Gallup has just reported its latest "generic ballot" numbers, (where potential voters are asked which party they intend to vote for in the next election).

The results are historic, with Republicans taking their biggest lead in the sixty year history of the Gallup poll.

This week's retirement by Wisconsin Democrat David Obey spells more trouble for the Dems this fall.  First, it's yet another open seat that they will have to defend, and it's not a "solid blue" seat by any means.  Second, it says something about how Democrat leaders are reading the November tea leaves if a major committee chairman retires, (Obey chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee).  It says that either he thinks he'll have trouble winning another term, or he's pretty sure that the GOP will take back the House and he'll no longer be a major committee chairman...or both.

In any event, it's getting interesting.

Here's a Google map put together by Michael Barone at the Washington Examiner which details each major congressional retirement so far.

View Democrats exiting the sinking ship? 2010 in a larger map

Congressional Democrats have not given up on the idea of passing government run health care - despite the overwhelming opposition of the American public.

Senate and House liberals are co-signing a letter urging Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to use the budget reconciliation process to push the so-called "public option" through the Senate.  Now that Republicans have the 41 votes necessary to sustain a filibuster, the Democrats want to get around the filibuster all together by using the budget process to pass legislation that would alter 1/6th of the American economy.  Which the majority of the American public do NOT want.

Via CNN:

The fight over health care reform burst back into public view Tuesday as four Democratic senators asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to hold a vote on a government-run public insurance option.

Here it comes!

In the wake of last week's Senate upset in Massachusetts, Democrats seemed to be backpedaling away from ObamaCare, but yesterday came word from Nancy Pelosi and other leading House Dems that they plan to keep trying.  Their plan is to try and push the Senate's version of health care "reform" through the House (with some changes), and then get the Senate to pass the bill in that chamber with a simple majority vote by using "reconciliation" rules to avoid needing 60 votes to break a Republican filibuster.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said last week she does not
have the votes to pass the Senate bill without changes. Democratic
congressional aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because the
issue is in flux, said the latest strategy involves using a special
budget procedure to revise the Senate bill.

The procedural
route _ known as reconciliation _ would allow a majority of 51 senators
to amend their bill to address some of the major substantive concerns
raised by the House. That would circumvent the need for a 60-vote
majority to hold off Republican delaying tactics.

In other words, they're going to try and "get around" the rules of the Senate, now that Scott Brown's there.

So why the sudden push?

In the wake of last weeks stunning defeat for the Democrats in the race to fill "Ted Kennedy's seat" in the Senate, Democrats (and liberals in general) have done a good bit of hand wringing about "how" this could have happened.

Their first impulse, even before voters went to the polls, was to blame the candidate.  It was all Martha Coakley's fault.  This lead to several days of finger pointing between her camp, the White House, the Democrat National Committee and the Democrat Senatorial Committee.

And then, just a day after the election, Obama does and interview and blames the loss on voter "anger and frustration".  OK so far, but then he says it's the same anger that elected him....that voters are angry and frustrated, not just over the last year, but over the "last eight years".  Which, as we all know by now, is Obama code for "It's George Bush's fault".  This prompted columnist Charles Krauthammer to observe:

Let's get this straight: The antipathy to George W. Bush is so enduring
and powerful that ... it just elected a Republican senator in
Massachusetts? Why, the man is omnipotent.

Indeed.

A.B. Stoddard makes the following observation:

Don't look now, but some liberal members of Congress are planning to introduce legislation that will result in "universal" voter registration in all fifty states.

According to the Washington Times, the legislation would:

The proposal is to register everyone on every welfare list,
everyone getting unemployment insurance, everyone with a driver's
license, everyone who has had run-ins with the legal system, everyone
owning any property - basically everyone on every list the government
keeps. People will be registered to vote whether or not they want to be
registered. If individuals are on any public record, they will be
automatically registered.

Among other problems with such an idea, (not the least of which is the federal government intruding on a state issue), the legislation would result in voter registration for illegal aliens and felons.  Add to this the fact that it would make voter fraud much, much more likely, given the people often have their names listed differently in various government databases (also leading to confusion), plus many people wouldbe registered without their knowledge.

In short, this is the "Automatically Register Anyone Who Might Be a Democrat and Let's Make it Easier to Commit Voter Fraud Act".

No shame.

The Democrats gave yet another unwanted Christmas present to America's future generations this past weekend as they voted for a monstrous pork-filled Omnibus spending bill (omnibus or consolidated because the Democrats could not get their work done this year by passing the required 12 separate spending bills to keep the government functioning.)   

Incredibly, 3 Republicans joined virtually all the Democrats in voting for this $1.1 TRILLION bill loaded with thousands of pork-projects glommed on to the legislation.  The three Republican Senators who voted for this irresponsible spending bill were Susan Collins from Maine; Thad Cochran and Richard Shelby (up for reelection next year) from the very conservative states of Mississippi and Alabama respectively.  If these three Republican Senators had voted no on the "breaking the Republican filibuster vote," the Democrats would not have been able to even vote on this abominable bill.  

The $1.1 trillion bill is now part of the Democrats' whopping $3.6 trillion annual budget for Fiscal Year 2010 and the president is expected to sign it into law.  The Democrats, contrary to their promises (and the president's campaign promises), increased federal spending by a crushing 12%, by far, the largest increase in many years.  

The Christian Coalition of America will be rewarding those 28 Democrats  --  who joined every single Republican in the House of Representatives voting yesterday  --  with a positive score in its next Christian Coalition of America Congressional Scorecard regarding the bloated and pork-filled Omnibus money bill the House Democrats passed by a margin of 221-202 (with one Democrat voting president, ala state senator Barack Obama who voted present numerous times worried about his political viability if he took a position on many issues; 7 Democrats and 3 Republicans did not vote.) 

Voting for this gigantic spending bill is an absolute disgrace besides the fact that provisions in the bill attack the American family and our culture.  The official name of the bill is the "Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY 2010," H.R. 3288.  The reason the Democrats call it a "consolidated" spending bill or an "omnibus" spending bill is that they could not get their job done, as they promised they would, repeatedly, during the 2006 and 2008 campaigns.  They got only 5 of the 12 spending bills signed into law this year, a record worse than most Republican Congresses.   

There are a good number of new polls out in the past few days that are full of bad news for the White House and the Democrat leadership.

When it comes to the President, the latest numbers from Rasmussen have his job approval at its lowest ever - just 46% - and a fifteen point negative spread when it comes to those who feel "strongly" about him one way or the other, (26% strongly approve, 41% strongly disapprove).

And for those who don't like Rasmussen and would prefer to poll shop, they should note that Gallup and Quinnipiac have Obama's numbers below the 50% mark as well.

Byron York points out that Gallup's numbers have some interesting "firsts"...

It's the first time Obama is under the 50% mark with every age group except 18-29.  It's the first time Obama's support among white voters has fallen below 40% (currently 39%).  It's the first time he's been below 50% with every income group except those who make less than $2,000 per month.