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Sunday, July 1, 2007
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Hillary Clinton has the highest negatives of any candidate currently running for president. Talking Points Memo takes a look at the recent Mason-Dixon poll and what it means for her campaign. They write:
I'm generally suspicious of these kinds of national polls, particularly at this stage of a presidential race, but the latest results from Mason-Dixon have received quite a bit of attention.
More than half of Americans say they wouldn't consider voting for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president if she becomes the Democratic nominee, according to a new national poll made available to McClatchy Newspapers and NBC News.
The poll by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research found that 52 percent of Americans wouldn't consider voting for Clinton, D-N.Y.... Clinton rang up high negatives across the board, with 60 percent of independents, 56 percent of men, 47 percent of women and 88 percent of Republicans saying they wouldn't consider voting for her.
The concern among Democrats over a poll like this is perfectly understandable. Obviously, it's tough for any candidate to win a general election if a majority of the country a) dislikes the candidate; and b) has already decided, more than a year in advance, not to vote for him or her.
But I think this Mason-Dixon data is getting a little too much play. A few days before these results were published, a national Newsweek poll showed Clinton (and other top-tier Dems) with healthy leads over all of the leading Republican presidential hopefuls. In each instance, her support topped 50%. (In a hypothetical match-up against Romney, she's at 55%.) There are other recent polls showing similar results.
McClatchy: "When Fred Thompson made his debut on the presidential stage here this week, he left some Republicans thinking he needs more work before his nascent campaign matches the media hype it's gotten in advance. The former Tennessee senator with the baritone drawl showed up Thursday in New Hampshire, the site of the first primary voting, and gave a speech that lasted only nine minutes, skipping over hot-button issues such as Iraq and immigration to invoke platitudes about freedom and strength. He left more than a few Republicans disappointed."
Captain's Quarters: "Fred Thompson paid a visit to New Hampshire this week, his first as a certain presidential candidate -- and he got a taste of what media coverage would be like from this point forward. One reporter from McClatchy did his best to pour cold water on Fred's appearance, while the New Hampshire Union-Leader's editorial page editor pronounced it a rousing success."
Washington Post: "The new survey underscores the Republican Party's problems heading into 2008. Fueled by dissatisfaction with the president and opposition to the Iraq war, independents continue to lean heavily toward the Democrats. Two-thirds said the war is not worth fighting, three in five said they think the United States cannot stabilize Iraq, and three in five believed that the campaign against terrorism can succeed without a clear victory in Iraq. The power of independents could also be felt in other ways next year. The survey found frustration with political combat in Washington and widespread skepticism toward the major parties -- perhaps enough to provide the spark for an independent candidacy by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg."
Thanks to The Moderate Voice for the link.
"2008 pres"
8:50:36 AM 
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From The Des Moines Register: "Many conservative Christians are quietly nervous about Romney's religion and the issue surfaced as Romney opened his campaigning at a forum in Pella, about 40 miles south of Des Moines. Mary Van Steenis asked Romney how he would ponder important decisions as president and which source of inspiration he would seek. "Where would the Bible be in that process?" she asked. "Would it be above the Book of Mormon or would it be beneath it?'"
Thanks to Oliver Willis for the link. Mr. Willis writes, "Just about an hour ago I saw Hugh Hewitt on C-SPAN shilling his pro-Romney book (coming soon to a discount bin near you if it isn't there already) and he again lied about how it's the left that has a problem with Romney's Mormonism. We really don't care, we just think the guy's a disingenuous, duplicitous, flip-flopper who mistreats his dog. I don't care what God he does or doesn't worship.
"2008 pres"
8:40:57 AM
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Well who would have thought that the demand for corn would limit prospects for ethanol? A lot of people actually. Here's a report from Pew Research with the facts about non-food crops being used for ethanol:
Corn is king of renewable auto fuels, for now. But federal and state governments already are racing to find alternatives to corn as they look for ways to use ethanol to help break the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
Georgia Gov. Sony Perdue (R) announced in February that a Colorado company would build the nation's first commercial-scale ethanol plant using -- not corn -- but wood chips to produce 40 million gallons of fuel a year in the Peach State. A plant under construction in Louisiana is slated to produce 1.4 million gallons of ethanol annually from sugar-cane waste. Tennessee has sunk $18 million into research to convert prairie grasses into auto fuel, and New York has awarded $25 million to two companies to produce more than 600,000 gallons of ethanol a year from wood chips and paper waste.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced Tuesday (June 26) that it would spend $375 million in Tennessee, Wisconsin and California to develop more efficient ways to convert non-food crops into auto fuel. That money is in addition to $385 million the Energy Department is investing in ethanol plants that use something besides corn in California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa and Kansas. The six projects, announced in February, are expected to be finished within four years and be able to produce 130 million gallons of ethanol a year.
