Tuesday's special election in New York's 20th District has received substantial national attention, though it's probably a mistake to read too much into the result of the balloting between Republican James Tedisco and Democrat Scott Murphy.

The most obvious reason is that the Obama administration is barely two months old and that 20 months remain until the 2010 midterm elections, which will be a much broader referendum on the president's policies and the Democratic-run Congress.

Moreover, a history of House special elections dating to 1968, which I compiled and posted on Greg's List, should also give pause to ascribing too much importance to the outcome of a low-turnout election in a district that voted narrowly for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.

Americans haven't changed their minds about the federal loans made to General Motors and Chrysler late last year to help them avoid bankruptcy, disapproving of them by 59 percent to 39 percent, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted March 27-29. The survey was concluded the day before President Obama laid out his conditions for future aid.

Democrats support the loans 57 percent to 42 percent, while Republicans oppose them 72 percent to 26 percent and independents also disapprove, by 66 percent to 32 percent.

Republican state Sen. Sam Caligiuri is joining former Rep. Rob Simmons in a race to take on Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd.

"I am running to take us into the future and away from what Washington has come to represent: career politicians in power for so long, and with so little accountability, that they feel they can do - or fail to do - anything they want and still get elected," Caligiuri said from his home in Waterbury, Conn.

There was no mistaking who that dig was directed at -- Dodd, the five-term incumbent.

Tom Cole

Cole said in a statement Monday that he believes the most pressing issues for Oklahomans -- the economy, national defense and protecting their consitutional rights -- are federal in nature, "And I believe I am in the strongest position to effectively look after Oklahoma's interests by remaining in the House."

Democratic Gov. Brad Henry is term-limited in Jan. 2011 and Republicans are eager to take back this seat in a conservative-leaning state.

Maybe it's election fatigue hanging over from 2008 or it's just hard to work up interest at this stage, but 45 percent of Virginia Democrats are still undecided about who they will support in this year's primary that will choose their candidate for governor, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted March 27-29.

Among those that have a favorite, former Virginia House member Brian Moran leads with 22 percent, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe registers 18 percent and state Sen. Creigh Deeds has 15 percent.

Paul Hodes (Getty)

Gregg, of course, made other news this year when he was named by President Obama to be Commerce Secretary and then withdrew citing policy differences with the administration. Sununu lost his seat to Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.

The number of Americans believing that the country is on the right track is still a minority but it has jumped since February to its highest level since 2004, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted March 26-29.

It also was clear from the poll that the public is not yet ready to assign the responsibility for the current state of the economy to President Obama. Asked whom they blamed most for the country's economic plight, 80 percent singled out the banks, 80 percent blamed business in general, 72 percent blamed consumers, 70 percent fingered former President Bush and only 26 percent named Obama.

Remember all those polls that predicted Barack Obama would defeat Hillary Rodham Clinton in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary 15 months ago? A committee of polling experts on Monday issued a detailed report laying out some reasons why all the surveys were off.

One explanation is that the surveys of the likely New Hampshire Democratic electorate ended too early to detect a primary-eve shift in opinion toward Clinton, who won the contest by 3 percentage points. "There is compelling evidence that this was an important contributor to the error," said the report, which was compiled by the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

The report also said that Clinton supporters may have been underrepresented in voter samples. Clinton did well among voters with lower levels of formal education and income, who may have been tougher to reach by telephone than more upscale Obama voters.

The National Republican Congressional Committee made one final pitch for donations before the first quarter fundraising deadline ends Tuesday at midnight.

"Our first FEC reporting deadline is less than 33 hours away," NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions of Texas wrote in an e-mail appeal to supporters Monday afternoon, adding that the committee is less than $50,000 from reaching an undisclosed fundraising goal for the quarter.

As an extra incentive, Sessions and fellow Minoirty Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio, Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana, Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, and Chief Deputy Whip Kevin McCarthy of California have pledged to match total contributions up to $50,000.

A former Iowa state lawmaker has announced an exploratory committee to challenge Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, in 2010.

Bob Krause, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Veterans Caucus, hopes that Grassley's status as a five-term incumbent will turn out to be a weakness.

Bob Krause

"As a good farmer like Sen. Grassley would know, 51 years is a long time between crop rotations," Krause said in an interview. He added that lawmakers tend to become disconnected with constituents after spending so much time in Washington, and their perspectives change.

He also criticized Grassley's recent disapproval of AIG executive bonuses, arguing that in 1999, Grassley supported the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act which removed barriers among banking, securities and insurance companies.

Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand is making a last-minute push in the the year's first-quarter fundraising period as she seeks to solidify her grasp on her New York Senate seat. Her campaign has set a goal of raising another $25,000 over the final 39 hours of the filing period, which ends March 31st at midnight.

"To show our broad-based support, our campaign must end this first quarter in the strongest financial position possible," Gillibrand wrote in an e-mail to supporters Monday. "I would be incredibly grateful if you could support my race with whatever you can give now."

Gillibrand, who was appointed to the post by Gov. David A. Paterson in January, no doubt hopes an early show of financial force will make those Democrats mulling a 2010 primary challenge think again. Gillibrand established herself as a tireless fundraiser during her two congressional campaigns in 2006 and 2008, and her ability to raise money for a Senate race that is likely to cost more than $30 million helped earn her the nod to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton, who became secretary of State.

Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd could get another Republican challenger on Tuesday. Republican state Sen. Sam Caligiuri will be making "an important announcement about his future plans with regards to the 2010 United States Senate race," he notified reporters in a release sent out Monday morning.

The announcement will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday in front of Caligiuri's home in Waterbury, Conn.

Dodd has already attracted one challenger, former Rep. Rob Simmons, who announced March 15 that he would take on the the suddenly vulnerable six-term senator. Dodd's popularity at home has plummeted since last summer, thanks to a series of scandals related to real estate deals and his ties to the financial industry.

On the heels of two major endorsements last week, additional big-name supporters are expected to step forward to support Democratic state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier's campaign for California's 10th District, his staff said Monday.

His spokeswoman Shara Perkins confirmed Monday that DeSaulnier is currently in Washington, D.C., participating in meetings related to his campaign and that notable endorsements are expected to be announced later this week.

DeSaulnier has already received perhaps the most coveted endorsement in the race- The current representative of California's 10th District, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher, endorsed DeSaulnier as her successor last week. Tauscher has been tapped to serve as undersecretary of State for arms control and international security.

Artur Davis

Governing.com's Josh Goodman reports in his Ballot Box blog that a Birmingham-Southern political scientist has argued that Obama took 17% of the white vote in Alabama, not the 10% that exit polling reported. But Goodman says that while this "reflects somewhat positively on Davis' chances for winning, although he'd need to do much better with white voters to win the election."

