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With the last primaries now over, and with less than seven weeks until election day, we're going to try to post more on the campaign each day.  So, plan on checking in, say, in late afternoon, and possibly late at night.  We post as events warrant, so we can't guarantee you'll find new bulletins, but chances are you will.

Remember, the flag border around a story means it's election-related.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

NEW FOX POLL BRINGS GOP SMILES – AT 4:01 P.M. ET:  A new poll just announced by Fox brings reassurance to the GOP.  It confirms, among other items, that the enthusiasm gap tilts dramatically in the Republicans' direction, while Obama's approval rating hits a new low:

With less than 50 days until Election Day, American voters favor Republicans over Democrats by a six percentage-point margin, and that advantage widens among those voters most interested in the election. After the economy, the next most important issue to voters is the trustworthiness of candidates.

Meanwhile, President Obama’s job rating has hit a new low.

..when the results are narrowed to voters who say they are certain they will vote in November, that gap widens to 9 points.

The Republican advantage expands to 20 points when looking only at results among voters who say they are extremely or very interested in the election -- a group that includes more Republicans (75 percent extremely/very interested) than Democrats (50 percent extremely/very interested).

However, not all the news was good:

The vote among independents is split evenly between the parties (30 percent each).

That worries me.  Constant talk, exaggerated by the mainstream media, about GOP "extremism," can turn off independents, who are the key to any victory.  We'll watch the polling carefully, but I'm concerned a possible erosion in the Republican margin among independents.  This is the second poll this week to show it.

President Obama’s job approval hit a new low this week. Overall, 42 percent of voters approve of the job he is doing, down from 46 percent earlier in September, and 52 percent disapprove. Compare that to his 54 percent approval rating a year ago (15-16 Sept. 2009), and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s current 66 percent approval rating.

Fox now has Obama less popular than does Rasmussen.

The Clinton figure continues to fascinate.  Of course, she's not as exposed as Obama, and knows when to keep her mouth shut.  There may also be some guilt feelings over the way she was treated during the 2008 primary campaign.  We continue to look for signs that Obama might not run in 2012, handing the nomination to Clinton.  The odds are against it because of Obama's ego, but strange things happen in politics.

September 17, 2010      Permalink

RELIGION OF PEACE STRIKES AGAIN – AT 3:41 P.M. ET:  Something else for the Ground Zero mosque guy to explain – an apparent attempt on the life of Pope Benedict.  From London's Telegraph:

Police have arrested five suspected Islamist terrorists, working as street cleaners in London, over an alleged plan assassinate the Pope.

The men were arrested during raids at 5.45am at a rubbish depot in central London based on an intelligence tip off received overnight.

The suspects, aged 26, 27, 36, 40 and 50 were arrested by officers from Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

They are said to be from a variety of nationalities including a number of Algerian origin.

The depot where they worked is less than a mile from Hyde Park where the Pope was due to hold a prayer vigil tomorrow evening.

As street cleaners they would have been able to move relatively freely and inconspicuously through the London crowds.

COMMENT:  Good work by the Yard, and a close call for civilization.  But I'm taking bets:  How long do you think it will be before these gents are released on grounds that 1) it was a misunderstanding, or 2) there's no hard evidence, or 3) we must try to understand Muslim anger? 

Britain is being warned repeatedly that it is in the terrorists' sights.  But the new, supposedly conservative government of David Cameron, has been a major disappointment, in part because it had to team with liberals to form a majority coalition. 

The pope is considered a major target of Muslim extremists.

September 17, 2010      Permalink

PRESIDENT CATCHES NO BREAK IN LATEST POLL – AT 9:37 A.M. ET:  The president has been out on the campaign trail, but it hasn't helped his own poll numbers, at least according to Scott Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -18 (see trends). 

And...

Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-five percent (55%) disapprove.

COMMENT:  There is variance in this poll from day to day, but what stands out is the intensity of dislike for this president and the consistency of his negative numbers.  It is hard to see anything that Mr. Obama can do in the six and a half weeks before election to change things.  This midterm is a referendum on him, and we note that many Dem candidates don't want to be seen with him.

