From politics.com and cqpolitics:

REID ASKS SENS "PLEASE SHOW UP"; FRED IS PRO-IRAN WAR, KINDA PRO-CHOICE; ME & KY POLLS; MUKASEY LOCKS IT UP; MONDALE FOR HILLARY.US SENATE: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) has a request for the four Dem Senators running for President: you need to show up this week for work. "I’m going to leave here and go call [Clinton, Obama, Biden and Dodd] and let them know that they better look at their schedules because these are not votes you can miss," Reid told The Hill. The votes are all related to key fights with the Republicans and Bush Administration on some hot-button federal budget issues.THOMPSON. Former US Senator Fred Thompson (R) said Sunday on Meet the Press that he supports a preemptive war against Iran but opposes a constitutional amendment banning abortion. On Iran, Thompson explained "I don’t see how we can afford to let these people go nuclear." As for abortion, made a state's rights argument against an amendment, saying "I think people ought to be free at state and local levels to make decisions that even Fred Thompson disagrees with." This abortion stance is consistent with Thompson's opposition to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. MAINE: The latest independent Critical Insights poll shows US Senator Susan Collins (R) continuing to hold a wide lead over Congressman Tom Allen (D): 54% to 34%. As for the open CD-1 congressional race, the poll found none of the seven announced candidates have a name recognition factor above the paltry 4% mark.CABINET. No votes have yet taken place, but retired federal judge Michael Mukasey now appears on his way to being confirmed as Attorney General. A group of US Senators who appeared to be wavering over Mukasey's inability to declare waterboarding a form of torture -- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), John McCain (R-AZ), Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) -- all announced they will vote to confirm. The only question now is by how many voted will Mukasey be confirmed?KENTUCKY. A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows former Lieutenant Governor Steve Beshear (D) cruising to a wide victory over Governor Ernie Fletcher (R) in Tuesday's election. The numbers: Beshear - 54%, Fletcher - 39%.SOUTH DAKOTA: Despite some media and blog reports to the contrary, Governor Mike Rounds' (R) press secretary told Rapid City Journal that Rounds did not visit the NRSC headquarters during his DC visit on Friday. Rounds visited the National Academy of Sciences in DC to discuss the state's Deep Underground Science & Engineering Laboratory. His office insists Rounds will stick to his earlier decision and not run against US Senator Tim Johnson (D) next year. Johnson -- who suffered a near-fatal brain hemorrhage in December 2006 -- last month announced his candidacy for re-election.CLINTON. Former Vice President Walter Mondale (D-MN) -- the 1984 nominee for President -- endorsed Hillary Clinton for President at an appearance in Iowa on Sunday. "America is ready for change, and Hillary Clinton has the strength and experience to deliver it," said Mondale. "I cannot tell you how totally honored I am to be here with someone whom I have admired all my adult life," responded Clinton. The most memorable moment in Mondale's disastrous Presidential run was announcing in his nomination acceptance that he planned to raise taxes if elected. Reagan swept 49 states in the general election.

Thompson Collapses Nationally, Leads In SC
Two polls out there to report this morning. First, a new Newsweek poll shows Hillary’s lead over Rudy Giuliani shrinking and Fred Thompson in a complete freefall in the Republican primary.
PRESIDENT - NATIONALHillary (D) 49%Rudy Giuliani (R) 45%
PRESIDENT - NATIONAL - PRIMARIES
Giuliani 30%Thompson 15%McCain 14%Romney 12%Huckabee 7%Paul 3%Hunter 2%Tancredo 0%
Hillary 43%Obama 24%Edwards 12%Kucinich 4%Biden 4%Richardson 3%Dodd 0%
The previous Newsweek poll from a couple months ago had Thompson at 22% and only 8% behind Giuliani. This latest poll was done October 31-November 1 among 1002 registered voters.
