As part of our 2010 election coverage, we're about to release a completely updated and redesigned TPMPollTracker, with comprehensive poll data, interactive poll graphs and composite poll averages of every contested (federal and gubernatorial) race and major political question in the country. We plan to release the final version around the end of this month. But we'd like to show it to you now in beta to get your feedback, tell us what features you might like us to add or other ways you think we can improve it.
Join me after the jump to find out more.
--Josh Marshall
The Dems have hit a bit of an ethics and scandal rough patch of late. But let's be honest. They've got quite a ways to go before they get into GOP 2002-08 territory. To put it mildly. Good of them for pointing that out.
How soon they forget.
Or rather, how soon some Republicans think people will forget all of what happened ... what, two years ago?
--Josh Marshall
In case you missed it, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt just penned a post at TPMCafe explaining why retooling our carbon-based energy sector for clean growth can spur the kind of investment and job growth that we saw in the telecom industry after the market opening of the early 1990s.
--Josh Marshall
Rush Limbaugh was among the conservatives who jumped on the Eric Massa bandwagon yesterday, devoting a chunk of his show to hailing Massa. But it wasn't that long ago that Massa was calling Rush a "pompous coward" whose show is "destructive to this country." Maybe Rush found out about that, because on today's show, Rush has reportedly flipped and is doing all he can to disavow Massa.
--David Kurtz
Health Insurance lobby AHIP is launching a million dollar ad campaign to 'set the record straight' about recent health insurance rate hikes.
--Josh Marshall
Let me start by backing off a bit from the headline. I know there are a lot of good people in Texas and even a lot of good people with progressive politics down in the Lonestar State. But c'mon, it's a whole different country.
Anyway, over the last year our Justin Elliott has been reporting on the Texas state school board and its attempts to ban the teaching of evolution and generally rewrite high school curricula into something you might hear on the Hannity show. And not just for Texas schools but across the country -- because the size of the statewide Texas market makes its decisions highly influential with national textbook makers.
But last week something funny happened. The top right-wing activist on the board, Don McLeroy, got beat in the GOP primary by another candidate, moderate GOPer Thomas Ratliff, who specifically made McLeroy's school standards craziness an issue in the election.
--Josh Marshall
Last month, after NY state Senator Hiram Monserrate (D) was convicted for assaulting his girlfriend (allegedly slashing her with a broken bottle), he was expelled from the New York state Senate.
Now he's running to replace himself on a protecting family values platform, and apparently circulating flyers telling his district's voters his opponent will "destroy our way of life" by supporting gay rights.
--Josh Marshall
The primary is still a decent way off (August) and Charlie Crist is still not showing any signs of giving up the fight. But at least as of this moment, I'm not sure I can recall a more precipitous collapse for a major political figure (when no apparent scandal or triggering event is involved) than we've seen with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. The latest poll out this morning has the upstart challenger, Marco Rubio, beating Crist by an eye-popping 60%-28% margin. And that's not far our from our current composite TPM Poll Average which stands at 54.9% to 30%.
--Josh Marshall
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt explain why retooling our carbon-based energy sector for clean growth can spur the kind of investment and job growth that we saw in the telecom industry after the market opening of the early 1990s.
--Josh Marshall
On Good Morning America today, Gibbs took apart former Rep. Eric Massa's claims that Democrats pushed him out over health care reform. It's good stuff:
George, let's go through what we've heard from Congressman Massa. On Wednesday, he was having a recurrence of cancer. On Thursday he was guilty of using salty language. On Friday we learned he's before the ethics committee to be investigated on charges of sexual harassment.
Video here.
--David Kurtz
New York has become political scandal central. A look at the state's remarkable recent run:
--David Kurtz
The President holds a late afternoon meeting with senators from both parties to discuss energy policy. That and the day's other news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
--David Kurtz
We've been trying to get members of Congress on the record on whether they support Rep. Ryan's plan to privatize Social Security and phase out Medicare. And while it's pretty clear a lot of them like Ryan's budget plan, it's awfully difficult getting many Republicans to say one way or another whether they support it. But you can't say that about Angela McGlowan, Republican candidate in Mississippi's 1st congressional district.
She's running to "fulfill President Bush's vision for Social Security."
I wonder if that's going to catch on.
--Josh Marshall
Not quite that bad. But close.
Said senate campaign committee chair John Cornyn this morning about his earlier endorsement of Charlie Crist: "I'm not going to do anything to change that. I think I'm honor-bound to leave it as it is. It doesn't mean we're going to be spending any money in the primary or saying anything bad about Marco Rubio."
--Josh Marshall
As I noted last night, Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) has now accused House Democrats of whipping up the sexual harassment charge to force him out of the House to pave the way for passing Health Care Reform. He directly accused Steny Hoyer of lying. And Hoyer has now flatly denied it. (It does seem clear that Hoyer never even said what Massa claimed he did.)
But the most surreal part of Massa's lengthy radio monologue over the weekend was his tour d'horizon of frat boy antics during his career in the Navy. And one case of what seems to have been an earlier accusation of an improper advance during his Navy days. To put it as antiseptically and briefly as possible, Massa says he walked in on a bunkmate masturbating and jocularly offered to help him. This apparently led to a misunderstanding and the bunkmate requesting different quarters.
Each of these incidents alone make sense. But even in Massa's recounting they do paint a picture of a guy with a history of really unfortunate misunderstandings of joking sexual remarks.
The whole thing is starting to remind me of this classic Onion piece.
--Josh Marshall
The history of gay politicians fighting as tribunes of homophobia and prejudice is so long and twisted and sad and awful that I don't really think I'm in any position to judge. But I'll give credit to state Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield), the anti-gay rights Republican who got picked up last week on a DUI after leaving a gay nightspot in Sacramento, for not pulling a Craig or a Haggard.
"I'm gay," he told a radio interviewer this morning. "Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long."
He explained his past voting record saying that's what his conservative constituents wanted.
--Josh Marshall
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