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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Over A Quarter Of Americans Believe ACORN Stole The Election For Obama Last Year

Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 3:29 PM

Public Policy Polling showed that 26% of Americans believe ACORN stole the presidential election for Obama, including 52% of Republicans. Only 11% of Americans actually view ACORN favorably.

Another interesting factoid: 40% of Americans were found to be in support of Obamacare, with 52% opposed.

"For the first time in our polling we find a majority of Americans opposed to his health care plan," said PPP.

Tags: acorn

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Hoffman: Voter Fraud In NY-23

Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 9:06 AM

After "unconceding" the race, he issued a statement alleging voter fraud:

...recanvassing in the 11-county district shows Owens' lead has narrowed to 3,026. In Oswego County, I was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, but inspectors found I actually won by 1,748 votes

...The district's second biggest voter turnout was in Jefferson County, where I had also benefited from a turnaround since election night, gaining another 700 votes. Owens led by 300 votes on the final election night tally, but after recanvassing, I'm now leading by 424 votes.

Jerry Eaton, the Republican elections commissioner for Jefferson County, said inspectors found a problem in four districts where my vote total was mistakenly entered as zero.

Hoffman has admitted victory would be a long shot. But he spoke about the fraud as a "chapter out of the ACORN playbook," and if true, it deserves to be investigated.

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

NY-23: Hoffman "Unconcedes" Race

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 11:03 AM

According to The Hill, the gap between newly sworn-in Congressman Bill Owens and defeated Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman continues to shrink as absentee ballots are counted. The local press has reported the 5,335 election night vote margin has shrunk to 3,026 after standard recanvassing.

Local officials continue to count the more than 10,000 absentee ballots they received, all of which include ~~Democrat~~ Republican Dede Scozzafava's name. During an interview with Glenn Beck yesterday, Hoffman stressed that if he had known the margin was so small after recanvassing, he would not have conceded so quickly on election night.

In order for Hoffman to take back the election from Democrat Owens, Hoffman will have to capture over 65% of the absentee count--something even Hoffman admits would be a "long shot."

Tags: NY-23

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Marco Rubio Spoofs Obama's Campaign Ad

Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 10:37 AM

Critics are saying he's plagiarizing. Hello, parody:

Tags: Rubio

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Monday, November 16, 2009

CNN Hosts Palin Forum With No Palin Supporters

Posted by: Greg Hengler at 4:42 PM

I guess you could call CNN's idea of "fair and balanced." Sanchez appears to be using a Luntz-style forum to test the Palin-approval waters.

I put this up there with CNN's fact-checking the Obama SNL skit.

Reminder: This is an Obama-approved "news" network. Big H/T to Lee Habeeb for spotting this.

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Monday, November 16, 2009

43% of Americans Like Palin, 52% Dislike

Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 11:42 AM

That's the latest poll out of Washington Post-ABC.

For comparison, in a 2006 ABC/Post poll fewer flatly ruled out Hillary Clinton, 42 percent, and fewer still wouldn’t consider John McCain, 28 percent

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Friday, November 13, 2009

Scozzafava STILL Talking...

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 5:12 PM

For a candidate who dropped out of a congressional race, Dede Scozzafava still has a lot to say. And, not surprisingly, she has a lot of bad things to say specifically about the Republican Party--the party which it seems she just used in order to secure a place in the race. After all, I can't imagine why someone would run as a Republican and then turn around and say the party is anti-woman and lacks substance.

Not surprisingly, MSNBC was happy to give Scozzy a soapbox to stand on:

Here are some snippets of her interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, as reported by Politico:

Speaking with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Scozzafava warned Republicans that “you have ideology that’s really not based on any sort of substance that can move an agenda forward, that can really help people in this country.”

“I don’t think it’s good for the health of our party. Any party that just tries to purge members that might have any sort of independent thinking, I think, eventually will run itself to very much of a minority status,” she continued. “I think any sort of party has to be willing to solve the problems. And in order to solve problems, you have to look at things sometimes differently. And you do have to drive towards some sort of consensus building.”

