The OAO 2006 US Elections Thread

[SuperJerk 0]

I think Talent will when because other than being in Bush's pocket, he hasn't really done anything wrong in the eyes of the voters. McCaskill isn't terribly impressive as a candidate, plus she has that alledged nursing home scandal to live down.

 

I hated the way, during the debate, Talent tried to equate prisoners having habeas corpus rights with having high-speed internet access. McCaskill didn't call him on it, and she didn't object when he kept talking out of turn.

[gWIL 0]

My local race:

 

New poll shows Donnelly leading Chocola

by WNDU-TV

 

 

St. Joseph County, IN - Election day is just weeks away, and a new poll shows democrat Joe Donnelly leading republican incumbent Chris Chocola, in Indiana’s 2nd district.

The phone survey by Reuters-Zogby shows Donnelly beating Chocola, 49% to 39%.

 

It’s a lead that falls in line with reports from around the U.S.

 

Reuters-Zogby says democrats are ahead in eleven of 15 key republican held house seats.

 

The survey, which took place in the last week of September, included at least 500 interviews in each of the 15 congressional districts.

 

 

 

According to recent poll numbers, Democrats will pick up 3 seats in Indiana. That's pretty damn impressive no matter how you look at it. Chocola spoke at my high school and did terrible. In an interview with our Newspaper editor, apparently he was a wreck afterward the speech. He got called out on a lot of things, with some of the biggest Republicans in the school saying he did a terrible job.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

That dude's name is fucking Chocola? Oh awesome. I'd vote for him based on the Yoohoo similar beverage.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

 

On another note, I know his election isn't even going to be close, but Eliot Spitzer has the best freakin' political ads I've ever seen.

 

http://www.spitzerpaterson.com/main.cfm?ac...&s=spitzer3

 

Let It Shine, Fighting For, & Tribute, for example.

[SuperJerk 0]

VOTE CHOCULA!!!!!

[snuffbox 0]

I notice that the GOP is still trying to babble about 'lower taxes!' during this years campaign. The huge majority of Americans largest concern re: taxation is their payroll/income...and that hasnt really gone down the last few years.

 

Basically, the GOP's plan for this year.s election (not unlike 2004) is to just say the same things they've proven themselves wrong about...and just hope that their constituents are braindead/naive/etc.

[SuperJerk 0]

Ah, yes...tax cuts.

 

The only way tax cuts can grow an economy is if that money is invested in the private sector and used to create new jobs, services, and products.

 

The only areas of the economy that are creating jobs right now are medical services and the federal government.

 

So..are the Bush tax cuts doing the economy any good? Only in the sense that they're creating budget deficits which are artifically pumping up the economy with borrowed money.

[snuffbox 0]

The thing is, the taxes of the majority of voters have not & will not go anywhere but up with this sort of liberal-spending/neoconservative philosophy...and the problem for the curent power bloc of elected officials is how long they can depend on Americans not being pissed off about this.

[SuperJerk 0]

How big does that deficit have to get before people start to care? If you're the Republicans, until you're out of power and need an issue to bitch about.

[SuperJerk 0]

Bernie Sanders Update...

 

BURLINGTON, Vermont (AP) -- For three decades, Rep. Bernie Sanders has been a party of one, an avowed socialist who rails against corporate America, Republicans, Democrats and all those he believes fail the poor and working families.

 

Now 65, the Brooklyn-born independent and his crusade could end up in the Senate.

 

Polls put Sanders comfortably ahead of Republican Richard Tarrant, a wealthy businessman who has spent more than $5 million of his own money trying to buy the name recognition Sanders enjoys after eight years as mayor of Vermont's largest city and 16 years in the House. Sanders would succeed Sen. James Jeffords, a Republican turned independent who is retiring.

 

Sanders has forged a unique coalition during his political career, gaining the backing of Republicans, Democrats and those who believe that they've been ignored by the people in power.

 

"In my heart and soul, based on where I grew up and what my life was like as a kid, the economic issues to me are the most important," the eight-term lawmaker said.

 

Sanders remains committed to the ideals of the democratic socialists of northern Europe, believing that government spending -- combined with market forces -- is the best way to achieve social justice and social equity.

 

"I am prepared to stand up to the big-money interests," he said, his voice rising and his signature New York accent growing more pronounced with every syllable. "I am prepared to talk about the growing gap between rich and poor. I'm prepared to talk about the fact that, in many ways, we are becoming an oligarchic society with a few people on top who have tremendous wealth while the middle class is shrinking, people are working very, very hard to keep their heads above water and poverty is increasing.

