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A growing number of California voters believe the chronic state budget deficit is a serious problem and lack faith in the ability of the state's political leadership to do anything about it, according to a new Field Poll. The poll also found voter approval of the job that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature are doing continues to decline. Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo said voters are becoming increasingly frustrated by the Legislature's inability to pass the budget on time or close the $15 billion deficit. “The public has growing concerns about the budget and less confidence that the Legislature...

Understanding American voter sentiments heading into the 2008 Election cycle is no easy task. Voters seem to be all over the board on how they feel about the issues, the candidates, and what they think we should do about each issue is even stranger. In studying current Rasmussen Report detailed numbers, Americans seem to struggle with remaining on task all the way through their thought processes. Many voter positions appear quite counter-indicated, contradictory and even downright confusing, or should I say, confused. Obama and McCain are clearly in a dead heat statistical tie in the race for the White House....

Don't toss me a bone in the form of soundbites and platitudes. Sell your position to the voters.

So I’m sitting there watching a little Animal Planet when the old man comes into the room, grabs the remote and channel surfs to some of them there news outlets. He skips between the venom spewing anchorman, the supermodel newswomen and the anchorperson telling us the world is coming to an end. I don’t pay much attention to it but I notice my sister Copper and my new brother Logan are keenly interested. Before I know it, those two are tail deep into a discussion about the state of the world and the upcoming US election. They go back and...

When I first heard former Senator Phil Gramm refer to our economic condition as a “mental crisis” and suggest that too many Americans had become “whiners,” my immediate reaction was, too bad too few Americans would comprehend the hard truth he just set before them… (snip) Technically speaking, as if the facts matter any more, Phil Gramm is right on both counts, though it was dumb of him to think he could just blurt out the truth to an ignorant American electorate at this late date. He wins the “dumb” award for not knowing how the “whiners” would react to...

The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category.

At the risk of being accused of “racism” for not falling in line behind the first half-black but wholly unqualified man ever to run for president, allow me to introduce the useful idiots at the core of Obamamania. Barack Hussein Obama, the Jim (Farrakhan) Jones of the 2008 race for the White House, and chosen Messiah of America’s loony leftist dingbats, is leading the race for the most powerful office on earth. The “How?” is the interesting part of the story…

Allow me to begin by stating for the record that I realize how politically incorrect it is to single out a specific group of people and acknowledge their overtly foolish behaviors. But it seems we have reached a moment of insanity, when enough really should be enough! It seems I need to give a speech to Democrats, which I have given to my children on several similar occasions. As Forest Gump learned from his Momma, “stupid is as stupid does.” People, who persist in doing stupid things, must sooner or later be referred to as “stupid!” We have reached that...

Now that the Democratic nominating contest is over and Hillary Clinton has officially conceded to Barack Obama, the question on the minds of every political junkie – at least, the one that doesn’t involve the vice presidency – is, “What will become of the Hillary voters”? Eighteen million people, including many women, many seniors, and many swing voters, cast their vote for Sen. Clinton in the primaries. Some of the more vocal Clinton supporters, the sorts who chanted, “Denver! Denver!” at her withdrawal speech, are vowing either to stay home in November, or to cross party lines and vote for...

Voters in Ireland could scupper the controversial EU treaty, a poll suggests. The survey, just days before the referendum, found that the 'No' vote had surged into the lead for the first time. Of those polled, 35 per cent said they would vote to derail the Lisbon Treaty on Thursday - double the number three weeks ago.

Hillary actually won the popular vote, if you count Michigan – even if you give Obama the “undecided” votes. However, according to Real Clear Politics, officials didn’t release the numbers in Iowa, Nevada, Washington & Maine. Those states would likely give the edge to Obama, unless you count Michigan and don’t give Obama the “undecided.” So if you do the Democratic thing and only count actual votes for actual candidates, Hillary wins. She flat out wins.

