Political News from Political.com

ROMNEY "NOT CHRISTIAN"; NEO-NAZIS FOR RON PAUL; ARG POLLS; WARNER CRUISES IN VA.ROMNEY: Bloomberg News Service highlights a real example of the serious problems Mitt Romney will face in the South over his religious beliefs. Here is what Congressman Bob Inglis (R) advised Romney: "I told him, you cannot equate Mormonism with Christianity. You cannot say 'I am a Christian just like you.' If he does that, every Baptist preacher in the South is going to have to go to the pulpit on Sunday and explain the differences." Yet another Evangelical leader -- trying to say something nice about Romney -- also came off as patronizing and offensive towards LDS'ers. Focus on the Family Political Director Tom Minnery noted that Romney "allayed some fears'' about his religion by showing he didn't turn "the Governor's Mansion in Massachusetts into a Mormon temple."AUL. Nothing here directly connects the dots ... but it seems rather curious how excited neo-Nazis, skinheads and white supremacists are in support of Congressman Ron Paul's (R) Presidential candidacy. Stormfront -- the web's leading Neo-Nazi/Skinhead website, run by white supremacist leader Don Black -- displays a "Ron Paul Revolution" banner ads on the footer of each page. Also check out David Duke's WhiteCivilRights.com site, which prominently publishes articles authored by Ron Paul on the homepage -- along with Paul campaign updates and pictures of Paul campaign events. Why no denunciation of these hate groups by Paul? Pretty scary stuff. (Note: Thanks to our blog posters, as I found these links in yesterday's blog thread.)
IOWA. A new American Research Group (ARG) poll shows Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney holding solid leads in their respective contests. The DEM numbers: Hillary Clinton - 32%, Barack Obama - 22%, John Edwards - 15%, Bill Richardson - 7%, Joe Biden - 5%, Chris Dodd - 2%, and Dennis Kucinich - 1%. The GOP numbers: Mitt Romney - 27%, Mike Huckabee - 19%, Rudy Giuliani - 16%, John McCain - 14%, Fred Thompson - 8%, Tom Tancredo - 2%, Ron Paul - 1%.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. A new ARG poll shows Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney also holding solid leads in the Granite State. The DEM numbers: Hillary Clinton - 40%, Barack Obama - 22%, John Edwards - 10%, Bill Richardson - 5%, Joe Biden - 4%, and Chris Dodd and Dennis Kucinich tied with 3% each. The GOP numbers: Mitt Romney - 30%, Rudy Giuliani - 23%, John McCain - 17%, Mike Huckabee - 7%, Fred Thompson - 5%, and all others at 1% or less apiece.

SOUTH CAROLINA. ARG also has a new SC primary poll. The DEM numbers: Hillary Clinton - 41%, Barack Obama - 19%, John Edwards - 18%, Joe Biden - 6%, and all others at 1% or less each. The GOP numbers: Mitt Romney - 29%, Rudy Giuliani - 23%, John McCain - 13%, Fred Thompson - 10%, Mike Huckabee - 5%, Ron Paul - 4%, Duncan Hunter - 2%, and all others at 1% or less apiece.

VIRGINIA. A new Rasmussen Reports poll on the US Senate race: Mark Warner (D) - 53%, Jim Gilmore (R) - 37%.
KY: Beshear Reaches 60%
Only one week until the election and Democrat Steve Beshear just gets stronger against Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher in the latest poll from Survey USA.

GOVERNOR - KENTUCKYSteve Beshear (D) 60%Ernie Fletcher (R-Inc) 36%
I’ve said it before, one does have to wonder how Anne Northup would have fared. She might not have won, but I am pretty sure she could have kept it a lot closer than Fletcher is managing….
Posted by Dave Wissing at 8:00 pmFiled under: Election 2007 Comments (14)
A Romney-Hillary Sweep In IA, NH, SC
So says a new set of polls from American Research Group. We’ll start in Iowa where Mitt Romney has surged from a 1% lead in the previous ARG poll to an 8% lead over the also surging Mike Huckabee. Hillary has stretched her lead over Barack Obama.
PRESIDENT - IOWA - CAUCUSES
Romney 27%Huckabee 19%Giuliani 16%McCain 14%Thompson 8%Tancredo 2%Paul 1%Keyes 0%Hunter 0%
Hillary 32%Obama 22%Edwards 15%Richardson 7%Biden 5%Dodd 2%Kucinich 1%Gravel 0%
Moving on to New Hampshire, where Romney continues to surge, Wesley Clark Fred Thompson continues to tumble, and Hillary maintains a solid lead.
PRESIDENT - NEW HAMPSHIRE - PRIMARIES
Romney 30%Giuliani 23%McCain 17%Huckabee 7%Thompson 5%Hunter 1%Paul 1%Tancredo 1%Keyes 0%
Hillary 40%Obama 22%Edwards 10%Richardson 5%Biden 4%Dodd 3%Kucinich 3%Gravel 0%
Finally in South Carolina, Romney has extended his lead to 6% while John Edwards has gained somewhat in the state of his first haircut, but still is stuck in third place behind Hillary.
PRESIDENT - SOUTH CAROLINA - PRIMARIES
Romney 29%Giuliani 23%McCain 13%Thompson 10%Huckabee 5%Paul 4%Hunter 2%Tancredo 1%Keyes 1%
Hillary 41%Obama 19%Edwards 18%Biden 6%Richardson 1%Dodd 1%Kucinich 1%Gravel 0%
All these polls were done October 26-29 among 600 likely voters in each party.
VA: Warner Leads Gilmore By 16%