Lisa Murkowski (Getty)

The survey found that Palin, John McCain's 2008 running mate, has a 59.8 positive approval rating and 34.9 percent negative rating, while Murkowski received a 71.6 percent positive approval rating and 20.9 percent negative rating. The remaining respondents didn't express an opinion.

Ed Case

And the twist in his case -- running in the Honolulu-based 1st District, which Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie is leaving open to run for governor, and not in the 2nd District that Case represented from 2002 through 2006 -- isn't unheard of, either.

Case certainly isn't the first ex-member to seek a political comeback in a congressional district different than the one he or she previously represented.

Scott Murphy, the Democratic nominee for Tuesday's hotly contested House special election in New York, now has the backing of someone who had hoped to run against him.

Eric Sundwall -- whose bid to qualify as the Libertarian Party nominee in the 20th District contest was rejected by the state elections board -- announced Friday that he has endorsed Murphy in his race with Jim Tedisco, the leader of the Republican minority in the state Assembly.

Sundwall drew only 2 percent support among respondents to the latest Siena Research Institute poll. Yet even that tiny constituency, if influenced by Sundwall's endorsement, could be crucial to Murphy in what is shaping up to be a squeaker of a race.

When they're on the hustings, members of Congress like to tout endorsements or praise from organizations that look favorably on their voting records. One group whose support many lawmakers embrace is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the mammoth business federation with more than 3 million members.

The Chamber today announced that 260 lawmakers had qualified for its 2008 "Spirit of Enterprise" award by siding with its positions at least 70 percent of the time on the most important votes in last year's session. (Some of the lawmakers are no longer in Congress because they retired, sought other office or were defeated for re-election.)

There is a Republican skew to the list of honorees: 233 of the 260 lawmakers who got the Chamber's nod align with that party, including 188 of 204 in the House and 45 of 56 in the Senate. The Chamber's free-market positions on trade, tax and regulatory issues generally draw more support from Republicans than from Democrats, who by and large line up more frequently with the positions of labor unions.

Jerry Moran (Getty)

"His election to the United State Senate would be a tremendous benefit to those of us fighting against the bailouts and irresponsible spending in Washington, D.C.," Coburn said of Moran, according to a fundraising letter Thursday. "I give him my strongest endorsement for the U.S. Senate." Coburn's home state borders Kansas to the south.

Moran, of Kansas' 1st District, faces a hotly contested primary battle against House colleague Todd Tiahrt of the 4th District for their party's nomination.

Peter Hoekstra (Getty)

Hoekstra announced in December that he would not seek a 10th term in his 2nd District seat in western Michigan.

The incumbent governor, Democrat Jennifer A. Granholm is prevented by term limits from running again, and Republicans are eager to move the seat back into the GOP column.

Rob Simmons

Dodd, plagued recently by fallout from the AIG executive bonus controversy, leads former Republican Rep. Rob Simmons, the state's Business Advocate, by 45 percent to 40 percent with 15 percent undecided in a poll conducted March 23-25. Simmons comes that close even though 41 percent don't know enough about him to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion. The margin of error is 4 points. Simmons polls 7 points higher among fellow Republicans than Dodd does among Democrats, and independents favor Simmons by 12 points.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that he will not be a candidate in 2010, according to the Sacramento Bee, quashing speculation he will challenge Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

"I am not running for anything, so no one could threaten me, because I'm not running for Senate, I'm not running for Congress, I'm not running for another term as governor," Schwarzenegger said in reference to his freedom to make policy decisions during a Cal Expo news conference, according to the newspaper.

Schwarzenegger is term-limited in January 2011 and many Republicans hold out hope he will run for Senate.

Democrat Scott Murphy scored a big endorsement Wednesday when President Barack Obama sent an e-mail to supporters asking them to back his candidacy in New York's 20th District special election.

"Scott has the kind of experience and background we desperately need right now in Washington," Obama wrote, urging his supporters to chip in by fundraising or volunteering for the first-time candidate and businessman in the last week of the race. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. followed up with a radio ad for Murphy released Thursday.

Not to be outdone, Murphy's Republican opponent, veteran New York Assemblyman Jim Tedisco rolled out his own big endorsement yesterday -- from the Humane Society.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd is getting professional political help -- and none to soon, given the recent polls showing that the Connecticut Democrat's 2010 re-election prospects have run into trouble.

Veteran Democratic campaign manager Jay Howser has signed on to run Dodd's bid for a sixth term representing Connecticut in the Senate.

The early hire of a sought-after campaign chief signals how seriously Dodd takes the threat of losing his seat after a series of mostly self-inflicted wounds.

Deval Patrick (Getty)

Matched against fellow Democrat, State Treasurer Timothy Cahill, who has talked of running, Cahill leads 35 percent to 30 percent with 30 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4.9 points.

A Franklin & Marshall College poll conducted March 17-22 shows Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter in somewhat better shape than did a Quinnipiac University survey that was released yesterday.

Where Quinnipiac showed former Rep. Pat Toomey leading Specter 41 percent to 27 percent in a potential Republican primary, the F & M poll had Specter leading Toomey 33 percent to 18 percent. However, it is not particularly great news for a five-term senator that 42 of registered Republicans are undecided.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd isn't the only Connecticut Democrat attracting Republican challengers these days. On Thursday morning, Justin Bernier, the former director of the state's Office of Military Affairs, announced he was challenging Democratic Rep. Christopher S. Murphy for Connecticut's 5th District House seat in 2010. And in the state's 2nd District, former Hebron Board of Finance member Matthew M. Daly told local reporters March 21 that he will take on Democrat Rep. Joe Courtney.

Both Bernier and Daly framed their decisions around the economy.

Speaking in Farmington, Conn., Bernier criticized congressional leaders for "reckless spending and reckless behavior." He singled out the growing debt, the federal banking bail-out and President Barack Obama's stimulus package as examples.

The three Democrats running for governor of Virginia this year have agreed to appear together eight times ahead of a primary election on June 9.

According to a joint statement released Wednesday by the campaigns of state Sen. Creigh Deeds, former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe and former state Rep. Brian Moran, five of the appearances will be candidate debates, beginning April 19 in Wiliamsburg. Subsequent debates will be held April 23 in Hampton, April 28 in Danville, April 29 in Blacksburg and May 19 in Annandale.

The candidates will meet three other times in appearances that the statement described as "forums," including April 3 in Reston and April 21 in Richmond. The candidates also will appear together at the Greenspring retirement community in northern Virginia on a date to be announced.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Bob McDonnell, a former Virginia attorney general who was unopposed for the GOP nomination. Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine, who was elected in 2005, cannot seek a second consecutive term because of a state constitutional requirement.

