The Polling Report [11.15.12]

So you thought that since the election was over that the Polling Report would cease to exist? You thought you were rid of me? Muwhahahaha! Never. You see, polling never goes away. It merely takes little breaks. It's true, the Polling Report will appear less frequently than before. I think I will start off on a weekly basis and see how that goes. But when I get a pile of polling news, I will post a polling report. Now, the polling we report can be on the 2013 state gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, the 2014 Midterm congressional election and gubernatorial elections, or the 2016 presidential primaries. But before we do that, let’s look at some analysis of the ultimate 2012 poll, i.e. the election, showed.

Thursday Open Thread [11.15.12]

"This is a president unusually focused in the present on what his legacy will be in the future. With Obama's reelection, one foundational element of that legacy has been secured: the Affordable Care Act, which, had he been defeated, would not only likely have been repealed but retrospectively reduced to one of the causes of his loss. Now, with a second term ahead of him, among Obama's paramount goals, say his advisers, is to add another glittering trophy to his mantle: at least one more domestic-policy reform tantamount in importance to near-universal health care." "The shiniest such prize would be the achievement of a grand bargain on entitlements and tax reform: a bipartisan agreement that would put the nation's fiscal house in order for years, and maybe decades, to come. The extent to which Obama pines for this was illustrated by his ardent pursuit of such a megadeal in 2011, which ultimately fell apart when House Speaker John Boehner proved unable to move the tea-party faction in his caucus to accept new revenues."

In Praise of Tom McGonigle

I see that Tom McGonigle, Gov. Jack Markell's Chief of Staff, is stepping down from public service to return to private practice. Just for the record, Tom McGonigle is one of the finest public servants I've ever come across. A real straight-shooter, skilled at bringing people together, smart (but never in that 'let me show you how smart I am' way), very serious, and compassionate. And, did I mention self-effacing? Be honest, how many of you even knew that he was Jack's chief-of-staff?

Romney 100% Believes His 47% Comment

Here's Mitt Romney being a jerk and a sore loser and doing his best to further divide the country:
Saying that he and his team still felt “troubled” by his loss to President Obama, Mitt Romney on Wednesday attributed his defeat in part to what he called big policy “gifts” that the president had bestowed on loyal Democratic constituencies, including young voters, African-Americans and Hispanics.
May I suggest that one of the main reasons Mr. Romney lost was due to comments like these, along with a stunning contempt for most people? Bobby Jindal countered Mitt's sour grapes temper tantrum by basically saying, "So long, loser. Don't let the door hit you on the ass..."

President Obama’s Press Conference Today

President Obama will be conducting his first Press Conference with the White House Press Corps since March 6, 2012. As every reporter talking about this will remind you. It is scheduled to start today at 1:30 EST. There's lots to cover -- the Fiscal Cliff, new cabinet appointments, an immigration policy that seems to be coming out of mothballs, *compromise* (and *bipartisanship*), 2013 agenda, Joe Biden's appearance on Parks and Recreation tomorrow night and the ever popular saga of General Petraeus' mistresses and wannabes. Feel free to use this thread to live blog what you see or hear from the President today.

Wednesday Open Thread [11.14.12]

On Facebook, I got into a little fight with a friend of a friend who of course is a little upset that his chosen candidate did not win. And of course, like most conservative idiots, he is now contemplating treason by talking of secession of his state from the United States. Now, of course, most conservative idiots are uneducated, and thus it is not surprising that they don't know that the issue, or question, of secession has long been settled. Indeed, we as a country fought a Civil War over that question and hundreds of thousands died after the Confederate states seceded from the Union and the Northern States said "Oh no didn't." And as a result of the Northern victory, or the victory of the United States over the traitorous Confederacy, the notion that a state can leave the US on its own volition died a bloody death. This friend of a friend also mentioned that the election results were somehow not valid since only the cities and suburbs voted for Obama while vast swaths of sparsely inhabited land voted red. This guy obviously thought we vote by square acreage. To illustrate the point that more Americans live in cities and suburbs, we have a great map from Princeton.

Loudell needs to fire Rasmussen once and for all

If WDEL's Allan Loudell (who I like and respect) ever interviews Don Rasmussen again, he will knowingly be taking part in journalistic fraud.
“But the most entertaining fall-out will be the recriminations of pollsters and polling generally in the wake of Romney’s 330+ electoral vote win next Tuesday." — Don Rasmussen
Real political polling is about dispassionate math and rigor. Rasmussen's product is about trying to prop up a corrupt and corrosive political ideology. Allan, take the card out of the Rolodex . There are plenty of legitimate pollsters to interview.

Mandate — With the GOP Taking the Blame for Failure

I'm talking about the fiscal cliff discussion -- which I've decided to call the fiscal con, from a renaming effort that NPR had for this thing. The WaPo and Pew took a poll asking people what their expectations are on the outcome and who would be at fault for the failure of any talks. By a margin of 51% to 38%, those polled do not think that the fiscal cliff discussions will be productive. And if they fail, the folks polled will point the finger at the GOP 53% to 29% (10% blaming both sides equally). Even better -- majorities seem to understand what is at stake for themselves and for the country.