The Hill News

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) fired a staffer for having posted a threatening slur against gays on a blog.

Chambliss said that, following an investigation by the Senate Sergeant at Arms, he'd decided to fire the staffer, and personally call the author of the blog to apologize.

"The office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms has concluded its investigation, and I responded to that report immediately with the removal of a member of my staff," Chambliss said in a statement.

"I have called Mr. Jervis, the blog’s author, and apologized to him personally, and I am sorry for the hurt this incident has caused," he said. "Regardless of one’s position on issues and policies, such comments are simply unacceptable, are not befitting those who work in the U.S. Senate, and I will not tolerate them from my staff."

The staffer, whose identity has not been made public. The staffer allegedly wrote that "all [gays] must die" on the blog "Joe.My.Blo! g."

Former President Jimmy Carter left a Cleveland, Ohio hospital Thursday after a two-day stay due to a stomach ailment he contracted while aboard a commercial flight.

MetroHealth Medical Center announced that Carter, who turns 86 Friday, left the hospital at 1:15 p.m. after recovering from a gastric viral infection. 

The 39th president was hospitalized Tuesday after landing at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport for a stop on his book tour promoting his new title "White House Diaries."

His illness forced him to cancel several book tour stops, including one in Washington, D.C. Wednesday.

The hospital said in a statement that Carter "thanked his medical team at MetroHealth for the attentive and comprehensive care and ! treatment he received during his stay. He also again expressed his appreciation to all the members of the public who sent greetings to him."

The hospital added that Carter will resume his schedule this week with a meeting in D.C. related to his work with the Carter Center.

The Service Employees International Union announced on Thursday a new independent expenditure of $5 million in support of California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown (D).

The campaign, which will target the state's Latino voters, will comprise a series of television, radio, and Web advertising and a field operations effort.

SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina noted on Thursday that the campaign â€" dubbed "Cambiando California," or changing California â€" comes as Brown's Republican opponent Meg Whitman is under fire for hypocrisy on her immigration stance.

Whitman was accused Wednesday by a former housekeeper of firing the woman after she said she needed help gaining legal status.

"We won’t leave it to Meg Whitman to define our issues with lies and scapegoating,” Medina said. "Through Cambiando California we will empower the Latino voter to stand up and be counted.  All of us want a better education! for our children and good jobs to provide for them."

A new radio ad sponsored by Cambiando California will begin airing Thursday, and will be followed by a television ad on Spanish-language stations in Fresno and Los Angeles starting Oct. 2.

"Whitman attacks undocumented workers to win votes, but an undocumented woman worked in her home for nine years," it states, in part.  

The Field poll shows Brown leading Whitman by four points among Latino voters.

 

U.S. gasoline consumption is one of the most critical challenges in energy policy.  One out of every 9 barrels of all oil consumed globally is consumed as gasoline in the U.S.  It is a huge drag on consumer pocketbooks and the economy, the primary cause of U.S. dependence on mid-East imports, and a major source of pollution and global warming emissions.  The fact that even President Bush-- an oil man from Texas-- declared that we had to end our addiction to oil, underscores the challenge we face.  But the Bush administration did not act with the aggressiveness that the President’s words seemed to demand.

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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs would not say if the White House backs legislation that cracks down on China's manipulation of its currency.

The House on Wednesday passed landmark legislation intended to pressure China to boost the value of its currency, but the Obama White House has been cool to the legislation, preferring instead to deal with the issue through direct talks with China.

"I don't know the degree to which inside of here that legislation has been evaluated," Gibbs told reporters during his daily press briefing. 

The Senate must pass the legislation before it reaches President Obama's desk, but the vote demonstrated the increasing pressure on the administration to convince China to let its cur! rency freely respond to market forces. 

Labor unions and manufacturers have been pressing for action for years. They argue China’s currency manipulation lowers the cost of China’s exports, hurting U.S. workers and businesses. The U.S. trade deficit with China stands at $145 billion.

But business groups have warned that the legislation could damage the U.S.-China trade relationship by sparking a trade war.

Gibbs acknowledged the problem exists, saying Obama has "discussed his concern as he has in the past."

"We have said for quite some time that the currency is undervalued and that reforms need to be undertaken," he said.

President Obama might have more opportunities to get some "fresh legs" in the White House, according to a top administration spokesman.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton hinted on Thursday at more opportunities the president might have to shake up senior staff and rejigger his administration's operations.

"At the end of a president's first two years in office, there are often changes that occur," Burton explained on the liberal Bill Press radio show. "There's going to be a lot of different things the president will have the opportunity to inject some fresh legs and ideas."

Burton wouldn't confirm the expected departure, as soon as Friday, by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to pursue a bid for mayor of Chicago.

The administration's already seen turnover elsewhere. Peter Orszag left his post as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) earlier in the summer, and Christina Romer resigned as the ch! airwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) to return to teaching.

Senior adviser David Axelrod has said he expects to leave the White House in 2011 to begin focusing on Obama's reelection effort, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has suggested he'd like to leave in 2011, as well.

Speculation elsewhere has centered around whether Press Secretary Robert Gibbs would leave his day-to-day position in front of the cameras to move to a more senior adviser role, and whether David Plouffe, Obama's political guru from the 2008 campaign, might take a bigger role in the White House.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the pack of Republican contenders for the 2012 presidential nomination, a new poll found Thursday.

A Gallup poll of Republicans found that 19 percent would support Romney in a primary, followed by 16 percent who support former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and 12 percent who back former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Romney led among both self-identified conservatives and centrists in the GOP, an early advantage for the potential 2012 candidate, who also ran in 2008.

Other established party figures like! former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and 2008 candidate and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) garnered some buzz, receiving support from 9 and 7 percent of GOP voters, respectively.

Meanwhile, the poll showed that some of the candidates seen by political professionals as contenders for the nomination haven't gotten the traction they might have hoped for at this point.

Three percent of GOP voters backed Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty for president â€" the same amount that supported Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association (RGA).

Checking in at 2 percent were Sen. John Thune (S.D.), Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.).

One percent of Republicans picked House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.), fresh off a straw poll win of social conservatives at the Values Voter Summit. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson each got 1 p! ercent as well.

