A WTHR/Indianapolis Star poll this morning has some surprising results showing Republican Governor Mitch Daniels in serious trouble.  The conventional wisdom was that Daniels was possibly vulnerable, but that this was a lower tier pickup opportunity due to a lack of name candidates on the Dem side.  However, both former Congresswoman Jill Long Thompson and businessman Jim Schellinger beat out Governor Daniels in head to head matchups despite virtually no name ID.  Daniels also has a 50% disapproval to 40% approval.

http://www.indystar.com/...

Half of Hoosiers likely to vote in next year's election disapprove of Gov. Mitch Daniels' performance, and the two Democrats vying for Daniels' job have at least as much voter support as he does, according to a new Indianapolis Star-WTHR (Channel 13) poll.

Of the 449 people surveyed who said they were likely to vote in the 2008 election, 44 percent said they would back Thompson if their choice was between Thompson and Daniels, while the governor received support from 43 percent of those surveyed.
In a match-up between Schellinger and Daniels, Schellinger was ahead 44 percent to 40 percent.

I don't buy the spin in the progressive community that this Iraq supplemental bill was some sort of total capitulation to Bush.  Ideally we would have the votes to override a Bush veto and responsibly fund a pullout of our troops.  I also wish we would have not passed the funding bill at all, which is the only thing that would truly end the war.  However, we had even less support for that.

The truth is, the bill that Bush just signed is a better bill for ending the war than the one he vetoed about a month ago.

http://abcnews.go.com/...  

Some people from the Pentagon testified before the House Intelligence Committee that Al Queda had created a terrorist video game by somehow modifying the source of an existing video game.  They showed a movie of the game before the committee and claimed they were using the game to recruit terrorists.  It was posted on insurgent websites and you could buy a copy for $25.  There was even dialogue in English, talking about how the Americans had destroyed their homes.

These guys get millions a year to search the Internet for "terrorist threats".  It turns out they got everything completely wrong...

Asked about the possibility of a filibuster to stop the nomination, Dean said, "we have to do whatever we have to do. I don't have a say in whether we have a filibuster but I am very supportive of what Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Kerry are doing."

The Call

Keep it up, everyone is making a difference.

From http://www.howeypolitics.com/:

I have been honored by the many friends and fellow Hoosiers encouraging me to run for the U.S. Senate these past few weeks. I have considered this option because I believe each of us has a role to play in making our nation safer, more prosperous, and with ample opportunities for all Americans. But thinking of my four young children reminds me that, at this important stage in their lives, my most important job is to be the best husband and father I can possibly be.

Credit to El Gringo for finding this.  I think we can say with near-certanity this is Gannon.

This was a November, 13th, 2002 press conference on the 100th anniversary of the West Wing.

Why's that so important... that's a couple months BEFORE Gannon even started writing for GOPUSA.com according to our timeline!

My theory is that perhaps, someone in the WH asked Bobby Eberle to take Gannon on as a reporter, not Eberle asking the WH for day passes.

Why do I say that... because Bobby Eberle claimed to the Standing Committee of Correspondents Gannon wasn't getting PAID by Talon News/GOPUSA on Feb 27, 2004!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/electionquiz/flash.htm

Obviously, we knew their likely voter model was all screwed up, but this just confirms it.

The questions:

1. How much thought have you given to the upcoming election.

• Quite a lot (My Answer)
  
• A little