Obama’s efforts to woo independents derailed by debt-ceiling agreement

THE HILL, 8/24/2011 by Ian Swanson - The unpopular debt-ceiling deal has significantly hampered President Obama’s effort to win over independent voters. ✧ Since Democrats were thumped in the 2010 midterm elections, Obama repeatedly has sought to burnish his reputation with independents, often at the sake of his Democratic base. ✧ Yet a Gallup poll this week found Obama trailing not only the two leading GOP candidates — former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry — among independent voters, but long-shot candidate Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) as well. The poll found that Obama leads Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), but only by a 6-point margin, 48 percent to 42 percent. Read more at The Hill... Read More......

The Elephant in the Room: A party both united and divided

WASHINGTON POST, 11/30/2009 by Jon Cohen and Dan Balz (Hat tip: John H. Detweiler) - Opposition to Obama is strong, but Republicans are split on GOP's direction and leaders. The Republican rank and file is largely in sync with GOP lawmakers in their staunch opposition to efforts by President Obama and Democrats to enact major health-care legislation, but a new Washington Post poll also reveals deep dissatisfaction among GOP voters with the party's leadership as well as ideological and generational differences that may prove big obstacles to the party's plans for reclaiming power. Read more at the Washington Post...

Interesting polling results. --bc Read More......

A brawl the GOP needs

WASHINGTON POST, 11/20/2009 by David S. Broder (Hat tip: John H. Detweiler - For Sarah Palin, with her personality and history, to tell Rush Limbaugh that Republicans should welcome primary fights within their own ranks is hardly surprising. As much as it may pain her many critics, she also has a lot of history on her side. ∴ Many Republicans, looking at the recent fiasco in New York's 23rd Congressional District, argue that the endorsement by Palin and her talk-radio buddies of a rigid right-winger running on the Conservative Party ticket cost Republicans a House seat they had held for more than a century. They worry that the populist anti-establishment "rogues" like Palin will kill GOP prospects for a comeback in 2010 by backing ideologues in many other primaries and scaring off independents and moderate Republicans. ∴ They are wasting their breath on Palin, who got to be governor of Alaska by knocking off incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in a Republican primary in 2006. When she told Limbaugh, "What I appreciate about the Republican Party [is] we have contested, aggressive, competitive primaries," she had that fight in mind. Read more at the Washington Post... Read More......

White House Enemy #1: Rush Limbaugh

REUTERS, 3/5/2009 by Steve Holland - The White House has seen the enemy, and his name is Rush Limbaugh. --President Barack Obama's team is helping lead an effort to cast Limbaugh, a polarizing, conservative talk radio show host, as the Republican Party's new face, using campaign-style attacks against a high profile target. --Democrats are taking advantage of a power void within the Republican Party now that George W. Bush has passed from the scene. --The goal is to convince Americans that the popularly known "Grand Old Party" of Abraham Lincoln is a shell of its former self and in the grip of its most narrow, right wing, in hopes of making independents and moderates think twice about switching allegiance. Read the rest at Reuters... Read More......

Good news for McCain

The Fox Forum, October 16, 2008 by LJ Martin
Why John McCain Has a Natural Advantage With Independent Voters - "Independents want to see a return to fiscal responsibility, and there is little evidence that given unified control, Democrats will have any passion for that." Read full post HERE. Read More......