Politicaldog101.Com

Politcs and Commentary on other things….

We are now closing in on Post Time for November the 2nd elections folks….

With something like 62 days left…..

The race for Senate, Hose  and Governor seats will be in full swing…(there will be other races as well)….

Congress will be back in session in a few weeks….

But forget about that…

No major piece of legislation will probably be voted on….

Everybody os in their FULL political mode…

There is going to be a lot of hype AND  BullShit flowing….

So have your filters up…..


Oh, … and other thing….

I wish President Obama the best of luck over the next few days on HIS Middle East initiative…

All of his predecessors have tried…..

And failed to cement a deal..

Because the parties don’t seem to really want peace enough to get past the ego’s and intransigence….


If you start a blog…

Good luck!

Things are pretty easy when you start…

But talk to anyone who has a little time in and they’ll school you..

Long hour’s…

Maddening hosts….

Spotty assistance….

And crazy rules about the ways things work!


And then there are people ….

Why do so many people LOOK at your site…

BUT DON”T COMMENT?.


As  Anyways…..

Have a great Labor Day weekend…

I’ll be here..In and Out…


Subscribe to our RSS feed…..

And…

Try to comment!


Shout outs to Daniel, CD, ScottP, TPL, Manila, Brandon, T&P, Jack, bdog, DSD, Corey, SE, The Oligarch King’s David and the New Guy Charlie……Oh yea , Illinois Jim  stopped by today…..I and…. hope we can see bill j and Sylvia back  here again!

Thank You EVERYONE!

We have just pasted over 250,000 hits!…..

Yes…..

A QUARTER OF A MILLION HITS!


Take care…….

And everyone get ready for the sprint to November 2nd here at the PoliticalDog101.com

Ruff, Ruff…

The Dog






Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Daniel’s right…

The Democrast are in a hard place…. there is no denying this…

But I must put out something else written in the Cook report’s……

Senate: GOP Poised to Pick Up 7 to 9 Seats….

As a result, a look at the 37 Senate races on the ballot shows some deterioration for Democrats in some of the 19 seats they are defending, while Republicans’ prospects have stayed the same or improved slightly in their most competitive seats. As such, it is now likely that Republicans will score a net gain of between seven and nine seats.

While there is a plausible argument for how Republicans could net the 10 seats they need to win the majority, it remains an unlikely scenario today.


Read on

and this…..

Danger Zone: Ratings Changes for Another 10 Democratic Incumbents….

This is an environment in which any Democratic laxity or misstep can prove fatal and even underfunded or flawed Republicans can be highly competitive. Some Democrats who took early precautions and have taken aggressive action, such as long-term Reps. Ike Skelton (MO-04) and Rick Boucher (VA-09), are polling well right now in very red districts. For others who haven’t had as much time to build strong relationships with their districts, however, the environmental advantages of 2006 and 2008 have vanished.
Based on the data we are seeing, five more Democrats are joining the Lean Democratic column and five more are joining the Toss Up column.


Read on

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Afternoon Dog Pound!

This morning when Larry J. Sabato as the first of the 4 Leading Political Handicappers predicted Republicans are POISED for a House Takeover I suggested immediately that some other folks like Rothenberg or Cook would follow suit.

Well, here we come; Cook just changed a BUNCH of Senate & Governor Races AND particular on ONE RACE you’ll be ABSOLUTELY STUNNED.

