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Public Policy Polling's first Connecticut poll of 2014 finds Dan Malloy with an 8 point lead for reelection over Republican foe Tom Foley, 43/35. Independent Joe Visconti is polling at 9%. Visconti is largely drawing voters away from Foley- his supporters say their second choice would be Foley by a 46/27 spread. In a head to head, Malloy's advantage over Foley is 6 points at 45/39. Malloy's had low approval numbers throughout most of his term and that hasn't changed- only 40% of voters approve of the job he's doing to 50% who disapprove. But Foley's numbers are even worse...

In a perfect world, Democrats would love to the 2014 midterm elections to be all about the economy. But in 2014, the world has been far from perfect. And Democrats say it's hard to grab the public's attention and focus it on a slowly improving economy with crises popping up at home and abroad. "August was Ebola. It was ISIS. It was Ukraine," Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told a small group of reporters Monday morning. "Global issues dominated. And in September, those issues continued to dominate. And so, part of the headwind...

A few weeks after the national Republican Party moved in to revamp the campaign and begin an ad blitz aimed at saving incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts' job, a new poll shows him facing more of an uphill battle than ever against independent businessman Greg Orman.

Are you among the 58 percent of Republicans who plan to send the president a message of opposition come Nov. 4? I certainly am. This recent Gallup poll reminds me of the comment currently circling my Facebook thanks to Emmy-award winning comedic actor/ political commentator, Dennis Miller: “Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for him.” I didn’t either (the second time around). In fact, we can see the writing on the wall this time around as the next election nears. The stats from this 2014 Gallup poll resembles the poll taken just before we witnessed the last huge gains for...

The tax reform plan from Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz could turn out to be a big deal for Republicans. Essentially, the plan sets just two rates for income tax - 15% and 35%. It also raises the child tax credit by $2,500 from $1,000 to $3,500. It also reforms corporate imcome taxes. The Week's Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry says the next Republican to win the White House will have a tax plan very similar to this one, which focuses on building the middle class. Here are two Tea Party senators, one of whom is thought to be a strong candidate...

Politico’s David Nather cast the most mentioned Republican presidential contenders as un-presidential on Friday in a story headlined “GOP 2016ers on Ebola: Panic.” Only Rick Perry was the responsible one, he implied: For once, President Barack Obama and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are on the same page. At separate briefings on the Ebola crisis, Obama administration officials and Perry have delivered the same message: Don’t panic — the health authorities know what they’re doing. But for other Republicans — and conservative media outlets — it’s time for panic. The likely 2016 Republican presidential candidates — except for Perry — are...

Last year, there were 41 abortion clinics in Texas. On Thursday, 21 were left in the entire state. Today there were just seven. (An eighth is expected to open, but it is unclear whether it is open now.) Thursday evening, a three judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans allowed Texas to enforce a key provision of its sweeping abortion law, HB2, passed last year despite a filibuster by state Senator Wendy Davis — now the Democratic candidate for governor. The fate of the law is still winding its way through the appeals court process....

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is widely considered to be running for president in 2016. But he was really put out that someone apparently connected to him said so, anonymously, in a National Journal story and Cruz took to social media to make his point. “Heidi and I have not made any decisions about political plans past the mid-term elections,” Cruz posted on Facebook, referring to his wife. “Clearly we have an overzealous supporter out there making freelance comments, but to be clear, no decision has been made. “Whoever this ‘anonymous advisor’ was, he or she had no authority to...

Ruben Villarreal knew he was different, and it had nothing to do with his curlicue mustache. The Latino tire-shop owner with the ten- gallon hat had been mayor of this border town for several years before he dared to discuss his political affiliation. He felt like a “cactus around balloons.” “It’s not easy being Republican,” he said, “when everybody’s a Democrat.” As long as anyone can remember, the South Texas counties that make up the Rio Grande Valley have been two things: Hispanic and blue-as-the-big-sky Democrat. In Hidalgo County, along the Rio Grande, the locals say a Republican hasn’t won...

One of the most dispiriting storylines of the Obama era has been that Republicans have largely stood on the sidelines while a major cultural transformation has taken place: The country’s shift on gay rights. Republicans have either put up nominal resistance, or had nothing at all to say, as one change after another has come in rapid succession and majorities have come around on gay marriage. And yet you’d think the GOP cannot forever put off a real intra-party debate over whether the party will evolve culturally along with the rest of the country. That’s why it’s potentially significant that...