New York's Democratic special election candidate Scott Murphy is on a fundraising tear, disclosing $354,000 in contributions of $1,000 or above in the past 10 days. A large portion of that -- $77,500 -- was transferred from his joint fundraising committee with the New York Democratic party, while Democrats in Congress chipped in more than $43,000.

Murphy's Republican opponent in New York's 20th District race, longtime Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, reported $115,000 in large-donor contributions in the same time period. Past and present Republican members of Congress gave Tedisco $20,000 -- less than half of what their Democratic counterparts gave Murphy since March 16.

In the closing weeks of the campaign, the two candidates are required to file reports of all donations of $1,000 or more within 48 hours of receipt.

Another poll, another source of concern for North Carolina Sen. Richard M. Burr. A new poll by conservative-leaning think tank Civitas Institute conducted March 16 to 19 confirmed what many others have found - Burr continues to struggle with name recognition.

Fifty percent of registered voters told Civitas they either has no opinion or were unaware of the first-term Republican senator. That is down from 54 percent when Civitas asked the same question in January. Thirty-seven percent held a favorable opinion of Burr in the most recent poll, which held steady from January.

The Civitas poll also showed Burr trailing Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper 41 percent to 38 percent in a hypothetical match-up. The margin of error in the poll was plus or minus four percent. The poll showed that Cooper is also an unknown quantity with voters -- 66 percent of respondents said they either had no opinion or were not aware of the attorney general.

Ellen Tauscher (Getty)

First elected in 1996, Tauscher is among a handful of lawmakers who frequently donate to colleagues and challengers from their personal checking accounts in addition to transferring money they raised from their own contributors.

Tauscher has racked up $45,863 in personal contributions to candidates, political causes and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since she was sworn in to Congress in 1997. The DCCC leads the way in Tauscher treasure with $11,500. Much of the money has gone to fellow Californians, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and fellow Reps. Jane Harman, Loretta Sanchez and Adam B. Schiff.

Tauscher, who has been nominated for the post of undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, even gave to the woman who will be her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton was running for president when Tauscher gave the former first lady a $2,300 check in November 2007.

The Connecticut Republican Senate primary just got a little less crowded: CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow announced on his show last night that he will not mount a campaign to take on longtime Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd.

"This evening, I'm letting the world know that I am not running for the U.S. Senate. And here's why: in my heart I know that I belong right here at CNBC," Kudlow said.

He added that while he was flattered that the Republican party approached him about a run, "it was never really a serious proposition."

The economist and commentator is perhaps the only Republican not licking his chops at the thought of taking on Dodd in 2010. The six-term senator is vulnerable for the first time in his career thanks to a series of scandals related to real estate deals and his ties to the financial industry. Most recently, he came under fire for his role in the AIG bonus scandal -- Dodd authored the amendment in the stimulus bill on executive compensation that was then modified to exempt existing bonuses, such as the $165 million paid out by the insurance giant.

Former Republican Rep. Rob Simmons has already announced he will challenge Dodd. Republican state Sen. Sam Caligiuri and Thomas C. Foley, the former ambassador to Ireland, also are likely to enter the primary.

Blanche Lincoln (Getty)

Forty-five percent approve of her performance compared to 40 percent who do not with 15 percent undecided. She does badly among independents (29 percent of the sample) who disapprove of her performance by 50 percent to 31 percent.

If you've been to CQ Politics lately, you'll see that we've posted stories about how the 2008 presidential election played out in the 435 congressional districts. I've posted my findings on my site, Greg's List, and my colleagues put together a terrific map that encapsulates those findings in a user-friendly way. Check it out!

You might ask why we didn't post this information closer to the November 2008 election. The answer: calculating the presidential vote in each congressional district is a very arduous project.

With rare exception, the boards of election in the 50 states release their presidential vote totals by county, but not by congressional district. The presidential vote by district is an important statistic for CQ, given how rigorously we cover Congress and elections. My analysis of the 2008 presidential vote was the third time I undertook this effort.

Pat Toomey (Getty)

The poll has Toomey leading Specter 41 percent to 27 percent among Republican voters with 28 percent undecided. Specter's big problem is that although his overall job approval rating is 52 percent to 33 percent, Republicans disapprove of the way he is doing his job by 56 percent to 32 percent.

Toomey holds the lead in a primary even though 73 percent of Republicans haven't heard enough about him to express a favorable or unfavorably opinion.

Getting ready to compete in the 2010 midterm elections is gathering the money to be competitive.

Last night, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal helped his former colleagues do just that.

Exactly one month after he gave the Republican response to President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress, Jindal was the star attraction at a fund-rising dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the campaign arm of House Republicans.

NRCC aides said the event drew about 1,200 people and raised more than $6 million. The NRCC is tasked with engineering GOP seat gains in next year's elections, the midpoint of Obama's first term, after significant setbacks in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

Democrats lost a big name when former state Superintendent of Education and 2004 U.S. Senate nominee Inez Tenenbaum announced at a luncheon last week that she would not be mounting a run for governor in 2010.

Tenenbaum confirmed the news to CQ Politics Tuesday, saying she had "been leaning that way for some." She noted she had run four statewide campaigns, including her loss to Republican Sen. Jim DeMint in 2004, and was enjoying pursuing "a lot of different professional opportunities."

"You just have to look at your options very carefully in state such as South Carolina, which trends Republican," Tenenbaum said, though she added that Democrats have several strong candidates in 2010 and "have an opportunity to pick up that governor's seat."

Americans are almost evenly divided on President Obama's handling of the AIG bonuses with 42 percent disapproving and 41 percent approving of his performance, according to a CBS News poll conducted March 20-22. Seventeen percent were undecided. Fifty-seven percent of Democrats give Obama good marks but 65 percent of Republicans and a plurality of independents (44 percent) do not.

That result differences from a Gallup poll released earlier today which said Americans were satisfied with Obama's handling of the matter by 54 percent to 39 percent.

It seems that after every presidential election, a political party forms a commission to weigh changes to how its presidential candidates are nominated.

Tim Kaine (Getty)

"This Commission will focus on reform that improves the presidential nominating process to put voters first and ensure that as many people as possible can participate," Kaine said in a statement announcing the "Democratic Change Commission," which was authorized by the 2008 Democratic national convention in Denver.

Mickey Switalski

Switalski announced on Saturday that he would challenge the 78-year-old Levin, a veteran Ways and Means Committee member, saying Michigan's 12th District needed new energy.

Levin wasted no time hitting back, releasing an internal poll by the Mellman Group that shows Levin with a 62 to 14 percent lead over Switalski among primary voters. "I think the poll speaks for itself," Levin told the Macomb Daily. "It shows the constituents understand the work that we've been doing."

