MONDAY MORNING POLLING UPDATE!

From Eric Dondero:

Late Sunday night... Down .1% since our last report. Obama's culmulative Real Clear Politics average stands at 48.8% Approvals, with 45.3% Disapprovals. That's a spread of 3.5%. The differentials on the graph are getting closer and closer to criss-crossing.

See it at RCP.

Note - the RCP running average combines Rasmussen, NY Times/CBS, WSJ/NBC, Bloomberg, Marist and other top polling firms.

UPDATE!!

Rasmussen reporting late Sunday dramatic decline over the weekend in Obama's approvals:

23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19.

Today is the second straight day that Obama’s Approval Index rating has fallen to a new low.

See graph above. Note severe drop in Obama Approval since Friday (Health Care debate, Copenhagen, Climategate, Cap & Trade, ect...).

Full report at Rasmussen.

FURTHER UPDATE!

Real Clear Politics is now reporting that Obama's approvals have dipped yet again, now standing at 48.6%, down from 48.9% late last week.

Right Arm of Wyoming

Gun Rights, Property Rights, Fuck the Nanny-State! Describing themselves as "Anarcho-libertarians," with a rightwing bent.

"So-called Anarchists voted in the bigger problem we have now. I'd take Ronald Reagan over the Commie Criminals we got now."

From the Editor: Our friends at Right Arm of Wyoming sent us a review copy of their latest CD "Cling to our Guns." Ever since it's been clinging to my CD player in my pick-up truck. It's become a permanent fixture in my '98 Chevy 4x4. Perfect for jamming on rural backroads here in South Texas.

Buy your copy now! LibertarianPunk.com The perfect gift for that lazy scraggly-ass leftwing friend of yours who just wants to cheer on Obama, but doesn't want to go out and find a job.

by Eric Dondero

What we know... Blogger Jodi Rove of Buffalo's Fire was the reporter covering the story of the Baucus affair, and the pending appointment of his Mistress Melodee Hanes. Rove reported earlier this week on her Blog, that Baucus's Senate office called the night before they were about to break the story, to inform the paper that Hanes's name had been withdrawn. She had been one of three candidates to be appointed to serve as Montana State Attorney General under Eric Holder. Now Rove's story has been confirmed.

From The Editors of the Missoulian, Dec. 9:

Eight months ago, when Hanes’ name surfaced as one of the nominees for the U.S. attorney’s job, the Missoulian asked Sen. Max Baucus’ spokesman whether Baucus was involved in a romantic relationship with Hanes – as her ex-husband was alleging – and if so, why Baucus would pursue a course that posed such a clear conflict of interest.

Not only would Baucus not speak directly to the Missoulian, but his then-spokesman, Barrett Kaiser, refused to address the issue and strove to keep any story at all about Hanes’ nomination from print. Indeed, the night before the story was to run, Kaiser called the paper and told us that Hanes’ nomination had been withdrawn.

With nothing from Baucus on the record, and no way to prove the veracity of Hanes’ husband’s assertions, the Missoulian couldn’t responsibly print the allegations.

This has led prominent Democrat blogger Jay Stevens to pen a piece, "It's not the affair. It's the cover-up." Stevens raises the question of possible collusion between the Missoulian and Baucus's office. From Left in the West:

Is it me? Or did they totally drop the ball on this story? What kind of reporter stops investigating a story when the investigated subject refuses to speak about it? They couldn't find anyone else to confirm Baucus' relationship to Hanes? Really?

Nationally syndicated columnist, legal scholar, and frequent Cable News guest Johnathan Turley has now joined in, commenting on his Blog:

Other details have emerged that may cause problems for Baucus. He insisted publicly that Hanes decided to withdraw from consideration as the new U.S. Attorney (with Baucus’ important support) when their relationship became more serious. However, reporters are now saying that the decision was made shortly after they confronted Baucus with the story at the Missoulian and said that they were about to make it public. Remarkably, the Missoulian never ran the story in March.

The Missoulian, a paper hugely supportive of Baucus in the past, now appears to be engaging in a little CYA criticizing Baucus for his decision making process.

Continuing from the Missoulian:

many Montanans are seriously questioning Baucus’ judgement just at the moment we should be focusing on his role in national health care reform, energy legislation and a host of other crucial legislative matters.

The Missoulian couldn’t care less about Baucus’ personal romantic relationships. Such things are a private matter that has no bearing on the public’s business – or at least, they should be. But when someone in a position of public trust and authority uses his position to further the career of someone he is romantically linked to, that warrants full disclosure and public scrutiny.

Baucus exercised poor judgment in this matter not once, but repeatedly.

The Missoulian is a notoriously leftwing biased newspaper in Montana. It services a university town. They make endorsements of only Democrats. In the 2006 race for US Senate, the paper ran repeated investigative pieces on Republican Senator Conrad Burns for allegedly questionable financial and campaign practices. Burns ended up losing that race to Democrat Jon Tester.

When one looks closely at the timeline of events that transpired last Spring, it's clear that at some point a decision was made at some level at the Missoulian to quelch the story. As Jay Stephens asks, why in the world would any newspaper just halt such an investigation?

One has to wonder if such a story would have been quelched had it been a Republican legislator in question.

From Eric Dondero:

Strange happenings in the home state of the Bowl-bound Boise State Broncos.

Seems a prominent Democrat has decided to switch parties to Republican, to run against incumbent Democrat Congressman Walt Minnick. The Congressman is considered to be the only Democrat in the entire House of Reps, who leans libertarian. A recent survey found him to have the most "conservative" voting record of the entire Northwest delegation, including Republicans. What's more, Minnick himself is a former Republican who switched to 'D' to run for the seat.

From Rocky Barker at the IdahoStatesman.com, Dec. 12:

the other big race for 2010 is expected to be the U.S. House seat now held by Democrat Walt Minnick. Minnick, a former Republican whose voting record in the House so far has appeared closer to his previous party affiliation, has irritated many Democrats for not supporting central party positions like a cap-and-trade climate law and a public option for health care reform.

Democrat Larry Grant, a Fruitland attorney who lost a narrow race in 2006 to Republican Bill Sali but stepped aside for Minnick in 2008, said he gets at least one call a week from Democrats urging him to challenge Minnick for the seat. He usually tells them no.

Recently, he told me, he answered yes.

“I said I was going to run for Congress as a Republican,” Grant said.

A Republican? That’s right, he said.

Since Vaughn Ward has the Palin wing of the GOP behind him and Raul Labrador has the Sali crowd behind him Republican moderates have nowhere to go in the primary, Grant said. If he jumps into the race he can get moderates along with Democratic crossovers unhappy with Minnick.

“All I need is 35 percent,” Grant said.

There is still rampant speculation that Sali might also jump into the race, but unclear as to what party; Libertarian, Constitution or Tea Party Independent.

And, there's still speculation that Minnick may switch back to Republican. Many progressives in Boise are urging him to do so, to make way for a hardline liberal "real Democrat" candidate.

Side Note - LR received a nice note from Rocky Barker at the Idaho Statesman for this linking of his piece. Turns out he's got a bit of a fondness for libertarians.