DailyKos Suing Research 2000 Polling Firm

I have posted several items quoting different polling information in the year since we began this blog. I am a numbers guy – I work with numbers daily, and I enjoy looking at different polling data to determine the pulse of the nation. Often you hear people complain that such a poll is biased…”Oh look, it’s a Fox News poll, you can’t trust that – they are conservative”…”Don’t trust an MSNBC poll, they obviously are liberal”. Well, what happens when one of those polling firms are accused of fraud by the agent that hired them?

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Arizona Immigration Law: Republican Response

We are almost a full week into the debate on the new immigration law passed in the state of Arizona and the heated rhetoric is still prevalent. The opponents are bringing out the big outrage guns through marches planned by Rev. Sharpton, boycotts against traveling to Arizona, boycotts against companies headquartered in Arizona, and even boycotts against Arizona iced tea…which is manufactured in New York (like a bad salsa commercial). Facebook groups against the bill have been created, Paul Rodriguez has canceled his comedy tour through Arizona, and people are picketing the Arizona Diamondbacks…even on the road. You cannot view the media without finding some opinion relating the law to racism, Nazi Germany, or apartheid which no doubt should shape the opinion of the nation. Unless it hasn’t.

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More Amusement

Score one for Joe Public

A story our website failed to cover extensively was the backroom deals that took place in the Senate to get Obamacare passed. One of the big recipients was Ben Nelson a formerly popular Governor from Nebraska. In return for his vote his state received ‘the cornhusker kickback’, which among other things gave the state a permanent exemption from the state share of Medicaid expansion for Nebraska, meaning federal taxpayers have to kick in an additional $45 million in the first decade. Maybe America is beginning to wake up, the very constituents that benefited from this deal booed and heckled Nelson out of a Pizza Hut. Now he trails by 31 points in a hypothetical match-up with Nebraska’s current governor for the 2012 elections. I commend the citizens of Nebraska for holding their representatives accountable.

While the heat was on Nelson and negotiations were being made, Nelson ran this video to help persuade his fellow constituents.
We found out this week, that it’s not a Ben Nelson campaign ad. You probably can’t make out the disclaimer, but the ad was paid for by the Nebraska Democratic Party. So, not only did Nelson get bought off with Medicaid funding from the federal treasury, it now appears he got TV ads from the NDP. The DNC and Organizing for America have been asking supporters of “real” health care reform for funds and to the tune of about 500,000 dollars that support went to Nelson. The same Nelson that helped kill the public option, medicare buy-in, and insisted on harsh anti abortion language. Funny, that at this very time in Martha Coakley was running some horrendous ads in Massachusetts. Think this money could have been better spent?

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The Curious Case of Scott Brown (w/UPDATE)

A new conservative celebrity has been born seemingly overnight in one of the unlikeliest of places – Massachusetts.  Not even so much the state, but the position he is fighting for is the most surprising of turns – Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat. The audacity of a Republican to even venture out and try to win this seat is incredible.  A few months ago, Scott Brown received the nomination mostly because no one wanted to run for a meaningless cause.  But in the run-up to a Martha Coakley victory tour something surprising happened; Brown started turning around polls that he was initially down 10-20 points and has made this race a dead heat.  At FiveThirtyEight, their data analysis now shows Brown with a 55% chance of being victorious tomorrow night. So what is the cultural and political importance of this race for what was once the liberal-est of seats?  ***SINCE THIS WAS POSTED, FiveThirtyEight has revised their prediction after the release of some new updated polls showing Coakley in an even worse position.  Nate Silver now predicts the race as a Lean GOP, with 74% chance of going to Brown.

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Quick Hits – Vol. XX

 

Underpants.

A few times per week, around noon time Every so often, we will post a few op-ed pieces from newspapers, mainstream websites, or elsewhere from the blogosphere:

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2009 Election Preview

There are a few important elections happening on the east coast on Tuesday that may affect the outlook heading into next year’s midterms. The results from these election will likely frame the media debate for the next 12 months. Will the results show a quick turnaround in voter rebuke from the 2008 general elections? Will the Democrats hold strong in key states? And what role will the results have in 2010 nominations?

First off, the most attention is being given to a peculiar race in northern New York’s 23rd district. In a district that has been reliably Republican since the 19th century, far right Republicans have gone against their party and supported a third-party conservative candidate. The aftermath of this move will weigh heavily on the party next year.

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Quick Hits – Vol. XV

In Honor of the Best Costume Ever - USA Rocket Boy

A few times per week, around noon time we will post a few op-ed pieces from newspapers, mainstream websites, or elsewhere from the blogosphere:

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