Most popular official in survey; For incumbents, message is mixed

US Senator Scott Brown, who only months ago was a little-known figure even within the tiny band of Republicans in the state Senate, not only catapulted to national stature with his upset US Senate victory, but is today the most popular officeholder in Massachusetts, according to a Boston Globe poll.

After less than five months in Washington, Brown outpolls such Democratic stalwarts as President Obama and US Senator John F. Kerry in popularity, the poll indicates. He gets high marks not only from Republicans, but even a plurality of Democrats views him favorably.

The support for Brown, whose victory became a symbol of voter anger, is consistent with widespread sentiment that incumbents in Massachusetts and Washington “need to be replaced with a new crop of leaders.’’ That statement was supported by 50 percent of those polled, while 28 percent said they trust the incumbents.

Yet there’s one surprising consolation for Bay State Democrats who hope to defuse the voter backlash. When asked whether they will vote for a Democrat or Republican in their own congressional district in November, 42 percent of likely voters say they will vote for the Democrat and 27 percent will vote Republican.

While those polled tend to favor the nine Democratic incumbents running to keep their US House seats in November, Republicans can take hope in the state’s only contest for an open seat, being vacated by Democrat William Delahunt. Voters in the Southeastern and Cape and Islands communities that make up the district are evenly divided on whether they will vote for a Republican or Democrat.

The survey of 558 adults in Massachusetts, including 497 likely voters, was taken June 17-23 by the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center.

Brown’s backers can be heartened by the depth of his support.

Asked their opinion of Brown, 55 percent of those polled said they view him favorably, only 18 percent unfavorably. His rating among Republicans is 79 percent favorable, 3 percent unfavorable. And 55 percent of independents — the majority of the state’s voters — say they like him, while only 11 percent have an unfavorable opinion. The poll has a margin of error of 4.2 percent.

Despite the fact that his election in January was a crushing blow to both the state and national Democratic party, 41 percent of Democrats say they view Brown favorably, and 32 percent, unfavorably.

In contrast, Kerry was viewed favorably by 52 percent of those polled and unfavorably by 37 percent of the respondents. And in a sign that Obama is a polarizing figure even in Massachusetts, 54 percent of the respondents view him favorably and 41 percent unfavorably, according to the polling data.

Read more at boston.com……

Ms. Maddow lives in Western Massachusetts and her high visibility as a news anchor has peaked the interest of Democrat apparatchiks in the state. No word on whether or not she is interested in running.

If we conservatives are right about Obamanomics and his new Health Care bill being economy flatteners and job killers, by the time Ms. Maddow is ready to hit the rubber chicken circuit, the voters will be so completely turned off by All Things Democratic that they will reward Sen. Brown with a full term.

~~John Cronin~~

I realize this post may be controversial, but I sincerely believe that Palin cannot win the Republican primaries. If she would then leave the GOP to run on a third party ticket, she will be responsible, more that any other person, for a second Obama term. I ask her supporters to think this through and to not insist that a charismatic and inexperienced politician with a very thin resume be put in charge of the world’s biggest economy and strongest military. The voters did that in 2008 and we can all see what that gets us. Lectures from hostile governments, a broken economy, an empty Treasury and political drift and stagnation.

If you really think that Sarah Palin should be President, don’t throw her to the sharks before she is ready to fight them off……and you can be assured the sharks will come after her in 2012.

As Dr. Savage says, we need an experienced person who understands how to get a bill through Congress, how to get a legislative agenda actually passed into law. The inexperienced politician we have in the Oval Office now has been stalemated for almost a year and he still has a Supermajority in the House and, but for the Massachusetts Miracle of Jan. 19, he’d still have one in the Senate.

So, in 2012, lets pick someone who has a proven and time-tested track record, someone who has allies in the House and Senate who will help the new President get his/her agenda passed…..and who can start to repair the damage done to this country by Obama & Co.

~~John Cronin~~

As you know President Obama wants to have yet ANOTHER marathon talk-fest about his dead in the water health care “reform” bill.  He has invited the Pubbies to sit down and in a “systematic” way go over the various points of his Medicus Maximus bill to see if any “common ground” exists.  I sincerely hope Congressional Republicans are smart enough to see this for the setup that it is.  The only point of this dreary, tiresome exercise in futility is to paint the GOP as the “Party of No.”

When I was making calls for Scott Brown’s campaign, one dyed-in-the-wool Democrat said we were the “Party of No.”  I did not respond to his sarcasm but the thought did go through my head that being the ” party of no” was a very reasonable stance to take when considering the awful implications for society from this disastrous bill.

I urge the GOP to remain the “Party of No,” not for craven political reasons, but because it is good for the country.  There is a very strange political philosophy that has tried to ingrain itself in Washington since the 2008 elections.  It is almost self-destructuve in it’s attempt to remake the economy and society in a way that is anathema to a vast majority of Americans.  You know this, I know this and poll after poll reflect it.  And yet the lemmings of the Democrat Party have, until the Massachusetts Miracle was pulled off, continued to follow the lead of a rogue President who seems wedded to noxious bills that have been rejected by the voters, who have gone to great lengths to express their displeasure about the direction the country is headed in.

Hopefully the Republican leadership will reamin committed to their policy of united opposition to Obama’s attempt to wreck the Health Care industry and in the process, the economy.  I predict that grateful voters will reward the GOP with big gains in both Houses of Congress this November.

Sometimes just saying “No” is a good thing.

~~John Cronin~~

I had the chance to listen to some of Rush’s show today during lunch and he was talking about the breaking story that Scott Brown has changed his mind about waiting until Feb. 11 to take his Senate seat.

At first, Sen. Brown was OK with the 11th because it would give him time to hire staff, but according to Rush the Dems may be trying to pull off another one of their corrupt, backroom deals and have the lame duck, Paul Kirk, vote on some as yet unknown bill that you and I will not like.

It is hard to put into words the utter contempt with which I view the national Democratic Party. They are like a puppy that is not yet house broken……if you take you eyes off the little booger for 30 seconds, it makes messy on the carpet.

I’ll breath a sigh of relief when Scott Brown is firmly ensconcsed in office and ready to end the Dems super majority in the Senate.

~~John Cronin~~

Sen.-elect Scott Brown is demanding to be seated as early as Thursday — a week earlier than he had initially planned.

Brown, who won his special election Jan. 19, sent a letter Wednesday afternoon to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Secretary of State William Galvin asking them “certify without delay” his results so he can be seated Thursday.

Daniel Winslow, Brown’s legal counsel, said in the letter he wanted the results certified no later than 11 a.m. Thursday so that he can deliver a copy to the secretary of the Senate in time to be given the oath of office that afternoon.

This marks a change of heart for the Republican, whose swearing-in would end the Democrats’ yearlong supermajority. “He has been advised that there are a number of votes scheduled prior to that date. For that reason, he wants certification to occur immediately,” Winslow wrote.

A Republican leadership aide said that the Senate’s ability to swear in Brown “depends on what the governor does. If he doesn’t sign the certificate, he won’t be sworn in.”

A Brown spokesman says the senator-elect is eager to vote on President Barack Obama’s nominations for GSA administrator, solicitor general and a top slot on the National Labor Relations Board – all of which have some Republican opposition.

The Massachusetts secretary of state finished his certification of the official election results Wednesday — but they still must be approved by the governor’s council and signed by Patrick and Galvin. The Boston Globe reports the governor is away from the Statehouse because of several pre-scheduled events and that Patrick plans to certify the election at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, which would allow Brown to travel to Washington.

Read more at Politico