Daily Political Wire 8-31-2010

George Wenschhof

Tonight, President Obama will give a prime time speech on the U.S. withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq - indications are he will not discuss the continued struggling U.S. economy. the speech begins at 8:00 PM ET and will be televised on most networks.

Today, the president travels to Fort Bliss in Texas to meet with soldiers who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The El Paso Times has more here.

Vice president Joe Biden is in Iraq where he met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and today will oversee the transfer of authority of U.S. troops from General Ray Ordierno to Lt. General Lloyd Austin. The Boston Globe has more here.

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Republicans jump to ten point lead in Congressional generic ballot preference - the largest lead ever recorded by Gallup in a mid term election. The 51%-41% lead by Republicans over Democrats was a result of polling from August 23-29. It also marks the fifth week in a row Republicans have led this poll. Not a good sign for Democrats with only two months left prior to the November 2 general Election. Gallup.com has more here.

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Alaska begins counting absentee ballots today - the Republican Senate nominee will be determined by the outcome of this tally. Joe Miller, backed by tea party activists is leading incumbent Lisa Murkowski by only 1667 votes.

An estimated 25,500 votes will be determined with 15,720 of them being absentee ballots. Another 9,117 are "questioned votes" and another 663 are early votes. CNN.com has more here.

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AFL-CIO to highlight support for Democrats over Labor Day weekend - President Richard Trumpka will appear with Governor ted Strickland (D) on Sunday and then will be joined by President Obama at a rally in Milwaukee on Monday. Over the weekend executive Vice president Arlene Holt Baker will attend campaign events in Florida. Also on Monday, Secretary Liz Schuler will appear with Democratic candidate for Governor; Jerry Brown. TheHill.com has more here.

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Democrat Frank Kratovil launches first campaign ad and attacks Democratic programs - the first term congressman who represents the 1st district in Maryland is highlighting his vote against the recently passed health care reform legislation. In addition, he makes a somewhat bogus claim of voting against the "bail out" bill which vote took place before he was sworn into office. The Baltimore Sun has more here.

Makes you wonder why the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), has given and pledged significant financial resources to Kratovil's campaign.

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