Timothy Geithner (Getty)

The public is satisfied with Obama's performance by 54 percent to 39 percent, but they are dissatisfied with AIG management by 80 percent to 12 percent, with Congress by 65 percent to 26 percent, and Geithner by 54 percent to 28 percent. The poll was taken before Geithner's unveiling yesterday of a detailed plan for buying up the troubled assets of banks which, although a different issue, at least got him a positive mark from Wall Street where the Dow Jones average jumped 497.48 points.

It's not uncommon for organizations to give campaign funds to both political parties so that they nurture alliances on both sides of the aisle.

But it is pretty rare to see an individual donor give large amounts to both Democratic and Republican organizations.

Jon Huntsman Sr., a businessman who is the namesake father of the Republican governor of Utah, last month gave the maximum $30,400 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), according to a review of recently filed campaign finance documents. His wife Karen also gave the maximum amount to both Senate campaign committees, which are partisan rivals in the 36 Senate contests that are on 2010 ballots.

Two-thirds of New Yorkers would prefer another gubernatorial candidate over current Gov. David Paterson, according to a new poll by Siena Research Institute.

Only 14 percent of those surveyed said they would prefer to vote for Paterson.

Paterson has hustled over the last month to re-shuffle his staff and demonstrate he is working hard to remedy New York's budget crisis, but his efforts don't seem to have registered with voters.

Democrat Adriel Hampton used Twitter to announce his campaign to succeed Democratic Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher in California's 10th District.

Hampton, a municipal investigator for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, used the online tool to reach supporters, asking them to spread his announcement via the Web.

"If we can trend #gov20 and #CA10 today, we get national press," Hampton tweeted Monday, encouraging users to create discussion threads.

There is just more than a week to go before the March 31 House special election in New York's 20th District, and the national Democratic Party is stepping up its effort to get nominee Scott Murphy elected to the vacant Democratic seat.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is running its latest independent expenditure ad that sharply criticizes Republican nominee Jim Tedisco, a veteran lawmaker in the state capital of Albany and current leader of the state Assembly's Republican minority, as an out-of-touch political insider.

Murphy, a businessman and investor, is a first-time candidate who casts himself as an outsider in his bid to replace former Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, who gave up the seat in January after her appointment to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy created by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton's confirmation as secretary of State.

The DCCC ad is a hard push back by the Democrats after Tedisco and fellow Republicans spent a week trying to associate Murphy with the millions of dollars in bonuses paid to employees of financially crippled insurance industry giant AIG, which has received billions of dollars in federal bailout money. This was the focus of a web video released Monday by the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans' campaign unit.

Kirsten Gillibrand (Getty)

A Siena Research Institute poll conducted March 16-18 showed that only 26 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of Gillibrand, a moderate Democrat from the Hudson Valley, down from 34 percent in a Siena poll conducted in February. Twenty percent of voters have an unfavorable rating of Gillibrand, and 54 percent still don't know or have no opinion of Gillibrand.

Gillibrand also registered tepid support for the 2010 Senate special election.

Steve Israel (Getty)

Israel hasn't ruled out a run, and his visit to greater New York certainly couldn't hurt if he's looking to raise his profile among voters beyond Long Island.

The five-term congressman made an appearance Friday with freshman Rep. Eric Massa in his district in Western New York, which includes the outskirts of Rochester. Massa invited Israel to the district to visit the local General Motors Hydrogen Fuel Cell facility and promote green energy jobs in the region.

Alaska Democrats are trying to stir up voter outrage at Republican Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to reject a portion of the state's stimulus funds, labeling it a politically motivated move.

Bob Poe

"This is a cynical effort on Sarah Palin's part to appeal to her ultra-conservative national base and her campaign for president," Poe said. "This is why I decided to run for governor in the first place -- because Alaska needs a governor who's focused on Alaska's well-being, not on personal political ambition."

President Obama's job performance continues to meet with approval from most Americans, according to a poll released Friday by American Research Group (ARG). But his numbers settled a bit from previous very high levels as Obama addressed a multiplicity of problems related to the nation's economic downturn.

The survey of 1,100 adults nationally showed 56 percent approved of Obama's job performance while 37 percent disapproved and 7 percent were undecided.

While that put Obama's net approval rating at plus-19, that was a slip from plus-27 -- 60 percent to 33 percent -- in a February ARG poll.

The more recent ARG survey, taken March 16-19, coincided with a rough patch for Obama. His administration faced angry questions from many quarters about the origin of an obscure provision in the economic stimulus package enacted in February, which left the door open for financially crippled insurance industry giant AIG, the recipient of billions of dollars in federal bailout money, to pay millions of dollars of bonuses to its executives.

As if the field of potential Republican candidates wasn't big enough in Michigan's 2010 contest for governor, another contender is laying the groundwork for a run. Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder announced Thursday that he had formed an exploratory committee to begin raising money for a possible campaign to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Jennifer A. Granholm.

Rick Snyder

Snyder, in a release sent to CQ Politics, said his top priority "will be to provide a vision to the people of this state that will give them hope and a clear road map back to sound economic principles and financial security." He also criticized what he called the "lack of leadership and vision of the professional politicians in Lansing," the state capital.

Ellen Tauscher

State Assemblyman Tom Torlakson will not be a candidate for the pending special election in the 10th District, which includes cities such as Fairfield, Antioch, Livermore and part of Concord in the East Bay suburbs of San Francisco, according to one local party official.

Chuck Carpenter, the Democratic Party chairman in Contra Costa County -- which includes most of the 10th District's population -- told CQ Politics Thursday that Torlakson told him he would remain in the race he has already launched for state superintendent of public instruction, which would put him in charge of California's school system.

Torlakson could not immediately be reached directly for comment.

Americans have made a new choice about the trade-off between economic growth and protecting the environment - and by 51 percent to 42 percent, they want to make economic growth the priority even if it comes at the expense of the environment, according to a Gallup poll conducted March 5-8.

Gallup has been asking this question since 1985 and says its latest survey is the first time a majority chose the economy over the environment. Back in 1985, 61 percent put the priority on environmental protection compared to 28 percent who chose the economy, and the most recent time that Gallup asked the question before its new poll, the environment still prevailed 49 percent to 42 percent. On the question of whether development of energy supplies should be given priority even if the environment suffers, the public was split with 47 percent concerned about protecting the environment and 46 percent wanting to produce more oil, gas and coal.

Democrats still come down on the side of the environment by 50 percent to 44 percent, while Republicans favor the economic growth priority by 64 percent to 31 percent and so do independents at 50 percent to 42 percent.