 

He added: "How many people do you know in the Senate who talk about that issue? Well, I will talk about that issue."

 

That's vintage Sanders. And it's the kind of stuff that sets his detractors' teeth on edge.

 

"Part of it is just his mannerisms and his Brooklyn accent and his kind of loud reaction to things," said Sara Gear Boyd, Burlington, Vermont's longtime Republican national committeewoman. "He's always kind of in-your-face with his reactions. Then, philosophically, he's worlds apart from the way most Republicans think. His solutions are truly much more socialistic, and that just kind of grates."

 

Critics say he's great in front of a television camera but not so great at finding solutions.

 

"He's always finding someone to blame for the pain you and I feel," said William Gilbert, a prominent Republican activist who also has worked for Democrats over the years.

 

Those complaints are the very reasons that Sanders' legions of supporters like him.

 

"He's a real person," said Lori Stratton, 38, of Plainfield, who has a Sanders campaign sticker on her car's bumper. "He's genuinely concerned about issues that are important to Vermonters and anyone who wants a safe world. He looks into things and knows what he's talking about. He's principled and honest."

 

Jim Rader, who was Burlington city clerk when Sanders was mayor and who knew him when he was a student at the University of Chicago, believes Sanders is genuine.

 

"I think he came to politics out of some deep convictions and concerns," Rader said. "And I think people pick up on that. It doesn't come from a shallow place. It's from deep within him."

 

Sanders says his accomplishments include focusing attention on Gulf War veterans, helping IBM workers fight a change in their pension plan and steering trade-adjustment aid to people thrown out of work by globalization.

 

He says he knows how to reach across the aisle, citing his bipartisan cooperation on heating-aid legislation and dairy policy. But he doesn't budge when he thinks he's right.

 

Sanders was one of only 14 congressmen who voted against a bill that would have set up a coordinator for the Amber Alert system, which warns when a child has been kidnapped. He said he supports Amber Alert but feels that sentencing provisions in the bill were unconstitutional.

 

His antagonism is a holdover from his earliest days as Burlington's independent mayor, when he shocked the conservative Democratic establishment in 1981 by defeating an incumbent Democrat by just 10 votes, the first election he'd won in 10 years of trying as a member of the Liberty Union Party.

 

"Most people do not assume public office by defeating the Democratic and Republican parties and having them fighting you almost every step of the way," he said. "It's something that you don't forget."

 

Nonetheless, even Sanders' critics believe he's mellowed over the years and has learned to work with Republicans. He even earned the Democratic nomination for the Senate in September, although he promptly declined it. Democrats have not put up another candidate against Sanders, who caucuses with House Democrats.

 

Sanders might fit right in if he's elected, said congressional scholar Ross Baker, a Rutgers University professor who describes Sanders as "politically adroit."

 

"The Senate is home to iconoclasts and eccentrics. It's part of the charm of the place," Baker said. "The Senate has accommodated a very, very bewildering array of characters over the years. It's a remarkably flexible institution."

 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/11/san...e.ap/index.html

[snuffbox 0]

I saw Bernie Sanders make a speech here in Wisco during Fighting Bob Fest last year. It was very good.

[SuperJerk 0]

Oh SNAP~! Another scandal...

 

FBI raids home of congressman's daughter

 

MEDIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- The FBI raided the homes of Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and a close friend Monday as it investigates whether the congressman improperly helped the pair win lobbying and consulting contracts.

 

Agents searched four locations in the Philadelphia area and two in Jacksonville, Florida, said Debbie Weierman, an FBI spokeswoman in Washington. The congressman's home and his offices were not among the locations searched, she said.

 

Earlier Monday, Weldon called the investigation politically motivated and called the timing suspect. The Republican, who is locked in a tight re-election bid and has clashed with the Bush administration, denied wrongdoing and said he gave his daughter no special help. (Watch how the recent scandals have put the GOP under greater scrutiny-- 1:31)

 

"What I find ironic, if there is an investigation, is that no one would tell me until three weeks before the election," Weldon said at an appearance in Media. "This incident was 2½ years ago."

 

Weierman confirmed that the six raids included Karen Weldon's home in Philadelphia; the Springfield home of Charles Sexton, her business partner and the congressman's close friend; and the office of their company, Solutions North America, in Media.