The poll, conducted Sept. 25-26, ha! s a 4 pe rcent margin of error.

Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.), who is the ranking Republican on the House Oversight committee, surprised Twitter followers this week with a new avatar â€" and it's not just another campaign headshot.

The photo shows an MS Paint-style stick-figure wearing a policeman's cap and standing next to the Capitol Building (see photo below).

According to Oversight GOP spokesman Seamus Kraft, the character is Officer Terry Transparency of the Oversight Police.

A joke? Kraft explains.

"Terry was drawn up by the team here at Oversight Productions â€" for the video and other visuals, as well as for the boss' Twitter avatar," he wrote in an email. "Officer Transparency and his partner [shown in related videos], in their humorous and ironic way, have helped GOP Team Oversight fill the accountability gap between the oversight we were promised by Congressional Democrats and the lack of oversight going on today."

The office has p! roduced two videos so far â€" "The Case of the Math-Challenged Treasury Secretary" and "The Case of the Schizo Strategy" â€" which play off classic noir detective films to show stick-figured "Transparency" and his partner, Joe Thursday, sleuthing for Issa, who they call their boss.

"Will you make my little twigs pay your bill?" Transparency, in pitchy falsetto, asks Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at one point.

"When a Mickey-Mouse voiced stick figure is holding the Obama administration more accountable to the American people than you [Congressional Democrats] are, it's a tough day at the office," Kraft said.

! He added that Issa has "gotten some good feedback" following t! he avata r change, but that one blog called it "ridiculous." 

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said Thursday that he will likely decide whether to run for president "early next year."

As rumors heightened this week that Thune will enter the 2012 presidential primary field, he shed more light on when he will decide for certain whether to run. 

{mosads}"I think early next year probably would be more likely," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview to air Thursday evening.

Even though he has emphasized he has not made a final decision, Thune's comments this week have contained some of the most explicit hints that he seeks to enter the race.

He spoke in detail about his time frame, saying, "It's probably an advantage not to launch too early" because "these campaigns get very long" and "people get very weary of them."

"I think there will be a lot of â€" there will be a huge vacuum after the midterms and people will be rushing to fill it and you'll have a lot of candidates. And there could be a very big field," he said. "Like I said, I have not made any decisions about this. But my guess is that there will be a lot of folks who will be snapping up personnel in Iowa and New Hampshire and other places like that and taking very assertive steps in that direction. But I think that sometime next year is plenty early."

Thune said that all contenders in the potentially crowded 2012 GOP primary field will have their eyes on whether former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, decides to run.

"I think that if she were to get into the race, it would clearly change the equation for a lot of people," Thune said.

The South Dakota senator explained that Palin's popularity, specifically in early-primary states, could change the race.

"I think that she is someone who has a tremendous following out there, particularly in some of the early states," he said. "This is not a campaign where you start out and you run nationally right away. It's all sequence, and you have to get through certain states. She has a big following."

Thune assured that if "I were to decide to do it, I would go all out," saying that his own decision would not be predicated on Palin's presenc! e in the field.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) slammed former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) on Twitter and Facebook on Thursday after Palin tweeted denouncing him in favor of his challenger, Republican Daniel Webster.

"What is it about Palin and Twitter?" Grayson responded. "Is it that 140 characters represents the maximum length of Palin's attention span?"

He linked to a Facebook note where he continued in the same vein.

"Yesterday, Sarah Palin once again engaged in her chosen form of mortal combat - the tweet - by attacking me, and endeavoring to promote my Republican opponent, Daniel Webster, to Palin's zombie horde," the note read! .

"What is it about Sarah Palin and Twitter? Is Palin fond of tweeting because she can draft a tweet on her palm?"

Palin had tweeted about Grayson and his race twice Thursday morning, calling him "odd" and "troubled" and his campaign "twisted."

"[Grayson] blatantly lies in vile rant,but greedy media run it anyway w/no fact check," she said. "Florida deserves the best! ... Take pride in Daniel Webster."

A poll conducted Sept. 25-27 showed Webster leading Grayson by seven points.

House Republican Conference Vice-Chairwoman Cahty McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) announced on Thursday the winners of the group's video challenge, which began in August.

The contest's objective, described in a press release, was for members to "build direct online audiences, and to engage constituents in an interactive conversation" using visual and social media. 

"Earlier this year, CitizenTube reported that Republicans hold 8 of the 10 most-viewed and most-subscribed channels in Congress," McMorris Rodgers said Wednesday. "Ultimately, our success is rooted in House Republicans’ understanding of the importance and value of regular, and substantive, online engagement.”

In this contest, the Republican Study Committee won overall with its video titled "Those Voices Don't Speak for the Rest of Us." It currently has 742,9000 hits on YouTube, and can be viewed here.

Among the GOP leadership, Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) won with his "A a Look at the National Debt." It currently has 122,211 hits and can be viewed here.

Meanwhile Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) placed first in the "Member" category with "Working Hard for Northwest Florida." It has 115 hits and can be viewed here.

The House GOP conference has a history of usin! g contests to encourage members to enhance their use of platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Its "New Media Challenge," a six-week contest modeled after the NCAA's March Madness basketball tournament, began in April and lasted for six weeks, and prompted Hou! se Dems to follow with their own contest.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) suggested on Thursday that he thinks a flat tax might be a "great idea" if implemented correctly.

Nelson, a centrist who sometimes breaks with Democrats in certain key votes, expressed worries that key elements of such a tax could make it difficult to install.

"It's  great idea, it's hard to implement," Nelson said on KFAB radio in Nebraska.

The flat tax is an idea that has long been pushed by economic conservatives -- most prominently former House Majority Leader and Tea Party movement leader Dick Armey -- that would see all income tax brackets replaced with a single income tax rate applied to all earners. Supporters of the flat tax argue that if virtually no deductions were allowed from a flat tax, many of the loopholes exploited by high earners and businesses would be closed, and the government would raise adequate money while simplifying the system.

Nelson said he worried that the lack of deduct! ions would be a major turn-off for voters.

