Wednesday Open Thread

Filed in National by on September 28, 2011

Yeah, Sarah Palin isn’t running.

“Does a title shackle a person? Are they — someone like me, maverick, you know, I do go rogue, and I call it like I see it, and I don’t mind stirring it up…. is a title and is a campaign too shackling? Does that prohibit me from being out there, out of the box, not allowing handlers to shape me?”

I no longer watch or listen to her because her voicemail is like nails on a chalkboard, but even reading her quotes gives me headaches.

Meanwhile, a new Pew survey finds that 52% of the American people have confidence in President Obama in handling the deficit. Only 35% have the same confidence in the GOP to handle the issue.

In Pennsylvania, a new Quinipiac poll is out. Among its findings, Pennsylvanians oppose by a wide margin (52 to 40%) the Republican plan to change the way its electoral votes are allocated. 57% say the Republican plan is just a power grab to help their presidential candidates rather than a plan to better reflect the will of the voters. Even Republicans are split, with only 48% saying they should change the system.

In the Republican presidential primary race, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 18 percent, with 16 percent for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 12 percent for former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, 8 percent for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and no other candidate, including Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, above 6 percent.

President Obama leads all current GOP candidates: Obama gets 45 percent to 43 percent for Romney, leads Perry 46 – 40 percent, and beats Santorum 45 – 42 percent.

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  1. cassandra m says:

    Elizabeth Warren if fundraising like crazy — if you haven’t pitched in, you can do so here.

  2. cassandra m says:

    Chris Coons is fundraising like crazy too — if you want to help him out, you can do so here.

    Props to Chris for using Act Blue.

  3. puck says:

    D’ya think?

    …there are Democrats in this room who I think would argue that the president was too eager to try and find a path forward; was too eager to try to bring people together in the face of the evidence that the other side didn’t want to do that[…]

    “I don’t regret his making the effort because I think people elected him to get things done. They didn’t elect him to wage a partisan war,” said Axelrod.

    – Axelrod (via dkos)

    But now 40% approval ratings seem to have wonderfully concentrated Obama’s mind.

    The diarist goes on to comment:

    Problem is, the White House’s failure to “wage partisan war”—ESPECIALLY when it had super majorities in Congress—led to an insufficient stimulus package and a failure to act on the economy that will bedevil them all the way through Election Day 2012 […]

    The American people gave Democrats a huge mandate to govern in 2006 and 2008, and the president and congressional Democrats squandered that historic opportunity. If Obama was elected to “get things done”, allowing the GOP and Blue Dogs to delay, obstruct, and water down his agenda did him no favors.

    However, that’s water under the bridge. Nothing we can do about that now except hope that Democrats learned their lessons. And it seems like might have.

  4. toto says:

    Given the choice, most Pennsylvania and U.S. voters want a national popular vote.

    A survey of 800 Pennsylvan­ia voters conducted on December 16-17, 2008 showed 78% overall support for a national popular vote for President.
    Support was 87% among Democrats, 68% among Republican­s, and 76% among independen­ts.
    By age, support was 77% among 18-29 year olds, 73% among 30-45 year olds, 81% among 46-65 year olds, and 78% for those older than 65.
    By gender, support was 85% among women and 71% among men.

    The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

    Under National Popular Vote, every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in every presidential election. Every vote would be included in the national count. The candidate with the most popular votes in all 50 states would get the 270+ electoral votes from the enacting states. That majority of electoral votes guarantees the candidate with the most popular votes in all 50 states wins the presidency.

    National Popular Vote would give a voice to the minority party voters in each state and district (in ME and NE). Now their votes are counted only for the candidate they did not vote for. Now they don’t matter to their candidate.

    With National Popular Vote, every vote, everywhere would be counted for and directly assist the candidate for whom it was cast.

    In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). A Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University poll shows 72% support for direct nationwide election of the President. Support is strong among Republican voters, Democratic voters, and independent voters, as well as every demographic group surveyed in virtually every state surveyed in recent polls in closely divided Battleground states: CO– 68%, IA –75%, MI– 73%, MO– 70%, NH– 69%, NV– 72%, NM– 76%, NC– 74%, OH– 70%, PA — 78%, VA — 74%, and WI — 71%; in Small states (3 to 5 electoral votes): AK – 70%, DC – 76%, DE –75%, ME — 77%, NE — 74%, NH –69%, NV — 72%, NM — 76%, RI — 74%, and VT — 75%; in Southern and Border states: AR –80%, KY — 80%, MS –77%, MO — 70%, NC — 74%, and VA — 74%; and in other states polled: CA — 70%, CT — 74% , MA — 73%, MN – 75%, NY — 79%, WA — 77%, and WV- 81%.

    Most voters don’t care whether their candidate wins or loses in their state or district… they care whether he/she wins the White House. Voters want to know, that even if they were on the losing side, their vote actually was directly and equally counted and mattered to their candidate. Most Americans consider the idea of the candidate with the most popular votes being declared a loser detestable.

    The bill has passed 31 state legislativ­e chambers, in 21 small, medium-sma­ll, medium, and large states, including one house in AR, CT, DE, DC, ME, MI, NV, NM, NY, NC, and OR, and both houses in CA, CO, HI, IL, NJ, MD, MA, RI, VT, and WA. The bill has been enacted by DC (3), HI (4), IL (19), NJ (14), MD (11), MA (10), CA (55), VT (3), and WA (13). These 9 jurisdicti­ons possess 132 electoral votes — 49% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.

    NationalPo­pularVote

  5. John Young says:

    toto is a national popular vote bot. He/She/It scans posts for the word electoral, then begin responding unendingly if opposition occurs in the thread, he/she/it will return

    I hate the national popular vote plan for electoral reform, it is anti-American.

    commence countdown……