The Elephant in the Room– good news for Progressives

As Bush Hits an All-Time Low, there is tons of good news in this recent Newsweek article.

EVERY TOP TIER DEMOCRAT NOW BEATS ALL 3 TOP REPUBLICANS NATIONALLY!!!

That’s right. Edwards beats Rudy, beats Romney, beats McCain. Obama beats all three. Hillary beats all three. 60% of Republicans are unhappy with their candidates. Dems are overall pleased….

A few snippets:

The last president to be this unpopular was Jimmy Carter who also scored a 28 percent approval in 1979. This remarkably low rating seems to be casting a dark shadow over the GOP’s chances for victory in ’08. The NEWSWEEK Poll finds each of the leading Democratic contenders beating the Republican frontrunners in head-to-head matchups.

I love Jimmy, but Bush can’t be pleased about that comparison. And this:

Like Obama, Edwards defeats the Republicans by larger margins than Clinton does: the former Democratic vice-presidential nominee outdistances Giuliani by six points, McCain by 10 and Romney by 37, the largest lead in any of the head-to-head matchups. Meanwhile, Sen. Clinton wins 49 percent to 46 percent against Giuliani, well within the poll’s margin of error; 50 to 44 against McCain; and 57 to 35 against Romney.

Yes, it’s early, but I’m much happier being a Democrat now than I would be as a Republican.

But, I do still want Gore in the race. Does anyone doubt that this isn’t a means to gather names for a netroots appeal once he’s in?

Buy his book, The Assault on Reason, out in 2 weeks. This book tour has to be the opening salvo. Do the tour, lay low, then hit the media again for the Live Earth concerts, win the Nobel Prize, then get in to the race in the early fall…..

And the name of the game is…

The Fix, washingtonpost.com’s political blog, analyzed a recent Gallup poll of voters’ impressions of the three early leading Democratic candidates in ’08 — Clinton, Obama, and Edwards (sorry, Kucinich). To sum up the results:

We’re simplifying here, but it seems to suggest that the “head” of Democratic voters is with Clinton while the “heart” is on Obama’s side. Voters like Obama better but believe Clinton is the stronger candidate due to her deeper — and broader — resume.

That is, those polled generally like Obama more but feel that Clinton is more electable.

As The Fix points out, and as I remember all too keenly, Democratic voters experienced a similar dichotomy in 2004, and the head — Kerry — won. I was in New Hampshire that winter working for Dean’s campaign, and I remember the disappointment of realizing that NH’s voters are not as idealistic as I’d hoped. It didn’t work out so well then; Kerry was a bit too cerebral (read: dull) for most of America. However, I’m not sure that the solution can be found by ceding to the heart’s more subjective judgment. The Democratic Party must instead find a candidate who appeals to the whole voter, maybe with some young idealism thrown in as a vice presidential bonus. And so we return to the Democrats’ future, as decided over drinks in December — even more appealing than Captain Planet himself, Gore-Obama ’08.

As if Ellen isn’t reason enough to watch the Oscars.

The only poll that counts is election day…

With that said, what are we are here for? comm5ttee posted an interesting poll from Iowa and here is more recent polling from the general electorate dated Jan 2-4, 2007. The entire poll can be found here.

McCain 48% Clinton 41%
McCain 48% Obama 36%
MCCain 44% Edwards 43%

Giuliani 48% Clinton 43%
Giuliani 49% Obama 36%
Giuliani 47% Edwards 42%

Romney 35% Clinton 48%
Romney 31% Obama 43%
Romney 29% Edwards 53%

The most interesting parts of this poll are as follows: McCain is doing surprisingly well against both Hillary and Obama (thumping Obama). This is despite the fact that McCain’s War is unraveling so quickly. Rudy is doing even better against his Democratic opponents. The only Democratic candidate that beats or is in statistical ties with GOP candidates is John Edwards. This holds well for him, but i am concerned about these numbers. The question seems unbiased but the results seem a little one-sided to me so I’m withholding judgement on their validity.

UPDATE: Yahoo News has the newest AP poll on both Congress and Bush and we’ve got a tie! 32% of the American people think that each is doing a super job. This is actually an increase for Congress and an all-time low for the president in the AP poll. The president’s Iraq announcement has completely taken all media coverage away from the 100 hour agenda and since Congress feels it is going to have to fund the escalation, the American people will continue to be unhappy with Congress as well as the president. Thanks to HuffPo for the link.

Memo To HRC: We’ve got trouble…with a capital “T” that rhymes with “E” that stands for Edwards… oh and a few more.

In a poll conducted by KCCI-TV in Iowa among likely caucus goers during December 18-20, HRC faces an uphill challenge.

The basics (truncated from Real Clear Politics)…

John Edwards 22%
Barack Obama 22%
Tom Vilsack 12%
Hillary Clinton 10%

In a match-up to the Republican nominee, HRC only beats Mitt Romney – but Romney also loses to Kerry and Gore.

This might suggest the problems with HRC as electable in a general election and interestingly the fact that Democrats are coming to that understanding now.

Does HRC still enter looking at these numbers?

By the way, where HRC had been clearly ahead of all contenders in New Hampshire, look who caught up spending only 5 days there in December.

Starting practical never hurts…..

New polling data out today shows that the American people support the Democrats goals for the beginning of their control of Congress. Dubbed the 100 hour agenda, the Democrats campaigned hard on these issues, and it seems like their message got across. The whole article is here.

First up, the minimum wage:

A boost to the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage would be the first since 1997. Democratic leaders have proposed raising it in stages to $7.25 an hour.
President Bush has said he supports the idea, along with help for small businesses. Fully 80 percent of survey respondents favor an increase, too. Support is strongest among Democrats, 91 percent, while 65 percent of Republicans back the idea. Women, men without college degrees and single women all are especially likely to favor a minimum wage hike.

Next, although maybe not in this order, allowing the government to negotiate on behalf of medicare with pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug costs, and allow importation for prescription drugs from Canada:

Nearly seven of 10 adults, 69 percent, favor the government taking steps to make it easier for people to buy prescription drugs from other countries, where some medicines cost significantly less than in the U.S. Importing prescription drugs to the United States is illegal, but the Food and Drug Administration generally does not bar individuals from bringing in small amounts for personal use. At the same time, the government has estimated that buying drugs from other countries would do little to influence what they cost here at home.

Third, pass veto-proof legislation to allow federal funding of embryonic stem cell research:

Some 56 percent of adults support easing restrictions on using federal money to pay for research on embryonic stem cells. Supporters say such research could lead to treatments for everything from Parkinson’s disease to spinal cord injuries. Bush and other opponents say the embryos from which the cells are extracted are human lives that should not be destroyed in the name of science. Bush kept a promise in 2001 when he limited federally funded research to lines of embryonic stem cells that had been created by that time. Last summer, he used the first veto of his presidency to reject a bill that would have directed more federal dollars toward embryonic stem cell research. Democrats have pledged to reverse that outcome, setting up a possible veto showdown with the president.

Other portions of their agenda include instituting the 9/11 commission recommendations and enacting ethics reform………

The brilliance of this is it begins to create the framework for discussion for 2008, while at the same time, instills in the American people the notion that the days of the do-nothing Congress are over. The opinion of the Democrats will go through the roof once some of this legislation is passed– it will be very easy to fill the vacuum the Republicans have left……