Dead Heat in Colorado


A new Public Policy Polling survey in Colorado finds Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and challenger Jane Norton (R) tied at 43% in the U.S. Senate race.

Interestingly, Andrew Romanoff (D) actually leads Norton, 44% to 39%, "reflecting other recent polling that has shown him doing better in general election matches than Bennet."

Romanoff is challenging Bennet in a Democratic primary.

Huckabee Doesn’t Sound Like a Candidate


Mike Huckabee told students at New York University that he was not sure if he'll run for president in 2012, reports NYU News.

In fact, he seems quite content having his own television show on Fox News.

Said Huckabee: "It's kind of given me a new perspective of the power of the media more so than the power of good policy. Running for president did not necessarily cause people to say 'Oh, I know who you are.' But being on Fox News has. It's really embarrassing when you're running for president of the United States and nobody seems to have any clue."

He added: "I'm not sure I'm in a place in my life, personally, that I can afford to take off two years and not have an income."

Save the Date!

I'll be moderating CQ-Roll Call's "Off to the Races" event in Washington, D.C. at the Columbus Club at Union Station on March 23 at 8:30 am.

We'll have a great panel with Tucker Carlson, Stuart Rothenberg, Craig Crawford and Walter Shapiro offering their insights and analysis on the midterm elections.

Check back on Monday to sign up since seats will go quickly.

Who is Barack Obama?

David Brooks points out that conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are "diametrically opposed" yet "entirely predictable" in their assessment of President Obama to date.

"Liberals are wrong to call him weak and indecisive. He's just not always pursuing their aims. Conservatives are wrong to call him a big-government liberal. That's just not a fair reading of his agenda."

"The fact is, Obama is as he always has been, a center-left pragmatic reformer."

Obama Delays Asia Trip for Health Care Bill

President Obama is delaying his Asia trip from March 18 to March 21 to work on health care, the AP reports.

This delay is most likely caused by the Senate parliamentarian, who according to The Hill, has ruled that President Obama "must sign the health care reform bill before Democrats can use special budget rules to pass changes demanded by the House."

House Democrats don't trust their Senate colleagues and probably want the president in town to keep the pressure on to pass the reconciliation fixes to the health care bill soon after the House votes.

Will Health Care Reform Help or Hurt Politically?

If President Obama's health care bill passes, a new Congressional Insiders Poll finds that 76% of Republicans said it would help their party a lot in the midterm elections and 24% said it would help a little. Not a single Republican surveyed said it would hurt their party.

As for Democrats, 87% said passing a bill would help their party either a little or a lot in the midterm elections while 14% said it would hurt a little or a lot.

Democrats Consider the “Slaughter Solution”

The Daily Caller reports House Democrats might use "a highly unorthodox procedure," called the "Slaughter Solution," to pass a reconciliation bill for health care reform "that simply deemed the Senate bill passed, allowing hesitant lawmakers to circumvent actually casting a ballot in favor of a law they don't like."

Republicans coined the phrase after House Rules Chairman Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), who CongressDaily reported is "prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill."

Washington Examiner: "Each bill that comes before the House for a vote on final passage must be given a rule that determines things like whether the minority would be able to offer amendments to it from the floor.  In the Slaughter Solution, the rule would declare that the House 'deems' the Senate version of Obamacare to have been passed by the House. House members would still have to vote on whether to accept the rule, but they would then be able to say they only voted for a rule, not for the bill itself."

Blagojevich Calls Quinn a “Eunuch”

In a radio interview, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) said he is not impressed by by his successor, Gov. Pat Quinn (D).

Said Blagojevich: "He's a disaster... I mean no disrespect, but I've said that Pat Quinn is essentially the substance of a eunuch in the form of a man. He's been emasculated by the Democratic political power structure."