links for 2009-07-09

In a potentially alarming trend for the White House, independent voters are deserting President Barack Obama nationally and especially in key swing states, recent polls suggest.

Obama’s job approval rating hit a — still healthy — low of 56 percent in the Gallup Poll on Wednesday. And pollsters are debating whether Obama’s expansive and expensive policy proposals or the ground-level realities of a still-faltering economy are driving the falling numbers.

But a source of the shift appears to be independent voters, who seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government
control.

He predicted that, positive press not withstanding, opinions among Americans about Obama could sour significantly by year's end if the economy doesn't improve.

"When the mood of the public sees unemployment go above 10% before Christmas, things like that — if the bad things happen that are predicted — I think it's inevitable the public mood will change."

According to the Rasmussen daily tracking poll, as of Thursday, 30% of Americans "strongly approve" of the way Obama is performing as president while 38% "strongly disapprove."

Economic headlines greeting Joe Biden in Ohio this morning:

Furloughs may be next in Ohio county with 4-day wk

33 Columbus-area post offices among 3,000 facing closure

County budget slides deeper into red

Marion City Fire Dept. closes two stations

Xenia City Workers Face Budget Cuts

Bad News For Buckeye State's Budget

It's a great day to go before the public and call for "patience."

Sen. John Ensign's (R-Nev.) parents gave the family of the woman with whom he had an affair gifts totaling $96,000 after they learned of their son's indiscretion, an attorney for the Nevada senator said Thursday.

Ensign's parents gave the gifts to Doug and Cindy Hampton, along with two of their children, in the form of a single check. The gifts were limited to $12,000 per person at most, in order to avoid taxes on gifts, given by each of Ensign's parents.

The truth is liberals are furious they won't have Sarah Palin to kick around anymore — at least not with Palin's hands tied behind her back by her public office.

Something tells me Keith Olbermann isn't going to be pulling any big numbers this summer attacking Eric Cantor and Michele Bachmann. I don't anticipate any sudden outbreaks of "Mitch McConnell Derangement Syndrome."

Soon we'll only hear about Keith when his creepy e-mails using his mother's death to hit on chicks start making the rounds again. (Tip to Keith: When a girl refuses to give you her phone number, her assistant's phone number or her personal e-mail address, and only gives you her assistant's e-mail address, you're not halfway in the sack.)

Bonus: If Olbermann gets canceled as a result of Palin's resignation, that will put her in a really good position for 2012.

President Obama today offered to scrap plans for a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe if Russia helped to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb.

He appealed in Moscow for a new era of partnership between Russia and the United States to fight the spread of nuclear weapons to rogue states and terrorist groups.

"That is why we should be united in opposing North Korea's efforts to become a nuclear power and preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," he said.

Russia strongly opposes US plans to site the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, which Washington says is necessary to defend against a surprise attack from Iran. Mr Obama made clear that he was willing to strike a deal with the Kremlin.

This analysis by Plum Line, suggesting Palin couldn't have quit due to costs incurred by Alaska in fighting bogus ethics complaints is just silly. They suggest it wasn't about the costs, as the money was already budgeted for the state's lawyers and would have been spent anyway, simply on other matters. Well, Duh! Waste is waste, no matter how you cut it. All this does is show how distracted the lawyers were from working on more serious state business. It also proves how desperate they remain to throw any trumped up allegation Palin's way they can, even after she has resigned.

Gov. Sarah Palin is the political train wreck that keeps on giving. First, she was an awful choice last year as John McCain's running mate. I came to this conclusion with regret – I am one of McCain's biggest admirers.

But facts are facts. An inexperienced governor of a small state, she lacked the experience to be President and brought nothing to the ticket except a surefire knack for exciting voters who were already reliably Republican. It was a strategically awful choice, and I said so – both on and off microphone – at the time. Most pundits thought I was wrong. Look at the crowds she can draw, I was told. She "excites the base."

