I don't know whether Palin will run for president in 2012, and right now I don't really care. Most in the media do care, of course, which is why they can't seem to stop buzzing about her book, her book tour and her political intentions. You'd think the Iowa caucuses were right around the corner.

Even "real" news programs, such as CNN's "State of the Union," hosted by John King, spent too much time for my taste on Palin last weekend, both during the program's political roundtable, during an interview with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani...]]> Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600 The discussion about whether the election results earlier this month reflected local factors or constituted a referendum on President Barack Obama creates a false choice.

Candidate quality, fundraising and local issues are always significant factors in gubernatorial races. But the national political and economic environment creates the context within which those state races are fought, and the context creates a perspective that voters use to make their choices.

It is as simple as this: If George W. Bush was still in the White House, Democrats would have won the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races. In that sense, Republicans won both races because Barack Obama is...]]> Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Everyone and his brother has opinions about what happened on Tuesday, but not all assessments are equally correct, just as not all of the descriptions of the contests, while they were in progress, were equally on the mark.

What were some of the mistakes and mischaracterizations during the campaigns and after the voting?

One of the worst, I thought, was the widespread characterization of Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee in New York's 23rd district, as a moderate. I realize that those of us in the media use that term to distinguish certain Republicans and Democrats from their more ideologically consistent colleagues, but in this case, the label was...]]> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600 The defeat of Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in New York's 23rd district isn't likely to change conservatives' plans to turn their attention quickly to Florida's GOP Senate primary.

The Club for Growth's endorsement of former state Speaker Marco Rubio (R) now seems inevitable, since he has positioned himself as the conservative insurgent against Gov. Charlie Crist (R), whom Rubio defines as an ally of President Barack Obama and an unreliable soldier in the struggle against liberalism.

Earlier this year, I wrote in this space ("Florida Senate Race: Just What Is Marco Rubio Up To?" June 22) that I was "agnostic" about whether Rubio could beat Crist for the GOP...]]> Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600 After almost 30 years doing this, I shouldn't be surprised by anything Members of Congress do. But even I was taken aback when Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) referred to an adviser to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as a "K Street whore."

Democratic colleagues called the comment "absurd" (Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey) and "inappropriate" (Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland), and Rep. Anthony Weiner (N.Y.) even said that the freshman Congressman is "one fry short of a Happy Meal."

I didn't meet Grayson during either of his two Congressional runs (2006 and 2008), but I heard plenty about him. My first and only meeting with the Congressman occurred earlier this...]]> Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 We are still a few days away from Election Day, but party strategists, operatives and local activists are already blaming their own nominees for their defeats.

The clearest evidence that the Virginia gubernatorial race is over - apart from a blizzard of surveys showing Republican Bob McDonnell well over the 50 percent mark in the ballot test and leading Democrat Creigh Deeds by double digits in many surveys - is that White House insiders have already passed the word that it is Deeds who blew the race.

The assertion by Obama loyalists that Deeds would have...]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 I had to chuckle when I read reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is preparing to run a decidedly negative campaign this year, with an unnamed adviser saying Reid would "vaporize" his opponent.

That's not exactly a new standard for the Nevada Democrat, who understands full well how to run a campaign and what he'll need to do to win a fifth term.

But the report in Politico, followed by reverberations in other media outlets, reminded me that there is no secret to how Democrats will try to hang onto their large majorities in the House and Senate next year if the national political environment is unfavorable: Destroy the opposition.

That strategy is...]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Get out your map and draw a big fat bull's-eye on Ohio. The state looks to be a test of whether the GOP can bounce back strongly after two terrible election cycles, and that makes it a possible bellwether of what's going on nationally.

Not quite three years ago, a Democratic wave in Ohio swept Republicans out of all but one of the state's top offices. Then-Rep. Ted Strickland won the governorship, bringing former state Attorney General Lee Fisher along with him as lieutenant governor. Richard Cordray won the state treasurer's race, Marc Dann was elected attorney general and Jennifer Brunner was elected secretary of state.

The lone Republican elected statewide, by the...]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Already prepared to deal with challenging midterm turnout dynamics that favor the GOP, national Democratic strategists now find themselves looking at higher unemployment numbers, potentially divisive foreign policy decisions and a president who lacks the luster that he had immediately after his inauguration.

This new political reality has a significant effect on the election prospects of dozens of Democratic candidates for the House, whether incumbents, challengers or open-seat hopefuls.

