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Gallup Poll October 26, 2009

Yes!

The GOP over the remaining three years of the Obama Presidency will be unapologetically conservative.

And next week, in real balloting, conservative Republicans are likely to win in Virginia, a state Obama carried. Meanwhile, a liberal Republican anointed by the GOP establishment for the special congressional election in Upstate New York will probably run third, behind the conservative Republican running on the Conservative Party line, who may in fact win.

The lesson activists around the country will take from this is that a vigorous, even if somewhat irritated, conservative/populist message seems to be more effective in revitalizing the Republican Party than an attempt to accommodate the wishes of liberal media elites.

So the GOP is likely, for the foreseeable future, to be of a conservative mind and in a populist mood. In American politics, there are worse things to be.

Isn’t the populist/conservative mindset how Ronald Reagan brought America back from the disaster of the Jimmy Carter Presidency?

Next week’s elections will start the narrative for 2010 and a challenge to Obama in 2012.

• Carly Fiorina watch: Former HP CEO heading to Coach Madden's turf for her first play
  he's got Hall of Famer former coach John Madden's fancy Goal Line Productions in Pleasanton lined up, the invitations are out, and you can mark the date: almost exactly a year until the 2010 election, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina looks ready to officially enter the U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer.

  Our buddy Lisa Vorderbrueggen at the Contra Costa Times got the blast email from the Tri-Valley Business Council regarding a Nov. 6 event in Pleasanton touting an "important" announcement by author/businesswoman Fiorina.

  So we got Tri-Valley's president and CEO Toby Brink on the phone to get the skinny: is it really the official Carly Campaign Debut?

  "That is my understanding,'' he said. "They're being a bit coy about an announcement, but we're pretty sure we know what it is.''

  (tags: carly_fiorina)
• Rumor Has It…. Carly Fiorina to Announce for US Senate November 4 in the OC?
  Rumor has it Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard CEO, will announce her candidacy for the Republican Nomination U.S. Senate in Orange County on November 4th.

  Interesting choice being that she has little history here and she would be making the announcement in the backyard of her GOP primary opponent, Chuck DeVore.
  ++++++
  Pleasanton on the 6th?

  (tags: carly_fiorina)
• Obamacare: Senator Harry Reid Announces ‘Opt-Out’ Public Option Plan
  The Senate health care legislation will include a government-run insurance plan, but states would be allowed to “opt out” of it, the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, announced Monday afternoon.
  Even though Mr. Reid has announced his intentions on the public option, the bill is not yet ready to bring to the Senate floor.

  Pieces of the legislation will be submitted to the Congressional Budget Office for cost analysis. A number of senators in both parties have said that they will not vote on the bill unless they have had time to review a comprehensive cost estimate.

  (tags: Obamacare harry_reid)
• Nancy Pelosi: Obamacare 'public option' needs new name
  A government-sponsored "public option" for health care lives, though it may be more attractive to skeptics if it goes by a different moniker, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday.

  In an appearance at a Florida senior center, the Democratic leader referred to the so-called public option as "the consumer option." Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., appeared by Pelosi's side and used the term "competitive option."

  Both suggested new terminology might get them past any lingering doubts among the public—or consumers or competitors.

  "You'll hear everyone say, 'There's got to be a better name for this,'" Pelosi said. "When people think of the public option, public is being misrepresented, that this is being paid for with their public dollars."

  (tags: Obamacare Nancy_Pelosi)
• President Obama ties George W. Bush on golf
  President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he's already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.

  CBS' Mark Knoller — an unofficial documentarian and statistician of all things White House-related — wrote on his Twitter feed that, "Today – Obama ties Pres. Bush in the number of rounds of golf played in office: 24.

  Took Bush 2 yrs & 10 months."

  This news comes on the heels of today's news that Obama played golf with a woman — chief domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes — for the first time since taking office.

  (tags: barack_obama George_W_Bush)
• 3 California GOP gubernatorial candidates have history of contributing to Democrats
  One candidate in next year's gubernatorial race contributed thousands of dollars to Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and John Kerry.

  Another wrote $21,000 in checks to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and the Democratic National Committee in 2000.

  A third was a registered Democrat in the early 1970s and has acknowledged supporting George McGovern as the party's presidential candidate in 1972.

  All three – Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner and Tom Campbell – are vying to become California's next governor, but not as Democrats. They constitute the entire GOP gubernatorial field, a fact that has some Republicans wondering where their candidates' loyalties really lie.

  (tags: california_gop)
• Andy Cuomo warns Rudy Giuliani that he is running for New York Governor
  Andrew Cuomo has secretly notified Rudy Giuliani that he will run for governor next year, The Post has learned.

  The confidential message, conveyed through intermediaries, was delivered to Giuliani recently and is expected to play a central role in the former mayor's impending decision on whether to run as the Republican candidate for governor in 2010, sources with knowledge of the situation said.

  The message confirms the widespread belief that state Attorney General Cuomo intends to challenge unelected Gov. Paterson in a Democratic primary if Paterson decides to run.
  +++++++
  Will Rudy next look at the Senate race? Run? Or simply retire from The Arena?

  (tags: rudy_giuliani andrew_cuomo)
• Gallup Poll: Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group
  Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.
  (tags: Polling conservative)

• New Nuclear Power Plants Under Obama?
  New reactors cannot be built soon enough if the United States hopes to have an impact on carbon emissions. The U.S. nuclear reactors, 104 in 31 states, are aging, mostly built decades ago, and many are pushing their decommissioning deadlines. Nuclear plants provide 21 percent of our nation's power supply. Meanwhile, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass–the nonhydro renewables–accounted for roughly 3 percent of total net electric generation in 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration.
  (tags: barack_obama nuclear _power)
• BS Alert: Afghans protest rumored desecration of Koran by U.S. troops
  Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan – Hundreds of angry protesters in Afghanistan's capital burned an effigy of President Obamaon Sunday, acting on rumors that American troops had desecrated the Koran.

  U.S. military officials emphatically denied that any copies of the Muslim holy book had been mishandled, and they accused the Taliban of spreading falsehoods to incite hatred against Western forces.

  (tags: taliban afghanistan)
• Afghan Presidential candidate says 'dramatic' surge needed, backs McChrystal
  Afghanistan's opposition candidate backed Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recommendations for more troops Sunday, saying "the future of the country is at risk" without a "dramatic increase" in troop levels.

  Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who faces off against President Hamid Karzai in a Nov. 7 runoff, said on "Fox News Sunday" that he's also leaving open the possibility of an election boycott if recommendations aren't met to ensure transparency and stem fraud in the second round of voting.

  (tags: afghanistan Abdullah_Abdullah Hamid_Karzai)
• Obamacare: How an Insurance Mandate Could Leave Many Worse Off
  AMERICANS seem to like the idea of broadening health insurance coverage, but they may not want to be forced to buy it. With health care costs high and rising, such government mandates would make many people worse off.

  The proposals now before Congress would require just about everyone to buy health insurance or to get it through their employers — which would generally result in lower wages. In other words, millions of people would be compelled to spend lots of money on something they previously did not want, at least not at prevailing prices.

  (tags: Obamacare)