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These are tough poll results for Sarah Palin.

59 percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll flatly rule out voting for Palin for president — substantially more than say there’s no way they’d vote for Obama, or, for that matter, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. And Obama leads Palin by a wide margin in current vote preferences, factoring Bloomberg in or out.

It’s too early in the 2012 presidential election cycle to make too much of the horse-race results in this poll, produced byLanger Research Associates for ABC News. But the numbers of Americans who say they wouldn’t even consider voting for Palin — and the even larger number who see her as unqualified for the presidency (67 percent in an ABC/Post poll in October) — indicate serious obstacles in her path, even if not of the antlered variety
The trends, moreover, are not in Palin’s favor. Just over a year ago 53 percent said they wouldn’t consider her for president. That’s risen, as noted, to 59 percent now, and includes significant chunks of the GOP base, such as 27 percent of John McCain voters, nearly three in 10 Republicans, four in 10 conservatives and four in 10 evangelical white Protestants. About equal numbers of men (58 percent) and women (60 percent) rule Palin out.

Just eight percent of Americans say they’d “definitely” vote for Palin were she to run for president; an additional 31 percent say they’d consider it. But that adds up to just 39 percent who’d even give her a look (41 percent if you count the undecideds) — well short of what it customarily takes to win the White House, absent an unusually strong third-party candidate.

At this point, I do not believe Sarah Palin would run.

As I have said, she will have to assess her poll match up results against President Obama in the Spring. I do believe she can win the GOP nomination. But, this will be a pretty hollow victory when she can make $ millions as a pundit and preserve her political viability by not running and keeping her powder dry, so to speak.

Then, there is an Alaska U.S. Senate seat which is held by a Democrat (Mark Begich) that comes up in 2014.

Jerry Brown’s California Doomsday Strategy Very Risky

“Gov.-elect Jerry Brown appears poised to ask voters next year to raise taxes, or at least continue some temporary taxes that will soon expire, or see vital public programs, such as the schools, suffer irreparable harm.

Ever since his election last month, the once and future governor has been hinting that he’ll ask voters for additional state revenues to partially close a whopping budget deficit, now approaching $30 billion during the next 18 months.

As Brown staged the second of his public budget talk fests Tuesday, this one at UCLA and devoted to education, his doomsday strategy became clearer, although one had to interpret his characteristically elliptical allegories to see it.

Brown said he’ll propose a budget in January that will be so shocking that those affected should read about it while sitting down and hopes to conclude a deal in the Legislature within 60 days.

That’s clearly aimed at having a special election in May or June to give voters the choice of absorbing drastic cuts in education and other major state programs or reducing the impact, perhaps by half, by increasing taxes.”

Jerry Brown will NEVER cut public services unless he is faced with certain insolvency. He would much rather campaign for tax increases and this is what he will do.

But, the question is: How will unemployed citizens pay the taxes? And, how much can you push the public when there is so much uncertainty in the economy and they are not working.

California is broken and only dramatic, permanet cuts in its budget will restore some semblence of fiscal soundness.

tags: California California_Budget Jerry_Brown

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Dem. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver Earmarks $48 BILLION to Pal Who Runs Child Day Care Center From Home With His Wife -
  Earlier today it was reported that far left Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) proposed a $48 billion earmark to redistribute taxpayer money to the inner city.
  It was the Mother of All Earmarks…
  Liberal Rep. Emanuel Cleaver proposed a whopping $48 BILLION EARMARK that would redistribute wealth to the inner cities and gift money to the poor and thereby produce a much larger consumer class to buy the goods and services produced in this country.

  ++++++

  Criminal if this Omnibus Spending bill passes.

  (tags: Emanuel_Cleaver Omnibus_Spending_Bill)
• Speaker-Elect John Boehner's Crying: Is He Drinking Too Much?
  Incoming House Speaker John Boehner's recent interview on "60 Minutes" with Lesley Stahl, where he once again cried publicly, has created a minor controversy among pundits, with observers trying to figure out the cause of his unusual behavior.

  Is it depression? Or is Boehner simply in touch with his emotions? Does he wear his heart on his sleeve, or does he cry on a dime because he has a tender spot for all things American?
  While it's impossible to know, some are beginning to speculate that Boehner's penchant for turning on the waterworks might have some connection to his consumption of wine. Liberal MSNBC host Ed Shultz, half-jokingly, called Boehner a "cheap drunk" the other day, Capitol Hill aides of both parties are wondering, and there's even a web page devoted to it.
  ++++++
  Well, if he has a problem then the GOP Caucus should find another Speaker

  (tags: john_boehner)
• GOP Will Paralyze Senate Floor with Reading of 1,924-page Spending Bill
  Republicans will paralyze the Senate floor for 50 hours by forcing clerks to read every single paragraph of the 1,924-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.