More than a dozen Democratic Members who were already headed for competitive contests now find themselves in even more serious danger in next year's midterm elections. Before the election...]]> Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Anyone in his right mind would now have to rate next month's gubernatorial election in New Jersey as a tossup. After all, virtually every poll shows the race within the margin of error, and some recent surveys show Gov. Jon Corzine (D) leading GOP challenger Chris Christie.

Moreover, climbing out on a limb to give one of the candidates an advantage in a virtual dead heat isn't the best way to guarantee that your percentage of "correct calls" remains high so that you can send out a press release after the elections to brag about how astute you are.

But this column is about analysis, scenarios and best guesses, and since I still believe that Christie has the single best...]]> Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The gubernatorial race in New Jersey has not changed fundamentally recently, no matter what you may read in poorly produced Associated Press stories distributed by the Democratic Governors Association, the Democratic National Committee or Gov. Jon Corzine's (D) campaign.

I've become accustomed to crazy rumors and assertions at the end of campaigns, and most of them are baseless.

A couple of days before Election Day 2006, CBS executives planning the network's coverage were in a frenzy about a possible Republican surge that challenged all of their assumptions about the election and disrupted their plans for election night. After checking around with reliable pollsters, I told...]]> Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 I began this year doubtful that we'd see much excitement in the 2010 elections. I'm quickly changing my tune.

After two big elections, Democrats didn't have many opportunities left in the House. GOP Senate retirements seemed to open the door to more Democratic gains, but with the Democrats controlling 59 (then 60) seats, additional party gains, quite frankly, wouldn't be regarded as significant.

But growing public concern about spending, taxes and the size of government has started to shift the national landscape away from the Democrats to a more neutral position, and quite possibly toward the GOP. The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has even found that Republicans...]]> Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the photograph on the cover of this newspaper's July 28 edition is worth an entire library.

The photo, showing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) looking straight ahead in a trance-like state and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), slightly out of focus, standing just behind her, is a modern political version of "American Gothic," the famous 1930 Grant Wood painting.

But it's more than that. It perfectly captures where the country and the Congress are after the first six months of the Barack Obama administration.

Almost every time that I have seen Pelosi either in person or on TV since she became Speaker, she has...]]> Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Six months ago, the 2010 Senate battlefield looked relatively bare, with a few obvious skirmishes mostly in states with GOP incumbents. Three months later, the outlook had brightened dramatically for Democrats, largely the result of a number of GOP retirements and solid Democratic recruiting on those open seats.

But now, as the dog days of summer begin, the landscape has shifted again, this time improving significantly for Republicans. Democrats no longer have the momentum they once possessed. Even more important, signs of some Democratic vulnerability have appeared, giving the National Republican Senatorial Committee opportunities to shoot at, rather than forcing it to play an...]]> Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The raid last week in New Jersey that resulted in the arrest of 44 people, including a number of officeholders, probably is the straw that breaks Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's back in November.

When I asked one longtime Democratic insider about the race, it took him all of two words to assess Corzine's prospects: "It's over." Another Garden State Democrat was more cautious, saying only, "It's almost over." All eyes will now be on the governor, to see whether he follows the lead of former Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), who dropped his Senate candidacy late in 2002 when he and party insiders came to believe that he could very well lose his seat to the Republican challenger. Party...]]> Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 One of the jobs of nonpartisan analysts is to keep the parties honest. Partisans have a tendency to talk themselves into certain opinions, and there are enough data out there to make any case they wish. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the expectations game.

Over the past few months, both Democratic and Republican officeholders have noted that midterm elections usually result in losses - often sizable losses - for the president's party. Democrats make the assertion so that they'll be able to claim victory if the party suffers a small net loss next November, while Republicans cite the trend as a recruiting tool and to boost party morale.

Just recently, a Republican...]]> Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Democrats ran against Herbert Hoover for decades. Republicans ran against Jimmy Carter for years. Can Democrats make 2010 another referendum on George W. Bush, or at least use the unpopular former president to demonize Republicans in competitive races?

Democratic operatives assert that running against the former president next year isn't going to be the focus of their efforts, but they are obviously more than willing to fall back on an anti-Bush message when they think it is effective.

Last week, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a Web video, "Insider," and an accompanying press release hanging the former president around the neck of former Rep. Rob...]]> Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 In a stunning statement Monday sure to affect her confirmation prospects, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor pledged her "fidelity to the law." That must have been regarded as big news to the folks over at the Washington Post, since that was the bold headline on Page One of Tuesday's newspaper.

Tomorrow's headline in the newspaper may well be "Dog Bites Mailman," or possibly, "Wednesday Followed Tuesday."