"You'll have to think about charitable contributions -- are they included. Mortgage deductions?" he asked. "Once you start dealing with those kinds of issues, the flat tax isn't flat anymore."

Nelson is one of the Democrats who's joined with Republicans at times on tax issues. Like many Republicans, he favors extending the tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year for all income brackets.

He hit GOP leaders for "hold[ing] hostage" most tax cuts for middle class earners by insisting that a vote to extend the highest-end tax cuts can't be held separately.

"I just don't think it's right to hold hostage to get the upper income, but I want all of them," he said. "I'm not sure the other side's negotiating in good faith, either."

Governors' grades released by the libertarian Cato Institute are likely to impact the early horse race between potential 2012 GOP presidential contenders. 

Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty both received a top grade of "A" from the think tank and received praise for promoting pro-growth policies and tamping down spending.

{mosads}"Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota has proposed pro-growth reforms, opposed tax increases, and been a relatively frugal budgeter," Cato wrote. "He has proposed cutting the state's high and uncompetitive corporate franchise tax, and he has repeatedly vetoed giant tax-hike packages passed by the legislature, including increases to gasoline taxes, beer taxes, wine taxes, and income taxes."

Cato called Jindal a "a top-performing governor with regard to b! oth his tax and his spending policies."

Pawlenty has not said if he will enter the 2012 race, but most political observers expect the outgoing governor to join the field. Whether or not Jindal is interested in the race is less clear, but the grades could give both candidates a boost among Republican voters. 

Because the grades were only issued to sitting governors, other potential 2012 candidates such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) were not included.

Tax and spending issues have come to the forefront during the 2010 midterm campaign season due to the struggling economic recovery. Most Republicans have argued scaling back spending and the size of government is necessary for the economy to thrive.

Democrats have argued the opposite, that government stimulus is needed to spark the economy and urge employers to hire. 

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels also earned a high grade of "B." Cato called D! aniels "a fiscal conservative, but he seems to focus more on b! alancing the state budget than shrinking the size of government."

They criticized his decision to raise taxes on cigarettes to fund healthcare spending and said he has not done enough to lower the state's high corporate tax rate.

Republican Governors Association Chairman Haley Barbour (Miss.), another potential 2012 candidate, received a "C" grade.

"Governor Barbour has a conservative reputation, but his tax and spending record over seven years as governor has not been very conservative," Cato said. "Barbour has proposed some small tax breaks and blocked some tax increases proposed by the legislature, but he has not pushed for pro-growth reforms such as marginal tax rate cuts. Barbour signed into law a tax increase on hospitals in 2008 and a tax increase on cigarettes of 50 cents per pack in 2009."

Cato also hit Barbour for overseeing large increases in the state budget before the recession, but praised him for lowering spending 14 percent this ! fiscal year.

The White House pushed back against a speech House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is set to deliver Thursday on congressional reform. 

Boehner is expected to speak at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, where he will pledge to improve the way Congress works if he becomes Speaker of the House while slamming Democrats for doing a poor job of running Congress.

{mosads}"Reform should be an ongoing and inclusive effort," he will say, according to CNN. "I don't have all the answers, and wouldn't pretend to. I welcome ideas and helping hands from any lawmaker, expert or citizen about how we can make this institution function again."

But Boehner has been a top target of the White House, which has soug! ht to elevate his stature as a symbol for Democratic candidates to run against in the midterm elections. 

Earlier Thursday, Democrats released a new television ad highlighting Boehner's relationships with lobbyists.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer wrote that Boehner's speech contains empty promises.

"We are interested to hear what Rep. Boehner has to say, but given the track record of congressional Republicans over the past two years and the lack of real reform in their new agenda, we sincerely hope we’ll hear some substantive proposals this time around. But please excuse us for being more than a little skeptical that this is anything other than a brief election-year conversion," he wrote on the White House blog. "One thing is already clear: They haven’t changed, so they won’t bring the change we need.

"Despite their talk about ending 'backroom deals' and their promises of transparency, congressional Republicans have repeatedly shown that they still pay more attention to lobbyists than they do to the American people."

Congressional transparency and the ethics process has been a main point of contention between Democrats and Republicans. The GOP has pointed to the impending ethics trials of Reps. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) as evidence that the Democratic Congress has violated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) pledge to run the most ethical Congress ever.

Republicans have also complained that Democrats have been less than transparent during the debate over healthcare reform and financial regulatory reform legislation.

Pfeiffer reminded Boehner that Democrats passed ethics reform legislation in 2007 and that the White House has gone to lengths to release visitor records and has limited lobbyists' opportunities to work in the administration.

"These efforts represent a belief that our government belongs to the American people," he wrote. "We hope Republicans feel the sam! e way about Congress, but they still need to prove that they don’t think it belongs to the special interests. Until they show they are committed to serious reform and change their own way of doing business, they won’t change the way Washington works."

New York GOP gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino confronted a reporter Wednesday night at a campaign event, telling him "I'll take you out."

Paladino and New York Post state editor Fred Dicker got into a heated exchange over a story the Post ran about Paladino's child out of wedlock.

The Post reported that Dicker approached Paladino, who is known for his brash style, about allegations he made about Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo having an extramarital affair during his 13-year! -long marriage to Kerry Kennedy. 

Paladino responded by accusing the Post of sending a "goon" to photograph his former mistress and their 10-year-old daughter.

"You send another goon to my daughter's house and I'll take you out, buddy!" Paladino told Dicker.

Paladino's campaign aides reportedly separated the fight, and the Buffalo real estate developer said of Dicker, "f*** him."

Earlier this month, the Tea Party-backed Paladino surprisingly won the GOP primary against former Rep. Rick Lazio. Paladino, a political newcomer, raised eyebrows on the campaign trail after saying he would "take a baseball bat" to the state capital of Albany.

Even though some polls have showed a tight race between Paladino and Cuomo, the state attorney general, Republican political figures have largely steered clear of their nominee's campaign.

VIDEO courtesy of YNN:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) blamed "simplistic" politics in the U.S. for the demise of climate change legislation in the Congress.

Kerry lamented what he said was a "huge lost economic opportunity" passed up by lawmakers after they failed to pass an energy and climate bill before breaking to go home for the campaigns.

