This piece in Reuters, showing once again that the media gives too much power to people in focus groups, suggests that economists prefer a John McCain White House to a Barack Obama one.

The economy is a big issue. It has overtaken the war in Iraq as the most talked about thing by late night stand-up comedians and idiotic cable news anchors. But there are a few points I want to make sure everyone's clear on.

Remember all the hoopla about whether or not Hispanics would support Barack Obama? Well, according to the latest poll, it looks like McCain can pretty much kiss Hispanic votes goodbye:

The poll of 2,015 Latino voters conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center found that Democrat Barack Obama, who lost the Hispanic vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 2-to-1 in the Democratic primary, holds a commanding 66 percent to 23 percent lead over Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

More under the fold:

Barack Obama has caught up to John McCain in Florida. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds Obama with a statistically insignificant one-point advantage over his rival, 46% to 45%. When "leaners" are included, the Democrat leads 49% to 47%.

The latest Ras poll released today shows Obama making remarkable progress in Florida.

Obama 46 (41)
McCain 45 (48)

http://rasmussenreports.com/...

I am an unabashed Obama supporter who has advocated for an Obama/Clark or Obama/Biden ticket in the past.  I still would love to see one of those two tickets, but looking at the race as it exists today I believe that Clinton is at the top of Obama's list.  Further I believe that the Obama campaign had her highly ranked since the beginning and will realize that strategically it is Obama's best choice.

Netroots Nation was pretty cool for me, having not attended Yearlykos before and having never stepped foot in Texas either.  There were some great panels, excellent film screenings, valuable networking time and an overall vibe that should result in a big win for Obama this fall and other important wins on the local and state level.

From ABC news::

By more than 30 points, a Women's Voices Women Vote poll found that Obama leads McCain 61-29% in 14 key battleground states among unmarried women and is corroborated by a recent ABC poll as well.

Those findings jibe with the latest ABC News poll released in July, which found Obama leading McCain nationally among unmarried women voters 59 to 32 percent.

"Unmarried women are to progressives what evangelicals are to the conservative movement," Page Gardner, founder and president of Women's Voices Women Votes, told ABC News.com.

This will be a fairly short diary.  Right now MSNBC has a poll on its website that asks, "Is Democrat Barack Obama unfairly receiving more coverage than Republican John McCain?"

There are only three choices for you to chhose from.  At this time, "Yes, the media has a liberal bias. No one should be surprised by this," has 79% of the damn vote.

The other options after the jump.

All honor and respect to his Most Holy & Venerable Bill (not currently) in Portland, Maine.  Greetings and humble happy Monday to all who enter today, but with special flip-flops to C & J regular pool-goers (most of whom are by now at the office, with the kids, in the garden or Netting Roots and will never see this)!  

I’m a semi-frequent, wader into C & J, and today was just one of those days I had the time and inclination to dip my toes, but alas, that big, beautiful pool is "closed for maintenance" until tomorrow...  so, somewhat selfishly, I am posting this for today only as a self-supplicating facsimile!  If even 5 people splash a bit here with me I will be amazed, but pleased :-)

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UPDATED, I was... There is now a sub-pool I had not seen, that is officious in nature! h/t Cali Scribe ;-)
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The Rasmussen report is it's own business, so I'm not going to do extensive quoting. Click the link to read it all.

Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say that if Israel launches an attack against Iran, the United States should help Israel. [46% says do nothing] ...

...A separate survey released last week showed that 78% of Americans believe it’s likely that Iran will soon develop nuclear weapons. Only 43% believe it’s possible for the U.S. to prevent that development. ...

...Fifty-two percent (52%) of all voters say that preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons is more important than preventing war between Iran and Israel.

Put that in your weblog and digg it!

Sorry to be a one-note Willie, but as my doppelganger Professor Pollkatz has been saying for five years now, Bush's approval goes down and up as the price of gasoline goes up and down.

The reason I mention this once again is that an awful lot of bloggers and commenters have a smug certainty that Bush is down for the count; he'll be President 28% forever, and he'll hold McCain down with him.  I don't think so.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.  Here's the pudding:

pollkatz.com
(find "Bush Approval and Gasoline Prices," lower right of your screen)

For all the talk about liberals and liberal Democrats souring on Obama over FISA and other "movements to the center" over the last month, a Gallup poll today shows that liberal support for Obama is as high as ever.

Ok,
So my wife and I are planning on moving to a new place within the next year or so. We currently live in Rural Northeast PA, in the Scranton Region. She is originally from NY City, and I am born/raised here. Problem is that we both despise living here, and we're ready to make a move somewhere new.

She likes the city, I like the 'burbs, but both of us are flexible.
I work in sales, so I can relocate easily, and she works in early childhood education

I periodically participate in a Zogby poll on-line.  I think they are of questionable value, but figure that if I don't take the 10 minutes to represent the middle of the political spectrum, the voice of the extremes gets amplified by my silence.