Scozzafava also said she plans to remain a member of the GOP, despite being stripped of her Republican leadership post this week in the New York state Assembly:

"You know, the original Republican Party was all about less government interference in the lives of individuals. It was about promoting self-sufficiency versus government dependency. I feel my philosophy and my viewpoints and my record — I voted 95 percent with my Republican leader in the state Assembly,” she continued. “But you know, people had a bigger agenda that they wanted to push. And the only thing I can say is anybody that endorsed the opponent didn't vet my record.”

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Friday, November 13, 2009

ACORN Says It Has A Constitutional Right To Your Money

Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 2:31 PM

Guest post from Matthew Vadum with the Capital Research Center

ACORN says it has a constitutional right to your money.

That’s what I write in today’s American Spectator. From the top of the article:

Activist group and organized crime syndicate ACORN has a constitutional right to defraud the people of the United States it claims in a federal lawsuit.

Actually, the lawsuit, filed with the assistance of the allegedly terrorist-funded Center for Constitutional Rights, doesn’t use the word fraud, but that’s what it amounts to because ACORN argues in the document that it has a right to taxpayer dollars. I kid you not.

In the action filed in U.S. District Court ACORN plays the victim — as always.

ACORN claims the congressionally approved cutoff of federal funding that expires Dec. 18 violates the Constitution’s prohibition on bills of attainder, along with ACORN’s free speech and due process rights.

Of course, due process is a rather specific legal concept that applies to judicial proceedings, rather than the lawmaking process. A bill of attainder singles out an individual or group for punishment without trial.

Is it punishment for ACORN to be denied public funds? That implies the group has the right to receive those funds. [...]

Tags: acorn

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Friday, November 13, 2009

Van Hollen: Health Care Bill Is Key To Electoral Success

Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 8:53 AM

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said that he was confident Democrats would do well in the 2010 mid-term elections... as long as the health care bill was passed. Here's Van Hollen at Bloomberg’s Washington Summit:

The political fortunes of the entire Caucus are tied together in getting this passed.

It's unsurprising that the head of the DCCC expressed a high level of confidence in his party in upcoming elections. But the fact that he thinks that success is so tied up in success of the health care bill is striking. Rasmussen puts Americans' support of health care reform at 45 in favor of and 52 opposed; the Washington Post has those numbers at 45 and 48, respectively.

Van Hollen essentially confirmed that health care is such a hot-button issue with so many Democratic constituents that the DCCC believes it is their achilles heel. The question is whether that belief is shared by a majority of the American people.

Tags: health care

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Friday, November 13, 2009

Perry Leads Hutchison 46% to 35%

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 8:25 AM

According to Rasmussen Reports:

Governor Rick Perry is back out front of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison with an 11-point lead in the 2010 Republican Primary gubernatorial race in Texas.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Texas GOP Primary voters finds Perry with 46% of the vote while Hutchison earns 35%. Four percent (4%) support Debra Medina, a tea-party activist who joined the GOP race a few months ago, and 14% are undecided.

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Rumblings In The Conservative Underdog World

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 2:16 PM

Conservatives are poking around to see if their failed underdog in NY-23 was conned out of some votes:

Unless Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman got exactly zero votes in the town of Fenner (Owens got 157, Scozzafava got 248), and at one polling place in the town of Hamilton (Owens got 75, Scozzafava got 79), and at one polling place in the town of Sullivan (Owens got 173, Scozzafava got 251), the initial vote totals look rather hinky.

By comparison, the lowest number of votes that Owens got at any polling place was 57; the lowest number the withdrawn candidate Scozzafava got was 2. It's not impossible that no one in any of those places chose to vote for Hoffman, but it certainly seems unusual for a guy who got 45 percent district-wide.

The margin was such that it would have to be a pretty big voter fraud for the results to come out any differently. But it's still very much worth gossiping about.

Then there's this special emergency meeting being requested by Marco Rubio supporters in Florida:

We have observed in recent weeks an unprecedented series of reports and events in the media which cast negative perceptions of the Republican Party, both to the public and to our members. While many factors may be involved in the various circumstances, our members and the public are receiving continuing negative reports about issues involving financing, candidates, political activities and more, concerning the Republican Party. This has been, and continues to be, extremely damaging to our Party, our candidates, and our members.