"It’s because of the simplistic approach of the political process that has reduced climate changes to cap and tax," Kerry said on "Imus in the Morning" on the Fox Business Network. "The fact of the matter is that the United States is losing unbelievable economic opportunity."

Kerry had led the effort, along with Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), to craft a compromise energy and climate bill earlier this year. Those talks fell apart after Graham withdrew and blamed Majority Lea! der Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for trying to push an immigration bill before an energy and climate bill.

The collapse of talks eventually prompted Reid to introduce a drastically scaled-back energy in July, a bill which he failed to bring up before the August recess and again before lawmakers left for their monthlong break to campaign before Nov. 2 elections. The bill could be brought up during a lame-duck session of Congress, but it's still not clear if it'd have the votes to move forward.

Kerry has previously chastised inattentive voters for contributing to deteriorating politics.

“We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what’s happening," Kerry said last week, as reported in the Boston Globe.

Conservatives seized on that remark, accusing the 2004 presidential candidate of looking down on voters.

Kerry said that the U.S. had hurt itself economically by way of the senatorial indecision.

"We haven’t been able to pass an energy bill, which I think is a huge lost economic opportunity for the country," he said.

Democrats are looking at the kind of losses this cycle that would return them to numbers they enjoyed in the House following the 2006 elections, a top party lawmaker said Thursday.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chairwoman in charge of incumbent retention, pegged the party's expected losses in the House in the low 20s -- enough for her party to hold the majority.

"I think we're going to keep the majority, but maybe retract it back to around 2006 levels, when we won the majority," she said on the liberal Bill Press radio show.

Democrats controlled 233 seats in the House after winning back the chamber in the 2006 midterm congressional elections. They increased their majority by 21 seats in 2008 to 257 seats.

Wasserman Schultz suggested that Democrats will likely give back that number of seats this cycle.

She denied Republicans' optimism that enough seats w! ere in play to hand the GOP the 39 or more seats they need to win the majority.

"There are not 45 or 46 seats in play right now," she said.

Many leaders in both parties have been less willing to offer hard predictions of how many seats they'll win or lose, at risk of setting tough expectations for their own party.

Wasserman Schultz suggested that the key to victory would be keeping Democratic incumbents races focused on local issues, and not allow the GOP to national the elections and make it about President Obama or Democratic leaders in congress.

"When we're able to keep these races local," she said, "then Democrats are going to hold the majority."

Sen. Lisa Murkowski leads in her battle to win reelection in Alaska's three-way Senate race, a new poll found Wednesday.

Murkowski, the Republican senator who's waging a write-in campaign for another term after having lost the GOP nomination in a primary, leads her Republican and Democratic challengers, according to a Craciun Research Poll.

Forty-one percent of Alaska voters said they want to send Murkowski back to Washington, compared to 30 percent who back Republican candidate Joe Miller, and 19 percent who favor Democrat Scott McAdams.

Ten percent of Alaska voters say they're undecided about they're vote.

The poll comes after a CNN/Opinion Research survey released earlier on Wednesday suggested that Murkowski was in a dead heat -- 38 to 36 percent -- with Miller in her battle for reelection.

Craciun Research is an Alaska polling firm, and found that Murkowski is drawing significant support across the board, from self-decribed liberals, to conservatives and centrists.

The polls, taken together, suggest that the former member of the Senate GOP leadership and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee might be able to pull off the tough feat of winning as a write-in candidate.

She still faces significant hurdles, though. As a write-in candidate, Murkowski's name won't be on the ballot, and voters will have to remember how to spell her name. Alaska elections officials have said they'll allow for some variation, but that hurdle alone could make for an uphill bid for Murkowski.
!
The Craciun poll, conducted Sept. 24-25, has a 5.7 perce! nt margi n of error.

Democrats ramped up their efforts against House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), releasing a new video on Thursday and promising to intensify their efforts to target the GOP leader.

Democrats sought to highlight alleged relationships between Boehner and lobbyists, attacks which Republicans dismissed as another tired attack on the top House Republican.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) released a new TV ad accusing Boehner of doing the bidding of the tobacco and gambling industries in a bid to undercut the Ohio Republican's rhetoric about congressional reform.

“Another partisan attack won’t change the facts: the American people are asking, ‘where are the jobs?’ and Washington Democrats simply can’t run away from their job-killing record," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

Democrats released the ad as part of an effort to double down on their effort to elevate the would-be House speaker in the electio! n.

A Democratic strategist said that the party would begin on Thursday to "starkly and specifically define John Boehner as the symbol" of the GOP. The effort comes as the Republican leader is set to give a speech on congressional reform before the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

The effort will dig into Boehner's time as a House leader in the 1990s and his time as chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

"It'll be full throated but not with the intention of hurting John Boehner politically but demonstrating what the public will get out of Washington is they put Republicans in charge," the Democratic strategist said.

Republicans ridiculed the attack.

"Look, this is the third or fourth time that Democrats have launched an attack against Boehner â€" including having the President of the United States fly halfway across the country to give a speech ‘rebutting’ a speech the House! Minority Leader had given two weeks earlier," said a senior G! OP aide. "It’s weird, it’s ineffective, and it’s getting pretty pathetic.”

Sixty-seven percent of Americans support allowing gay members of the military to serve openly, according to a CNN survey released Wednesday.

This figure has dropped two points since February, the survey said. Meanwhile the segment of "no opinion" respondents has dropped one point â€" five percent to four percent â€" in that same period. 

Debate over the related "don't ask, don't tell" policy â€" the Clinton-era convention that prevents gays from serving openly â€" quieted this week after a defense authorization bill containing a repeal provision stalled in the Senate.

The House passed its version of the bill in May. The Senate version is expected to be reconsidered after the midterms.

The CNN poll was conducted Sept. 21 to 23 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Former President Jimmy Carter has canceled his Washington, D.C. book tour stop, according to the bookstore at which he was scheduled to appear.

Politics and Prose in Northwest Washington announced that the 39th president would not attend the event, planned for Wednesday, "due to health concerns after a brief hospital visit in Cleveland."

