United Liberty

We interupt your Labor Day weekend to bring you a new poll out of Kentucky in the United States Senate race between Jack Conway (D) and Rand Paul (R).

Here are the results from the Survey USA poll:

• Paul: 55%
• Conway: 40%
• Undecided: 5%

The poll shows Rand Paul, son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and one of five tea party candidates that will appear on the ballot for United States Senate in November, taking 32% of self-identified Democrats and 56% of independent voters.

Other tea party candidates appearing on the ballot in November are Sharron Angle (NV), Ken Buck (CO), Mike Lee (UT) and Joe Miller (AK).

Back in July, Doug Mataconis posted a poll in Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District showing Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello, one of the most vulnerable members of the House, losing to Robert Hurt, the GOP challenger, by 23 points.

The latest poll out of the district is even worse for Perriello as he now trails Hurt by 26 points heading to the Labor Day weekend:

A new poll in the 5th District Congressional race continues to show a commanding lead for Republican challenger Robert Hurt.

Compared to an identical survey six weeks ago, Hurt has increased his lead over Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello by three points.

If the election were held Thursday, the News7 SurveyUSA poll indicates that Hurt would defeat Perriello 61 percent to 35 percent.

The poll gives Independent Jeff Clark two percent of the vote.

Only 2% of voters in the district are undecided and, according to the crosstabs, Hurt enjoys the support of 66% of independent voters.

Perriello is done.

If you’re in Twitter world and you follow Tabitha Hale, a really cool chick who works for FreedomWorks (one of the more principled activist groups), you may have witnessed the exchanges between her and actor John Cusack, who also slammed Fox News, Dick Armey and others during his multi-tweet (is that a word?) diatribe.

We often hear that political discourse has reached new lows. You’ll year people call conservatives and Republicans “haters,” a discription that was frequently used by Cusack in his Twitter feed, or that they are the “party of hate.” I do disagree with their positions on a few socials issues, but both sides are just as guilty of “intolerance” (and I’m using that loosely, I don’t mean it as a smear).

For example, here is a sampling of messages and e-mails left by liberals for FreedomWorks employees (language warning):

Do you still think it’s just Republicans contributing to the break down of political discourse in the country?

The Free Enterprise Alliance has launched a national ad campaign encouraging Americans to call their representatives in Washington to start supporting small businesses.

The expiration of the Bush tax cuts is expected to have an impact on small business owners as the Americans for Tax Reform recently noted, 55% of S-Corp and partnerships and 34% of sole prorietors will see tax hikes in 2011.

The Club for Growth has released a new ad against Rep. Joe Sestak, the Democratic nominee for United States Senate in Pennsylvania, slamming him for supporting the TARP bailout, cap-and-trade and the wasteful stimulus bill:

Sestak has been taking criticism, and deservedly so, for sponsoring a $350,000 earmark for development of a wind turbine to a non-profit company that has nothing to with energy. The person behind the non-profit, Drew Devitt, owns a for-profit company that specializes in the type of energy that the turbine would be used for, which would violate the House ban on earmarks to for-profit companies.

“[W]e like to say that November 3rd is more important than November 2nd because all politicians left to their own devices will spend money they don’t have. So these guys have to show up, the Tea Party has to show, after the election and hold them accountable.” - Matt Kibbe

Nick Gillespie and Reason TV recently sat down with Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks and authors of Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto to discuss where to cut spending, the tea party movement and the upcoming mid-term elections.

Here is the video:

The Wall Street Journal ran a story yesterday on the electoral prospects for Democrats in the 2010 mid-term elections. It doesn’t look good, but I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. But how bad? Two nationally known election gurus have put out their thoughts on the mid-terms.

Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, writes that Democrats have all but lost the House:

Given what we can see at this moment, Republicans have a good chance to win the House by picking up as many as 47 seats, net. This is a “net” number since the GOP will probably lose several of its own congressional districts in Delaware, Hawaii, and Louisiana. This estimate, which may be raised or lowered by Election Day, is based on a careful district-by-district analysis, plus electoral modeling based on trends in President Obama’s Gallup job approval rating and the Democratic-versus-Republican congressional generic ballot (discussed later in this essay). If anything, we have been conservative in estimating the probable GOP House gains, if the election were being held today.

In a recent interview on Fox Business, Gene Simmons, bass player and singer of KISS, and Jacob Hornberger from the Future of Freedom Foundation, called for an end to the Federal Reserve and privatization of Social Security.

Here is the video:

Over at Politics Daily, Matt Lewis notes that the politicians having the most trouble in primaries this year are appropriators, members of Congress that control the pursue strings:

Now that Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has conceded, she has become the latest victim of a growing trend: Appropriations Committee members who have lost this year.

Once thought of as a powerful committee for members wanting to “bring home the bacon,” in today’s political environment sitting on an appropriations panel seems to be an albatross.
“Earmarking is a corrupt practice, plain and simple,” says Andy Roth, a vice president at the conservative Club for Growth. “Voters understand that, but insecure politicians do not. And that’s why the old adage that pork buys you votes doesn’t work. It costs you votes.”

Earlier this year, Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, who also sits on the committee, lost her primary challenge to Gov. Rick Perry. Perry’s strategy was to run against Washington spending — and it worked.