What a reversal from 2008.  Winning is the easy part.  It's the governing that gets them.

But the Dems are desperate, and expect a fear campaign of huge proportions as we approach election day. 

September 17, 2010     Permalink

NOT ACCEPTABLE – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  Information is surfacing on the possible infiltration of jihadism into Capitol Hill.  This is disturbing, and we assume that members of Congress are aware of it:

When a report challenging our national security policy of ignoring Islamic supremacism through Islamic law, “Shariah: The Threat to America,” was released during a Capitol Hill press conference on Wednesday (disclosure: I was one of the co-authors of the report), among the chief critics were representatives from the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association (CMSA).

This group, which has been briefing both Democratic and Republican congressional leadership in recent months that there is nothing inherently violent in Islamic law, has a poor history of embracing Islamic radicals and even al Qaeda terrorists.

Immediately after 9/11, the CMSA began holding Friday afternoon prayer services on Capitol Hill. Who did they choose to lead them in their prayers? Al-Qaeda Sheikh Anwar al-Aulaqi, who is currently subject to a kill or capture order issued by President Obama. In fact, video of Aulaqi preaching to the CMSA was included in the 2002 documentary, “Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet”. That video clip is available to view by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

And...

...I reported on an Islamic conference on Capitol Hill that had been scheduled by Johnson as chief of staff from Rep. Gregory Meeks. The conference was cancelled at the last minute by the House of Representatives Sergeant-at-Arms when it was discovered that the conference scheduled by Johnson was to feature a long list of Islamic radicals, some of whom were known to be on the terror-watch list.

COMMENT:  This is explosive stuff.  Of course, the usual suspects will crawl out of the woodwork to scream "McCarthyism," but we, as Americans, have a right to know who's on the public payroll.

Infiltration is not new in American life.  There's no question, acknowledging the excesses of Joe McCarthy, that Communists had infiltrated into the U.S. Government in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.  There's no question but that there was an active pro-Nazi movement in America before World War II.  (Did you know that in the town of Yaphank, in eastern Long Island, there was a Hitler Street and a Goebbels Street?)  A Hollywood film, "The House on 92nd Street," portrayed that infiltration.  And yes, there's no question but that elements loyal to the Japanese emperor were operating on our West Coast before Pearl Harbor, although the overwhelming number of Japanese-Americans were intensely loyal to America and sent their sons to fight with conspicuous gallantry in Europe.

Please read the whole article.  What's happening on Capitol Hill may be legal, but it isn't right.

September 17, 2010      Permalink 

NO CLASS IS NO CLASS – AT 8:29 A.M. ET:  We occasionally follow, with fascination, the maneuvers of one Jimmah Carter, an accidental president and one-man nation-wrecking machine.  Jimmah's last outburst, a few days ago, assured Americans that the well-meaning folk in the North Korean government are sincerely interested in a deal with the United States.  Why would we think otherwise?

Now little Jimmah is out with a startling charge:

Former President Jimmy Carter says the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) is to blame for delaying the implementation of health care reform for 30 years.

In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Carter says that health care reform during his presidency fell through because Kennedy killed the bill.

“The fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for Ted Kennedy's deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed,” Carter said of the senator who died last year.

“It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill,” Carter added, blaming a political feud between the then-titans of Democratic politics. “He did not want to see me have a major success in that realm of life.”

COMMENT:  The incredible shrinking Carter.  Whether you liked Ted Kennedy or not really isn't the issue.  Carter didn't even have the decency to make his charge while Kennedy was alive, and could reply.  He waited for the man to die. 

Jimmy Carter is a petty little man who should never be taken seriously.  His election to the presidency in 1976 came as a result of public revulsion over Watergate and other things happening in Washington.  It demonstrates the danger of votes cast for negative reasons only.

An Urgent Agenda source informs us that Carter and his wife were despised by the permanent White House staff.

Carter lost a good chunk of the Jewish vote to Ronald Reagan in 1980, and has since become militantly anti-Israel.  I suspect that the two are related.

Mr. Small Time.