Carter, who turns 86 on Friday, was hospitalized in Cleveland Tuesday after developing an upset stomach aboard a flight to the city where he had planned to sign books.

His new book is titled "White House Diary." Carter told President Obama in a phone conversation Tuesday that he was feeling better and plans to resume his tour Wednesday.

Politics and Pose said that the D.C. even! t has not been rescheduled.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is still getting the hang of presiding over the Senate.

Franken, the most famous member of the Senate freshmen class, has logged dozens of hours as presiding officer of the chamber, a duty often given to new senators to help them learn arcane procedural rules.

Franken suffered another embarrassing moment Wednesday morning when he mistakenly recognized Sen. Tom Udall as the “senator from Utah.”

Udall quickly corrected Franken by noting that he’s from New Mexico.

“Oh, God,” Franken boomed into his microphone. “I’m sorry.”

“The senator from New Mexico,” Franken said, emphasizing “New Mexico” to make up for his mistake.

The exchange was less awkward than the kerfuffle Franken sparked last month while presiding over the Senate.

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) scolded Franken on the floor for allegedly mocking him.

Republican aides said Franken gesticulated and made faces from the chair while McConnell delivered a speech on then-Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.

Franken later sent a handwritten note to McConnell apologizing for the incident.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said early Wednesday afternoon he won't block a Senate vote on a stopgap spending bill, paving the way for the chamber to adjourn until after the November elections.

DeMint had earlier stated objections to a procedural vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government until December, stating that he did not want Democratic leaders to insert objectionable items or play politics with the spending legislation.

Following a Republican caucus lunch, however, DeMint said, "I want to go home."

"I hadn't seen the adjournment resolution, but if we can get a clean CR I think everyone can go home," DeMint said. "But they've added some things to it. I'm just taking a look at what they are... People are starting to smell the fumes of the airplanes out at the airport, and I know they want to go home."

DeMint said he was unaware of any specific objections to items that have been added to the continuing resolution.
"There was about a page of things, and I haven't gone over it with my staff yet," he said.

President Obama said he was "amused" by the rally in Washington organized by Comedy Central host Jon Stewart set for the end of October.

The president approvingly name-checked Stewart and his "Rally to Restore Sanity," the Oct. 30 gathering on the National Mall ostensibly meant for less strident, centrist political observers.

"I was amused, Jon Stewart, he's going to host a rally called something like 'Americans in Favor of a Return to Sanity,'" Obama told a small gathering in Richmond, Va., where he was taking questions.

The president mentioned the Stewart rally as part of a discussion about the increasingly tough media environment, where more partisan voices have emerged and "splintered" political discourse.

"The media's gotten very splintered," he said. "So what happens is these cable shows, they figure the more controversial I can be...that will get me attention."

Stewart's rally will be on the same day as Step! hen Colbert's satirical "March to Keep Fear Alive."

Colbert has been a popular personality himself on the political scene, after ribbing lawmakers during a hearing last week on migrant workers' rights.

The House approved an intelligence authorization bill on Wednesday night in a 244-181 vote.

The measure â€" the first of its kind to pass Congress in nearly six years â€" establishes new oversight rules for the spy community and creates a framework to provide the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will access to intelligence information.

The Senate passed a new version of the bill on Monday night by voice vote after Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) came to an agreement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) about its provisions. 

Pelosi praised the Senate's action in a statement on Tuesday.

“In passing the Intelligence Authorization Act last night, the Senate upheld our first responsibility â€" to ensure the security of the American people â€" while addressing two key objectives. It expands and improves the congressional notification process for covert action and provides the framework! for GAO access to intelligence community information so that the GAO can conduct investigations, audits and evaluations as requested by Congress."

The bill will also declassify intelligence program budget requests, amend agencies' acquisition processes, and create the position of inspector general for the intelligence community.

One amendment will allow the continuation of "limited notification," a process that fully briefs the House and Senate leaders and the heads and ranking members of the intelligence committees on extremely sensitive covert operations. In these cases, the bill will also require that all members of the House and Senate intelligence committees receive a "general description" of the actions described to leaders.

Senior advisers will recommen! d that the president sign the bill in its current form! , accord ing to a counselor with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The House passed a measure on Wednesday to create a new health benefits program for those taken ill because of their involvement in responding to the 9/11 attacks in New York City.

The 268 to 160 count prompted a response from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), one of the bill's chief sponsors.

"9/11 responders win one. Only 17 GOP votes. (sigh)," he tweeted following the vote. 

The tweet linked to a video of Weiner â€" known as an impassioned speaker â€" discussing the bill on the floor.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also tweeted following the bill's passage.

"Very pleased to gavel the James Zadroga 9/11 Health bill to passage (268-! 160). It is right, fair and just for 9/11 heroes," she said.

The measure will also create a compensation fund for victims of 9/11.

The House passed a measure on Wednesday to create a new health benefits program for those taken ill because of their involvement in responding to the 9/11 attacks in New York City.

The 268 to 160 count prompted a response from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), one of the bill's chief sponsors.

"9/11 responders win one. Only 17 GOP votes. (sigh)," he tweeted following the vote. 

The tweet linked to a video of Weiner â€" known as an impassioned speaker â€" discussing the bill on the floor.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also tweeted following the bill's passage.

"Very pleased to gavel the James Zadroga 9/11 Health bill to passage (268-! 160). It is right, fair and just for 9/11 heroes," she said.

The measure will also create a compensation fund for victims of 9/11.

Senate Democratic leaders gave their colleagues a message card with talking points to share with voters at home.

The card was part of a pep talk Democratic senators gave themselves at their party luncheon Wednesday before leaving Washington to face hostile voters on the campaign trail.

The theme of the card is Democrats Are On Your Side, and it tells senators to remind their constituents of three Democratic policy priorities.

No. 1, Democrats will create jobs by getting businesses to make products in America.

No. 2, Democrats will stop tax breaks for big corporations who ship American jobs overseas.

No. 3, Democrats will protect Medicare and Social Security from Republicans who want to eliminate them.

The campaign trail strategy hews to advice that senior White House strategist David Axelrod gave to Senate Democrats when he met with them in late July.