Meanwhile, a new poll from Winthrop University and ETV in South Carolina shows Thompson barely ahead in a tight three-way battle while Hillary, surprise, is leading Democrats by double digits.
PRESIDENT - SOUTH CAROLINA - PRIMARIES
Thompson 18%Romney 17%Giuliani 17%McCain 9%Huckabee 5%Paul 2%Tancredo 1%Hunter 1%
Hillary 33%Obama 23%Edwards 10%Biden 2%Kucinich 0%Gravel 0%Richardson0%Dodd 0%
This poll was done October 7-28 among 522 Republican and 534 Democratic likely voters.
On a side note, at the Howard County Republican Club First Friday Happy Hour last night, where you get more of the active volunteers showing up, people were starting to divulge who they are supporting as we get close to being three months out from the Maryland primary election. The overall consensus from what I can gather is there appears to be split among with most people supporting either Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney, with maybe a slight lean towards Romney especially among the elected officials. There were a few supporters of Giuliani there as well, but not nearly as many as I can gather. Bottom line, Thompson and Romney appear to be dominating among Howard County’s most active volunteers who like to drink every first Friday of the month….
Posted by Dave Wissing at 3:05 pmFiled under: Election 2008 - Polls Comments (12)
The 2008 Version Of John Kerry?
After spending two weeks forced to use the eight-year old Gateway desktop computer, I finally got my laptop back yesterday from HP and after spending way too long trying to get everything back to where it was when I had to send it out, I finally got it back up running this morning….
Anyway, not to be one to compliment John Edwards too often, his latest advertisement on his website against Hillary is actually a pretty good one.
A tactic Republicans will be able to use in the General Election when she wins the nomination….
Posted by Dave Wissing at 1:10 pmFiled under: Election 2008 - News Comments (6)
11/2/2007
Open Thread Friday!
I am starting to run out of available clips on You Tube, but I found one I don;t think I have played before.
Of course, this is just a precursor to the next Howard County Republican Club First Friday Happy Hour coming to you live from Downtown Columbia…details at the HCRC website….
Otherwise, enjoy your Friday!
Posted by Dave Wissing at 5:10 amFiled under: General Comments (23)
11/1/2007
Polls From PA and FL
We’ll start in Pennsylvania and a new poll from Scott Rasmussen showing Hillary with double-digit leads over all the Republicans.
PRESIDENT - PENNSYLVANIAHillary (D) 52%Rudy Giuliani (R) 39%
Hillary (D) 48%John McCain (R) 38%
Hillary (D) 52%Fred Thompson (R) 36%
Hillary (R) 54%Mike Huckabee (R) 31%
This poll was done October 24th among 500 likely voters.
Survey USA finally released polls from a state that actually matters in a General Election.
PRESIDENT - FLORIDA
Hillary 49%Giuliani 45%
Hillary 53%Thompson 43%
Hillary 55%Romney 40%
Hillary 55%Huckabee 39%
Hillary 49%McCain 46%
Hillary 54%Paul 36%
This poll is actually newer than previous ones, being done October 24th among 525 registered voters. But McCain still manages to be the strongest Republican, as was being seen in the older Survey USA polls.
Posted by Dave Wissing at 4:49 pmFiled under: Election 2008 - Polls Comments (33)
HoCo: Sigaty Gives Up
Some great news for the local crowd in today’s Columbia Flier on something I haven;t talked about in a while - The Plaza Residences. Mary Kay Sigaty has just about given up trying to pass her height limit and retroactive enforcement zoning amendments because, in her words, she can’t get enough of her fellow councilpeople to support her. From The Columbia Flier.
County Council member Mary Kay Sigaty is shelving her plans to pursue a pair of zoning bills that could have altered the height of a controversial 22-story condominium building that is under construction in downtown Columbia.
Sigaty said she will no longer seek to bring the bills up for a County Council vote, as she had previously planned, effectively ending her effort to use legislation to alter, or potentially halt, the construction of The Plaza Residences.