September 17, 2010      Permalink

TEA PARTY UNDER SCRUTINY – AT 8:02 A.M. ET:  Christine O'Donnell's victory in Delaware has prompted new debate over the role of the Tea Party in Republican politics, and, more important, in the nation.  It's what diplomats like to call an "agonizing reappraisal."  Michael Gerson examines the issue in the Washington Post:

Following the primary season, the position of the Republican Party is strong but precarious, like a bodybuilder on a tightrope. Republicans benefit from Tea Party momentum. They suffer from Tea Party victories. As part of a political coalition, the Tea Party movement empowers. As the dominant actor, it alienates.

The problem for Republicans: They have no idea at what level the influence of the Tea Party movement will crest.

Gerson makes plain his displeasure at Delaware:

Delaware's Republican Senate primary defined one possible future. Voters elevated ideological purity above every other political value, including probity, relevant experience and electability. In the process, Republicans wasted an unusual opportunity to win a Senate seat in a heavily Democratic state. One poll reports that just 31 percent of Delaware voters believe Republican nominee Christine O'Donnell is fit to hold public office.

Look, this just can't be denied.  I want O'Donnell to win, but she has more baggage than Samsonite.  An article in today's Politico quotes former O'Donnell staffers, and it's devastating.  It will be used against her effectively.

But the primary season told other stories. Sen. John McCain's trouncing of J.D. Hayworth showed that the Tea Party label does not guarantee success for buffoonish candidates. In a number of states, mainstream conservatives turned aside Tea Party challenges and are now propelled by political winds that once threatened to capsize their candidacies. One Tea Party hero -- Marco Rubio -- has turned out to be a strong candidate and likely Republican star.

So the picture is mixed.

And...

A Republican Party propelled by Tea Party enthusiasm is headed toward victory. A Republican Party dominated by Tea Party ideology would be pure, disturbing -- and small.

This is a very thoughtful piece, and I commend it to you.  Movements can generate enormous enthusiasm, but they are often run by people who have little talent for governing and little tolerance for the fact that what may sell in one part of the country can be poison somewhere else.

The Democratic Party is run by zealous groups that have brought it to its current ridiculous position.  Consider the zealots in teachers' unions who have paralyzed the party's role in education.  I don't want to see that happen in the GOP.  I also recall the Adlai Stevenson crowd within the Democratic Party in the 1950s.  They demanded a second presidential nomination for Stevenson in 1956, and tried even to get him a third in 1960, despite overwhelming evidence that he was unelectable.  They liked his intellectual style, which was everything to them.

Elections are about winning.  There's no prize for second place.  As Gerson points out, the Tea Party, while producing victories in some House races, might be responsible for the Republicans not winning the Senate, depriving the GOP of committee chairmanships that could be instrumental in shaping the fate of the nation.

The GOP faces a common, but bitter dilemma – how to accept support but prevent a takeover.  The master of that art was Ronald Reagan, who always kept a distance even from movements that supported him.  He learned the lesson from FDR, who did the same.  Accept their support, limit their influence.  It's a strategy to remember.

September 17, 2010     Permalink

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

WHOOPS-A-ROOTIE – DID REID ACTUALLY SAY THAT? – AT 10:41 P.M.. ET:  A comment by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, himself in some electoral hot water in Nevada, may help Christine O'Donnell mightily in Delaware.  The Hill reports the quote:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday predicted to The Hill that Democratic Senate candidate Chris Coons will safely win the Nov. 2 general election against GOP nominee Christine O'Donnell.

Reid talked up the New Castle County executive following a memorial ceremony on the Capitol's east steps to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. O'Donnell on Tuesday night won the GOP nomination to face Coons in November — a result that has split the national Republican Party.

But Reid said Coons would have won even if Rep. Mike Castle (R) had prevailed over O'Donnell.

Now get this:

"I'm going to be very honest with you — Chris Coons, everybody knows him in the Democratic caucus. He's my pet. He's my favorite candidate," Reid said.

His pet?  His PET?  Oh, I can just see Christine O'Donnell's TV ads.  She's running against Harry's pet.  Now here is an opening sent from Heaven. 