Jim Tedisco

The longtime New York assemblyman has raised more than $30,000 from corporate and trade association political action committees since March 13, new fundraising disclosure reports reveal.

That represents 60 percent of the nearly $55,000 Tedisco reported raising in the time period. Starting March 13, the two campaigns are now required to file reports of all donations they receive of $1000 or more.

Three-quarters of Americans want the government to block or recover the $165 million in bonuses paid out by insurance giant American International Group which was the beneficiary of a $180 billion taxpayer bailout, according to a Gallup poll conducted March 17. Only 17 percent believed that the government should not intervene.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they were outraged about the bonuses, 26 percent were "bothered" and 11 percent not particularly bothered. Democrats, Republicans and independents all agreed by large majorities that the government should act on the bonuses.

The kind of concern that voters had been expressing in the past about the way things had been going in Iraq is now transferring itself to the stepped-up U.S. mission in Afghanistan, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted March 14-15.

The number of Americans who say the U.S. made a mistake sending troops to Iraq has fallen from 60 percent last August to 53 percent in the new poll. At the same time, those who think sending troops to Afghanistan jumped from 30 percent earlier this year to 42 percent. Those polled said by 54 percent to 38 percent that things were going very or moderately badly in Afghanistan, compared to 52 percent to 44 percent earlier this year. By contrast, 51 percent now say things are going very to moderately well in Iraq compared to 43 percent who disagree.

This is a turnaround from public opinion during the campaign when polls showed most Americans sided with Obama's view that the greater danger to the U.S. was from Afghanistan and not Iraq, and the country's emphasis should be re-focused.

Voters are divided almost evenly about their opinion of Barack Obama's $3.6 trillion budget and more than three-quarters expressed concern that he is increasing government spending too much, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted March 16-17.

The survey said 45 percent held an unfavorable view of the budget compared to 44 percent who had a favorable opinion of it. Twelve percent were undecided. But on the question of how concerned they were that the government would end up spending too much, 76 percent said they were very or somewhat concerned compared to 21 percent who were not very or at all concerned. And those that put themselves in the "very concerned" category added up to 49 percent.

This mixed bag of views was reflected also in responses to the question about whether Obama's budget would hurt, help or have no impact on the economy. Voters said by 43 percent to 37 percent that it would help while 12 percent predicted it would have no impact.

Mary Bono Mack

Pougnet recently filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and established a campaign committee to run against the six-term incumbent.

Steve Pougnet

Michigan Republicans are likely looking at a competitive primary when it comes to choosing their candidate for governor in 2010 while the Democrats have an early favorite in Lt. Gov. John Cherry although there is a huge number of voters who have not focused on the race,according to an Inside Michigan Politics poll conducted March 4-10.

In the Republican match-ups of candidates who have announced they're running or exploring a run, Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson leads with 22 percent, followed by Rep. Pete Hoekstra at 17 percent, Mike Cox at 15 percent, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land at 12 percent and State Sen. Tom George at 2 percent. Thirty-two percent were undecided.

For the Democrats, Cherry leads "First Gentleman" Daniel Granholm Mulhern husband of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, by 26 percent to 10 percent with Michigan State University trustee George Perles at 4 percent and House Speaker Andy Dillon at 3 percent. But 57 percent of voters were undecided.

Cherry trailed all three Republicans he was tested against in general election match-ups. Cox led him 41 percent to 34 percent, Patterson led him 38 percent to 34 percent and Land by 39 percent to 34 percent. The margin of error for the general election match-ups was 4.1 percent.

It would be hard to find two congressional districts any more different than New York's 16th, a compact area of the south Bronx that is overwhelmingly Hispanic and black, and Texas' 13th, a 40,000-square-mile expanse in and around the state's conservative Panhandle.

These two districts respectively produced the highest vote percentages for Barack Obama and John McCain, according to a CQ Politics analysis of the presidential results in all 435 congressional districts.

McCain won more than 76 percent of the vote in Texas' 13th, which includes Amarillo and is represented by eight-term Republican William M. "Mac" Thornberry.

Suffolk County Legislature Majority Leader Jon Cooper became the latest Long Island Democrat to join the list of potential 2010 primary challengers to New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, publicly confirming his interest to the Web site City Hall News on Monday.

He joins Long Island-based Reps. Carolyn McCarthy and Steve Israel, as well as, “two to three other potential candidates” whom he said are also eyeing the race.

One of those is presumably Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney of Manhattan, who has also told reporters she is considering a run.

President Obama vowed today not to scale back big initiatives in his 2010 budget and, at least for now, voters support his budget plan by 49 percent to 40 percent, according to an NPR poll conducted March 10-12.

But while Obama garners overall support for his plan, the people who feel "strongly" against it comprise the biggest bloc of respondents in the poll, at 30 percent. Similarly, while they favor the economic stimulus bill 55 percent to 42 percent, the biggest bloc again is the one of voters strongly against it, at 33 percent.

Sarah Palin (Getty)

"I communicated with the governor directly and she did not know anything about it," Bill McAllister, the governor's spokesman, told the Anchorage Daily News late Monday evening.

The denial came just hours after the officials of the Republicans' national congressional campaign committees sent out a release lauding Palin as the keynote speaker for the party's annual Senate-House fundraising dinner, scheduled for June 8.

The number of Americans opposed to government providing money to banking and financial institutions has steadily grown since December to the point where now a majority oppose such aid, according to a CBS News poll conducted March 12-15.

Fifty-three percent oppose these programs compared to 37 percent who approve of them. In December, Americans were nearly evenly divided with 46 percent approving to 42 percent disapproving. And these numbers could grow with anger growing on Capitol Hill and among the public over the $165 billion being paid in bonuses to employees of the bailed-out American International group. Forty-eight percent in the poll said they were resentful irresponsible bankers could benefit from the federal aid.

Three-quarters of those polled said the banks' current problems were directly the result of management decisions not economic conditions beyond their control.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who gained a high profile as the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, will deliver the keynote address at the GOP's annual Senate-House fundraising dinner scheduled for June 8.

The choice of Palin -- who showed strong crowd appeal, especially among conservative audiences, during last year's campaign -- was announced in a statement Monday by the chairmen of the Republicans' Senate and House national campaign committees.

"Governor Palin has quickly emerged as one of the most popular and recognizable faces in the Republican Party, and we are honored to have her deliver the keynote address at the Senate-House dinner," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who is heading the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 2010 election cycle. "Last fall, she electrified and energized crowds across the country, and we expect she will generate a similar amount of enthusiasm at this spring's dinner."