While I'm not a pollster, I have enough psych, stat, and testing background to recognize good and bad questions when I see them.  Zogby tends to be mediocre.

Today's poll had two political questions that seemed more intended to drive my opinion than solicit it.  

This will be fairly quick, because I am only on a ten-minute break teaching my summer school economics class.

Rasmussen just released a new poll on the Oregon Senate race.

Jeff Merkley now LEADS incumbent Republican Senator Gordon Smith, 43%--41%. If leaners are factored in, the race is all even at 46%.

They also polled the presidential race, giving Barack Obama a nine-point edge in the state (46-37, 49-40 with leaners).

In a new survey, Health Care and the Economy in Two Swing States: A Look at Ohio and Florida, National Public Radio, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health found that the economy, health care and the occupation of Iraq are the top items on people's minds, with seven out of ten saying the economy will have a significant influence on how they will vote for President in November.

Asked to name the most and second most important issues "when you decide how to vote for president," respondents replied:

In Florida, half of those polled say they're struggling not just with one, but with multiple economic problems.

There's the collapse of the housing market and the decline in home values. Also, a credit crunch is making it hard for consumers to borrow their way out of trouble. Then there's triple or quadruple whammy: spiraling fuel and food prices.

In the new poll, more than three-quarters of people in Florida said they were facing at least one serious economic problem; half said they were struggling with three or more. The big ones? It's jobs, gas prices, housing and health care.

Floridians List Serious Problems with the Economy
Percent who say or their family experienced serious problems on account of recent changes in the economy

People in lower- and middle-income groups are suffering most, of course, but the economic problems are affecting higher-income groups as well, according to a spokeswoman for the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The poll found broad similarity in how Ohioans and Floridians rate their economic problems. Both say their inability to get a good job or a raise in pay is a top concern. But in Florida, the collapse in home values ranks higher as an economic problem than in Ohio. And for people in the real estate, banking and construction industries, it's also a jobs issue. ...

More than four in 10 Floridians polled believe that expanding health coverage to all Americans would do a great deal to help fix the country's economic problems. A similar number say the same thing about reducing health care costs.

But according to the poll, the top two things people in Florida say would help the most are stopping American jobs from going overseas and pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.

For [Dee Moskona, a 47-year-old attorney and mother in Miami], Iraq is an economic issue.

"Absolutely," she says. "Iraq is draining everything. It's a demoralizing, horrible thing that we're stuck with, that we have to live with."

Retail prices last month took their biggest annual leap since May 1991, when gasoline prices skewed the figure upward because of the Gulf War.

Meanwhile, some 2 million Americans face home foreclosures, millions of industrial workers have lost well-paying jobs to cheap labor in the Pacific Rim, consumer confidence is near its all-time low, and pessimism about the economy is at a 27-year low.

Thirty-seven million Americans are living in poverty, 100,000 of them military veterans. By October, 28 million Americans will be receiving Food Stamps, a new record. The stamps, however, don't buy as much as they used to because of soaring food prices. In 2007, 54 million Americans had no health insurance at least part of the year. One in four adults aged 18-34 had no health insurance, and 9% of children under 18 had none.

But, according to PhD economist and supply-side shill Phil Gramm, all we've got going is a "mental recession" on the part of "whiners."

Somebody's mental all right.

This started as a comment in Granny Doc's "Why Be So Polite", that morphed into a diary.  For that reason it's kind of meta, but it comes to a different conclusion on how we should be fighting back against the smear campaigns.

First of all, calling people stupid feeds in to the elitist meme.  The 10% who claim to believe he's a Muslim convince themselves of such because they hate Obama, and are afraid say it's because he's black.  Calling someone stupid for this is probably a good idea, but calling someone stupid for believing in God or Creation or denying global warming, as some are sure to extend this policy to, is not the right way to win over the minds and hearts of the vast ignoratti.

I do, however, agree that we need to fight fire with fire - not by calling voters stupid, but by spreading the facts about McCain in the most unflattering, damaging way possible.  No holding back.  And if such a characterization might be damaging to Obama or the Democratic brand, then we should do so under the guise of the anonymous e-mail.

Rasmussen has just released a new  poll of Oregon which shows Obama leading by 9%.

The figures (June results in brackets):

Obama 46 (46)
McCain 37 (38)

This jerk Sean Hannity has a poll on his website regarding General Election. Lets vote Obama again!! Last week Obama beat McCain by 75%! (McCain got 18%). Doing this every week will send a clear message what this country needs. It will also show Sean Insanity that his idiotic rhetoric IS NOT working! Support Obama and vote for him every week!!  

http://www.hannity.com/