Also, we learned today that Coons described himself in college as "a bearded Marxist."  Look, this guy hasn't been defined yet, and it's up to Christine to define him, and fast.

Hey, y'never know.  O'Donnell might just pull this out when Delaware voters learn that her Democratic opponent is Harry's poodle and has a thing for Joe Stalin besides.

September 16, 2010      Permalink

WE KNEW IT, WE KNEW IT, WE KNEW IT – AT 8:48 P.M. ET:  Well, at least the White House is entrepreneurial.  If one thing doesn't sell, they try something else.  And they've learned their Orwell.  From Fox:

From the administration that brought you "man-caused disaster" and "overseas contingency operation," another terminology change is in the pipeline.

The White House wants the public to start using the term "global climate disruption" in place of "global warming" -- fearing the latter term oversimplifies the problem and makes it sound less dangerous than it really is.

No, guys, that's not the problem.  The problem is that you never made your case.   The public is on to you.  They know that the issue is complex, and that the "science" is not as clear as you've claimed.

White House science adviser John Holdren urged people to start using the phrase during a speech last week in Oslo, echoing a plea he made three years earlier. Holdren said global warming is a "dangerous misnomer" for a problem far more complicated than a rise in temperature.

The call comes as Congress prepares to adjourn for the season without completing work on a stalled climate bill. The term global warming has long been criticized as inaccurate, and the new push could be an attempt to re-shape climate messaging for next year's legislative session.

"They're trying to come up with more politically palatable ways to sell some of this stuff," said Republican pollster Adam Geller, noting that Democrats also rolled out a new logo and now refer to the Bush tax cuts as "middle-class tax cuts."

COMMENT:  I suspect that this gimmick won't be any more successful than the last one.  What the American people want is a serious, neutral inquiry into what we know, and what we don't know.  They want to know what's proved, and what's theory. 

One problem here is that the people don't trust the media – something clear in every poll – and demand real answers that won't be filtered through the Obamafied press.

When I was at the Columbia School of Journalism, which was respectable in those days, we were taught a basic lesson:  Never underestimate the public's intelligence, and never overestimate its knowledge.  The "global warming" crowd has done both, with predictable results.  New labels will not change the fact that the garment is worn out.

September 16, 2010      Permalink

BEYOND DISHONEST – AT 6:38 P.M. ET:  I guess Nancy Pelosi was inspired by President Obama's taking credit for progress in Iraq.  Now she gets artistic with the history of tax cuts.  Fox News has the lie:

Come again, Madame Speaker.

As House Democrats and Republicans jockey over whether to allow a continuation of tax cuts passed nearly a decade ago or whether to raise taxes next year on some Americans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she's all for "the extension of the Obama middle-income tax cuts."

"What I believe the American people deserve is a tax cut for the middle class," Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing. "And without getting into procedure and timing and process, what we're going to do is to say at the end of the day, the extension of the Obama middle-income tax cuts will take place, and that's what I have to say on the subject."

We have researched the issue thoroughly, using the extensive worldwide resources of Urgent Agenda, and could find no Obama middle-income tax cuts to extend.

It is apparent that the speaker, perhaps suffering the effects of an aging process not stopped by extensive plastic surgery – there is no such thing as a brainlift – has confused Mr. Bush with Mr. Obama.  We assume that her San Francisco therapist will know how to deal with such a discouraging event.

September 16, 2010      Permalink

FIRST POST-PRIMARY DELAWARE POLL – THERE'S WORK TO DO – AT 6:10 P.M. ET:  Scott Rasmussen has released the first poll in Delaware taken after Christine O'Donnell's surprise victory in the GOP Senate primary:

Democrat Chris Coons holds a double-digit lead over Republican hopeful Christine O’Donnell in the first Rasmussen Reports post-primary survey of the U.S. Senate race in Delaware.

Coons earns 53% of the vote to O’Donnell’s 42%, with leaners included. One percent (1%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.

The Delaware race is now viewed as Solid Democrat in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings.

The discouraging thing here is the undecideds.  The undecided vote is only four percent.  Even if O'Donnell picks up all of them, she'd still trail, 53% to 46%.

