I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The House Committee on Natural Resources is held a hearing on Rep. Martin Heinrich’s Indian housing bill today. The hearing for the Albuquerque Democrat’s bill happened at 8 a.m. New Mexico time, or 10 a.m. for our east coast friends.
In other news, the very conservative National Review’s The Corner blog has a tidbit about Steve Pearce in a post on the House Conservative Fund. Speaking of Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the head of the House Conservatives Fund (HCF), the post reads, “He lists the GOP campaigns of Andy Harris in eastern Maryland, Steve Pearce in New Mexico, and Steve Chabot in Ohio as three that show a lot of promise.” The HCF is “a non-connected federal PAC supported by more than 100 fiscally and socially conservative members of Congress.”
The Washington Post’s Capitol Briefing notes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is getting fundraising help from members of both parties — including a $2,400 donation from Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.
Tom Udall, D-N.M., was one of three recipients of the 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of New Mexico School of Law. Udall is a 1977 graduate from the school.
Meanwhile the big national news is polls, polls, polls.
The Hill relays the results of a generic Congressional ballot (that is, a pollster asking respondents if they’d vote for a Democrat or Republican for Congress without using names).
A Washington Post/ABC News poll released this week shows 51 percent of voters would vote for a Democratic candidate for Congress, while 39 percent would vote for a Republican, if the 2010 elections were held today.
Meanwhile, a CBS News poll released earlier this month shows Democrats leading 46 percent to 33 percent among registered voters. A Gallup poll, conducted the first week of October, showed Democrats with just a two-point edge.
Deeper down in the findings of the Washington Post poll is an interesting finding — a majority of Americans, 42 percent, think of themselves as Independents, while only 20 percent of Americans think of themselves as Republicans and 33 percent think of themselves as Democrats.
This caused Newt Gingrich to blast the poll on a Utah radio station morning news show, saying it “was deliberately rigged and produced a result that’s fundamentally false.” He blamed the involvement of the Washington Post.
From the news story:
As proof, Gingrich cited other polls. One of the strongest, he believes, is a new Gallup poll. That poll shows a tight race in next year’s mid-term elections. The slight 2 percent lead for Democrats is smaller than the 6 percent lead they had over the summer.
However, the Gallup poll Gingrich cited is a generic ballot poll, not a poll of party identification, and so the results are not apples to apples.
ABC News’ director of polling Gary Langer responded by citing other party identification polls:
Party ID Dem Rep Ind ABC/Post 10/18 33% 20 42 CBS 10/8 33 22 45 AP/GfK 10/5 33 21 26 Ipsos/McClatchy 10/5 33 19 48 Gallup 10/4 33 27 38 Pew 10/4 34 23 37 NBC/WSJ 9/20 31 18 43
The whole Langer poll is worth a read, and not just for polling junkies like myself.