Axelrod told Democrats at a private session i! n the Senate’s Mansfield Room that they should portray Republicans as the defenders of corporate special interests, according to lawmakers who attended.

He urged them to draw a sharp contrast with the policies Republicans favor.

“This election is a choice, it’s a very, very clear choice,” Axelrod told reporters after the July meeting.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), whose support of Tea Party candidates this year has roiled the national Republican Party, said Wednesday his picks in elections around the country could actually help the GOP recapture the Senate in the general election â€" instead of having a detrimental effect as many observers claim.

DeMint has supported Delaware GOP Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell, Florida Republican nominee Marco Rubio and Kentucky GOP nominee Rand Paul, among others. In each case, the candidates have defeated or nudged aside more moderate candidates who presumably could have attracted more support from moderate and independent voters â€" worrying some national GOP leaders.

But DeMint said just the opposite is true â€" only Tea Party voters can help give Republicans the 10 seats they need to recapture Congress.

"The energy that's behind the candidates I'm supporting is the only shot we have at regaining the majority of the House and the Se! nate," DeMint said. "Christine's primary was late, so whether or not we can pull her over the finish line, I'm not sure, but all of the other candidates I've supported are ahead in the general election polls right now and a lot of what they're doing is helping put a new face on a Republican Party. People like Marco Rubio. And you've got just a great group of other candidates â€" people like [Nevada GOP nominee] Sharron Angle and [California GOP nominee] Carly Fiorina â€" has given us a new message and a new look. I think we're building our party in a very positive way."

Retiring Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) emphasized the importance of the filibuster in his last speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, noting that while the procedural convention frustrates members of both parties, its role is vital and must be preserved.

"Mr. President, I love the Senate. It's not always a beautiful thing, and it's not always a picture of a well-oiled machine. But years ago, I found a home here," he began.

"All members are frustrated with the slower pace. They are right to be frustrated. But rules changes should be considered in light of the fact that we all know â€" that the Senate is not the House of Representatives. It serves a very different constitutional purpose and the existence of the filibuster remains important to ensuring the balanced government the framers envisioned." 

He went on.

"Indeed the history of the Senate is that of a struggle between compromise and intransigence. But this is the plae where we protect political minorities. This is the place where we make sure that the fast train of the majority doesn't overrun the minority, and while I'm sure there are changes being considered, I do think the filibuster should remain at 60 votes. Because during the long history of the senate, certain traditions have been adhered to by members on both sides of the aisle"

He said that in spite of delays on "important legislation," that "our constitutional framers would have been pelased to see this constitutional experiment working."

Kaufman assumed office in January 2009 after being appointed to Vice President Joe Biden's former seat. 

He commented Wednesday on the race to replace him, saying that he feels "awful" for Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) who lost in the GOP primary. He also said he believes victor Christine O'Donnell â€" whom he helped then-Sen. Biden defeat in 2008 â€" holds views that are too extreme for Delaware voters.

"There’s a lot of things I didn’t agree with him on, but he had such a great career and such integrity and he’s so smart. And to go out like this ... I just think it’s a shame," Kaufman said of Castle.

The video of Kaufman's floor remarks can be seen here.

California's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown leads Republican opponent Meg Whitman 52 to 39 percent among likely voters, according to a new Time/CNN/Opinion Research poll released Wednesday.

The survey also showed incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) leading GOP challenger Carly Fiorina by 19 points.

Meanwhile a new poll forthcoming from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) gives Whitman a one-point edge over Brown, flipping his advantage, and shows Boxer with a steady seven-point lead over Fiorina.

Brown has led Whitman by up to five points in most other September polls. Observers note that he is favored by women and Latinos â€" a gap some say could widen after a Wednesday press conference in which a former housekeeper for Whitman alleged that she had been fired after asking the former Ebay executive for help in gaining legal status.

Polls throughout September have shown Fiorina trailing Boxer by between two and eight points, respectively.

The Time/CNN/Opinion Research poll was conducted Sept. 24-28 and has a 3-percent margin of error.

Retiring Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) emphasized the importance of the filibuster in his last speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, noting that while the procedural convention frustrates members of both parties, its role is vital and must be preserved.

"Mr. President, I love the Senate. It's not always a beautiful thing, and it's not always a picture of a well-oiled machine. But years ago, I found a home here," he began.

"All members are frustrated with the slower pace. They are right to be frustrated. But rules changes should be considered in light of the fact that we all know â€" that the Senate is not the House of Representatives. It serves a very different constitutional purpose and the existence of the filibuster remains important to ensuring the balanced government the framers envisioned." 

He went on.

"Indeed the history of the Senate is that of a struggle between compromise and intransigence. But this is the plae where we protect political minorities. This is the place where we make sure that the fast train of the majority doesn't overrun the minority, and while I'm sure there are changes being considered, I do think the filibuster should remain at 60 votes. Because during the long history of the senate, certain traditions have been adhered to by members on both sides of the aisle"

He said that in spite of delays on "important legislation," that "our constitutional framers would have been pelased to see this constitutional experiment working."

Kaufman assumed office in January 2009 after being appointed to Vice President Joe Biden's former seat. 

He's said he feel "awful" for Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) who lost the GOP primary for the seat he's now vacating, and that victor Christine O'Donnell's views are too extreme for Delaware voters.

"There’s a lot of things I didn’t agree with him on, but he had such a great career and such integrity and he’s so smart. And to go out like this ... I just think it’s a shame," Kaufman said of Castle.

The video of Kaufman's floor remarks can be seen here.

A top Democrat accused Republicans of violating a key element of their new "Pledge to America" during votes on Wednesday.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the assistant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said the GOP had broken its own promise to cite a bill's constitutional authority and make legislation publicly available for 72 hours before a vote in offering a substitute bill to the 9/11 first responders' health bill this afternoon.

"House Republicans promised in their ‘Pledge to America’ that they would do two things procedurally â€" allow the American people to see legislation 72 hours prior to a vote and include a citation of Constitutional authority in all legislation," Van Hollen said in a statement. "But today they made public a 21 page motion to recommit to the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act less than an hour before a vote, and it contains no reference to Constitutional authority."

