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Game, Set, Match?

The drama over the August break was largely predictable and for the most part has burnt itself out. The death of Ted Kennedy disrupted the news feed and it’s only in the last 24 hours that the talking heads have managed to refocus on the downside to throwing grandma off the train (or a Republican if that’s your preferred option).

In the meantime an article over on Politico has some interesting snippets of information. David Axelrod said in a telephone interview earlier today in response to questions about the healthcare reform agenda:

“We’re entering a new season, it’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done. We’re confident that we can do that. But obviously it is a different phase. We’re going to approach it in a different way. The president is going to be very active.”

Politico goes on to suggest …

Obama’s specifics will include many of the principles he has spelled out before, and aides did not want to telegraph make-or-break demands. But Axelrod and others are making plain that Obama will assert himself more aggressively — a clear sign that the president will start dictating terms to Congress.

Thing is, an environment has been created wherein the public and standing members of the Senate have been calling for Obama to step up to the plate – to take the lead. It is difficult at this stage of the game to accuse Obama of ramming his own agenda down the throat of a hostile Senate. One could argue that this is the set piece in the game-set-match scenario. In support of this proposition I place before you a track record of Obama’s effectiveness in playing process, backed by the inside acumen of Rahm Emanuel, in a script penned by one David Axelrod.

Sept. 15 is the deadline that the White House gave Senate negotiators to seek a bipartisan bill. As Chris would say, ‘timing is everything’.

UPDATE: 3 SEP 2009

Obama is scheduled to speak to both houses of Congress on the 9 SEP 2009 during which it is being widely reported that he will spell out his expectations with respect to the shape of a final healthcare bill.

UPDATE: 09 SEP 2009

Barack Obama’s speech to the members of Congress.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32773968#32766830

506 replies on “Game, Set, Match?”

Exclusive: Poll shows Deeds within 4.
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Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor in Virginia, has pulled to within four percentage points of Republican Bob McDonnell, according to a new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research poll out Thursday.

The poll, conducted Wednesday evening, showed McDonnell leading Deeds 48 percent to 44 percent. Seven percent had no opinion.

McDonnell has led throughout the race, much of the time by double-digits. But the gap has closed significantly in recent weeks and on Sunday, a Washington Post poll showed McDonnell up by a 51 percent to 47 percent margin.

“The race has definitely tightened,” said Matt Towery, CEO of InsiderAdvantage. “Virginia is still very much a state that is up for grabs.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27543.html#ixzz0S7cLUEST

New Jersey.
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As the battle for New Jersey governor continues to heat up, a new survey conducted for Stan Greenberg and James Carville’s organization Democracy Corps by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research finds that that race is now a dead heat with Republican Chris Christie at 40 percent, Democratic Governor Jon Corzine at 39 percent and independent Chris Daggett receiving 11 percent of the vote. Corzine had slowly but steadily narrowed the race since our first poll in early August, moving from a 5-point deficit to the current 1-point margin.

Meanwhile, for the first time, more New Jersey voters now rate Christie unfavorably than rate him favorably, 34 percent unfavorable to 32 percent favorable.

Corzine continues to benefit from the Democratic partisan advantage the Garden State. Democratic candidates for the state legislature hold a 41 to 37 percent lead on the generic ballot and the Democratic Party remains much more popular (42 percent favorable, 38 percent unfavorable) than the Republican Party (31 percent favorable, 40 percent unfavorable). President Barack Obama also remains very popular in the state with 57 percent rating him favorably and just 28 percent rating him unfavorably.

continued on The Democracy Corps
Bit different to what David was suggesting.

This site comes up well on my brand new 23.5″ HD monitor. Powered by the new Windows 7.

New post …

OBAMA: We are here to announce that yesterday in Vienna, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France presented detailed evidence to the IAEA demonstrating that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years.

G20: Iranian Nuclear Facility

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