The New York Times apparently wasn't as excited by Sotomayor's stunning admission. Its headline, "Judge Focuses on Rule of Law at the Hearings," was more matter-of-fact, though the newspaper's first paragraph noted that the nominee said that a judge's job "is not to...]]> Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The extent of Democratic losses in next year's midterm elections will rest, in part, on the ability of Democrats elected in conservative or Republican districts over the past two cycles to survive aggressive GOP attempts to defeat them.

More than four-dozen districts sent a Democrat to Congress last year while casting a plurality of their votes for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president. Of the 49 Congressional districts where this occurred, 11 gave McCain more than 60 percent of the vote (see chart).

But not all of those 11 look equally vulnerable. Six of those successful Democrats won handily in 2008 (with at least 59 percent of the vote) - Reps. Charlie Melancon (La.),...]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 One of the growing problems with political reporting is the explosion of polls and the tendency - particularly among local TV reporters and editors, cable TV hosts and bloggers - to report all of them as if they are equally reliable and newsworthy, and to draw dramatic conclusions from small subsamples and from statistically insignificant changes.

Polls receive so much attention that they become the focus of races - even if the actual races haven't really started. This is true right now in North Carolina and Nevada, where Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) look weak in early surveys even though they have not drawn heavyweight opponents.

Recently,...]]> Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The last time I saw Roy Barnes was the day before Election Day in 2002. The Democrat was hobnobbing with CNN executives, reporters and producers in a hip Atlanta condo.

I'm not certain that Barnes, who was then governor of Georgia, knew that he was less than 24 hours from suffering a stunning re-election defeat. I know I was surprised, as were many others, including some Democrats who talked about Barnes as a presidential candidate in 2004.

Now, Barnes is ready to make another gubernatorial run, hoping that changed circumstances and a considerable dose of new-found humility will help him win a second term as Georgia's chief executive.

Barnes' defeat more than six...]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The GOP field in the 2010 Florida Senate race was supposed to clear quickly when Gov. Charlie Crist (R) announced his bid. But someone forget to tell former state Speaker Marco Rubio (R).

Most observers believe that Rubio, who jumped into the race before the governor, has little chance of wrestling the Republican nomination away from Crist. Even if that's true (and I'm agnostic on that question at this point), there is still reason to keep an eye on the GOP contest.

Rubio, who turned 38 years old recently, began his career as a city commissioner for West Miami, eventually winning a seat in the Florida House during a 2000 special election. He was elected Speaker of the House...]]> Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Since my April 6 column ("The Most Vulnerable Senator Up for Re-Election in 2010?"), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has had his ups and his downs. His supporters happily point to a number of "ups."

After playing a highly visible role in the bank bailout, Dodd led the charge on a credit card bill that should find favor with consumers. The Senator received positive ink about the bill and about his role in its passage, and he will use it to make the case for his effectiveness to state voters.

And now, the Connecticut Democrat also finds himself pinch-hitting for Health, Education,...]]> Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The Virginia gubernatorial race just got a whole lot tougher for Republican nominee Bob McDonnell.

Instead of nominating a liberal from Northern Virginia (former state Del. Brian Moran) or an upstate New Yorker normally identified with the national Democratic Party (Terry McAuliffe), Old Dominion Democrats opted for a rural state Senator, Creigh Deeds, thereby giving the party a standard-bearer in the fall who can run as heir to the Mark Warner-Tim Kaine legacy of pragmatism.

One national Republican strategist has a simple formula in explaining recent Virginia elections, and it doesn't seem far off the mark: The guy who looks extreme or stupid and is the focal point of the...]]> Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 In May, I made an appearance on "Hardball with Chris Matthews," one of MSNBC's political shows. The segment's main focus was the current state of the Republican Party.

When the segment ended and I walked off the set, I knew that that would likely be my last appearance on "Hardball." I had decided that I would not accept another invitation to appear on the program, should one come.

For those of us who enjoy following politics and are interested in the news, there are fewer and fewer options on television. The Sunday shows and PBS programming - "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," for example - remain, and there are a handful of others worth watching elsewhere (e.g., "Morning Joe"...]]> Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Democratic political strategists know that for all of their party's advantages next year, they'll almost certainly have significant turnout issues in more than a half-dozen highly competitive districts - even if President Barack Obama remains popular.

"Last cycle, our challenge was to make certain newly energized Obama voters continue to vote Democratic down the ballot. This time, our challenge is getting those same voters back out to vote again," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Executive Director Jon Vogel told me recently.