When the president travels out of country, his secretary of state customarily follows.

Not so with Hillary Clinton.

More and more, President Obama is ditching his top diplomat when he travels abroad. By the time Obama returns from Ghana on Sunday, the last stop on his latest three-country tour, he will have visited nine countries without Clinton.

That's highly unusual for a new secretary of state. Though Clinton has accompanied Obama on several key international visits this year, including Egypt and Trinidad and Tobago, Obama has spent far more time than his predecessors without his foreign policy point person.

Rep. John Murtha (D., PMA Group), on the stimulus, yesterday: "We haven't seen any results."

According to the Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter, Murtha said he would not have created the stimulus package the way Pres. Barack Obama designed it. Perhaps he would have preferred the funds be given directly to his family members.

owa Republican Party officials Wednesday said they are aggressively courting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to headline the state GOP's premier annual fundraising event.

And they have put a well-connected Des Moines woman in charge of trying to land the 2008 vice presidential nominee and popular party figure in the leadoff caucus state.

Aides to Palin did not immediately respond to Des Moines Register inquiries about whether the outgoing governor would consider the invitation to appear at the Ronald Reagan Dinner. The event has become a popular and high-profile stop for would-be presidential candidates.

Carly Fiorina, whose rocky tenure as chief executive of Hewlett Packard ended with her firing, is making serious preparations to run next year for the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

Fiorina's candidacy would be her first foray into elective politics and would turn California's Senate contest into one of the most closely watched in 2010.

In a state that tilts strongly toward Democrats, Boxer would still be favored to win a fourth term, polls suggest.

But Fiorina, a top economic advisor to John McCain in the 2008 presidential race, would be the wealthiest Republican ever to face the Democratic incumbent, making her a more serious threat than previous rivals. Fiorina's personal fortune — her HP severance alone exceeded $21 million after six years as chief executive — ensures she could run a full-scale campaign.

If Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin thought her decision to step down might end ethics accusations against her, she quickly found out she was wrong.

Just days after her bombshell resignation announcement, a new ethics complaint was filed with state authorities arguing that she should not be able to claim per diem funds when she stays at her Wasilla, Alaska, home instead of Anchorage or Juneau, where she has offices. The complaint says she was charging the state when she stayed in Wasilla and commuted to her offices.

The governor's mansion is located in Juneau.

Palin claims she is the target of the "politics of personal destruction," as she and some staff members face 19 filings regarding allegations of ethical violations.

"It doesn't cost the critics anything to file frivolous lawsuits or ethics violation charges. It costs our state such a great deal — thousands of staff hours, millions of dollars in public resources that aren't going to things that it should be going to," Palin told CNN.

Five Iranian officials held by the US military in Iraq since January 2007 have been freed, according to Iranian state media.

Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad was quoted as saying US forces had handed the five, whom he said were diplomats, to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

Hassan Kazemi-Qomi said they would soon be taken to the Iranian embassy.

US forces seized the five in the Kurdish city of Irbil on suspicion of arming and funding Shia militias.

There was no immediate comment from the US embassy on Thursday about the reported releases.

Billions of dollars in federal aid delivered directly to the local level to help revive the economy have gone overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year's presidential election.

That aid — about $17 billion — is the first piece of the administration's massive stimulus package that can be tracked locally. Much of it has followed a well-worn path to places that regularly collect a bigger share of federal grants and contracts, guided by formulas that have been in place for decades and leave little room for manipulation.
The reports show the 872 counties that supported Obama received about $69 per person, on average. The 2,234 that supported McCain received about $34.

A new University of Texas poll finds Gov. Rick Perry (R) leading Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) in a Republican gubernatorial primary, 38% to 26% with another 34% still undecided.

Said pollster James Henson: "The much anticipated match-up between Gov. Perry and Sen. Hutchison is proving to be a close one. While the governor has pulled ahead in this and other recent polls, the race is still apparently very close, and a lot of people have yet to make up their minds."