More Americans are seeing Barack Obama as listening more to his party's liberal wing than to moderates and this has caused his approval ratings to slip, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted March 9-12.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans approved of the job Obama was doing compared to 26 percent who disapproved, a net loss of 14 points compared to his 64 percent to 17 percent rating in February.

In other polls today:

• Gallup puts Obama's approval-to-disapproval ratio at 61 percent to 28 percent in a poll conducted March 13-15. In late February, it had been 67 percent to 21 percent.

• CNN/Opinion Research put his approval rating at 64 percent, down three points since mid-February.

New Hampshire Rep. Carol Shea-Porter ended speculation Monday regarding her 2010 plans and announced she will not be a candidate for Senate.

"I thank the many people in New Hampshire and Washington, D.C., who have asked me to run, but I have decided that I do not want to run for the U.S. Senate," Shea-Porter, a Democrat, said in a statement. "I love the House of Representatives and the work I am involved in there to help the people of New Hampshire."

Shea-Porter's decision bodes well for her House colleague, Democrat Paul W. Hodes, who would have faced Shea-Porter in a primary. No additional major Democratic or Republican candidates have announced for the seat, which is currently held by retiring Republican Sen. Judd Gregg. Gregg withdrew as Commerce Secretary earlier this year and announced his decision not to seek re-election.

Embattled Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbon's road to re-election just got even tougher. Former state Sen. Joe Heck, who lost a tight race for re-election himself in 2008, announced Monday that he is running for the post in 2010. Heck's decision was first reported Friday by Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston.

Heck is the second Republican to mount a primary challenge against Gibbons -- North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon has already declared his candidacy.

Heck, a doctor by training, represented Clark County's 5th District from 2004 to 2008 and remains popular in the state's Republican circles. His challenge to Gibbons is supported by many in the party establishment, who worry the incumbent, weakened by scandals and poor relations with the state legislature, is a ripe target for Democrats.

Connecticut Republican Rob Simmons, a former three-term House member who was narrowly unseated in 2006, will challenge five-term Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd in 2010.

Simmons, who was widely expected to join the Senate race, confirmed his candidacy in an e-mail to the Associated Press (AP) on Sunday.

According to the Hartford Courant, Simmons made the decision following a discussion "with his family, close friends and minister after attending church."

"The family had a long meeting today and was unanimous that I run. So, I'm running,'' Simmons wrote in his e-mail to AP.

Voters in New York and New Jersey are not impressed with the jobs their Democratic governors are doing as they seek to turn around their respective states' struggling economies. That's the message the comes through in two new polls conducted by Rasmussen Reports, which show both approval rating for New York's David Paterson and New Jersey's Jon Corzine continuing to sink.

In New York, 39 percent of voters approve of the job Paterson has been doing as governor, compared to 59 percent who disapprove, based on the poll conducted March 11. Less than half - 45 percent -- of respondents blame Paterson's own poor performance for this, however. Thirty-five percent said it is due to the country's economic situation, while 19 percent weren't sure.

Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand is chipping in to help her party retain the House seat she left after being appointed to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate. Gillibrand is featured in a new ad talking up businessman Scott Murphy, the Democratic nominee for the special election in New York's 20th District.

"I'm asking you to elect Scott Murphy to fill my seat in the House," Gillibrand tells District voters. "Scott's the only candidate with proven business experience," she added, reiterating a key plank in Murphy's campaign. Murphy, 38, has never run for political office and is instead talking up his background as an investor and job creator.

Gillibrand, who remains highly popular in the district, formally endorse Murphy Feb. 14 at an event in Albany.

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On supporting alternative sources of energy, 77 percent say incentives should be increased, 13 percent say they should not change and 8 percent say they should be decreased. Thirty-nine percent said support should be increased for traditional sources of energy, 28 percent say the level of support should not change and 30 percent say it should be decreased.

Americans were divided on the question of whether protection of the environment or development of domestic energy supplies was the higher priority, with 47 percent saying the environment and 46 percent choosing energy. In 2007, 58 percent had chosen the environment and 34 percent cited energy.

Nancy Pelosi (Getty)

Recent national polls have rated her by the favorability measure. A recent Newsweek/Princeton Research poll found 41 percent viewing her favorably, 35 percent unfavorably and 14 percent undecided. CNN Opinion/Research said 43 percent viewed her unfavorably and 36 percent favorably.

Democrat Judy Chu on Thursday received an endorsement from EMILY's List in her bid to succeed former Rep. Hilda L. Solis in California's 32nd District.

The powerful political action committee, EMILY's List, supports Democratic women who favor abortion rights. Chu, chairwoman of the state board of Equalization, is the only major Democratic female candidate in the race.

The endorsement offers Chu an added boost in the likely determinative May 19 special primary election in which candidates of all parties will run on a single ballot. Chu's major opponent in the Eastern Los Angeles District is Democratic state Sen. Gil Cedillo.

Former Pennsylvania Rep. Pat Toomey stopped short this week of formally announcing his candidacy for the Senate but made it clear that he's much more likely than not to challenge veteran incumbent Arlen Specter for the Republican nomination.

Toomey, the president of the conservative activist group The Club for Growth, told the northeastern Pennsylvania radio station WILK-FM that he is "very close to making a final decision" and was "leaning toward running," which would set up a rematch of a 2004 primary that Specter won by less than 2 points.

Toomey spoke to radio host Sue Henry after Specter told the same radio station on Monday that he wanted to move the Republican Party in a more centrist direction and that Toomey's support for "deregulation, letting Wall Street run its own affairs" made him "part of the problem."

Fifty-seven percent of Americans believe that the worst is yet to come as far as the economy while 35 percent say it has stabilized but not yet begun to improve, according to an Ipsos/McClatchy poll conducted March 5-9. Only 3 percent believe the country has turned the corner. Forty-eight percent say the country is on the wrong track compared to 44 percent who say it is on the right track, a slight improvement over February. In other polls, the "wrong track" had been much higher in January.

Scott Murphy

The Democrats' nominee in the 20th Congressional District contest, Scott Murphy, moved to within striking distance of Republican Jim Tedisco, a state Assembly leader.

Jim Tedisco

Another survey of likely voters in that race, conducted Feb. 18-19, showed Tedisco holding a 12-point lead. Each poll had a statistical margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.

A businessman and first-time candidate, Murphy was a virtual unknown when he jumped into the race for the seat Gillibrand vacated in January, after she was appointed to the Senate seat that Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton left to become secretary of State.

We like to use the term "swing district" to describe an area where the two major parties are matched pretty evenly, according to recent election history.

Chances are we'll be invoking that phrase when describing what should be a competitive 2010 campaign in Pennsylvania's 3rd District, a swath of in northwestern and western communities where Republican Rep. Phil English was defeated last year by Democratic challenger Kathy Dahlkemper. She won by about 7,100 votes and a margin of 2 1/2 points.