"2008 pres"
8:35:36 AM
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CBS News: "A CBS News poll shows Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with the Iraq war, President Bush and the Congress, as well as the overall direction of the country. More Americans than ever before, 77 percent, say the war is going badly, up from 66 percent just two months ago. Nearly half, 47 percent, say it's going very badly. While the springtime surge in U.S. troops to Iraq is now complete, more Americans than ever are calling for U.S. forces to withdraw. Sixty-six percent say the number of U.S. troops in Iraq should be decreased, including 40 percent who want all U.S. troops removed. That's a 7-point increase since April."
From: The Sidney Morning Herald:
US and Iraqi forces backed by helicopters killed 26 militants suspected of links to "Iranian terror networks" in raids in the Baghdad Shi'ite district of Sadr City on Saturday, the US military said. Seventeen other suspects were detained. "Coalition forces conducted two separate raids targeting suspected secret cell terrorists during predawn hours Saturday in Sadr City," the military said. "It is believed that the suspected terrorists have close ties to Iranian terror networks and are responsible for facilitating the flow of lethal aid into Iraq," it added.
Thanks to Blogs for Bush for the link.
Talking Points Memo: "As of yesterday, three years to the week after the president triumphantly proclaimed, 'Let freedom reign,' we are now seeing the end of the deadliest quarter for U.S. forces in Iraq since the war began. As reader W.B. noted via email, using this data, we're also ending the deadliest four-month period and the deadliest five-month period. For all the talk from war supporters about 'progress,' the fatality rates are sobering."
"2008 pres"
8:30:04 AM
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Jesus' General: "Politicians have been using the threat of terrorism to expand governmental power at the expense of basic liberties. It's depressingly easy to do because people tend to believe government officials who claim to be protecting them from some great danger. The primary purpose of the government is to protect its citizens, but that's not a good enough reason to take all their claims at face value."
Please be sure to read the whole article
Juan Cole: "Recent reports I hear at CNN suggest to me that suicide was more central to this Glasgow operation than usual in such attacks. The perpetrators are said to have doused themselves with gasoline. This was not in fact like Iraq, where the idea was to take as many Shiites with them as possible. Here, their methods were not in fact likely to cause much or any loss of life among others (gasoline is not a high explosive) but were guaranteed to kill them. It is said that they resisted being rescued."
Captain's Quarters: "The attack on a Glasgow airport apparently resulted from an Islamist conspiracy, as suspected yesterday in its aftermath. British authorities have four people in custody, including two arrested in Chesire."
TalkLeft: "Omar Khadr, the young Canadian Gitmo detainee whose charges were dismissed in early June because the judge ruled he had not been properly designated an enemy combatant, will not have his charges reinstated."
The Moderate Voice: "There are reportedly stylistic fingerprints all over the operation involving the discovered bomb plot in London -- and all signs (and a surveillance photo) point to an Al Qaeda operation."
"2008 pres"
8:24:19 AM
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According to The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided against listing the Colorado River Cutthroat Trout as endangered. It appears that efforts by Wyoming, Utah and Colorado have sufficiently built up populations of the Cutthroat sufficiently to obviate the need for more protection. From the article:
Under an agreement originally signed in 1999 (each state had conservation plans several years before this), the states worked to restore and protect native trout populations across their range where environmental conditions allowed. Colorado's conservation plan dates from at least a decade earlier. There are records of formal plans from 1993, and biologists were discussing similar moves years before that. Rocky Mountain National Park began cutthroat trout restorations programs in 1979. Early threats to Colorado River cutthroat trout included over-fishing, habitat degradation and the introduction of non-natives, including rainbow and brook trout and non-native species of cutthroat trout. In more recent years, whirling disease took its toll on cutthroats and other trout, but the Colorado Division of Wildlife has been able to manage around whirling disease in its development of Colorado River cutthroat populations. The Fish and Wildlife Service recently reported that at least 285 cutthroat trout conservation populations occupy about 1,796 miles of stream habitat in 42 watersheds in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. You may never see many of those fish, since today you'll find conservation populations tucked away in tiny streams across the Western Slope, often thriving on private property where, through the cooperation of kindly landowners, the fish are protected...
Several researchers, including eminent fisheries professor Robert Behnke of Fort Collins, have called the cutthroat the "canary in the gold mine" because of its sensitivity to habitat degradation. The Fish and Wildlife service's rangewide status report found the greatest number of conservation populations occur in the upper Green and upper Colorado rivers, which also happens to be where most of the energy development is occurring.
"colorado water"
7:20:35 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:06:13 PM.
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