Republicans have long complained that Dem! ocratic leaders in the House haven't made major bills available to the public long enough for them to be thoroughly vetted. GOP leaders said in their "Pledge," the governing agenda they released last Thursday, that a Republican majority would make all legislation available.

The Pledge also included a proposal to include in legislation the language that constitutionally legitimizes the action taken in any given bill. That idea was a result of elements in the healthcare reform bill passed earlier this year, which Republicans had complained contained unconstitutional elements. 

"This is laughable.  After promising the ‘most open and honest’ Congress is history, House Democrats have broken their word over and over again â€" shutting out Republicans, most of their own Members, and the American people," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). "The difference between a motion-to-recommit and the 2,000-page monstrosit! ies that Democrats have crafted in secret and thrown on the Ho! use floo r is obvious to anyone who isn’t actually on the payroll of House Democratic Leaders.”

Van Hollen, the chairman of House Democrats' campaign efforts, called the GOP's Pledge hollow.

"This is just more of the same from Washington Republicans, who are apparently more concerned with scoring partisan political points than keeping their promises to the American people," he said.

A letter signed by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) has clarified that Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree's (D) use of a private jet owned by her fiance is permitted under House rules.

Pingree came under fire from Republicans after a video surfaced showing her disembarking from a 2007 Dassault Falcon 2000EX jet owned by her fiance S. Donald Sussman, a hedge fund manager.

She asked for the opinion of the ethics committee after a Maine blog noted that she had criticized similar actions by lawmakers during her four-year tenure as head of centrist reform organization Common Cause.

The letter released by Lofgren and Bonner notes that family members are allowed to give gifts â€" like transportation â€" to members of Congress, and that a fiance counts as a family member.

It also said that House rules impose no limits on the value or frequency of such gifts.

Flight logs obtained by local media in Maine show that the jet frequently travels between the state and Washington, D.C. The records did not include passenger lists.

Pingree leads Republican challenger Dean Scontras by 24 poi! nts, with 17 percent of district voters undecided, according t! o a poll from mid-September.

Thirty-nine House Democrats voted against a resolution to adjourn the lower chamber after Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) made a rare floor speech urging them to do so over inaction on the expiring Bush tax cuts.

The final vote on the resolution to break for recess, which became a referendum on whether or not to vote on extending the tax cuts, only passed 210-209 after it was quickly gaveled to a close.

Boehner argued that deciding to adjourn without a vote on extending the tax cuts would be "an irresponsibility on the part of this Congress."

Members who voted to adjourn were "putting their election above the needs of your constituents," he said. "Vote no on this adjournment resolution. Give Congress the chance to vote on extending tax rates."

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) credited former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R) for her endorsement record Wednesday, saying that as a result the GOP is "coming through" in spite of its internal struggles. 

"There's a lot of antagonism right now between both [Senate] Democrats and Republicans," he said in an interview on the Fox Business Network. "And sometimes between Democrats and Democrats, and occasionally we have a little fight in the Republican party as well."

"But Sarah Palin has helped us all. She's endorsed a lot of people and we're coming through," he continued, prompting host Don Imus to raise an eyebrow.

The victories of Palin-backed Senate candidates like Joe Miller (R-Alaska) and Christine O'Donnell (R-Del.) in GOP primaries have ! contributed to a growing feud in the Republican party between its establishment players and those, like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who support Tea Party outsiders.

In GOP senate primaries, six of Palin's candidates have won and two have lost.

Of the 37 finished races in which she endorsed candidates, only 11 of her choices have lost. 

"I just wish I could get her to endorse the Utah Jazz â€" I think we'd do a lot better in this upcoming NBA season," Hatch added. 

"Spoke on Don Imus show this morning. My jokes were pretty funny, if I do say so myself," he tweeted later.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) backed efforts to force ethics trials for two senior Democratic lawmakers before November's elections.

Boehner defended Republican members of the House ethics panel, who took the unusual step of publicly releasing a statement demanding trials for Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) before pivotal midterm elections.

"These members deserve an opportunity to lay their facts on the table," Boehner said at his weekly press conference. "Why this is not happening is beyond me, and I think it's appropriate for our members to do what they have done."

Waters and Rangel face charges on separate ethics charges, and both lawmakers have demanded trials. But with lawmakers wrapping up legis! lative activity this week before heading back to their districts for campaign season, it seems unlikely that the trials will take place before the election.

The GOP members of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, led by Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), the ranking member, made waves by releasing a rare statement demanding the trials. Members of the panel typically stay silent about the committee's sensitive work, and try to work together in a bipartisan fashion.

That the committee Republicans would have to "resort to sending a letter to the chairman indicates that all is not well," Boehner said.

Republicans believe that if a public ethics trial for Rangel or Waters were to play out, it would underscore some of the troubles Democrats have had on ethical issues after winning back the House in 2006, in part over promises to clean up official conduct.

Democrats have said that the trials for Rangel and Waters are an exampl! e of the process working better than it has in the past.

Centrist Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said Wednesday that GOP senators' fear of the Tea Party has made it difficult for them to reach a deal with Democrats on the expiring Bush tax cuts. 

Speaking at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, Nelson said that Republicans and Democrats have to put aside some of their differences in order to develop a plan for what to do with the tax cuts that expire at the end of 2010.

{mosads}"The willingness to come across the aisle has to be there before we talk about the arguments," he said, adding later that "there is always a political risk of working with someone else in this environment."

Nelson said it could be hard for Republicans to enter those bipartisan talks, especially those "who are up in '12 or '14" and are wary of attracting a Tea Party opponent in the primary. 

Republicans and Democrats have been stuck at an impasse over what to do with the expiring tax breaks. Democratic leaders want to extend the
cuts for the middle-class, but let the cuts for upper income earners come to an end.

Some centrist Democrats, including Nelson, and all Republican lawmakers want to extend all of the cuts at least temporarily until the job market improves.

Nelson harped on the Tea Party wave in the 2010 midterm cycle in which two GOP incumbent senators were unseated by Tea Party-backed primary challengers in primary contests.

The Nebraska senator -- who could face a tough reelection campaign in 2012 -- named Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) as one lawmaker who was targeted by the Tea Party for his work with! Democrats, specifically his negotiations with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on healthcare legislation.