 

Federal investigators are looking into whether Weldon used his influence to help the company secure lobbying contracts worth $1 million from foreign clients, two people familiar with the inquiry told The Associated Press.

 

Weldon in tough race

Weldon, a 10-term Republican from the Philadelphia suburbs and vice chairman of the House Armed Services committee, is in a close race for re-election on November 7 against Democrat Joe Sestak. Last week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee mailed fliers to voters in Weldon's district accusing Karen Weldon of getting help from her father on lobbying projects.

 

Weldon said his daughter received no special consideration because of him.

 

"I've never helped my daughter get anything. My kids are qualified on their own," Weldon said.

 

The congressman also raised questions about the need for a Justice Department investigation, noting that the House Ethics Committee looked into his daughter's contracts soon after The Los Angeles Times reported on them in February 2004. He said he has cooperated fully, turning over 150 pages of documents and answering the committee's questions.

 

In Florida, an office and a residence in Jacksonville were searched, said FBI spokesman Jeff Westcott. It was not immediately clear how those locations were related to the case, but a law enforcement official in Washington said the inquiry could involve people beyond Weldon, his daughter and Sexton.

 

The search warrants were executed, in part, because of news reports over the weekend exposing the federal investigation, according to the Washington official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing inquiry. Typically, such searches are speeded up to prevent evidence from being destroyed.

 

Weldon, regarded by some as a foreign policy expert, has clashed at times with the Bush administration. In the last year, he has repeatedly said a secret military unit called "Able Danger" used data-mining to link four September 11 hijackers to al Qaeda more than a year before the attacks. A Pentagon report rejected the idea.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/16/con...n.ap/index.html

[snuffbox 0]

He says his investigation is 'politically motivated'...because, you know, the Democrats are in charge of the FBI.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Absolutely incredible.

 

Socialists in '12!

[snuffbox 0]

It looks like Mike DeWine of Ohio, the Bush Iraq policy's biggest toadie in the Senate, will lose his seat as well. I like that.

[Gary Floyd 0]

It looks like Mike DeWine of Ohio, the Bush Iraq policy's biggest toadie in the Senate, will lose his seat as well. I like that.

Oh, you should see the attack ads the guy has. They make you want to vote for his opponent.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

HUGE ENDORSEMENT FOR MICHAEL STEELE IN MARYLAND! ENDORSEMENT OF THE CENTURY! SPLENDIFEROUS!

[SuperJerk 0]

It looks like Mike DeWine of Ohio, the Bush Iraq policy's biggest toadie in the Senate, will lose his seat as well. I like that.

Oh, you should see the attack ads the guy has. They make you want to vote for his opponent.

Some of the 527 ads for Jim Talent accuse McCaskill of being responcible for rapes at nursing homes.

 

 

 

 

Poll: Foley scandal ranks low among election issues

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Only about a quarter of Americans say the scandal over former Rep. Mark Foley will be "extremely important" in how they vote in November's congressional elections, according to a CNN poll released Tuesday.

 

That figure falls far below issues such as Iraq, terrorism and the economy.

 

The Foley scandal ranked fifth on a list of five topics in a poll conducted Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corp. (Read the complete poll results -- PDF)

 

Iraq and the threat of terrorism topped the list, with 43 percent of the 1,012 adults polled saying each would be extremely important to their November 7 vote, compared with 33 percent for the economy.

 

The issue of North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test last week, was extremely important to 32 percent of those polled, while 27 percent cited the Foley scandal.

 

The survey had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

 

Twenty percent said they were angry over how lawmakers handled the Foley matter, while 57 percent said they were dissatisfied and 19 percent said they were satisfied.

 

Foley abruptly resigned September 29 as details emerged of sexually explicit instant messages he sent to teens who had served as congressional pages.

 

Questions about how GOP leaders handled previous concerns about the six-term Florida Republican have led to investigations by the House ethics committee and the Justice Department.

 

Tuesday's poll found that 57 percent of Americans believe Republican leaders in Congress deliberately covered up the earlier concerns -- up from 52 percent in a poll taken a week earlier -- while 39 percent believe the GOP was unaware of the serious nature of Foley's behavior.

 

But the latest survey finds more support for House Speaker Dennis Hastert in the wake of the controversy.

 

In the previous poll, conducted October 6-8, 52 percent said the Foley scandal should cost the Illinois Republican his leadership post.