But Dahlkemper's narrow win seems like a landslide next to the presidential balloting in her district. According to a CQPolitics.com analysis,

There are more than 600 skeptics meeting in New York City this week about the proposition that human activity is causing global warming, and while a Gallup poll conducted March 5-8 shows a majority of Americans believe that climate change is being accurately reported in the news, a record-high 41 percent say it is exaggerated.

Those that believe global warming has already begun dropped from 61 percent to 53 percent since last year. Sixty-eight percent believe the problem is real in that it will happen at some point in their lifetimes, but by a 60 percent to 38 percent margin, Americans don't believe that global warming will pose a serious threat to them or their way of life during their lifespans.

Job approval for senators and House members, driven to near-record lows last year by a widespread perception of partisan gridlock, rebounded sharply during the first two months of the very productive - but still sharply divided - 111th Congress.

This is according to a Gallup poll published Wednesday that showed public approval of Congress at 39 percent, the highest level of support registered in four years. That was nearly three times higher than the depths of 14 percent to which that approval rating plunged at one point during a 2008 election year that saw the Democrats significantly expand their existing congressional majorities while putting Barack Obama, one of their own, in the White House.

A lengthy downturn in public support for Congress was evident as late as January, when a Gallup poll showed the legislature's job approval rating lingering at 19 percent.

Echoing a Gallup poll released yesterday, a Rassmussen Reports survey today says a majority of Americans - 52 percent to 38 person - agreed with Barack Obama's decision to lift the federal funding ban on stem cell research.

Seventy percent of those polled believe the research is at least somewhat likely to lead to cures for previously incurable diseases compared to 22 percent who say it is unlikely.

Christopher Dodd (Getty)

In normal times, Simmons would be considered a long shot to unseat one of the most powerful men in the Senate -- he lost his 2nd District seat to Rep. Joe Courtney in 2006, and is not well known outside of the eastern edge of the state. But scrutinyof Dodd's past real estate dealings and voter dissatisfaction over the financial crisis -- which the Senate Banking Committee chairman is closely tied to -- have given Republicans fresh hope for the seat.

Dodd, who faced more critical media attention this week, fares better against other prospective 2010 foes. The poll found him leading CNBC-TV host Larry Kudlow 46 to 34 percent and state Sen. Sam Caligiuri 47 to 34 percent.

The poll did, however, register a small uptick in Dodd's approval rating since early February. Forty-nine percent of Connecticut voters approved of the job Dodd is doing, compared to 44 percent who disapproved. On Feb. 10, only 41 percent approved while 48 percent disapproved.

"This is the first poll in a long time where Dodd's job approval hasn't dropped," noted Quinnipiac's Douglas Schwartz, postulating that the senator's slide in popularity "may have ended."

A Gallup Poll indicates a majority of Americans likely support President Barack Obama's executive order doing away with the rules on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research that were in place under the Bush administration. The poll, conducted last month, showed 38 percent of Americans said they support easing those restrictions and another 14 percent said they favor no restrictions at all. Twenty-two percent would keep current restrictions while 19 percent would not fund the research at all.

Obama's executive order overturns George W. Bush's 2001 decision to restrict government funding to stem cell lines created before Aug. 9, 2001. Bush's order left scientists to rely on private donations to work with the hundreds of lines created since then. Obama's order doesn't specify which lines can now be used, and instead gives the National Institutes of Health 120 days to develop new rules.

Rush Limbaugh (Getty)

No one sampled in the poll was seen by higher than 4 percent as leader, and that, was, well, Limbaugh. Asked if Limbaugh was the leader of the party absent other names, the answer was "no" by 70 percent to 14 percent.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele and Sen. John McCain tie at 3 percent, while Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Limbaugh's fellow conservative radio talker, Sean Hannity, weigh in at 1 percent.

On the Democratic side, 49 percent said Barack Obama, 23 percent said no clear leader, 7 percent said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and no one else broke 1 percent.

Last month, we posted a Gallup poll that compared Barack Obama's approval ratings after one month in office to past presidents for the same time period. Gallup put him about in the middle in terms of job approval ratings. Karl Rove, on his site, has constructed a nice graphic which we thought we'd share.

Barbara Boxer (Getty)

While Field says 44 percent are not inclined to back her again compared to 43 percent who are, it notes that these numbers are better than they were the last two times she ran and that she eventually won by comfortable margins.

She leads Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger 54 percent to 30 percent and former Hewlett Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina by 55 percent to 25 percent.

In a hypothetical Republican primary to choose a candidate to run against Boxer, Schwarzenegger leads Fiorina 31 percent to 24 percent with Assemblyman Chuck DeVore polling 9 percent. If Schwarzenegger doesn't run, Fiorina would lead DeVore 31 percent to 19 percent. But in either case, these match-ups should be take n with a grain of salt because both scenarios have huge undecided numbers.

Sixty-five percent of voters are very or somewhat confident that Barack Obama will be able to turn around the economy while 33 percent are not too confident or not confident at all, according to a Newsweek/ Princeton Research poll conducted March 4-5. That's a net 13 point swing towards fewer people expressing confidence in Obama than Newsweek's mid-January poll.

When it comes to Obama's $787.2 billion economic stimulus plan, 40 percent call it a good start but say more spending is needed, 37 percent say it won't work and 15 percent say it's the right amount.

David Vitter (Getty)

Vitter, who so far has weathered revelations in 2007 that his phone number was found in the records of an escort service accused of engaging in prostitution, leads in head-to-head match-ups. But when voters were asked if the election were held to-day whether they would re-elect Vitter, consider another candidate or replace him, 41 percent said they'd re-elect him, 27 percent would consider someone else and 32 percent would replace him.

Forty-six percent of voters have an unfavorable opinion of Barack Obama's $3.6 trillion budget while 41 percent view it favorably, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted March 4-5. Thirteen percent are undecided. Three-quarters of those polled were very or somewhat concerned that the budget increases government spending too much. Voters believe by 44 percent to 41 percent that the budget will help the economy. The margin of error is 3 points.

A Gallup poll conducted Feb. 27-28, right after the budget was released, said that those who had a positive view of the budget outweigh those who didn't by 44 percent to 26 percent, but that result was tempered by the fact that at the time 30 percent said they didn't know enough about it to have an opinion.

SurveyUSA tested the appeal of a slate of potential or announced candidates for California's governorship in 2010 and didn't find any of them firing up voters with enthusiasm, but the poll did not include two big names, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The survey asked voters to rate seven people on a scale of one to 10 with "10" meaning the individual had the "highest qualifications" and "1" signifying "completely unqualified."

