Current News Blog

Talking Points Memo is pointing to a Public Policy Polling survey showing that a majority of GOP voters think Obama stole the 2008 election with ACORN’s help. 52% of them.

From PPP:

Belief in the ACORN conspiracy theory is even higher among GOP partisans than the birther one, which only 42% of Republicans expressed agreement with on our national survey in September.

Overall 62% of Americans think Obama legitimately won the election to only 26% who think ACORN stole it for him, as few Democrats or independents buy into that line of thinking.

TPM points out that ACORN has gained in popularity as a bogeyman for the right:

This number goes a long way towards explaining the anger of the Tea Party crowd. They not only think Obama’s agenda is against America, but they don’t think he was actually the choice of the American people at all! Interestingly, NY-23 Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman is now accusing ACORN of stealing his race, and Fox News personalities have often speculated about ACORN stealing the 2008 Minnesota Senate race for Al Franken.

For the record, Obama’s margin of victory was 9.5 million votes.

I present the following video without further comment.

Supernews: The Stupid Virus (Video)

(I take that back. I have one further comment. Last night’s Supernews is hilarious – and up online. Watch it while your boss takes his long Friday lunch.)

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Both of the most-watched Governors races went to GOP candidates: Virginia and New Jersey. New Jersey is being seen as a blow to the Democratic Party at large since Obama personally came to campaign for Jon Corzine.

Consolation prize for the Dems: They won New York’s 23rd Congressional District, beating out the Sarah Palin-backed Conservative Party candidate. (posted by current89)

New York’s mayor had a surprising struggle for reelection. It ended up being 51 to 46 percent, far tighter than Bloomberg’s campaign had been expecting. Why? Apparently low turnout and a strong anti-Bloomberg vote. Did Gawker almost swing an election?

And bad news for supporters of gay marriage, Maine voters overturned legislation allowing same-sex couple to get married in the state.

A big shout-out to current89 whose election day post yesterday served as our center for info and commentary.

Any other races out there catch your eye? Let us know.

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This post is from user ScorpioGee who commented over here on Current News. Do you have an election perspective to share? Leave your own comment and get it featured on the Current News Blog.

New Jersey metro area girl up in here! Lots of stuff happening in my neck of the woods!

Bloomberg was against Bloomberg for all of 2008! Most NYC’ers–usually the Manhattinites or people who are not from this city forgot about the 2012 bid/Giants stadium debacle but not all–the folks who live in rent controlled apartments, cant find an apartment, have children in the worst performing schools in NYC or the young professionals who cant find jobs who are Obama-fanantics.

He handled the 9/11 financial crisis well in the past but the jury’s still out on how he handling this mini depression the nation is experiencing. And when it came to the NYPD overstepping their power you had to admit it, at least Bloomberg did not side with the NYPD right off. Really the only thing Bloomberg has against him is his connection with wall street and using his ‘resources’ to fund his election campaing.

Not to mention the idea of creating a mega park/resort in Coney Island–where the population is filled with poor to working/middle class immigrants and minorities or a Nets stadium in downtown Brooklyn–filled with mid/low tier merchants who will have to relocate if the stadium plan goes ahead.

I have no beef with Thompson he could be a great mayor for NYC but there’s no contest–Bloomberg got this. Unless if Thompson has a genie on him.We really need to reform election spending in this country in my opinion.

Then we have congressional district 23. I know it’s McHugh’s previous district before his Secretary of The Army post but I think the national media is putting too much attention to this. The last previous congressmen were Republican. It could be a mix bag but I’m gonna say…Republican. Hate to say it. (Ed. Note: The Republican candidate has dropped out of the race. It’s currently between the Conservative Party candidate and the Democratic candidate.)

Now New Jersey on the other hand is going to be_the_race of the year in my opinion. John Corzine versus Chris Christie. It looks like a photo finish–every week it’s either Corzine with nine points ahead in the polls or Chrstie. And don’t forget the underdog Chris Dagget who could throw a stick in front of Corzine, Christie or both. Not only is this a important governor race but it’s an gauge to see how Americans–particularly democrats/independents–feel about Obama’s presidency. A lot of things happened in NJ. There was a bust with corrupt rabbis and political figures (very weird.) High taxes–as usual. Guaranteed paid family leave. And the laid off commuters who just realize after they were laid off their high paying jobs in NYC that NJ doesn’t have much jobs to offer or any job that pays the same wage as a worker in NYC does.

What makes this NJ race significant is the voter turnout.

Will the Obama-maniacs– particular the younger voters of NY–turn out to vote for Corzine or sit this one out out of protest of his work in office or out of apathy?

Will the Republicans in Christie’s party will come out for him or become sick of his questionable actions in ethics/law and skip it.

Or will there be a huge upset and Chris Dagget–one of the independent candidates for governor by taking all the disillusioned Democrats, angry republicans, and ill-tempered independents– who want a different shade–a shade of green at Trenton? We will see.

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Well, not necessarily for everyone. It’s not a presidential election year (obviously) and not a midterm election year for Congress, but yes there are a fair number of elections going on tomorrow. Lots of local races and a few bigger ones. Here are some of the highlights on the national stage:

NY-23: A little corner of New York state you’ve probably never heard of is attracting big attention for its special Congressional election. Why? First, because commentators think it could be a bellwether for the 2010 midterm elections. Second, because it suddenly got real crazy. There was a three-way race between a moderate GOP incumbent, a Democrat, and a Conservative Party candidate. Then suddenly Sarah Palin swooped in and endorsed the third party candidate, and it ignited a firestorm about tea party conservatives in the GOP. So much so that Dede Scozzafava, the GOP candidate, dropped out. What does it mean? What does it meeeeean? We’ll let the politico-blogo-sphere sort it all out after we get the results.

New York City Mayor: New York is voting on their mayor. Incumbent mayor Michael Bloomberg had the law changed so he could run for a third term, and seems to be strongly in the lead. Except Gawker anti-endorsed him. (Ouch).

Maine on Gay Marriage: Last May, Maine’s legislators legalized same sex marriage. Now its voters will decide whether or not to repeal it. Boy wonder statistician Nate Silver gives the vote to repeal “5-to-2 underdog” odds.

New Jersey’s Governor: Why should you care about who’s governor of the Garden State? Well according to the AP: it’s “…a campaign being billed as a vote on President Barack Obama’s popularity.” Democratic governor Jon Corzine is fighting to keep his seat as his Republican opponent has fared well in the polls. Will a GOP win foretell doom for Obama’s efforts? Again, we’ll let the politico-blogo-sphere sort it all out after we get the results.

What else is going out there? Here in San Francisco we’re having a municipal election with two uncontested candidates and a few local propositions.

How about where you live? Any local races out there that could be resonant to the rest of the country?

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The long-awaiting Senate Finance Committee vote on the health care bill came today and guess what? They voted to send the bill to the Senate floor! The vote split down party lines with a much-mentioned yes vote from Republican Olympia Snowe. So that means we’re done right? Not so fast. Next up: Plenty more political wrangling on Capitol Hill. Lots of it. Keep in mind, the Senate still has to vote, there will probably be further amendments to the bill, AND the House is still working on their version of the bill.

While we wait, here’s a fun interactive feature from the NY Times: Health Care Conversations.

And also a Collective Journalism piece about one young woman’s search for health insurance.

No Healthcare for Me (Video)

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