Several Republican senators who are up for reelection in 2012 could face primary challengers from the right: Olympia Snowe (Maine), Richard Lugar (Ind.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Scott Brown (Mass.) and Orrin Hatch (Utah).

Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), who is up in 2014, is also a potential Tea Party target. 

Nelson said that bipartisan negotiations that are limited in scope to the tax hikes could prove to be very helpful, similar to the Gang of 14 that in 2005 negotiated a compromise on President Bush's judicial nominees.

"We [need to] have the willingness to come together to sit in several negotiating sessions without staff and talk through these things together," he said. "That willingness, I think, could be harder from the standpoint right now from both sides."

Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell said God wouldn't release her from campaigning for Senate.

O'Donnell suggested that even as things looked the toughest for her in her bid to win the GOP nomination for Senate, her faith motivated her to continue.

"God continued to strengthen and empower us," O'Donnell said in an interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network. "Because you see that if it weren't for faith, when all logic said it's time to quit, we pursued, we marched on, because we knew God was not releasing us to quit."

O'Donnell taped the interview before swearing off national media shortly after winning her primary challenge to centrist Rep. Mike Castle in her state's Republican primary.

Since that time, a number of media clips have surfaced from the past of O'Donnell discussing her faith's relation to social issues, which have gone unaddressed by the candidate since her national media blackout. Democrats ha! ve seized on those past comments to cast her as an extremist, and help Democrat Chris Coons win Vice President Biden's former seat.

O'Donnell asserted that she believed that God had a purpose for her in making it through the campaign, namely to make it to the Senate in time for a lame-duck session of Congress.

"And now, with such an important lame-duck session, you realize why were were to endure all that stuff," she said.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis (D) gave the Obama administration his advice about how to stave off electoral losses during a recent visit to the White House.

Dukakis, the Democratic nominee for president in 1988, advised the administration to target key precincts warning of Republican policies' effect on the economy, according to the Boston Globe.

"It seems to me there has to be a single message coming from Democrats, from the president on down," Dukakis told the Globe. "We've got to pound that message as hard as can from now until November."

If we do that and deliver this message over and over again, we are going to be OK," he added.

There's a certain amusement factor to Dukakis having advised the Wh! ite House on elections, though.

The then-governor ran a generally maligned campaign for president against then-Vice President George H. W. Bush, who won in an electoral college landslide and won 53.4 percent of the popular vote.

Dukakis's message is similar to how the administration has approached the election, too.

Using the president's political arm at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the White House is looking to turn out key voting blocs -- first-time voters, young voters, minority voters -- who helped propel President Obama into office in 2008. The DNC is spending a total of $50 million to target those voters going into Nov. 2.

A high percentage of Republicans consider themselves supporters of the Tea Party and a plurality of Americans believe the groups have been a good thing for politics, a new poll shows.

The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Monday evening shows that 71 percent of Republicans consider themselves Tea Party supporters. Forty-two percent of the public believes that the conservative groups have been a good thing for U.S. politics. 

The Tea Party movement -- which sprouted up last year against President Obama's economic policies -- have helped propel several outsider GOP candidates to win their party's nomination in several key Senate races.

Mike Lee of Utah, Christine O'Donnell of Delaware, Sharron Angle of Nevada, Joe Miller of Alaska and Marco Rubio of Florida received the support of Tea Party groups against establishment GOP candidates or incumbent senators.

Democrats and some centrist Republicans have expressed worry t! hat the Tea Party groups, which have a fierce anti-establishment streak, could divide the GOP by demanding ideological purity from political candidates.

But the survey casts doubt on that argument, showing that a considerable majority of Republicans back the activists. It also shows a majority for Republicans in voter enthusiasm measures and a sub-50 percent approval rating for Obama.

Some metrics, however, show that the Democrats' midterm messaging is having an effect on the public.

Fifty-six percent of respondents said that President Obama inherited the poor state of the economy, which is rated the top issue for the election, opposed to 32 percent who say it was a situation for which Obama's policies are responsible.

U.S. adults view House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) more negatively than House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), a poll found Wednesday.

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that half of Americans had no opinion of the top House Republican or were unfamiliar with who he is, after a month of efforts by President Obama and other Democrats to elevate Boehner.

Fifty percent of American adults said they didn't know Boehner or were unsure of what they thought of him, in the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday. Of those who knew of Boehner, a net 14 percent had a favorable opinion, while17 percent had a negative opinion of the GOP leader.

On the Democratic side of the ledger, Pelosi has an approval rating that skews negative.

While 22 percent of Americans said they had a positive impression of Pelosi, a net 50 percent had a negative opinion of the House's top Democrat.

The poll calls into question whether the White House's effort to cast Boehner as the chief opponent to the administration's agenda in the House has been successful.

"Americans are demanding that Congress work together to help create jobs and cut spending. That's where our focus should be," said Boehner's communications director, Kevin Smith. "For the sake of the country, hopefully this dawns on the White House at some point."

The poll also found that Americans were less familiar with the top Senate Republican, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), while having a more negative opinion about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Eighteen percent said they had a favorable opinion of McConnell, verses 12 percent who had a positive opinion. Reid has a 34 percent unfavorable rating i! n the poll, versus 12 percent who voted for the centrist path ! at UCLA.

The poll, conducted Step. 2225, has a 3.1 aiqnt comp qintw

Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R), who died Aug. 9 in a plane crash, will be buried Tuesday afternoon at Arlington Cemetery.

His former colleague Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) noted on Twitter that he was on his way to ceremony, which will take place at 1 pm.

"On to arlington cemetery for internment of Sen Stevens. Be off hill 2hrs. No votes scheduled," Grassley tweeted.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate's history, was 86 when he died. As a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in World War II, he will be buried with military honors.

Waiting for the lame-duck session to pass critical tax relief for only some hardworking Americans is too little, too late.  We need to pass tax relief for all Americans this week before Congress adjourns.  Families and small business owners shouldn’t have to wait with apprehension to see if the largest tax increase in American history is coming their way.  I firmly believe that the anticipation over the future of these incoming tax increases is preventing small business owners from hiring and families from spending and investing.

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