Odd men in cow suits and rubber masks, or holding handwritten signs alluding to "Adolf Bush," usually provide the only unscripted moments at big campaign events. So I didn't show up too early for an appearance by John McCain at Martin Luther High School - and was relegated to the "remote" room where we Wisconsinites often seem to end up. Watched him along with a couple hundred others on two television screens that could, as easily, have been transmitting from Tuscaloosa. Sometimes, though - lo and behold - the world comes to you. No sooner did the man walk off...

This is great. AP is carrying this story about a group of Religious Sisters who couldn't vote yesterday in Indiana because they lacked proper I.D. The best part is that the one who turned them away was another Sister! (emphases added) About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow sister because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph. Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow members of Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been...

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Drivers along Interstate 85 on Monday saw an unusual site along the side of the road. Numerous people were lying face down along I- 85 just after the Highway 9 exit. A News Channel 7 photographer was on the scene as 16 people were taken into custody. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington D.C. tells News Channel 7 that a Spartanburg County Deputy stopped a van on I-85 and called the ICE team to investigate. 14 men and two women were taken into custody. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says all are from Mexico and Quatemala and appear to be in...

During a segment on Monday’s "The Situation Room," host Wolf Blitzer and CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena framed the Supreme Court decision upholding Indiana’s "strict" voter ID law according to the liberal view (a law so "strict" that it calls for the voter show photo ID before voting). Arena’s report offered three critics of the decision to only one supporter, who happened to be Indiana’s Secretary of State. One of the three critics was a quadriplegic who apparently "had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was" before getting an ID in Indiana. After Arena’s...

So my home state of Pennsylvania handed Hillary Clinton a win and a reason to keep fighting to be the Democratic nominee. As I write, Terry McCauliffe is probably on CNN pleading his candidate's case, facts about her low delegate and popular vote counts be damned. But before Democratic superdelegates get too itchy to snuff the Obama campaign, they should consider the new animal that move might spawn: the Obama Republican. I know: the notion of black folks and young folks and progressive white folks abandoning the Democrats en masse if the Wife of Bill is the nominee ain't exactly...

CNN’s Rick Sanchez, who is interviewing apparent first-time voters as part of CNN’s series titled “The League of First Time Voters,” featured a group of young Muslim voters in a segment that aired on “American Morning” and CNN’s “Newsroom” program on Thursday, and asked them a series of questions that seemed tailored for the American Islamic community. In his first question, Sanchez asked, “When you hear the words 'War on Terror,' what do you think?” Later, he asked, “You think our policy in Iraq and our policy throughout the Middle East in the last six, seven years has actually helped...

Economy the top worry, but barely affecting votes By ALAN FRAM and TREVOR TOMPSON, Associated Press Writers WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy has soared past Iraq as the top problem on the minds of voters. But do the growing economic worries give a particular edge to any presidential candidate? Not so far, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Monday. With growing layoffs, tight credit and an ailing housing market, 67 percent say the economy is an extremely important issue, up from 46 percent in November. Gasoline prices follow close behind at 59 percent. The war in Iraq —...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - For Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, vital to getting the edge in military service-oriented but war-weary Pennsylvania is figuring out how to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq without dragging the flag in the process. Trailing in delegates, Clinton has staked her candidacy on a strong showing in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary. Obama has eroded Clinton's lead in several state polls and an upset could irrevocably damage her candidacy. Both candidates promise to end the war, but in a state with a remarkable history of venerating military service, how that end should be achieved weighs...

American voters are a contradictory bunch: They say they want social welfare, but don't want to pay for it. They claim they are left-leaning, but vote for center-right candidates. Only candidates who can appeal to both sides stand a chance. It's still three weeks until the next Democratic primary in the US presidential election season, in Pennsylvania. Political observers can pass the time until then in two ways. One option is to listen to the candidates and their advisors malign each other. When it comes to name-calling, the worst labels that have been tossed around to date have been "monster"...