 

That figure dropped slightly, to 50 percent, while the number of people who believed Hastert should stay on as speaker grew from 31 percent last week to 39 percent this week.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/16/foley/index.html

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Dewine has totally collapsed.

 

CBS/NY Times. 10/11-15. Likely voters. MoE 3% (No trend lines)

 

 

 

DeWine ® 35

Brown (D) 49

 

 

 

Quinnipiac. 10/10-15. Likely voters. MoE 3.3% (9/11-17)

 

 

 

DeWine ® 41 (44)

Brown (D) 53 (45)

 

 

 

Univ of Cincinnati. 10/9-14. Likely voters. MoE 4.3% (9/7-10 results)

 

 

 

DeWine ® 45 (47)

Brown (D) 52 (51)

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Another huge endorsement for Michael Steele in Maryland.

[snuffbox 0]

TheMikeOH DeWine should fire whoever keeps telling him that it's a good political move to remain Bush's toadie in the face of everything going wrong.

 

And, it's always going to be hard enough for any Republican to do well in a state-wide Maryland vote with the Baltimore bloc always going Dem...the likes of Don King and Mike Tyson probably won't help much. And it won't sway the boxing vote too much, as Baltimore's own Hasim Rahman is no longer promoted by King.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

That boxing swing vote is an increasingly important demographic these days.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

Rick Santorum lol

 

Embattled U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said America has avoided a second terrorist attack for five years because the “Eye of Mordor” has been drawn to Iraq instead.

 

Santorum used the analogy from one of his favorite books, J.R.R. Tolkien's 1950s fantasy classic “Lord of the Rings,” to put an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq into terms any school kid could easily understand.

 

“As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else,” Santorum said, describing the tool the evil Lord Sauron used in search of the magical ring that would consolidate his power over Middle-earth.

 

“It's being drawn to Iraq and it's not being drawn to the U.S.,” Santorum continued. “You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don't want the Eye to come back here to the United States.”

 

In an interview with the Bucks County Courier Times editorial board late last week, the 12-year Republican senator from Pennsylvania said he's “a big "Lord of the Rings' fan.” He's read the first of the series, “The Hobbit” to his six children.

 

A spokesman for Democratic opponent Bob Casey Jr. questioned the appropriateness of the analogy.

 

“You have to really question the judgment of a U.S. senator who compares the war in Iraq to a fantasy book,” said Casey spokesman Larry Smar. “This is just like when he said Kim Jong II isn't a threat because he just wants to "watch NBA basketball.' ”

 

According to a Harrisburg Patriot-News editorial, Santorum said the North Korea dictator “doesn't want to die; he wants to watch NBA basketball” as a reason why Iran is the bigger nuclear threat.

 

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111...006-728120.html

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

I meant to post that yesterday. Good catch.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Who's Tom Bombadil in the War on Terror?

[snuffbox 0]

That boxing swing vote is an increasingly important demographic these days.

 

In a town like Baltimore, if a local former champion like Rahman would support a candidate it could actually help. But Don King telling black people not to vote for Dems 'just because jibbedyjabber' (hey Don, the black community in B-more doesn't wipe their ass with cash as you do) and Mike Tyson doing whatever it is he does will obviously only hurt poor Iron Mike Steele.

[NoCalMike 0]

ACTION ALERT: Blackwell purged Ohio Voter Rolls Oct 1st.- Vote Early.

by KStreetProjector

Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 05:59:14 AM PDT

A friend, in a position to be present at lunches of GOP insiders here in DC called me on Thursday, they know of my ongoing efforts to make hackable voting end.

 

My friend was present as a group of Moderate GOP members with Ohio ties lamented how far the party had strayed. There was consensus at the table there was no way they should retain control. The table conversation began with the assumption they party would lose control in this election. The moderates started planning how to take back control of the GOP from the extremists.

 

Then, one insider, probably an extremist, but certainly very close to Mr. Ken Mehlman abruptly stopped the conversation. He told table that it was impossible they would lose either house. He also predicts an Ohio GOP sweep.

 

More Below.

 

KStreetProjector's diary :: ::

He informed the group that over the last year, in four critical states the GOP needs to hold huge purges of the voter rolls have just been finished.

 

The insider did not say which four states, but did say Ohio was among them.