I'm afraid Rasmussen is right.  As of now, Delaware must be counted as solidly Democratic.

However, the election isn't being held now.  O'Donnell has seven weeks to produce a miracle.  That means not only winning all or almost all the undecideds, but convincing those who have already made up their minds not to vote for her to switch.  This will be in the face of a sustained campaign, not launched by a GOP primary opponent, but by professional Democrats and a good chunk of the "yes we can" media.

I didn't support her in the primary, but I'm rooting for her now.

By the way, her primary opponent, Mike Castle, has acted badly since his loss, refusing to endorse Christine or even call to congratulate her.  He could have gone out in style, but chose to go out as a petty poor loser.

September 16, 2010     Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 10:04 A.M. ET: 

MIAMI, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A Florida man said his attempt to help an injured 8-foot alligator resulted in him being bitten on the arm and the reptile being euthanized.  Alexander Alcantare said he spotted the reptile Sunday in a canal behind his Miami home with an arrow lodged in its head, so he attempted to drag the alligator to shore, WFTV, Miami, reported Wednesday.  "And I saw it with an arrowhead lodged in its head. So, I figured, maybe you know, if I bait and hook it, you know, and see if they can take it out of its head," Alcantare said.

Rude, ungrateful alligators have become a national problem.  Schools just don't teach behavior any longer.

September 16, 2010      Permalink

TODAY'S "MUST READ" – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:  We've said repeatedly that British journalists have often had the sharpest take on Obama.  It's happened again.  Mary Ellen Synon, in the Daily Mail, explains why, in this election campaign, Obama has become a liability to the Democratic Party:

Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express have roared right through the latest round of Republican Party primaries this week, rattling the party establishment and terrifying the Democrats.

For those of you who are trained in the fastidious ways of the British ‘liberalism’ and are therefore shocked and can’t think why the American Right is gaining such strength, here’s the reason: Barack Obama.

Americans are waking up to the fact that they have elected a man as president who is every inch an exotic creature. Which was rather fun at first.

The problem is, America is discovering that Mr Obama has brought more than just a foreign name and an interesting racial mix to the White House. He has brought a whole foreign way of thinking. And Americans don’t like it.

Millions of them now want national leadership with a more star-spangled way of looking at the world...

That's a wonderful way of putting it.  Now please read the rest of the article, which discusses a conversation being held here, across the internet, about an article by Dinesh D’Souza that claims that Obama is obsessed with the anti-colonialist mentality of his father, although colonialism hasn't been a problem for half a century.

The Daily Mail piece concludes:

Yet colonialism today is a dead issue. As Mr D’Souza says: ‘Emerging market economies such as China, India, Chile and Indonesia have solved the problem of backwardness; they are exploiting their labour advantage and growing much faster than the US.’

However, instead of readying America for the challenge, the man in the White House is ‘trapped in his father’s time machine. The philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realisation of his anti-colonial ambitions, is now setting the nation’s agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son.’

America is being run by the ghost of a dead Luo tribesman of the 1950s.

Great stuff.  Do read, do read.

September 16, 2010      Permalink

STOP FIGHTING, GUYS – IT'S THE DEMOCRATS YOU'VE GOT TO BEAT – AT 8:41 A.M. ET:  The fallout from Tuesday's Delaware primary continues.  Christine O'Donnell's win in the state's GOP Senate primary, has set off damaging skirmishes on the right.  This is energy wasted.  From a delighted Washington Post:

"Tea party" activists have been saying all along that their movement is about something more than winning elections. And as the bloody Republican primary season reaches an end, they have proved they really mean it.

Their parting shot at the Republican establishment was their loudest.

In defeating the GOP's strong prospect for picking up a Senate seat in Delaware - thereby dampening its chances of regaining a Senate majority - the tea party has delivered a clear message to the Republican establishment: You are not in charge.

"This is about changing the system," Christine O'Donnell, the tea party pick, said Tuesday night as she celebrated her stunning primary victory over Rep. Michael N. Castle.

Her upset was the biggest in a string of tea party wins this season over establishment-backed candidates in Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, New York and Utah.