Even as he fends off Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nomination contest, Senator Barack Obama is already turning his attention to the general election, and to an ambitious plan to reshape the American electorate in his favor. Bringing new voters to the polls "is going to be a very big part of how we win," said Obama's deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, in an interview. "Barack's appeal to independent voters is also going to be key." Hildebrand said the campaign is likely to turn its attention and the energy of its massive volunteer army this fall on registering African-American...

FALSIFICATION QUESTION OVER PRIMARY 'Crossover' voters won't be investigatedWednesday, April 2, 2008 2:53 AM By Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH No one who switched parties in last month's primary in Cuyahoga County will be investigated for possible prosecution, county election officials decided this week. And although the Ohio Democratic Party is satisfied with the current primary process in Ohio, the state GOP is willing to discuss whether to change state law before the next major primary in 2010. Thousands of voters statewide switched parties on March 4. Most were Republicans taking Democratic ballots to participate in that competitive presidential race....

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sidestepped the superdelegate controversy as she opened the California Democratic Party convention tonight in San Jose, instead taking aim at likely Republican presidential nominee, John McCain. Pelosi noted that McCain campaigned alongside Governor Schwarzenegger during the polarizing special election the governor called in 2005. Schwarzenegger tried to pass ballot measures aimed at weakening the power of public employee unions, changing teacher tenure rules and clamping down on state spending. Californians rejected those reforms and she predicted they'd reject McCain as well. The gathering at the San Jose Convention Center continues through...

WASHINGTON -It is already easy to imagine the Republican attack ads against Barack Obama. They open with video of his wife, Michelle, saying she was proud of America "for the first time in my adult lifetime" because of her husband's presidential candidacy. Cut to the Illinois Senator explaining that he doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin because it is a "substitute for true patriotism." Then flash a clip of Obama explaining that his Caucasian grandmother was a "typical white person" because she uttered racial epithets and was afraid of black people. Finally, the coup de grace, pictures of Obama's...

DEADLINE to Register is March 24th in Pennsylvania BY JULIE BENAMATI The Tribune-Democrat As Monday’s deadline fast approaches to sign up to vote in Pennsylvania’s presidential primary, elections offices in Cambria and Somerset counties report a significant increase in Democratic registrations. Political party leaders say the contest between Democratic hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton is bringing new voters to the polls – and causing some to change party affiliation altogether. Cambria County’s election office has seen 955 new voter registrations since October, and 377 voters have changed parties in the past four weeks – about 90 percent of...

The eruption of outrage, shock and fear that is flowing over Barack Obama’s campaign like hot lava because his pastor has preached some strident sermons tells us one thing for certain: Many white people don’t know black people at all. If they did, they would know that Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago is hardly the only black minister who uses the pulpit to rant against racial duplicity and injustice. The black church has always been the place for letting our hair down and speaking our peace -- a safe haven from the criminations outside. It’s how and why the black...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did something Wednesday night that she almost never does. She apologized. And once she started, she didn't seem able to stop.The New York senator, who is in a tight race with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, struck several sorry notes at an evening forum sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a group of more than 200 black community newspapers across the country. (snip) Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton supporter and fundraiser Geraldine Ferraro gave up her honorary position with Clinton's campaign after she said in an interview last...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here is Bud in Burlington, Indiana. Bud, thanks for waiting, and welcome. CALLER: ... Indiana. Anyway Rush -- RUSH: Wait, what did I say? CALLER: I don't... I couldn't understand, but it was actually communist Bloomington Indiana. So... (silence) Are you still there? RUSH: Yeah, I'm here. CALLER: Anyway, I'd like to really quickly thank you for two things. First off, unlike the so-called moderates who called in yesterday complaining about your recommendation for Republicans voting in Democrat primaries -- RUSH: Yes? CALLER: -- I want to thank you, because I don't know if you're aware of...

The poll showed 52 percent call themselves Democrats, up from 45 percent in an AP-Ipsos survey in mid-December. Thirty-five percent say they are Republicans, about the same as December's 37 percent. Surveys in recent months have shown more people have favorable opinions of the Democratic Party than the GOP. There has also been far higher turnout in Democratic presidential primaries this year than in GOP contests, in part reflecting that Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama continue grappling for the nomination.

