given that last night he was tooting his own horn so hard at Kyle’s expense:
“I think the AJC made a big mistake by hiring Kyle Wingfield as its conservative mouthpiece when ol’ Bruno was available. I’m guessing the Bruno Blog would put up numbers far in excess of Jay’s Blog, even if primarily consisting of hot-air liberals whose deep, malicious, non-factually based biases were exposed at every turn by little old moi. I notice that our high-school debate champ, Joe Mama, high-tailed it out of here after he got a taste of Bruno. Granny Godzilla, like so many hot air Libs, was reduced to cheap insults after she got her dentures handed to her tonight. As for Jay, I guess he can’t leave since it’s his blog, but I think he’s going to have a hard time living this night down now that his own ugly prejudices have bubbled to the surface.”
Much as I hate diverting Bruno from his self-love and adoration as he stares into the mirror at the handsomest, smartest, most bestest arguer on the planet, let’s address the poll that he cites, because it tells us nothing about the question at issue.
As I stated repeatedly last night, I do not believe most conservatives are racist. I do, however, believe that most racists are conservative. To be useful in addressing that question, we would need a poll of acknowledged racists, asking them whether they thought of themselves as conservative or liberal, and how they voted. To my knowledge, no such poll exists.
A poll of racial attitudes among liberals and conservatives tells us about liberals and conservatives. It tells us nothing about racists.
Fresh sheets upstairs. Brosephus, great minds and all that….
Brosephus
August 10th, 2011
8:43 am
Granny Godzilla
August 10th, 2011
8:45 am
Bruno…..
He’s got me under his skin
I coyly blush at his very special attention…..
kayaker 71
August 10th, 2011
8:46 am
So, if the majority of the rioters in Philadelphia are not black, why would the major of that great city say that the “rioters were giving their race a bad image”?
TaxPayer
August 10th, 2011
9:02 am
Leave it to good old Bruno to read racism into one of my earlier comments about Tea Partier costumes.
Jay
August 10th, 2011
9:09 am
Tommy doesn’t learn….
JKL2
August 10th, 2011
9:29 am
taxpayer- I heard that there are more seats that will be eligible for a recall election next year.
You don’t have to wait until next year. Two demwits go on the chopping block next week. Being a tax payer I think you would want to get rid of the idiots who run away to IL instead of doing their job.
JKL2
August 10th, 2011
9:33 am
taxpayer- How much money did the supporters of the two parties end up spending in the races? That should have helped the economy
I only wish I could be one of those proud union members knowing my hard earned money went to fund a useless campaign in WI.
Bill Orvis White
August 10th, 2011
9:50 am
The rightful Republicans prevailed because the sane folk in Wisconsin rightfully went to the polls to vote for common sense. Most folk in WI and most of the country do not want union thugs running their state and schools. Thank the Lord Almighty that the good people of WI rejected the huge statist big government “solutions” of the WI Socialist-Democrat Party. Now, the honorable Governor Scott Walker can finish his business of cleaning of the state and ridding it of union thugs, seculars, deviants and putting it on a path to prosperity whereby folk will have a pro-business environment, school choice and Christian religious freedom.
The honorable Governor Rick Perry is another good God-fearing man who is entering the 2012 GOP Contest. Even though I will always be a Herman Cain supporter, I believe Governor Perry is just another good choice in this field of fine, upstanding men and woman.
God Bless,
Bill
Granny Godzilla
August 10th, 2011
9:52 am
Useless?
Nope.
Not in the least.
I am glad I’m not a GOP contributor who had his $$$ lumped into the
HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of dollars poured into the race…..If the GOP expects to win all seats all the time you better open your wallets.
GOP politicians do not come cheap.
The 33% win rate, applied to the House election in 2012 would create a huge majority for the Democrats.
Useless? Nope. Not at all.
Get Real
August 10th, 2011
10:50 am
Jay…I am sure you are quite upset that the unions lost in WI yesterday…I agree with Bill Orvis White that common sense prevailed along with a balanced budget and job creation…
I hope the unions bankrupted themselves with all their members dues wasted in this thugery type recall exercise….
Golf Cart Reviews » Recalls in Wisconsin, Rick Perry’s White House run, etc.
August 10th, 2011
2:03 pm
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Uncle Jed
August 14th, 2011
6:25 pm
Getting back to Midori from somewhere downstream, albeit a little delayed. Been busy…
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Uncle Jed
August 13th, 2011
2:31 pm
Is there some inherent flaw in believing that we should promptly make use of our natural resources as a way to help our economy and decrease our dependence on imported energy?
***********************************************************************
Midori
August 13th, 2011
3:42 pm
answering a question with a question Uncle Jed?
is that what your thought processes are limited to?
oh, wait……….
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I thought you could understand the point, but I was apparently wrong, so I will now put it in the form of a statement, not that ever confusing rhetorical question format:
“I see no inherent flaw in believing that we should promptly make use of our natural resources as a way to help our economy and decrease our dependence on imported energy.”
Moving on to current affairs and I hopeful you now get my point.