 

His claim was a new Diebold voter registry system had been installed over the last year. The last week of July and the first week of August a "test run" was made of the systems ability to purge ineligable voters. The purge generated names and test letters sent out to 1.2 million Ohio addresses with a focus on University's, Apartment addresses with high turnover. He claims they made the letters seem just functionary, but they have an action component to avoid being purged from the rolls.

 

The Insider warmed and said that Blackwell was brilliant in how he did this. The letter went on for a long time about changes in Ohio voting and security and suggested people who might have any concerns about their voting status could come by county offices and confirm their continued voting eligability before election day.

 

He further added, that since it was conducted as a "test" they only sent letters to a limited number of suspect addresses and "I suspect Blackwell chose criteria very very favorable for us."

 

Further the insider stated that Blackwell had only purged the lists after a full 60 days was given for people to respond. Which means even if a voter was on the "termination" list, they would still have been eligable to vote in the primary.

 

He told they table they believe the purge has probably caught up "hundreds of thousands of students, activists and wanderers with no real job" would show up at the polls and have to vote provisionally.

 

He predicted to the table that tens of thousands of voters will show up on election day, and once the provisionals are used up will simply not be able to at all.

 

He also said that this "operation" (The Insiders word, my friend was specific about this" had turned up a lot of additional fascinating information including a number of Democrats in elected office who are registered to vote in several places, and they may explore how to use this information against them.

 

I am going to assume, Mr. Blackwell's "test" purge went to no-one registered GOP. His criteria is something I am trying to get a copy of now.

 

Friday I called friends in Lorain County and Wayne County Ohio. I told them this DC tale. Neither of them had voted yet and I asked them if they could go on Monday to either early vote, or apply for an absentee ballot. And if possible sit for in the Elections Office for an hour and determine if anyone was expressiing surprise they were no longer registered.

 

If the sample of 11AM-1PM in Lorain County Ohio and 10AM-11AM in Wayne County Ohio are true. Then Ohio Democratic Voters had better go and Vote Early if they plan to vote at all.

 

At Lorain County, my friend arrived to find a line of over 15 people, many of whom had come back for a second time, all of them Democrats who had arrived to vote and been told that Drivers Liscence Information, or in one case Home Ownership Information had not matched the address provided for Voter Registration.

 

In one case a college student had been purged because he had changed dorms on campus.

 

In another case a local blue-collar worker had been purged because his voter registration had only his building address, but his drivers liscense included an apartment number. This tiny difference in information had led to his purging.

 

While everyone present seemed to have enough information to allow the records to be updated, my friend told me it was being done by one and only one clerk and was taking a very long time, about 5 minutes per person to resolve. Everyone in line confirmed that several voters had given up in frustration and left.

 

In Wayne County the sample is smaller, but during the one hour he stated 18 people arrived for absentee ballots or to vote early. Wayne County had 3 Diebold TSX Touch Screens set up for early voters. Of those who arrived two of them had been provisionally purged. The first was again a student from a local college, she was sent away and told she had to bring some ID beyond her student ID to prove she was resident at the College. She was wearing a Sherrod Brown button. The second was a local guy who owns two houses on the same block. His drivers liscence is to the one house where he keeps his cars, but his voter roll is in his house where he actually sleeps four houses away. This got resolved with a series of steps that included filling out two forms, and a clerk having to enter the corrected information into two seperate computers.

 

As an added bonus, My friend listened in and witnessed 8 retired ladies getting instructions on how to be poll workers on the new TSX machines. The instructor was a local elections board member. She was asked many questions by one of the retirees and her answer to almost all of them was "I don't know how it works, I just know how we are supposed to use it"

 

Get ready Ohio.

 

This story also may explain Mr. Blackwell's sudden discovery of the "two homes and is he really a qualifed Voter" now facing Strickland.

 

This Blackwell discovery of Mr. Strickland is actually "by-catch" of the much larger net thrown to eliminate hundred of thousands of democrats from the voting rolls.

 

ACTION: Get to your election boards, bring all the documentation you can. Demand a paper absentee ballot. Alert a everyone you know in Ohio.

 

Good luck out there. This doesn't eliminate the fact your Diebold System is utterly hackable, but it certainly explains how Rove plans to drag all your races into the margin of error so hitting the Diebold Button to steal the election doesn't look so obvious.

 

He has taken away your right to vote based on any piece of mismatched information in your state records.

 

I would expect that would be nearly everyone if the test was applied across the board. But I suspect it was not done that way by Mr. Blackwell.