At least nine Democratic-held districts in five different states - Alabama's 2nd (Rep. Bobby Bright) and 5th (Rep. Parker Griffith), Ohio's...]]> Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's comments last month to RNC state chairmen calling for the party to turn the corner "on regret, recrimination, self-pity and self-doubt" and to declare "an end to the era of Republicans looking backward" weren't ill-advised or inappropriate. They were just irrelevant.

That's because the chairman of the RNC simply doesn't have the authority or power to dictate to Republican Congressional leaders or to the Club for Growth how to behave. Nor can he tell talk-show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former Secretary of State Colin Powell or former Vice President Dick Cheney what they can say...]]> Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The Guest Observer column in this newspaper's May 18 edition, written by Brian Wild, who worked as chief of staff to then-Rep. Pat Toomey (R), makes some interesting claims about Toomey's prospects in the 2010 Pennsylvania Senate race.

Wild begins by asserting that unidentified "Washington ... 'experts'" want to deny that Toomey's "dominance in polls is what led Specter to jump ship."

This is a curious comment because every thoughtful discussion that I've heard about Specter's party switch notes that he left the GOP because he was trailing badly in the polls and couldn't beat Toomey in a primary. Specter even said so. There is no debate about that.

Wild also asserts...]]> Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Republicans have found the soft underbelly of the administration of President Barack Obama, and her name is Nancy Pelosi.

The Speaker performed admirably during her first two years as the top Congressional leader, elevating pragmatism over purity and successfully stepping back from the limelight to allow others to be the face of the Democratic Party.

But the recent flap over what the CIA did or didn't tell Pelosi years ago when she was briefed by the agency on its interrogation techniques is a reminder of the California Democrat's weaknesses.

Unable to crack Obama's personal popularity and aware that his communication skills far exceed those of any GOP leader,...]]> Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Over the past few weeks, a handful of potentially strong Republican challengers have jumped into House races. Sid Leiken in Oregon, Frank Guinta in New Hampshire, Van Tran in California and Cory Gardner in Colorado, for example, look to be the kind of recruits whom Republicans didn't get last cycle.

Leiken, who is running against Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), and Tran, who will challenge Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), are running in districts that the National Republican Congressional Committee hasn't targeted in many cycles.

Of course, there is no guarantee that these Republicans will turn out to be ideal challengers, or even that they'll win. On paper, former Kansas City...]]> Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Republicans have begun their "rebranding" campaign by holding a town hall in Northern Virginia. Those efforts surely are necessary, since the party's standing in polls continues to erode. But any success from the new approach is likely to proceed at a snail's pace.

It's difficult to change opinions that have gelled over the past few years, and GOP efforts to reach voters town hall by town hall are likely to be overshadowed by major fights on Capitol Hill, over everything from health care to spending to Supreme Court nominations.

The retirement of Justice David Souter is a case in point, and the fight over his replacement presents Republicans with an interesting conundrum. ...]]> Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 It's the off year for the House and Senate campaign committees, which means that most of the time is spent on matters like planning, fundraising and candidate recruitment.

But few campaign operatives are entirely content with doing just that. They'd rather stir the political pot whenever possible, hoping that they are laying the groundwork for the time when real voters are paying attention.

That's the best way to explain some of the very early maneuvering over the years by the Republican and Democratic campaign committees during this political training camp period.

This cycle, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is already stirring the pot in a couple of...]]> Tue, 05 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Senate primaries in three states already look like classic battles featuring insurgent candidates preparing to take on the preferred choice of "the establishment." But each contest has its own particular features, and the three races may not produce identical outcomes.

Two of the contests are in Ohio. In the Democratic race, the party establishment has fallen behind Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, who faces Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and a number of lesser-known candidates in a potentially heated primary. On the GOP side, former Rep. Rob Portman begins with a prohibitive advantage over wealthy businessman Tom Ganley.

In Missouri, Republican Party insiders have picked Rep. Roy...]]> Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's party switch is one of those developments that both reflects the depth of the problems facing the GOP and could begin a new chapter for some Democratic officeholders who will face additional political challenges down the road. Republican strategists are downright gloomy over the gleeful reaction of conservative activists to Specter's exit.

To those conservatives, Specter was never a reliable Republican anyway, and they see his moderate record - including his support for the stimulus package and the omnibus appropriations bill, for abortion rights and equal pay, and for a comprehensive solution on immigration reform - as diluting the party's brand...]]> Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 It certainly looks as if President Barack Obama can't quite make up his mind on how to deal with calls within his party for a full-scale public investigation - with possible legal action - of Bush administration officials who approved of interrogation tactics that most Democrats regard as torture.