Michelle Obama increasingly looks to be the Martha Mitchell of her day. For those too young to remember, Martha Mitchell was the wife of John Mitchell, Attorney General under President Nixon. She had a habit of speaking her mind freely in a most inauspicious manner. Dubbed "The Mouth That Roared", High Ranking Republicans would cringe every time she let loose a verbal barrage. During a recent speech at a church in South Carolina, while stumping for her husband, Michelle Obama told the congregation that we are a country that is, "just downright mean…" and are "guided by fear…" And she...

The Democrats have discovered just how badly they have constructed their college of delegates in this cycle. They have used the superdelegate structure since the mid-1980s, but no one foresaw how that could appear when two candidates split the vote almost equally. Now one the architects of the Democratic delegate structure defends the concept in today's Washington Post by saying what no one else will -- the Establishment is smarter than the electorate: In presidential election years, Americans see the face of a political party most clearly in the personality, views and character of its presidential candidates. But a national...

Two-thirds of Florida voters say they want tougher government action against illegal immigration. Continue to 2nd paragraph And, on the surface at least, the Florida Legislature is responding. A dozen bills calling for stronger immigration enforcement and regulations have been filed in the Legislature this year - more than double the number last year. The movement is in step with dozens of other states, which are trying to confront illegal immigration themselves in the absence of federal reform. But in a state with the third-largest immigrant population in the country - an estimated 3.5 million - these bills already face...

About 1,000 students from Prairie View A&M University marched more than seven miles from campus to the Waller County courthouse on the first day of early voting Tuesday to bring attention to county voting problems. The students organized the Tuesday rally to convince lawmakers to allow early voting on campus, since other county voting centers are long distances away from the Prairie View. Students, joined by civil rights attorneys and local leaders, carried "Register to Vote" signs and wore shirts that said "It is 2008 and we will vote." The total crowd was estimated at about 2,000 people, police said.

Presidential candidates are seeking support of many different groups but what about the angry white male? This article by Gary Hubbell is right on! http://www.aspentimes.com/article/2008198091324

What do you think is more dangerous? Terrorists getting their hands on a biological weapon that can be smuggled into the country or another hurricane like Katrina? Which is the smarter way to keep Social Security solvent? Raise the retirement age or raise taxes? How can the current economic crisis be averted? Give Americans cash to spend or slash mortgage interest rates to restart the housing market? As millions of Americans gather to vote for presidential candidates in tomorrow's Democratic and Republican primaries, what they are really being asked to do is make a number of policy choices. The problem...

Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of...

Being best buds with the likes of Teddy Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and Barrack Hussein Obama might buy you a few Independent votes, but it won’t do much for your core conservative constituents. McCain’s buds think Joe Lieberman is a right-wing extremist and worked to defeat his re-election… Nobody in America has worked harder to avoid a McCain nomination than I have. But despite all the efforts of 62.4% of Republicans who voted against McCain in the Republican primaries, he is looking more like the RNC nominee every day, as candidate after candidate leaves the GOP race and throws their support...

It would be insane to waste time and energy worrying that somewhere, doubtless in a high-tech subterranean lair, Republican masterminds are cackling over their diabolical plot: The use of reverse psychology to lure unsuspecting Democrats into nominating Barack Obama, an innocent lamb who will be chewed up by the attack machine in the fall. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Or maybe Republicans are using double super secret backward reverse psychology to exploit the Democratic Party's congenital paranoia: Let's say nice things about Obama so Democrats think we really want to run against him, and that will make them play into our hands by nominating...

PHOENIX — Republican lawmakers on Monday proposed legislation to have Arizona voters decide in November whether to amend the Arizona Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

It used to be that California voters would complain about the order of events in the presidential primary process. Their total delegate count, in both political parties, was shoveled to the top of the delegate heap that was already counted and allotted in a primary process that began months before in little New Hampshire. That may have been what bothered Californians more than anything else. They never liked the fact that the major political decisions were all but decided by the time they got to speak their mind. They were late in the primary process, and because of things beyond...