 

It might be worth other states starting to look at this issue as well.

 

They are very much in love with the power they have my friends. I am increasing afraid this one one ends as another of my friends now says very often: "By Feeding the Tree of Liberty

------------------

 

Yeah, it's from the daily kos, but after the debacle in 2000, and the scandals of 2004, it comes as no suprise really.

[SuperJerk 0]

I've been waiting for this comparison...

 

Poll: 74 percent of Americans say Congress out of touch

 

(CNN) -- Just weeks before crucial midterm elections, a new poll says nearly three quarters of Americans see Congress as out of touch, much as they did in 1994, the last time the minority party took control of Capitol Hill.

 

Seventy-four percent of respondents to a new Opinion Research poll say Congress is generally out of touch with average Americans. That's up from 69 percent who agreed with that view in a January poll this year.

 

In 1994, 75 percent of respondents to a CNN poll also said Congress was out of touch. Voters then proceeded to vote out Democrats in both the House and the Senate, a sweep that hadn't been seen in the House since 1952.

 

Recent polls have suggested increased voter interest in this election, as growing unpopularity over the U.S.-led war in Iraq and scandals in Congress have boiled over into the political arena.

 

The GOP's hold on power in Congress is slim. Democrats need only a net gain of 15 seats to retake the House and six to control the Senate. Political watchers say those majorities, especially the one in the House, may be threatened.

 

According to the poll, 58 percent of respondents said they believe most members of Congress are focused on special interests, and 38 percent said the legislators pay more attention to constituents.

 

Chasing the American dream

Belief in the so-called "American dream," according to the poll, appears to be split between college graduates and people without college degrees. Sixty percent of respondents who had no college degree said it's impossible for most people to achieve the American dream, while only 38 percent of grads said so.

 

Nearly half of the 506 people surveyed on that topic said they have just enough money to maintain their standard of living, while 26 percent contended they are falling behind. Less than a quarter, or 23 percent, said they are getting ahead.

 

More than half, or 54 percent, agreed that the American dream has become impossible for most people to achieve. Forty-five percent disagreed, and the rest had no opinion. Those numbers were roughly the same in results from a poll in January 2003 -- almost two years before President Bush won re-election.

 

White House and 'big business'

Fifty-five percent of respondents said they are dissatisfied with the current opportunities for the next generation to live better than their parents, and 44 percent said they were satisfied.

 

Respondents also were asked whether "big business" has too much influence over decisions made by the Bush administration.

 

Seventy-nine percent of those surveyed in the new Opinion Research poll said they feel big business does have too much influence over the administration's decisions. The poll comes after a congressional lobbying scandal and questions about White House ties to the Halliburton Co., a key U.S. contractor in the Iraq war.

 

The percentage of people who feel the administration is overly influenced by corporations is up 10 percentage points from a poll conducted in April 2001, a few months after Bush became president.

 

The newly released poll is based on phone interviews with 1,012 adult Americans. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For the half sample of 506 respondents, the margin of error is plus or or minus 4.5 percentage points.

credit: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/18/con...poll/index.html

 

The 1994 election was the first time I'd ever voted, and it was back when I was a Republican.

 

The mood surrounding this election is remarkably similar. At that time the Democrats were running scared politically from the Clinton health care plan and Congressional scandals. 34 incumbents in the House (including the Speaker) and 2 incumbents in the Senate lost their seats. This was followed by several members in each house switching parties from Democrat to Republican. Now, the Republicans are dealing with the politcal hot potato of Iraq and their own Congressional scandals.

 

Of course, the flip side of that was that Clinton was able to pull his side together and emerge victorious in the next presidential election because the new Republican leaders overplayed their hand and public opinion shifted against them (though not enough for them to loose power).

[NoCalMike 0]

Well right now, to the american people they basically see ZERO resistence from the Republican controlled house and senate to pass whatever the hell Dubya wants passed. They were happy as hippos to eliminate our goddamn habeas corpus rights yesterday......

 

Basically, if you want ANY TYPE OF CHANGE, you aren't going to get it by voting republicans in.

 

EDIT: Hell, not even Change, if the American people even want some oversight, checks 'n balances or at the least some freakin' DEBATE on issues they better as hell not leave control of the house to republicans.

[snuffbox 0]

Oh Fuck, if the Democrats win on November 7th, the terrorists will hit again. Hard.

 

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/10/19/D8KS23UO1.html