Charlie Cook’s Senior Editor for the Senate & Governor Races Jennifer Duffy today changed the following Race Ratings:

U.S. Senate Race Rating Changes:

Arkansas Senate

Incumbent Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D-AR)  vs. Congressman John N. Boozman (R-AR)

TOSS-UP into Leans Republican

Ohio Senate [Open, Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) is retiring]

Former Congressman & OMB Director Robert J. “Rob” Portman (R-OH)  vs. Ohio Lieutenant Governor Lee Irwin Fisher (D-OH)

TOSS-UP into Leans Republican

West Virginia Senate Special Election [VACANT, Special Election to fill the Term of the late Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV)]

Governor Joe Manchin III (D-WV)  vs.  Businessman John Raese (R-WV)

Likely Democrat into Lean Democrat

Governor Race Rating Changes:

Oregon Governor [Open, Incumbent Governor Ted Kulongoski (D-OR) is Term-Limited]

Former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber (D-OR)  vs. Former NBA Professional Chris Dudley (R-OR)

Lean Democrat into TOSS-UP

Pennsylvania Governor [Open, Incumbent Governor Ed Rendell (D-PA) is Term-Limited]

State Attorney General Tom Corbett (R-PA)  vs.  Allegheny County Chief Executive Daniel “Dan” Onorato (D-PA)

TOSS-UP into Leans Republican

Tennessee Governor [Open, Incumbent Governor Phil Bredesen (D-TN) is Term-Limited]

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam (R-TN)  vs.  Businessman Mike McWherter (D-TN)

Leans Republican into Likely Republican

Wyoming Governor [Open, Incumbent Governor Dave Freudenthal is Term-Limited]

Former Attorney Matthew Mead (R-WY)  vs. Former State Democratic Party Chair Leslie Peterson (D-WY)

Likely Republican into Solid Republican

The West Virginia Senate Rating Change is the REAL EYE-POPPER. Incredible!!! It’s now a “Leaner”.

AS I SAID THIS MORNING: THE SKY IS FALLING FOR THE DEMOCRATS.

Daniel G.

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

I have repeated this fact…..

Over and over…

Despite the constant GOP refrain…..

It was a beautiful moment when Barack Obama, with his election, drew the left and right together in one powerful conviction: that he was a raging lefty.

It didn’t last long, of course.

For the right, every day now brings exhilarating proof of his secret socialist mission; for the left, each day brings more disillusion: Afghanistan; Guantánamo; rendition; no prosecution of Bush officials; immigration; Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; a health-care law that, okay, might be the most ambitious social legislation in 45 years, but didn’t create a single-payer system and was heralded by a truckling executive order on abortion.

Promises broken, promises deferred—and also promises inferred. How could he not be a lefty, given that he makes such poetic speeches, given that (and here’s another assumption shared with the far right, an uglier one) he’s black? Yet deep down, of course, the purists always suspected him, and are as titillated as Tea Partiers to remain in righteous opposition. To what?…...More….

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

The Zeigeist ( economic data ) From the Atlantic Magazine for the week of September 2……

Pollster.comObama Average Job Approval
45.0%
Pollster.comObama Favorability
49.2%
Pollster.comRight Direction / Wrong Track
31.5% / 59.4%
Pollster.comCongressional Approval
18.1%
National Federation of Independent BusinessesSmall Business Optimism Index
88.1 (down 0.9% from July)
ABC News/Washington PostConsumer Comfort Index
45 points below zero
U.S. Department of LaborInitial Weekly Jobless Claims
473,000
RealtyTracNewly foreclosed properties in July
325,229 (up 4% from June)
U.S. Department of LaborUnemployment
9.5%

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

[0902earl]

AFP/Getty Images

Firefighter Sgt. Jon Gates fastens metal shutters over the windows of fire station #14 as Hurricane Earl approaches North Carolina.

The Dog is in New York so things shouldn’t be too bad…..

We’re up for some rain and winds….

Manila’s gonna get more than us…..

Tropical-storm force winds are expected to reach the North Carolina coast by Thursday afternoon, with hurricane-force winds expected to arrive near North Carolina’s Outer Banks Thursday night, before steadily turning north to New England, the National Hurricane Center said late Thursday morning.

In the latest significant forecast change, the center issued a hurricane warning for the coast of Massachusetts, from Westport, Mass., stretching around Cape Cod, including Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island. The center of the hurricane should pass near Southeastern New England on Friday night, with the eye of the storm closest to Nantucket, forecasters said.

