Tuesday Round-Up

So says a new Gallup poll:

Currently 53% of respondents hold favorable opinions about the Democrats, compared with only 38% who do so for Republicans. The poll found similar margins believe Democrats will handle the economy better, with 54% support for Dems and only 34% for Republicans. While the economic results are not unique from surveys past, for the first time since Gallup asked about national security in this annual poll, Democrats are viewed more favorably in their ability to handle security issues than are Republicans (47% to 42%). These results depict the increasingly precarious position of the GOP leading in to the 2008 election.

Precarious indeed.

Revelatory indicator of the day: "The NRSC did not receive any August contributions from Republican senators." I'm sure that doesn't excite GOP donors to hear that no Republican Senators are ponying up to help their cause.

Cable news programs are trying to give Sprintin' John Sununu, Smilin' Norm Coleman, and other endangered Republican Senators a forum to defend their votes and share their views, but all interview requests are "routinely turned down." I guess these vulnerable Republicans are too cowardly to stand up and defend their votes in favor of prolonging Bush's Iraq War and their myriad other votes putting them out-of-step with their constituents.

Tennessee: Businessman and gubernatorial son Mike McWherter has take a step forward toward entering the 2008 Senate race, creating an exploratory committee. MyDD's Singer offers further thoughtful analysis.

Maine: The Rockland Courier-Gazette editorial board hammers Susan Collins on Iraq, noting: "Collins has strayed so far into the camp of President George W. Bush that she can’t free herself. Her votes are destructive to the country and the state. The cost in lives and money that could be used for useful purposes is tremendously high." Scathingly honest. (HT: TMB) Meanwhile, Tom Allen continues to lay out his positions clearly in a Collins Watch exclusive interview, including that "'setting a deadline is the best way' to move forward."

Oregon: Like with so many other issues, Gordon Smith has a terrible record on making education affordable.

Minnesota: Yet another Norm Coleman hypocrisy alert. While Smilin' Norm was all atwitter over the MoveOn.org ad questioning the validity and accuracy of General Petraeus' status report on Iraq (the horror!), he currently has as an adviser Scott Howell, the man behind perhaps the most disgusting political ad ever, the 2002 ad for draft-dodger Shameless Saxby Chambliss comparing decorated war hero Max Cleland to Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.

Georgia: Speaking of Chambliss, the Athens Banner-Herald's political blogger asks, "How the heck does U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., sleep at night? ... How does Chambliss, who managed to get four deferments from serving in Vietnam, dare to vote against anything that might bring a measure of much-needed respite to U.S. troops?" The answer is simple. Chambliss is a hypocrite and a coward. These two points are undebatable.

Alaska: BooMan makes a clear and succinct argument for, at least temporarily, removing Ted Stevens from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Illinois: State Farm Insurance employee Alton Franklin III is considering an independent run for Senate in 2008 against Senator Richard Durbin.

This Giuliani campaign gimmick is at best tasteless and at worst truly disgusting, and exploitative any way you cut it.