US SENATE - VIRGINIAMark Warner (D) 53%Jim Gilmore (R) 37%
This poll was done October 24th among 500 likely voters.
On a lighter note, if Arnold Schwarzenegger decided he wanted to toil around in the US Senate, he would give Democrat Barbara Boxer a fight, according to a new Field Poll.
COLBERT. The $35,000 filing fee to compete in the South Carolina Republican Presidential primary was apparently too high for humorist Stephen Colbert's faux campaign. "They priced us out of range," a Colbert spokesperson told CNN. Thus, Colbert has decided he will file this week only for the state's Democratic primary -- because the Dems do not have a filing fee is the candidate files a sufficient number of valid signatures.
CLINTON. After a dismal debate performance Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton got some great news on Wednesday. AFSCME -- one of the nation's largest labor unions -- endorsed her candidacy. "This is no time to take chances. We need someone who knows how to fight and indeed knows how to win," said AFSCME President Gerald McEntee.KENTUCKY. A new WHAS-TV/SurveyUSA poll shows Governor Ernie Fletcher (R) continuing to lose more ground in these final days before next week's election. The numbers: former Lieutenant Governor Steve Beshear (D) - 60%, Fletcher - 36%.
MISSISSIPPI. The Hill reports US Senator Thad Cochran (R) may again be considering retirement. Cochran, 70, has a campaign announcement scheduled for November 6. When asked Tuesday "if he would definitely run for reelection," Cochran told the newspaper: “No, I didn’t say that. I’m preparing to run for reelection, but I haven’t made an official announcement.” While most still expect Cochran to run again next year, pundits are wondering why Cochran would open the door with those kind of remarks. The newspaper further noted "two sources ... close to Cochran ... say the Senator may be leaning towards retirement because he has grown weary of the ongoing partisan battles on Capitol Hill."

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 (3)
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 Democrats, and 648 Republicans. Of course, if you note the disparity between the number of Democrats and Republicans in each poll, the difference in the Hillary-Giuliani match up can be easily explained.
Meanwhile, Democrat John Zogby polled his own party and found Hillary in the lead.
PRESIDENT - NATIONAL - DEM PRIMARYHillary 38%Obama 24%Edwards 12%Richardson 2%Kucinich 2%Biden 2%Dodd <1%Gravel <1%
This poll was done October 24-27 among 527 likely voters.
Finally, and these are almost pointless, but Survey USA keeps pumping out Hillary match up polls and, for some reason, they wasted time polling both New York and Massachusetts.
PRESIDENT - NEW YORK
Hillary 64%Giuliani 30%
Hillary 70%Thompson 26%
Hillary 70%Romney 25%
Hillary 72%Huckabee 21%
Hillary 67%McCain 28%
Hillary 72%Paul 21%
PRESIDENT - MASSACHUSETTS
Hillary 59%Giuliani 36%
Hillary 66%Thompson 28%
Hillary 65%Romney 31%
Hillary 68%Huckabee 24%
Hillary 58%McCain 37%
Hillary 67%Paul 24%
I am just amazed at how far Republicans have sunk in a state like New York. Not that I am expecting them to win the state, but Republicans are actually faring worse in new York than they even do in Massachusetts. Speaking of Massachusetts, despite being Governor of the state, Romney does worse than both Giuliani and McCain in his own home state. Was Romney that bad when he was Governor? As usual, these polls were done October 12-14 among a bunch of registered voters.
10/31/2007
MD: Giuliani Within 5% Of Hillary
Could a Republican actually win my home state of Maryland in 2008. A new poll from Scott Rasmussen puts Rudy Giuliani within 5% of Hillary and John McCain within 7%.
PRESIDENT - MARYLANDHillary (D) 46%Rudy Giuliani (R) 41%
Hillary (D) 47%John McCain (R) 40%
Hillary (D) 49%Fred Thompson (R) 37%
Hillary (D) 52%Mike Huckabee (R) 31%
There is also these approval ratings for Governor O’Malley and the views of the public on O’Malley’s plan to raise the sales tax by 20%.
GOVERNOR O’MALLEY APPROVAL RATINGSGood or Excellent 34%Fair 33%Poor 30%
O’MALLEY’S MASSIVE 20% SALES TAX HIKESupport 27%Oppose 66%
According to the article, even 57% of O’Malley’s own Democrats oppose raising the sales tax by 20%.
This poll was done October 24th among 500 likely voters.

US SENATE 2010 - CALIFORNIAArnold Schwarzenegger (R) 44%Barbara Boxer (D-Inc) 43%