Hurricane warnings mean hurricane conditions—sustained winds of 74 miles per hour or higher—are expected. The warnings are issued 36 hours in advance of anticipated tropical-storm force winds, which are between 39 mph and 73 mph.

Forecasters were still predicting that Hurricane Earl would remain off-shore but said the storm could generate winds that span more than 200 miles, and is likely to cause dangerous gusts, heavy rain, high surf, storm surges, downed trees, power outages, and coastal flooding mainly in North Carolina, southeastern Massachusetts, parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut—and also along the mid-Atlantic…...More….


Map from NOAA……


From CNN……

Hurricane Earl prepared to take a swipe at the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday as residents scrambled to ready themselves ahead of its arrival.

Hurricane warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to Delaware and covered parts of Massachusetts.

At 11 a.m. ET Thursday, the storm’s center was about 300 miles (485 kilometers) south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and about 765 miles south-southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts

President Obama is “closely monitoring” Earl’s developments, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday. On Wednesday, Obama signed a disaster declaration for North Carolina authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts. The order also makes federal funds available to states.

Teams are in place or on standby to assist states along the East Coast, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said, and supplies were being moved into two incident-support bases in case they are needed.

The National Hurricane Center expects the storm, which is larger than California, to pass close to North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Thursday night. It is expected to take aim at southeastern New England on Friday night. The storm’s track shifted slightly to the west, closer to North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras. The hurricane center has posted storm watches and warnings for areas as far north as Maine…….More…..

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Hello Dog Folks!

I’m now continuing with my Recaps of the August 24th Primaries.

Today it’s time for the Sunshine State = Florida

Florida Governor

Official Primary Election Results

Republican Primary

Rick Scott  599,909 Votes  =  46,35 %

Bill McCollum  563,538 Votes  =  43,54 %

Mike McCalister  130,991 Votes  =  10,12 %

Democratic Primary

Adelaide “Alex” Sink  669,630 Votes  =  76,85 %

Brian P. Moore  201,705 Votes  =  23,15 %

Race for November

Health Care Executive & Businessman Rick Scott (R-FL) vs. State Chief Financial Officer Adelaide “Alex” Sink (D-FL)

Florida U.S. Senate

Race for November

Incumbent Governor Charlie Crist (I) vs. Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (R-FL) vs. Congressman Kendrick B. Meek (D-FL)

continue reading…

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

I have said this all before and now say it again.

It’s hard to take all of this polling seriously now but we are close to the beginning.

Certainly people are angry and certainly many incumbents simply need to be replaced. But Labor Day is Monday and after that the real campaigning begins.

Also Obama seems to be reacting to change rather than causing it right now. Watch Pelosi or someone suggest extending the Bush tax cut on capitol gains and Obama go along with it. The market would go boom and who really cars about income tax when a CEO can simply take another two or three million from the company safe to make up for it.

I predict that MA will elect one GOP Congressman. Anything more than that is really reaching but one seat, probably the 10th occupied by Delehunt who is retiring should go GOP. As we lose this eat after the census is counted and as having some GOP representatives in a Congress controlled by same is a good idea, I think former Treasurer Joe Malone will be the nominee and victor.

Gov. Patrick still looks good for re-election in a three way race. I honestly prefer Cahill the Democrat turned independent. Republican Baker is another mechanic.

Anyhow I am going to take the rest of the PM off as the weather is wonderful. Hurricane predicted to pass close starting on late Friday. Maybe Martha’s Vineyard will end up being a client of FEMA.

Nah!

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

There will be a Space Shuttle launch in November of this year and the last one is slated for February

of next year…..

United Space Alliance of Houston has received a $909.6 million contract extension from NASA for shuttle and International Space Station support activities in four states from Oct. 1 through March 30, 2011.

The base contract, awarded in 2007 with several ensuing modifications, is valued at $6.6 billion, according to Kylie Clem, a spokeswoman at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. United Space Alliance is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

The extension will support the shuttle program’s final scheduled missions, STS-133, slated to launch Nov. 1, and STS-134, which is set for Feb. 28…….More...

