**Health Care
*Congress is enjoying its month off at home while currently the least popular its been in six months. "Gallup polling conducted in the first few days of Congress' August recess -- a time when many members of Congress were preparing to meet their constituents in town hall meetings back in their districts -- finds public approval of Congress on par with the lowest reading since February, a month after the 111th Congress convened. Thirty-one percent of Americans in Gallup's Aug. 6-9 survey approve of the job Congress is doing while 62% disapprove."

*As Democrats push for public support on health care, a new Pew Research survey finds public support for Congressional Democrats down drastically since the beginning of the year. Once viewed favorably by 62%, compared with 40% for Republicans, Democrats' favorability rating is now down below 50%, while the GOP remains unchanged.

*First read this lede from the WSJ: "The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes," Wall Street Journal reports. "Democrats hope a split-the-bill plan would speed up a vote and help President Barack Obama meet his goal of getting a final measure by year's end."

*Now check this one from The Hill: "Senate Democratic leaders and negotiators have recommitted themselves to a bipartisan healthcare deal, despite an August recess characterized by partisan sniping that prompted senior White House officials to consider a go-it-alone approach. The renewed calls for patience and bipartisan talks have saved, at least temporarily, the healthcare debate from devolving into full-blown partisan chaos."

*The Washington Post interviews Sen. Chuck Grassley, who's become the center of attention lately. "Grassley said he remains hopeful that he and five other members of the Senate Finance Committee can draft a better, less costly plan capable of winning broad support from Democrats and Republicans. But as the group, known as the Gang of Six, prepared to continue talking via teleconference late Thursday, Grassley said the members may be forced to reassess the breadth of their efforts in light of public concerns."

Grassley also said "the president should publicly state his willingness to sign a bill without a controversial government-run insurance plan. Such a statement, he said, is 'pretty important . . . if you're really interested in a bipartisan bill.'"

*Roll Call reports that "Liberal bloggers say they have helped raise more than $160,000 in the past 24 hours for about 60 progressive House Democrats who have pledged to vote against any health care plan that does not include a public insurance option."

**Ted Kennedy
*The Boston Globe has this intriguing story today. Sen. Ted Kennedy has written to state leaders requesting that they alter recent legislation on Senate succession to allow the governor to appoint a temporary replacement in the event of a vacancy. "Under a 2004 law, if Kennedy were to die or step down, Massachusetts voters would select his successor through a special election, to be held within five months after the vacancy." The clear implication here is that Kennedy does not want Democrats to be one vote short on health care should he pass away.

Kennedy writes that whoever is appointed should agree immediately not to seek to hold the seat in a special election. A Kennedy family confidant tells the Globe that Kennedy's wife, Vicki, "is not interested in being a temporary appointee or running in a special election." Other Kennedy advisers, meanwhile, "were adamant that the timing of the letter did not reflect any imminent emergency in the health of the senator, who has been battling brain cancer since May 2008."

*Politico reports, meanwhile, that "Democrats are keenly feeling" Kennedy's absence. "Insiders say that Kennedy, and maybe Kennedy alone, has the stature to help President Barack Obama bridge the gap between liberals who insist on a government-run option and moderates who remain fearful of the cost -- and even bring along some Republican support as well."

**President Obama
*Bloomberg broke the news that the OMB will announce that the projected budget deficit is being cut by $262 billion. The somewhat rosier picture is because "the administration scrapped contingency plans to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in additional aid to the financial industry." Also, there were "fewer bank failures than the administration anticipated."

*Obama had a standing invitation to appear on Smerconish's radio show, and the White House decided now was a good time to accept, the L.A. Times reports. "There has been a lot of misinformation that's been spread, particularly in conservative circles, about this plan," said Joshua Earnest, a White House spokesman. "It's an opportunity to set the record straight, and hopefully he'll have an opportunity to confront that misinformation head-on."

*In Chicago today, Biden plans to announce "nearly $1.2 billion in grants to help hospitals transition to electronic medical records." That money is made possible because of the Recovery Act, and Biden and Sebelius will explain how that will "help Americans when they go to the hospital or their doctors. It also is a what's-in-it-for-me way for the White House to illustrate how it is spending parts of the massive amount of taxpayer dollars," AP reports.

**2012 Republicans
*Romney: Is Mitt Romney using voodoo dolls? asks Politics Daily. Because all but one of his biggest competitors for the 2012 nomination have shot themselves in the foot one way or another. "Romney was the one who finished second to McCain in the 2008 GOP primary derby and he is the one whom many wise-guy Republicans in Washington believe their party should have nominated last time. Now, Romney is known to be a square who doesn't cat around, drink, or even cuss. So what, you might wonder, is he doing with voodoo dolls of all his rivals? Okay, Politics Daily doesn't really have the evidence of such sorcery, but really, what else explains it?"

*In an interview this morning, Mitt Romney said Obama must shoulder the blame for the gridlocked situation surrounding health care legislation, because he gave too much influence to liberals in his party. "If the president wants to get something done, he needs to put aside the extreme liberal wing of his party," he told CBS.

*Pawlenty: "Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty, best known among Republicans for his fiscal record, has discovered a policy niche that is beginning to pay dividends for his prospective 2012 presidential bid: health care," Politico reports.

*Huckabee: "Mike Huckabee, the former GOP presidential candidate who is thought to be eyeing a second run for the White House, is standing by his recent comments in Israel criticizing the White House's policy toward the country. On a trip to the Israel earlier this week, the former Arkansas governor positioned himself in against the Obama administration's policy of asking Israel to halt construction of settlements in predominantly Arab neighborhoods including East Jerusalem and the West Bank," CNN reports.

**Other Campaign Stuff
*ABC: "The Republican National Committee is set to announce today that it raised $6 million last month, bringing the party committee a total of $21.8 million in cash on hand as spending picks up in two key gubernatorial contests."

*TX Gov: "Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that he is not convinced he will face a primary opponent next year, even though U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison officially launched her gubernatorial campaign this week," Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

*NC Sen: Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) said yesterday "that he is giving some thought to running against Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year," Raleigh News & Observer reports.

*The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Chris Christie lately "has spent less time vowing to clean up Trenton than responding to allegations and defending his actions. ... "Democrats have been trying for months to tarnish Christie's record, criticizing him, for example, for awarding no-bid contracts worth millions of dollars to people including his onetime boss, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Until now, Christie has dismissed the attacks as partisan mudslinging and maintained a lead over incumbent Gov. Corzine in the polls. But the most recent revelations, including Christie's first admission of a mistake, could well amount to the campaign's first serious challenge after months of relatively smooth sailing."

*Charlie Crist has added more names to his Senate appointment short list, including his former chief of staff.

*The quote of the day, from Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.): "I haven't done anything legally wrong."

--Kyle Trygstad and Mike Memoli