Okay, okay.  Even Michael Barone, the best political analyst we've got, is predicting an O'Donnell loss in the general election.  But she's the candidate we've got and it's time to stop the infighting.  Elections are about numbers, and we need that Senate seat. 

The end of the primaries normally is a time when parties try to close ranks, but O'Donnell's win fueled another spasm of recriminations.

After GOP strategist Karl Rove said Tuesday that O'Donnell was unelectable - echoing the assessment of, among others, Delaware Republican Party Chairman Tom Ross - he came under fire from a battalion of conservative commentators.

"I've never heard Karl so animated against a Democrat as he was against Christine O'Donnell last night," said Rush Limbaugh, whose radio show Rove had recently guest-hosted.

Commentators are turning on each other.  Rove was giving his professional opinion as a Fox commentator. 

This is one of the things I've feared – that the GOP would find a way to blow this election.  I'm hoping things calm down in the next few days.  Delaware may (or may not) be gone, but this midterm isn't an election in one state, and it's not a national election.  It's state by state, district by district.  Let's make sure the adults are in charge and get back to business.

September 16, 2010       Permalink

BOYS WILL BE BOYS – AT 8:19 A.M. ET:  For years we've been frustrated by Arab journalists Photoshopping images during Arab-Israeli clashes, always to the detriment of Israel or the U.S.  The damage is done before news organizations investigate and withdraw the offending photos.

Now an Egyptian publication has been caught red-handed.  This is one of those juicy stories we just had to report.  From Britain's Telegraph:

Egypt's state-run newspaper has been criticised after it altered a photograph to suggest President Hosni Mubarak was leading the Middle East peace talks.

The photograph, which appeared in Al-Ahram, the country’s most widely circulated newspaper, showed Mr Mubarak walking on a red carpet ahead of the US, Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders.

The original image shows Barack Obama leading the way ahead of the three other leaders, with Mr Mubarak trailing behind.

It's encouraging to know that an opposition group in Egypt exposed the hoax:

The opposition 6 April Youth Movement called the newspaper "unprofessional" for publishing the manipulated image.

In a statement on its website it said: "This is what the corrupt regime's media has been reduced to."

COMMENT:  Glad you noticed, guys.  It's been going on for years.  And we wonder why the Arab world doesn't love us.  This is the level of their journalism.

Oh, but wait.  Maybe we're too harsh.  We should accept the concept that this photo is simply "an alternative narrative."  Now I feel better about myself.

September 16, 2010      Permalink

FLORIDA LOOKS SOLID – AT 7:59 A.M. ET:  When Republican Governor Charlie Crist of Florida announced he was running for the U.S. Senate, he looked like a shoo-in for the GOP nomination.  Then, a young guy named Marco Rubio announced that he, too, would be running.

Rubio was laughed at initially, but later developed a commanding lead in the polls.  So Crist pulled a fast one.  He announced that, poof, he was no longer running as a Republican, but would run as an independent.  Some observers believed he had pulled off the most brilliant maneuver since MacArthur's landing at Inchon, Korea.  Indeed, in early general-election polls, Crist led in a three-man race. 

Not so fast.  Rubio was unshaken and simply continued to campaign.  Now, he has, as he did in the GOP primary, built up a lead that looks insurmountable.  Unless some disaster strikes, the Florida seat should be safe for our side.  Reuters has the story:

(Reuters) - Florida Governor Charlie Crist's strategy of taking the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans in his campaign as an independent for a Senate seat is failing.

The slight edge Crist held over Republican "Tea Party" favorite Marco Rubio in August has evaporated and turned into a wide deficit as he courts what appears to be a fast- shrinking moderate vote.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday showed Rubio far ahead in the three-way race to succeed Republican Senator George LeMieux, with support from 40 percent of likely voters. Crist had 26 percent while Democrat Kendrick Meek had 21 percent.

Florida's U.S. Senate election is widely viewed as a referendum on President Barack Obama's handling of the economy, and Rubio appears to be landing knockout punches bashing Obama.

COMMENT:  Rubio is a rising star, and would be the first Cuban-American to go to the U.S. Senate.  Watch him closely and think "national ticket."

September 16, 2010     Permalink