Morning reads from the Nat’l Republican Senatorial Comm – 9/28/9

Posted by Clyde Middleton on Sep 28 2009 Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Here’s a few engine starters for what is looking like a busy week in politics:

As Majority Leader Reid continues to defend the ethically-challenged ACORN, he appears increasingly irked at the criticism leveled at him both by Chairman Cornyn and the NRSC, as reported in Sunday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, no slouch in political gamesmanship, drew a barbed response last week from no less than Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after a Cornyn spokesman criticized Reid for failing to go after ACORN, the community activist organization now under fire for questionable activities … Reid seemed really irked that Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, sent out a news release saying Reid was essentially squelching a congressional inquiry … Of course, the pointed comments from NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh really got things going: “It’s become increasingly clear that ACORN may have manipulated tens of thousands of ballots in last year’s federal election — an area where Congress has clear oversight responsibilities — and yet Harry Reid won’t lift a finger. When you consider that authorities in Nevada thought it was important enough to investigate ACORN’s voter registration activities in the past, you have to wonder why Harry Reid does not agree. Is he afraid of angering his most liberal supporters at a time when his approval ratings are near an all-time low?”

Meanwhile, as he tries to “quarterback” the health care bill through the Senate, Reid will now own the final version of the legislation, according to members of his own caucus. The New York Times’ David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear report: There will be wrangling, Mr. Harkin said, but Mr. Reid will make the final calls. “Our quarterback is Harry Reid,” Mr. Harkin said. “We elected him to that position. He will decide how this is done.”

Two stories out there today about the difficulty Democrat candidates face in states that overwhelming went for McCain over Obama last fall:

· First, Politico’s Jeanne Cummings writes on Blanche Lincoln’s increasingly tough road to re-election in Arkansas, especially as she prepares to cast a vote on a health care bill unpopular in with her constituents. Today, a recent poll showed Lincoln’s approval ratings have flipped upside down. Just 43 percent of Arkansans view her performance favorably, and 49 percent deemed it unfavorable, according to a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll. Her support among Democrats was a modest 66 percent and had plummeted among independents to 39 percent.

· While the Monroe News Star, the principal newspaper of northeastern Louisiana, notes Charles Melancon’s uphill battle next fall. U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, must do something to shake up the current political environment or get help from outside to stand a chance of defeating Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter next November in an increasingly-conservative Louisiana, political watchers say. Additionally, Melancon must break through in northern Louisiana, arguably the most conservative part of the state and one where his name recognition falls way short of Vitter’s. “I think it’s getting just more and more difficult in this environment this year for a Democrat to win,” said Charlie Cook, publisher of The Cook Political Report and political analyst for the National Journal Group and NBC News. “I think if the environment in November 2010 is the way it is now, I think Charlie Melancon is going to have a tough time” … Obama won 40 percent of the vote in Louisiana in November 2008. He did worse in six other states, but he has grown increasingly unpopular in Louisiana, where most of the electorate oppose his health care proposals, Cook and Bernie Pinsonat of Southern Media and Opinion Research said. That unpopularity has made Melancon’s task even more difficult. “It’s like trying to run a hundred-yard dash carrying a 15-pound weight,” Pinsonat said.

In Colorado, Aaron Blake of The Hill observes the vulnerability of the unelected and untested Michael Bennet in both a primary and general election. A new poll shows appointed Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) could indeed have a difficult primary on his hands in 2010. The Tarrance Group (R) poll for the Colorado Policy Institute appears to be the first public polling on Bennet’s primary with former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. It shows Bennet leading Romanoff 41-27. Bennet, like other appointees to the Senate, has not posted the strongest approval ratings and could be vulnerable in both the primary and the general election.

A Wall Street Journal editorial rips the mandates in the Finance Committee health care proposal, and notes the vast expansion of Medicaid will wreak havoc on state budgets. The more we inspect Max Baucus’s health-care bill, the worse it looks. Today’s howler: One reason it allegedly “pays for itself” over 10 years is because it would break all 50 state budgets by permanently expanding Medicaid, the joint state-federal program for the poor. Democrats want to use Medicaid to cover everyone up to at least 133% of the federal poverty level, or about $30,000 for a family of four.

Starting in 2014, Mr. Baucus plans to spend $287 billion through 2019—or about one-third of ObamaCare’s total spending—to add some 11 million new people to the Medicaid rolls. About 59 million people are on Medicaid today—which means that a decade from now about a quarter of the total population would be on a program originally sold as help for low-income women, children and the disabled. State budgets would explode—by $37 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office—because they would no longer be allowed to set eligibility in line with their own decisions about taxes and spending. This is the mother—and father and crazy uncle—of unfunded mandates.

Finally, a new Rasmussen poll shows support for ObamaCare at an all-time low. Just 41% of voters nationwide now favor the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s down two points from a week ago and the lowest level of support yet measured. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% are opposed to the plan. Senior citizens are less supportive of the plan than younger voters. In the latest survey, just 33% of seniors favor the plan while 59% are opposed. The intensity gap among seniors is significant. Only 16% of the over-65 crowd Strongly Favors the legislation while 46% are Strongly Opposed.

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