I can imagine how that meeting would go: "How about you take notice of a candidate who is actually supported by Florida voters, instead of lining up behind Crist like bunch of little tweenage girls at a Hanna Montana concert?"

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Republican Lowden the Front-Runner in Nevada

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 1:36 PM

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/assets_c/2009/10/reid_lowden_split-cropped-proto-custom_2.jpg

I have been around enough campaigns to know that you can usually identify the front-runner as the candidate who has the most wacky, personal attacks thrown at them.

Sue Lowden is the front-runner in the Republican primary to unseat Majority Leader Harry Reid, and if the election were held today -- she would win by double digits (so would Republican Danny Tarkanian, by the way). Still, there's a long way to go -- and she will surely have to fend off attacks from her Republican opponents, as well as from the Harry Reid political machine.

The latest controversy regards accusations that, as Chairman of the Nevada GOP, Lowden may have suggested using showgirls to spice up a 2008 John McCain campaign rally at the Las Vegas airport. On a phone interview this morning, Lowden denied officially submitting this idea as proposal, though she said it's entirely possible she may have joked about it at some point.

Regardless of the veracity of this, the accusation hardly seems controversial. After all, it is typical protocol for Las Vegas' Mayor to greet dignitaries at the airport with Show Girls. Having showgirls greet a candidate in, say, Alabama, might raise some eyebrows -- but in Las Vegas, of all places -- it's not really taboo. In fact, it's an iconic part of the Las Vegas tourism industry.

Of course, this is really a distraction from the issues that matter, and from the fact that Lowden seems to have the best shot at ousting Harry Reid. If you are interested in the conservative record of Sue Lowden and what kind of Senator she would be, read her recent op-ed on BigGovernment.com.

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

The New Dem Strategy: Confusion & Exhaustion

Posted by: Michael Medved at 12:49 PM

After Republican victories in the elections of 2009, the Obama strategy has become increasingly obvious—and obnoxious. The administration means to continue pushing dozens of complicated measures at once, leaving their opponents so confused and exhausted that they’ll be unable to fight back.

In health care in particular, perplexing details help the administration, while clarity and simply-stated arguments serve the opposition. At this moment in political history, the real focus should be on one overriding issue, not many nuanced and bewildering proposals. The big struggle involves the scope of spending and the size of government—expensive new programs will only add to the debt and lead to national bankruptcy. Durable prosperity will only return when our politicians return to fiscal sanity. That’s the issue conservatives must stress—while not letting Democrats go unchallenged in their efforts to distract and confuse.

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Among Registered Voters, Republicans Now Outnumber Democrats

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 11:56 AM

Gallup reports that 48% of registered voters are Republicans and 44% are Dems. Peter Roff says that's the result of independents swinging rightwards:

Independents were an important part of the Obama coalition, responding favorably to his calls for change and his promise to bring a post-partisan, problem-solving agenda with him to the presidency. The fact that Congress is in a state of perpetual gridlock despite near-historic majorities for the president's party in both the House and Senate undermines his ability to cast himself as a problem-solver.

That's in sharp contrast to Larry Sabato's analysis, who maintains that there are two groups of independents who come out if they are really motivated for the R's or the D's -- but they don't come out for both.

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

No Comfort for Democrats

Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 3:10 PM

Today, the Gallup poll shows Republicans moving ahead of Democrats to a four point lead on the generic congressional ballot. This represents a ten-point turnaround since July.

Note also that the poll is of "registered" voters -- not likely ones. That fact obscures even more good news for the GOP. "Likely" voter numbers register intensity, which often (though not always) is on the side of those opposed to the administration of power.

So chances are that the real margin between the GOP and the Dems exceeds even the four point edge Gallup has picked up.

That being said, of course, there's no time for complacency or for counting chickens before they've hatched. There's plenty of opportunity for the tide to shift, or for "independent" congressional candidates to split the anti-Democrat vote. It's part of the Republican party's job to make sure they're offering a clear and attractive alternative to the big government, freedom-sucking agenda being imposed on America by the Democrats.