Say What?!?!?! Dodd tied in Connecticut

For anyone who thinks the corruption of Democrats in Congress goes unnoticed (Hartford Courant):

A new Quinnipiac University Poll shows U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd facing a tough re-election bid in 2010 if his challenger is former Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Simmmons of Stonington.

If the election were held today, Dodd would garner 42 percent of those surveyed while Simmons would win 43 percent.

Simmons has not said whether he plans to run for the U.S. Senate, but he’s been mentioned by top Republicans as a possible candidate.

h/t David Freddoso @ NRO – The Corner

Not to overhype this, but when incumbent Senators can’t reach the 50% mark, it’s usually bad news.  When they’re on the wrong side of a statistical dead heat, they’re usually toast.  I’ve only seen three Senators recover from this position: Al D’Amato in New York, Chuck Robb in Virginia (although that was largely due to the fourth candidate in that race – Doug Wilder – dropping out and endorsing him), and Joe Lieberman.

Given that Lieberman is also from the Nutmeg State, no one can rule out a Dodd recovery, but barring the very unforeseen the president will have to use his epic fundraising ability in a place he probably never thought he’d even have to visit in 2010.

Attention NCAA-first fans

This is for all of you out there (including several members of my family) who are convinced – and keep trying to convince me – that college basketball is better than the NBA.

Four words:

Dwyane Wade.

Try again.

But, but, but . . . it’s Gordon Brown

I really want to join in the outrage over the State Department flack who said this (Weekly Standard):

There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.

I really want to join in.  This is worthy of criticism.  On some level, it’s just ridiculously dumb.  I should be ripping the Administration for its treatment of the British PM.

Then I read Guido Fawkes’ blog, and it hits me: this is Gordon-freaking Brown - and I just can’t do it.

Now, if Obama ever slights Silvio . . .

Augusta County Mail

Dear Augusta County property owners,

Drop dead.

Sincerely,

The Augusta County Board of Assessors

(SWAC Girl, Waynesboro News Virginian)

Why Burn Notice is the best show on TV

They know that “Management” has to be old, slick, and cool – all at once.

They could have picked a lot of actors with one or two of these, and flopped badly.

Instead, they get John Mahoney (I just saw it on my DVR).

Perfect.

Nothing better on TV, folks.  Nothing.

Oh dear

Our new, foreign-friendly Administration is at it again (Reuters, h/t Mark Hemmingway @ NRO - the Corner):

A veteran politician, Clinton compared the complex European political environment to that of the two-party U.S. system, before adding:

“I have never understood multiparty democracy.

“It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy.”

The remark provoked much headshaking in the parliament of a bloc that likes to trace back its democratic tradition thousands of years to the days of classical Greece.

Whoopsie!

This, of course, comes on the heels of the Brown fiasco (Virginia Virtucon).

Hey, CNN, it’s called p-r-o-f-i-t m-o-t-i-v-e

CNN discovers the power of economic incentives in the private sector:

Imagine a guy running a foreign-exchange trading desk at Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs. He has never been anywhere near toxic assets. Let’s suppose he’s good at his job and made $100 million for the firm last year – money that strengthens the firm and reduces its need for capital injections from taxpayers. And let’s imagine the firm wants to pay him a $5 million bonus on top of a $500,000 base salary. Washington’s message to him: You must be punished! We’ll make sure you’re not incentivized to perform as well this year.

An MSM outlet speaks intelligently about the economy? The end is nigh!!

Voters not impressed by Obama budget

Rasmussen finds that the Obama magic isn’t working when it comes to his budget:

Forty-one percent (41%) of voters nationwide have a favorable opinion of the $3.6-trillion budget proposed by President Obama in the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

But 46% hold an unfavorable view, and 13% are not sure.

That’s a “minus-5″ rating for the president’s spending plan – and it’s only March (by contrast, in 1993, it wasn’t until deep into the summer that voters turned on Clinton’s tax-hike-laden budget).

More common sense from the News-Virginian

Given the leadership of the Waynesboro News-Virginian (from the media perspective) on the Augusta County Tax Revolt (as always, check on the latest with SWAC Girl), it shouldn’t surprise me that the WNV would be among the very few to understand what went wrong with the Republican Party here in Virginia.

Still, it was a breath of fresh air (WNV, emphasis added):

Perhaps hearkening to whispers turned to gleeful shouts about old Republican formulas ceasing to produce desired effects, namely winning elections, Bob McDonnell on Monday began his campaign for the state’s highest office by going “centrist,” according to a front-page headline in The Washington Post.

This reflects a line of thinking that refracts the light of recent political events, that Republicans have lost their grip on Virginia in particular and the country generally by virtue of unwavering fealty to what The Post referred to as “almost every bedrock conservative issue – abortion, guns, the sanctity of marriage, school choice …”

In fact, there is a bedrock conservative issue that has been the movement’s heartbeat for generations, and that is the principle of limited government, a principle springing from a larger one: individual liberty within an ordered society.

Disillusionment among the electorate over Republicans has not been because they hewed to this principle but because they strayed from it, responding with the elasticity of a waistband to leftist spending initiatives when in the majority and shaking fists – as in now – at the other party’s excesses when in the minority.

Now, the WNV has seen this more up-close than most, what with the RINO-controlled Board of Supervisors gleefully letting assessments rise and refusing to equalize tax rates going back twenty-five years.  Still, they said what the rest of the Commonwealth (and actually, the country) was thinking.

Bolling and McDonnell call for offshore drilling

Lt. Governor Bill Bolling called on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to go ahead with plans to drill offshore in Virginia despite the request of part-time Governor Tim Kaine to delay the move (Virginia Pilot):

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling has joined the call of those urging the federal government to proceed with plans to allow exploration for natural gas and oil resources off Virginia’s eastern coast.

Bolling made his push this week in a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. That missive comes on the heels of similar letter to Salazar announced last week by former Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

“The development of these resources would create new jobs, contribute greatly to Virginia’s economy and the national economy, and it would help advance our efforts to achieve a higher degree of domestic energy independence,” Bolling’s letter reads.

Both letters come in response to a Feb. 19 message to Salazar penned by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine requesting a delay of activities that could precipitate offshore drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf in the Atlantic Ocean.

While the LTG and AG are to be commended for trying, something tells me economic growth is not a top priority for the Obama Administration (Jim Geraghty).