Daily Political Wire 8-15-2010

George Wenschhof

Bowing to public and pundit pressure, President Obama has photo-op in Gulf - a picture was released showing him and daughter Sasha playing in the water off a beach in Panama City, Florida. Reuters.com has more here. The reason? - to show the beaches are open for business along the Gulf coast after the BP oil spill effectively ruined the summer economic proceeds for the region.

The "top kill" is still holding the oil from gushing into the ocean, yet there remains concern about the completion of the long awaited "bottom kill" by a test well.

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President Obama's Mosque remarks cause some angst - while the president's recent remarks at a Iftar dinner for Muslims, supporting freedom of religion as being one of the hallmarks of our Democracy, was correct, some Republicans have used the remarks to attack the president yet again. The NY Times has more here.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Oh.) called the remarks troublesome. He was speaking to the current debate regarding the building of a Mosque near ground zero in New York City. Newt Gingrich was quick to pile on saying "the president was pandering to radical Islam". Interestingly, these same Republicans are quick to point out their support of the constitution.

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AP/Gfk polling shows Independents will be crucial voting block in mid term elections - two years ago, 52% of Independent voters supported Obama for president. Now, that support is down to 32%. You can read more here.

The economy remains the top issue with 90% of Independent voters who trust Republicans over Democrats to manage the economy 42-36%.

Independent voters now make up nearly 40% of the registered voters. However, they can not be gauged in supporting either Republicans or Democrats in general.

The good news for Democrats is that overall voters prefer a Democratic controlled Congress over Republican by 44-41%.

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Can Republican Meg Whitman Buy California Governor race? - the most recent campaign disclosure filing shows she added another 10 million of her own money, which now totals 104 million! Her 104 million personal contribution has now made this the most expensive Governor race ever in California. MSNBC.com has more here.

In contrast, former Democratic Governor Jerry Brown has spent 774,000. Fortunately, voters so far have not been persuaded by Whitman's money and polls show the race a dead heat.

Yet, another reason for true campaign finance reform in U.S. elections.

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