The president made it clear initially that he wanted to avoid looking "backward" at the previous administration's policies, reiterating that view on Thursday at a meeting with Congressional leaders.

But for a couple of days, and in the face of a firestorm of protest from his party's ideological left, Obama backed off from that position, seemingly handing the issue off to Congress,...]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Cheerleading has its place, including on a high school or college basketball court. But not when it comes to political analysis.

Over the past couple of weeks, at least three Republicans - House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), former Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and campaign consultant Tony Marsh - have raised the possibility of the GOP winning back the House of Representatives next year.

That idea is lunacy and ought to be put to rest immediately.

None of the three actually predicted that Republicans would gain the 40 seats that they need for a majority, but all three held out hope that that's possible. It isn't.

"I don't remove the prospect that we could...]]> Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 For the national media, Barack Obama isn't merely the president of the United States. He's so much more than that.

Obama is a celebrity, and he and his family are covered that way. That means there is a heavy focus on the personal, making Obama the first "Entertainment Tonight president."

First, it was Michelle's wardrobe. Then, it was the kids' school. Then it was Michelle's White House vegetable garden. And most recently, it is the new dog, Bo.

As befitting the pet of an international celebrity, Bo-mania is an international phenomenon. AFP, the French news agency, reported Tuesday a "surge of interest in the pedigree in Britain," after the announcement about the...]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 House retirements are running a bit ahead of schedule this cycle, at least compared with where they stood in 2005 and 2007. And if they even approach the same numbers as in the past two election cycles, retirements could play a significant part in the eventual 2010 House battleground.

Roll Call’s Casualty List now shows a dozen House Members leaving their House seats to run for another office next year. In June 2007, the Casualty List identified four House Members who were not seeking re-election — one of whom, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), eventually changed his mind and ran for re-election. Two years...]]> Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Coverage of Dodd's special treatment from lender Countrywide Financial - and his designation as a "friend of Angelo" - has blanketed local media, severely damaging Dodd's standing in a state where Democrats hold better than 2-1 majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature, hold all of the Congressional seats and haven't lost a U.S. Senate race since 1986.

Only one Republican, Lowell Weicker, has won a Senate race in the Constitution State since Prescott Bush did so in 1956. (Bush defeated Democrat Thomas Dodd, the current Senator's father.)

Chris Dodd has had no serious tests since he coasted to victory in an open-seat House race in the very Democratic year of 1974....]]> Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Both parties' Congressional campaign committees and the Democratic National Committee sent out press releases moments after all the votes were counted Tuesday night. The Democratic releases were nearly identical talking points.

Democrats cited the GOP registration edge, argued Murphy had stormed back from more than 20 points down and asserted that they are confident that Murphy will expand his lead. Let's look at the points one by one.

Much has been made of the Republican registration - far too much, even by those of us who should know better. You don't need a doctorate in political science to know that registration is a lagging indicator and that what is important is how...]]> Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500 But it's not just his chairmanship that makes North Dakota's senior Senator a key player. It's that Conrad begins with well-earned credibility as one of the Senate's true deficit hawks that allows him to take on a president of his own party, both now and later.

Will Conrad continue to be a vocal critic of bigger deficits, even if it means fighting the president's agenda on global warming, health care and the financial industry? Or will he simply talk about the danger of exploding deficits while allowing deficits totaling $9.3 trillion from 2010 to 2019 - a figure that the Congressional Budget Office calculated from the administration's budget proposal?

Since the budget...]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500 But even some Republicans acknowledge that Tedisco, the State Assembly Minority Leader, is, as one put it, like "the old dog that can't learn new tricks." Democrats have used his lengthy record against him, portraying him as an insider and part of the problem.

One Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee-funded TV ad, for example, asserted that "politician Jim Tedisco" is "just another Albany politician," while a different spot attacked the Republican for collecting per diem allowances from the state even though he lives 17 miles from Albany.

Democrat Scott Murphy, 39, has never run for office before and claims to have created jobs as a businessman. He worked for two...]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500 But if you only read about the NPR poll on the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Web site, you would have a seriously distorted view of the results of the survey.

"Latest NPR Poll: Democrats Besting Republicans in National Debate on Key Budget Issues" proclaimed the headline on the Democratic firm's Web site.

The report on the Web site continued by saying the poll "shows [President] Barack Obama with high overall approval ratings and strong marks on handling the economy, but much more important, Democrats winning the big debates surrounding Obama's first budget on taxes, energy, health care, and the deficit by significant margins."

If you are looking for any bits of data...]]>