  Senate clerks are expected to read the massive bill in rotating shifts around the clock — taking breaks to drink water and pop throat lozenges  — to keep legislative business on track, according to a Democratic leadership aide.

  ++++++

  The GOP should do nothing but a short continuing resolution to keep the government open and then go home

  (tags: Omnibus_Spending_Bill)
• Democrats will try again on DREAM Act
  Democrats will try one more time to bring up a controversial immigration bill in the lame-duck session of Congress, a key Senate chairman said Wednesday evening.

  Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said that Democrats would make one last stab at passing the DREAM Act in the Senate.

  "We are going to try to bring the DREAM Act up one more time. And again, that may be filibustered by the Republicans," Harkin said last night on MSNBC. "If it is, well then, we'll have to be in here after Christmas."

  ++++++
  As expected – so melt the phones to squishy GOP Senators to filibuster

  (tags: Dream_Act)
• California Set to Adopt Sweeping Cap-and-Trade Rules
  California air quality regulators are poised to adopt the nation's most sweeping regulations to give power plants, refineries and other major polluters a financial incentive to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
  The Air Resources Board was expected to pass this key piece of the California's 2006 climate law, called AB32, at its meetings Thursday or Friday, with the hope that other states and nations will follow the lead of the world's eighth largest economy.
  "AB32 was passed primarily to fill the vacuum created by the failure of Congress to pass any kind of climate or energy legislation for many years now," said Mary Nichols, the air board's chairwoman. "The goal was to lead by example, and being a leader you have to bring others along with you."
  California's cap-and-trade rules would set up the largest U.S. carbon trading market as the way to enforce the state's gradually tightening cap on emissions.

  +++++

  More business will leave and more unemployment. Budget deficits increase

  (tags: California_Budget cap_and_trade)
• Mitch Daniels Will Decide on Presidential Bid Before May
  Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is setting a deadline for when he must decide whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
  Daniels, a favorite among Republican insiders who respect his fiscally conservative record, said Wednesday that he must figure out his plans by the end of April, when Indiana's legislative session is slated to wrap up.

  "I think the decision has to come at the end of this General Assembly session, if not before. No later than that," Daniels told Fort Wayne television station WANE. "In fairness to people from all over the place – many of whom I've only read about before – who like this idea [of Daniels running for president], I owe them some kind of an answer."
  Daniels has remained mostly cagey about his intentions. Though the governor has resisted invitations to visit key primary states, he's also welcomed national reporters to Indiana to discuss the possibility.

  +++++++

  Well, DUH! He will need to ramp up fundraising.

  (tags: mitch_daniels)
• Harry Reid's Online Poker Bill Will Not Be Addressed During this Session of Congress
  It's been a whirlwind of excitement since the first rumors that Sen. Harry Reid would be passing online poker legislation during the lame-duck session of Congress, but that excitement halted immediately Wednesday night. According to multiple sources, the bill will not be voted on or attached to another bill during the last few days of this session.

  "We are disappointed that Congress failed to act and provide the necessary consumer protections and sensible oversight over this multi-billion dollar industry," John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, wrote in an e-mail to ESPN.com. "Sadly, some politicians remain with their heads firmly in the sand. The leadership of the Poker Players Alliance got the debate this far and we are determined to see this through."

  ++++++++

  This is not a surprise since the bill is a blatant payback to Harrah's and MGM who contributed so heavily for Reid.

  Online poker looks almost dead especially if the feds enforce UIGEA

  (tags: poker harry_reid UIGEA)

Termed out California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore

Yes, and I received an e-mail from Chuckles last week saying he will be running for something in 2012 and asking for money to get his California state campaign account out of debt.

If he thinks he can beat long time Senator Dianne Feinstein who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, he is suffering from delusions of grandeur. Even the LEFT is skeptical and they are not greats fans of DiFi.

Despite getting only a small vote share in the GOP Senate primary this year (as conservatives decided to go with the slightly-more-electable Carly Fiorina), Chuck DeVore is talking Senate again, for 2012, when Dianne Feinstein will presumably run for re-election. Or is he? All he’s saying is that he’s likely to run in 2012, but hasn’t decided what office. Senate is the only thing that’s available, though, which makes his statement seem kind of strange (unless he’s talking about trying to rejoin the state Assembly). If Barbara Boxer could still win by 10 points in a terrible year, the more-popular Feinstein in a presidential year is an even more daunting target, meaning that DeVore may be the only prominent GOPer crazy enough to take on the task.