2012

Washington – Remember Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky?

Anyone over a certain age who follows politics does. She was the first-term Democratic congresswoman from Pennsylvania who cast the decisive 218th House vote for President Clinton’s budget reconciliation bill in 1993 – and then went on to lose reelection in 1994.

Today, as the Democrats work to lock down just enough votes to pass an unpopular healthcare reform bill, “MMM” isn’t far from thought. No one wants to be the MMM of 2010. But there are several who could suffer that fate.

One obvious place to look is the 49 Democrats elected in 2008 from districts that voted for Republican John McCain for president...

Republican leader Mitt Romney said Monday the GOP nominee in the 2012 presidential election will have to bring together divided factions of the party.

"Whoever becomes the nominee of our party needs to be, as Ronald Reagan was, a big-top Republican welcoming conservatives of all types in our party," he said during an interview with The Washington Times' "America's Morning News" radio show.

Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is consider a top contender in the 2012 elections if he decides to run....

Former Massachusetts Governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney has already decided on a timeline for announcing a possible 2012 run for the White House.

In an interview with MyFox Boston Thursday, Romney insisted he had not yet made up his mind about a second run for the White House. However, the man who finished runner-up to John McCain in 2008 has already envisioned the timeframe for a possible rollout.

Asked by MyFox Boston’s anchor Kim Carrigan if he would run for president, Romney replied: “I haven’t made that decision yet. That’s something we’ll decide when we have to, which is going to be probably at the end of the year, or even a little after that.”

Romney was on the show promoting his new book “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.”....

Former Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, the architect of previous Republican campaign successes, says outer-suburban voters eager to place a check on President Obama and Democrats are swinging back to the GOP and will power a Republican resurgence in New England, while aiding GOP "tsunamis" in Virginia, Colorado and Iowa.

Mr. Davis, the current president of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of the party's more moderate lawmakers, told reporters Wednesday that the GOP has had its best-ever year of recruiting candidates for congressional elections, which has helped put so many seats into play.

He said Democrats are having a tough time reaching a balance of keeping regular voters happy while also appeasing the liberal voters who surged to the polls in the 2008 election.

"Those are the problems Democrats have coming in. The surge voters right now, they're asleep. And the outer suburbs, the South, the mountain states, I think you can look for Republican tsunamis," Mr.  read more »

52 percent of Americans said President Barack Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012, according to a new poll.

44 percent of all Americans said they would vote to reelect the president in two and a half years, less than the slight majority who said they would prefer to elect someone else.

Obama faces a 44-52 deficit among both all Americans and registered voters, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll released Tuesday. Four percent had no opinion.

The reelection numbers are slightly more sour than Obama's approval ratings, which are basically tied...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Gallup poll shows pro-abortion President Barack Obama in trouble in a potential 2012 re-election matchup against an unnamed Republican candidate. They survey also shows Republicans are not united behind any particular candidate to take on Obama in the next election.

The new national Gallup survey finds Obama leads a generic Republican by just 2 points in a hypothetical re-election matchup.

Some 44 percent of voters chose Obama while 42 percent picked the unnamed Republican candidate. Another 11 percent were undecided and three percent said they would prefer a third-party candidate.

Independents are leaning toward the unnamed Republican by a double-digit margin -- 45 percent vs. 31 percent for Obama. The survey showed Democrats would overwhelmingly back Obama and Republicans overwhelming support the GOP candidate...

Republicans may be seeing the start of a political surge, but GOP voters still don't know who they want to lead it.

A new poll shows Republican voters are deeply divided over who they want to carry the party mantle in the 2012 presidential race. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leads the pack, a couple other names are close behind and a whopping 42 percent of Republicans are listed as undecided.

The numbers suggest the 2012 presidential primary is any Republicans' game. Republicans are expecting to pick up a lot of seats in the congressional midterm elections, buoyed by success in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections last year, and the Massachusetts Senate election last month. But while President Obama's approval ratings have dropped significantly since he took office, it's unclear who would be up to the task of challenging him...

The long-shot bid by Republicans to retake control of the Senate is suddenly in play, as the prospect of high-profile Republican candidates entering the fray has pushed the GOP even or ahead in polling for 10 races.

The potential candidacies of former Republican Govs. George E. Pataki in New York and Tommy G. Thompson in Wisconsin are improving the polling fortunes of the party as it pursues seats long in the hands of Democrats, while the anti-government "tea party" movement has provided momentum to Republican challengers in states such as Florida, Arkansas and Pennsylvania.

"If the election were held today, the Republicans could come close to winning back the Senate, if not actually win it," said pollster John Zogby...

Having strong GOP candidates in the election is "90 percent of the game," Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign, said Monday, noting that Scott Brown's U.S. Senate victory in Massachusetts has made his job a lot easier these days.

"We've heard from a lot of people who previously said they were not going to run and telling us now they're reconsidering," Cornyn said, adding that "a great range" of high-quality candidates are emerging across the country.

One of the most prominent examples is the Arkansas race for incumbent Democrat Sen. Blanche Lincoln's seat. Republican Rep. John Boozman of Arkansas says Brown's upset win convinced him that now is the right time to challenge Lincoln, and he has officially entered the race...

The Republican victory in Massachusetts has sent a wave of fear through the halls of the Senate, with moderate and liberal Democrats second-guessing their party’s agenda — and worrying that they’ll be the next victims of voters’ anger.

“If there’s anybody in this building that doesn’t tell you they’re more worried about elections today, you absolutely should slap them,” said Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter discontent to defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in the race for Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat. Republicans moved quickly to capitalize Wednesday, with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas) telling POLITICO that he’s approaching possible candidates who passed up his initial entreaties to join the 2010 field...