Archive for September 22nd, 2008

An anonymous source has leaked to me results of a poll that was taken in the 9th Congressional district that looked at the Presidential race, the Gubernatorial race and the 9th CD race.  I was only leaked the Executive summary, so I do not have the cross tabs, but below are the results that have been passed on to me.  The poll was taken by Wilson Research Strategies and commissioned by the Mike Sodrel Campaign.  It took place on September 8-9, 2008, the Monday and Tuesday after the Republican Convention in Minnesota and polled 500 likely voters.

Here is are the pertinent numbers:

The district is decidedly more Republican this cycle than last.

• The number of voters identifying themselves as Republican is now surpassing the total of those saying they are Democratic for the first time since May 2005.

• Likewise, when voters are asked who they would vote for in the upcoming November election for Congress – the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate, 46% say that they prefer the Republican candidate and only 39% say they would vote for the Democratic candidate. The Republican candidate never led on the generic ballot in all of 2006. In fact, support for the Democratic candidate is at the lowest point since 2005.

• Both John McCain and Mitch Daniels are leading their Democratic opponents by significant margins, both scoring double-digit leads.

McCain 56%
Obama 36%

Daniels 55%
Thompson 35%

The race for Congress is a dead-heat.

• The race is inside the margin of error (±4.38) – closer than it was at the same time last election cycle:

Sodrel 41%
Hill 44%
Schansberg 4%

• Schansberg pulls nearly even support from Republicans (26%) and Democrats (21%), giving neither Sodrel nor Hill an advantage by having Schansberg in the race.

• Considering the Republican advantage in identification (+4) and on the generic ballot (+7), Hill is looking at an uphill battle to be re-elected in this district. McCain (+20) and Daniels (+20) have strong support here, attracting a significant number of Independent and less frequent voters to the polls for Republicans.

Read the rest of the executive summary below the fold. (more…)

As a former home builder, and current partner in a mortgage company and consultant to a few real estate related companies, I have an avid interest in what has been happening over the last 18 months in housing and especially mortgages. I have been saying over at Northwest Indiana Real Estate, for months now that the problem is too much regulation. Of course this position isn’t held in very high esteem, Presidential candidates are scared to even suggest that the government is getting in the way … and regulators would lose their jobs if we found that they actually caused the problem.

But they did!

I read The Foundry most every day on my reader, and regularly post from those terrific posts to my numerous sites, including my Northwest Indiana Mortgages site. (Sorry for all the self links, but I’m trying to build a case that I actually understand a little bit). The key question in my mind at the end of last week’s craziness? WHAT IS A FAIR POSITION FOR A CONSERVATIVE WHO ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT HOMEOWNERSHIP?

Some exerpts from today’s awesome post at the Open Market.org $700 Billion for Disastrous Financial System Bailout. Not the Foundry but a well written article with great links:

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

An astute Hoosier Access reader emailed me the following story about the Democrat Marion County Treasurer, Michael Rodman, who , if tax bills aren’t ready when he’d like, will delay sending them out to save his political hide.

From the RTV6 website:

If the bills are ready by the third week in October, they’ll be mailed then, Rodman said. But if they’re not ready until the fourth week, he won’t mail them until after the election.

“From a very personal standpoint, I’m not sure that I want people getting a bill [with my name on it] in their Monday night’s mail and then they go and vote on Tuesday,” Rodman said.

Oh no, absolutely not.  Heaven forbid in tight economic times, people actually vote with their wallet rather than facing the real issues that are important to the Treasurers position.  That’s right, those are economic issues.  Ones where people actually have to think with their wallets when they go vote.

I’ll give Rodman this, unlike most Democrats, he at least admits he wants to mess with taxpayers and their money just to keep his job.

I’m a pro defense guy.  There is no doubt about that.  But even I have to chuckle at a Washington Post article from today with the headline “Senate Boosts Funding for Laser Weapons” (it’s actually a pretty interesting read).  Am I the only one that still thinks of the Austin Powers character Dr. Evil whenever I hear the word laser?  Probably.  How sad.

Oh..and consider this a Monday open thread.

A little investigative blogging by The Jawa Report indicates interesting ties between Obama’s chief media strategist, David Axelrod (the supposed master of phony grass roots campaigns, known as “astroturfing”), and the smearing of Sarah Palin.

That’s supposed to be transcending politics? By creating innovative and new ways to spread lies and conduct personal smears against your political opponents?

UPDATE: The aforementioned link has been updated. Overnight, in the wake of the posting, efforts began by whoever had the various accounts on YouTube and other sites to delete those accounts and eliminate all traces of their activities in smearing Sarah Palin. Ace has more. It’s never the act itself that gets you, as the saying goes, it’s the coverup.

At a recent town hall meeting, Baron Hill proclaimed repeatedly his support for oil drilling:

Baron’s conversion did not exactly happen on the road to Damascus and it is not very believable. Once again, his assertions here in Indiana do not match his voting record in Washington.

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

First, let me say I like Eric Schansberg. If he were representing Indiana’s Ninth District, he would represent us well in Congress. I agree with him on limited government, and he is pro-life. I have met him several times and he is a good person. However, I will not be voting for him in November. I will vote for Mike Sodrel.

Schansberg’s run for Congress as a Libertarian is actually an impediment to implementing a libertarian legislative agenda. The votes that Schansberg drains from Sodrel will help Baron Hill in his efforts to return to Congress. That would be destructive to efforts to limit government and protect the unborn, two issues where Schansberg and Sodrel are, for the most part, in agreement. Schansberg’s run for Congress is unwise and counterproductive.

(Read more after the leap) (more…)