The Columbia Democrat decided to shelve her proposals after realizing that a majority of the five-member council opposed them, she said Oct. 29.
Now the article never states all the people who supported and who opposed the bills that led her to abandon her campaign promise, but one wonders if there was even a second vote for the bills other than hers. Frankly, I would rather the County Council record their votes on this issue so we know how they stand, but apparently they are too chicken to do so, although based on my interpretation of what is written in the article, only Sigaty can move to take the bills “off the table” to vote on. I would be curious to know whether another councilperson could move to vote on the bills so that we can get a vote and kill these bills once and for all (Greg Fox, are you listening?). But I do agree with Mr. Fox’s quote in the article.
“However both of them need to die is OK with me,” he said.
Technically, according to the article, if Sigaty doesn’t move to hold a vote on the bills on Monday, then the bills are officially “expired”, whatever the heck that means. Therefore, WCI is refusing to comment.
William Rowe, a vice president at WCI, said he is not prepared to comment on Sigaty’s decision until the Nov. 5 deadline for her to revive the bills has passed.
“It hasn’t happened yet,” Rowe said. “I don’t want to be the impetus for anyone changing their mind on a given thing.”
Can’t blame him for that. The next interesting development is what does our County Executive, Ken Ulman, do since he promised during the campaign to stop the construction of tower now that Sigaty’s bills, which he expressed support for, are not going forward. Also, groups like the HCCA and CoFoCoDo, who demanded Sigaty do something and supported her retroactive enforcement bill, are now back to square one in their fight against the tower.
Posted by Dave Wissing at 4:48 pmFiled under: HoCo - Politics, Plaza Tower Comments (3)
Open Thread 11/01/07
Back to the old colors….
Posted by Dave Wissing at 5:08 amFiled under: General Comments (29)
KY: Another Poll Showing Besher Blowout Win
Yet another poll showing what is obvious to everyone at this point, Ernie Fletcher has little chance of remaining Governor beyond his first term. The latest numbers from the Bluegrass Poll.
GOVERNOR - KENTUCKYSteve Beshear (D) 56%Ernie Fletcher (R-Inc) 33%
This poll was done October 26-29 among 710 likely voters.
Posted by Dave Wissing at 5:06 amFiled under: Election 2007 Comments (8)
Polls From Everywhere
New numbers from Quinnipiac University show Rudy Giuliani taking the lead against Hillary while John McCain becomes stronger against the Democrats as well.
PRESIDENT - NATIONAL
Giuliani 45%Hillary 43%
McCain 44%Hillary 44%
Hillary 46%Thompson 41%
Hillary 48%Romney 38%
Obama 43%Giuliani 42%
McCain 43%Obama 43%
Obama 45%Thompson 37%
Obama 46%Romney 36%
Giuliani 44%Edwards 41%
McCain 42%Edwards 42%
Edwards 46%Thompson 36%
Edwards 47%Romney 34%
PRESIDENT - NATIONAL - PRIMARIES
Giuliani 27%Thompson 17%Romney 14%McCain 13%Huckabee 6%Paul 2%Tancredo 1%Hunter 1%
Hillary 47%Obama 21%Edwrds 12%Richardson 3%Kucinich 2%Dodd 1%Biden 1%Gravel 0%
This poll was done October 23-29 among 1636 registered voters, 742 Democrats and 678 Republicans.
Pew Research, however, shows a completely different race between Rudy Giuliani and Hillary.
PRESIDENT - NATIONALHillary 51%Rudy Giuliani 43%
PRESIDENT - NATIONAL - PRIMARIES
Giuliani 31%McCain 18%Thompson 17%Romney 9%Huckabee 8%Paul 3%Tancredo 1%Hunter 0%
Hillary 45%Obama 24%Edwrds 12%Kucinich 4%Richardson 2%Biden 2%Dodd 1%Gravel 0%
This poll was done October 17-23 among 1607 registered voters, 837