More election clerks are heading to Benson to help relieve long lines and wait times at the polls. Callers to the News 4 Newsroom have complained of two to three hour waits. Elections Officer Tom Shelling tells News 4, two more clerks have been added to the staff there, with two more on the way. That's a grand total of ten clerks. New voting regulations require polling places to have at least 2,000 registered voters each under their jurisdiction, says Shelling. That means many smaller polling places had to consolidate, and Shelling says they weren't quite ready for the rush....

SIERRA VISTA — Long lines and not enough poll workers at one presidential preference polling place in Cochise County are leading officials to find more help, County Elections Officer Tom Schelling said. Precinct 13 at the Sierra Vista United Methodist Church was experiencing problems in processing people who are showing up to vote, Schelling said late Tuesday morning. Only one person was available to check if people are authorized to vote at the polling place at 3225 S. St. Andrews Drive, he said. “We’re trying to find more people to help,” he said. One man left the church’s area claiming...

Comments from California voters who went to the polls Tuesday: --- "I don't believe in the race card in this election." - Eric Buckley, 32, a data entry clerk from South Los Angeles, who voted for Barack Obama. --- "I agree with the issues that he is proposing. The health care reform, the economy, his stand on the war and immigration reform, which is really the thing that made me vote for him." - Juan Carlos, 32, a tech consultant from South Los Angeles, who voted for John McCain. --- "I went back and forth quite a bit before I...

In California, Republican Primary Voters are evenly divided between John McCain and Mitt Romney. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds McCain attracting 38% of the vote and Romney earning an identical 38%. Mike Huckabee is a distant third at 10%, Ron Paul picks up 6%, and 6% say they’ll vote for some other candidate. Earlier in the week, McCain had a small advantage over Romney. Since then, Giuliani dropped out of the race and endorsed McCain. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also endorsed the GOP frontrunner. While those events may have helped McCain, a conservative backlash for anybody-but-McCain appears to...

If you go to the site, click on the "green" precinct, you see that the Broward SOE is reporting a 109.68% turnout rate for that area of Broward.

If any recent day typifies life in this crazy modern world, it was probably this past Tuesday. World financial markets were in a meltdown and the Federal Reserve held an emergency meeting to cut the interest rate a massive three quarters of a point in an attempt to stave off a precipitous stock market drop. President Bush was working with congressional leaders on an economic stimulus package to reduce the likelihood of a recession. Meanwhile the U.S. presidential campaign was in full swing with Hillary and Obama having just ripped each other to shreds at a debate, and Fred Thompson...

SARASOTA, Fla. - With recession fears growing, Mitt Romney’s latest television ad is part resume, part resolve. And all reassurance. "I know how America works because I spent my life in the real economy," says the man who made millions as a venture capitalist. "My plan will make America strong." No mention of John McCain, Rudy Giuliani or Mike Huckabee, Republican presidential rivals whose campaign credentials lean heavily on government service. The point is unmistakable, all the same. The ad is the most visible element of Romney’s strategy for the final week of the Florida primary. After a series of...

Some years ago, a political scientist conducted an interesting experiment that speaks to the fractured race for the Republican presidential nomination, which now has six candidates, five issues, and four potential front-runners. Diane Lowenthal said she had two groups of volunteers evaluate two candidates running for public office: One group was told about a politician with a plan to pump $2 million into the local economy, but who was fighting rumors he had been caught driving under the influence of alcohol. The other group heard about a candidate who had a plan to pump $1 million into the local economy,...

The truth is that many of the theories we come up with are bogus. They are based on the assumption that voters make cold, rational decisions about who to vote for and can tell us why they decided as they did. This is false. In reality, we voters — all of us — make emotional, intuitive decisions about who we prefer, and then come up with post-hoc rationalizations to explain the choices that were already made beneath conscious awareness. “People often act without knowing why they do what they do,” Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner, noted in an e-mail...