A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll taken on Saturday and a Washington Post/ABC poll taken Saturday and Sunday give some reasons for the fairly abrupt about face by the Democrats over the weekend. Both polls showed - even after the firestorm of Thursday and Friday over the August hijack memo - President Bush is sailing along at 75 and 76 percent in job approval respectively.
One thing we know about the Democrats - they can read a poll.
For instance, they can read a poll taken BY Democrats released TO Democrats yesterday, according to a Wall Street Journal piece by John Harwood:
"A new poll of Hispanic voters nationwide, to be released Tuesday at a gathering of the New Democrat Network, shows that among these voters Mr. Bush has drawn even with former Vice President Al Gore in a prospective 2004 match-up. In 2000, Mr. Bush lost Hispanics to Mr. Gore by more than 20 percentage points."
The poll indicates the President's popularity has not yet trickled down to the Congressional level where Dems still hold the same 30-point lead they held in the 2000 election.
Hispanics are a big, BIG voting segment. The latest census indicates, according to Harwood's piece, "Hispanics are surpassing African-Americans as the nation's largest minority group."
If you're a Democrat your only acceptable response is to quote that famed political analyst, Scooby Doo: "Ruh-Roe."
As an example of this effect, the President was in Miami on Monday speaking to a group of South Florida Cuban Americans. According to the Miami Herald reporting of Peter Wallsten:
"Few politicians are as popular as [President George W. Bush and Governor Jeb Bush] among Cuban Americans, who now represent as much as 8 percent of the state's electorate. The Governor, who lived in Miami for 18 years before taking office, spent much of Monday morning on Spanish-language television and radio.
"He's practically Cuban, just taller," said state Rep. Marco Rubio, R-Miami. "He speaks Spanish better than some of us."
The Democrats have been counting heavily on Hispanic multi-millionaire Tony Sanchez to take over the Governor's mansion in Austin, Texas from incumbent Republican Rick Perry which would have the dual effect of electing a Democratic Hispanic governor of the nation's second most populous state, and would also embarrass the Bush White House by snatching the very seat in which the President sat.
Not so fast. According to a Dallas Morning News poll analyzed by George Kuempel,
"Gov. Rick Perry enjoys a commanding 25-point lead over Democratic challenger Tony Sanchez in a matchup sharply divided along racial lines, according to a new poll of likely voters. With the election five months away, Mr. Perry is ahead in every part of the state, including Mr. Sanchez's purported stronghold along the border and in South Texas."
At the other end of the country, Governor George Pataki's campaign, according to the NY Post is poised to "launch its first statewide English and Spanish advertising blitz today, touting the theme 'Leadership that works.' Aides to the Republican governor, who has been making major efforts to win the votes of Hispanics, said the spots would air throughout the state, including on Spanish-language TV and radio."
There was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday morning about Oracle and its questionable donations to various state officials. It cited the Los Angeles County sheriff's department as one of the satisfied customers. But that's not what got my attention.
What got my attention was Oracle's assertion that the software allowed the department to "keep track of 500,000 arrests a year."
The LA County website says that there are just under 10 million residents. 500,000 is five percent of 10 million.
That means that over the next 20 years, statistically, every single resident of Los Angeles County will be arrested.
On the Don Imus program yesterday morning, NBC Washington Bureau Chief, Tim Russert quoted his dad's take on what kind of information should be shared by the Administration: "If everyone gets to see the secrets, they ain't secrets."
The Secret Decoder Ring page today: The Mullings review of the new Star Wars movie, and links to the newspaper articles mentioned above.
If you are working at a lobbying firm, a government affairs office, a coalition, or a PAC you should take a
look at this page to see how advertising in Mullings might serve your organization very well:
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