MILWAUKEE — She can rouse a crowd as she did here this week, connect with women and drive turnout among African-American voters. Yet despite the nail-biting closeness of state contests to decide which party will control the Senate, Michelle Obama has been largely absent from the campaign trail so far. She has her reasons, Democrats say: Mrs. Obama hates to be away from her daughters. She loathes Washington’s toxic politics. She resents Republicans for their opposition to her husband’s agenda. But she also believes some Senate Democrats have been insufficiently supportive of her own efforts to end childhood obesity. This...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said his experience passing an immigration bill with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) left him convinced his younger colleague isn't up to the presidency, in part because he's “so afraid of the right.” Graham made the comments to the Weekly Standard's Steven Hayes, and in the interview declared that he may run for president himself, saying he would want to inject his hawkish national security views into the debate. But his remarks about Rubio were perhaps more notable. Graham, for instance, compared Rubio's level of experience to President Obama's before taking offfice – albeit just before saying...

Whether it's Cruz/Carson or Carson/Cruz, the Democrat ticket will have reason to worry. An Hispanic&Black ticket is the GOP's best hope to beat Hillary, or who ever is the nominee. This ticket will have the left leaning media in a state of panic. They can't bash a minority ticket. And what will Debbie Wasserman do? Accuse Ted and Ben of wife beating? If Hillary is the nominee and she is up against Cruz/Carson, will be interesting to see how she tries to tear down the first "Black/Hispanic Ticket".

In a one-on-one interview with The Brody File, Ted Cruz blames President Obama and Hillary Clinton for America’s failed leadership in the world, calling it the, “Obama/Clinton foreign policy.” “It has been a photo-op foreign policy, a press release foreign policy, Cruz tells The Brody File during a sit-down interview at the Values Voter Summit. In addition, he says the 2016 presidential election is the most important election in his lifetime. “We are at the edge of the cliff. We are at the edge of a precipice looking over and it is now or never. I don’t think we’ve reached...

So I've been catching up on all the latest accumulation of Washington wisdom — or, at least, all the wisdom that I can accumulate in a Twitter feed — and now I totally get why no one other than Rand Paul or Ted Cruz or the reincarnated Pat Buchanan can possibly win the Republican nomination in 2016. (Actually, Pat's alive and well — it's just that he's on the McLaughlin Group. My bad.) You see, the party's base voters — the ones who turn out to vote in primaries and caucuses — are too completely off the rails to nominate...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Wednesday questioned President Obama's decision to dispatch 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa to help combat the Ebola virus. "Where is disease most transmittable? When you're in very close confines on a ship," Paul said on Laura Ingraham's radio show. "We all know about cruises and how they get these diarrhea viruses that are transmitted very easily and the whole ship gets sick. Can you imagine if a whole ship full of our soldiers catch Ebola?" "It's a big mistake to downplay and act as if 'oh, this is not a big deal, we can...

Despite his showing in polls of conservatives, it's not a done deal the Republican establishment is going to allow Ted Cruz the opportunity to mount a serious challenge in 2016 – if he chooses to run for the presidency.For the second straight year, the first-term senator from Texas won the presidential straw poll at the Values Voter Summit sponsored over the weekend by FRC Action, the legislative arm of Family Research Council. Cruz garnered 25 percent of the vote this year, with Dr. Ben Carson finishing second with almost 20 percent. Last year Cruz garnered 42 percent. Connie Mackey, president...

What may have happened is this: Over the summer Democrats used their money advantage to savage Republican opponents. When spending got equalized in September, Republicans’ numbers rose. So Republicans retain big leads to pick up three open seats in states carried by Mitt Romney —West Virginia, Montana and South Dakota. Republican nominees have moved ahead of three Democratic incumbents in Romney states (Alaska, Arkansas, and Louisiana) and in two target states carried by President Obama (Colorado and Iowa).Only in North Carolina, which Romney narrowly carried, has the Republican not yet overtaken the incumbent Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan — and her...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) predicted a Democratic sweep in 2016. If Republicans keep the House in November, Pelosi said they wouldn’t hold their majority for long. “Their days are numbered. I know that in two years, I know we’ll have a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president,” she told reporters at her weekly press conference. “I’d like it to be in two months,” she added. Asked if she was conceding that Republicans would hold the House in November’s midterms, Pelosi insisted, “No, I’m not." “I think we’ll do okay,” said Pelosi, who was headed to the Democratic Congressional...

It’s no secret that Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) is in trouble. He votes with the president too often for many Alaskans’ liking, he’s too absent in Congress, and the Democratic candidate for governor has even declined to endorse him. Politico’s Amanda Coyne, however, apparently thinks Begich’s opponent, Dan Sullivan, is more fun to criticize. Among her jabs: Sullivan’s speeches are too predictable, he has only lived in Alaska for 12 years, and he doesn’t know when to pause during speeches. For shame! Coyne saved a bit of mockery for the “Rally for the Valley” held near former Governor Sarah Palin’s...