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Crist Internal Poll Shows Tight Race

An internal poll conducted for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s (I) campaign shows the U.S. Senate race a two way battle, with Crist at 35%, Marco Rubio at 34% and Rep. Kendrick Meek at 17%.

Crist is currently splitting the Democratic vote with Meek, while Rubio is overwhelmingly preferred by Republicans.

Chiles Backs Sink in Florida

As we highlighted earlier, Bud Chiles (I) dropped out of the race for Florida governor and will endorse Alex Sink (D), the St. Petersburg Times reports.

First Read: “This has the potential of helping Sink, given that there was concern that Chiles — with his familiar last name to Florida Democrats — could take votes away from her in her race against Rick Scott.”

A new Rasmussen survey shows Rick Scott (R) just edging Sink, 45% to 44%.

Portman Leads for U.S. Senate in Ohio

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Ohio shows Rob Portman (R) has taken a seven point lead among likely voters over Lee Fisher (D) in the race for U.S. Senate, 45% to 38%.

“Things aren’t looking great for Fisher now but there’s a definite path to victory for him: Get the undecided Democrats to come home and reduce the enthusiasm gap by getting his party’s voters more interested in the election. Easier said than done, but more than some Democratic candidates can hang their hats on.”

Brutal Interview Doesn’t Help O’Donnell

While some wonder if Rep. Mike Castle’s (R) U.S. Senate bid in Delaware is in jeopardy from Tea Party favorite Christine O’Donnell (R), a radio interview she did with WGMD’s Dan Gaffney will likely make the Castle campaign breathe easier.

The Hotline: “The 20+ minute interview is worth listening to. Gaffney takes O’Donnell to task for statements that she won two counties when she ran for Senate in ’08 against Joe Biden. He also presses her over a recent scuffle between a member of her staff and a GOP video tracker. At one point, Gaffney actually mutes O’Donnell’s microphone to get a word in and says O’Donnell is trying to filibuster his questions.”

Another Distraction for Colorado Republicans

More problems for Colorado gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes (R): The AP reports his “murky past in law enforcement in neighboring Kansas has become the latest distraction in his gaffe-ridden campaign.”

Maes has claimed he was fired by a local police department in the 1980s because police and politicians were corrupt, and he told supporters that he worked undercover for state investigators gathering information on a local bookmaking ring. But there’s no proof it ever happened.

Meanwhile, the Denver Post reports former Sen. Hank Brown (R-CO) has withdrawn his endorsement of Maes and the Colorado Statesman says pressure is mounting on Maes to step aside so the GOP can appoint a replacement candidate.

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

The story of the last two weeks (championed here by our guy Daniel ) is the Democrats ‘are toast!’

He’s a push back piece….


Congressional Democrats aren’t convinced that their fortunes have turned for the worse this August, despite a recent poll suggesting that Republicans have opened up a double-digit lead in a generic ballot matchup.

Senior aides in both the House and Senate on Tuesday downplayed the implications of a Gallup poll released Monday that showed a 10 percentage-point edge for Republicans among registered voters, the largest generic ballot lead the GOP has ever enjoyed in Gallup’s history of conducting such polling ahead of midterm elections.

One House leadership aide characterized the results as “an outlier,” and senior aides disputed the notion that recent polling would prompt Democrats to alter their election-year strategy. Republicans need to pick up 39 seats to retake control of the House and 10 to regain control of the Senate.

The House aide acknowledged that Democrats were in a tough environment but added, “None of our decisions are going to be driven by one poll.”

Democratic aides pointed out that both Democrats and Republicans have led this year in Gallup’s generic ballot poll and that some of those leads have been within the poll’s margin of error.

One senior Senate Democratic aide said that Gallup’s generic ballot poll has been “swinging wildly” this year, adding that Democrats should primarily be concerned about the “enthusiasm gap,” not the generic differences……

More….

Share on Facebook

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post