Edmund (Jerry) Brown (Getty)

Congressional Republicans come out on the losing end of yet another poll when matched against Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers on job approval ratings. Obama's approval to disapproval numbers are 67 percent to 27 percent and congressional Democrats score 49 percent to 45 percent, while the Republicans register 60 percent disapproval compared to 34 percent who see them positively, according to a Diageo/Hotline poll conducted Feb. 28 - March 2.

Seventy percent of registered voters express confidence in Obama compared to 28 percent who do not. They expressed confidence in Obama and his administration to turn around the economy by 64 percent to 33 percent.

Sixty-three percent of voters believe Barack Obama's priorities and polices are likely to significantly help the country compared to 25 percent who say they will do serious harm, according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted March 3-4. Republicans come down on the "serious harm" side by a 54 percent to 32 percent margin.

Fifty-eight percent say Obama is keeping the promises he made during the campaign while 28 percent say he is drifting off course. When asked whether the nation's economy would benefit more from following the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, voters came down on Obama's side by 49 percent to 40 percent.

Congress takes its usual lumps with voters saying by 48 percent to 41 percent that they disapprove of the job it's doing, but that's a whole lot better than public opinion of lawmakers in mid January when the disapproval margin 68 percent to 23 percent. Sixty percent said they trust their own judgment more than members of Congress when it comes to important national issues.

Even though the economy is still in turmoil, several polls are finding a rise in the number of people who believe the country is on the right track or satisfied with the direction it's going.

A Gallup poll conducted March 1-3 found that 20 percent of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going - a low number, but an improvement from the 14 percent who felt that way in early February. The trend is mostly driven by self-described Democrats whose satisfaction has risen from 20 percent in February to 27 percent. The number of independents in this category rose from 15 percent to 20 percent while satisfaction among Republicans is at 11 percent, a point lower than it was last month.

Rasmussen Reports, in a poll released today, found that 35 percent said the country is moving in the right direction up from 30 percent last week and 28 percent the week before. Fifty-eight percent of Democrats believe this, as do 27 percent of independents and 15 percent of Republicans.

Voters trust Barack Obama more than Republicans in Congress to do a better job of handling the economy but nearly two-thirds say Obama will not be able to fix the crisis within two years, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted Feb. 25 - Mar. 2.

Fifty-six percent trust Obama more on the economy compared to 26 percent who trust the Republicans. But by 64 percent to 28 percent, they don't believe Obama will be able to turn things around in that two-year period. On that point, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released yesterday asked the expectations question a somewhat different way - i.e., when would they start holding Obama responsible for the state of the economy - and 41 percent gave him two years or more and 38 percent gave him two years or less.

Just 11 percent of Republicans surveyed by Rasmussen Reports said they think radio's Rush Limbaugh is the GOP's leader , according to poll results released Wednesday.

Rasmussen said that 81 percent of Republican voters they polled disagreed with the statement, "Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party. He says jump, and they say how high."

Americans approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as President by 60 percent to 26 percent and his handling of the economy by 56 percent to 31 percent, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted Feb. 26 - Mar. 1. Sixty-eight percent have very or somewhat positive feelings about him, 12 percent are neutral, and 19 percent have somewhat or very negative views.

The poll also indicates that, so far, the Republican opposition to Obama's proposal and policies is working against them.

Sixty-seven percent say they feel more hopeful about what Obama is doing in terms of his leadership and plans for the country while 28 percent are more doubtful.

David Paterson and Kirsten Gillibrand (Getty)

Only 26 percent of registered voters say Paterson is doing an excellent or good job in a Marist survey conducted Feb. 25-26. The percentage rating his performance as excellent was 2 percent. The overall approval rating represented a 20-point drop since late January. Forty-three percent say Paterson's performance is "fair" and 28 percent rate it "poor."

While 77 percent of voters say Paterson is working hard as governor and 62 percent say he understands the problems facing the state, more than half do not think he is a good leader or changing things in Albany for the better.

More than half of Pennsylvania voters say it's time for someone other than GOP Sen. Arlen Specter to represent the state, according to a Susquehanna Polling and Research survey conducted Feb. 23-26.

Fifty-three percent of all registered voters held that view compared to 38 percent who would support Specter again in 2010. Among Republicans only, the tide ran against Specter by 66 percent to 26 percent which could be, in part, because of Specter's defection from the Republicans on Barack Obama's stimulus package. Democrats backed Specter by 49 percent to 42 percent over someone new. Susquehanna's James Lee said that if the election were held today, Specter would be "toast" in a two-way race with a credible candidate.

Those who have a positive view of President Obama's $3.6 trillion fiscal 2010 budget proposal exceed those who view it negatively by a 18 percentage-point margin, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.

But that 44 percent to 26 percent edge is tempered by the fact that 30 percent, nearly a third of the 1,023 adult respondents in the national poll taken Feb. 27-28, said they didn't know enough about the proposal released last Thursday to say whether they were positive or negative. Another 1 percent voiced no opinion at all.

As with many of the measures that Obama has presented to deal with the nation's struggling economy since he became president on Jan. 20, there are sharp partisan and ideological differences over his budget plan.

Muslim Americans are the most racially diverse religious group in the U.S. with African-Americans being the largest contingent at 35 percent, according to a Gallup analysis of data collected during 2008. Twenty-eight percent are white and 18 percent are Asian. Three-quarters or more of all other religious denominations - Protestant, Catholic, Mormon and Jews - are white.

Nearly half of likely voters say that Barack Obama should wait until the economy improves before he pushes ahead with an ambitious overhaul of health care, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Feb. 26-27.

Forty-nine percent hold that view compared to 42 percent who want him to move forward and 10 percent who are undecided. The White House is focusing this week on health care with a meeting set for Thursday of all the players and groups involved in the issue.

Seventy-eight percent said reining in health spending was very or somewhat important to improving the nation's economy.

Voters were skeptical of Obama's ability to keep his promises to reduce the number of uninsured Americans, improve the quality of care and save the typical family $2,500 a year in medical costs. Fifty-three percent believe is not very likely or likely at all that Obama will achieve all three while 44 percent think he will. They are the most optimistic on the promise to reduce the number of uninsured Americans with 50 percent believing that.

The change of administrations appears to have benefitted both parties with job approval for congressional Democrats rising from 37 percent to 47 percent since December, and by 25 percent to 36 percent for Republicans, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Feb. 20-22. For the GOP, that's their highest mark since Oct. 2005 when they scored 38 percent.

"These increases suggest that both parties have benefitted perceptually from the change in government from the Bush administration to the Obama administration," Gallup said, even though Republicans are standing in opposition to most of Obama's proposals.