While no Democrat has actually stepped forward with a serious challenge to Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), that doesn't mean the generic Democratic candidate doesn't lead the first-term senator in polling. A new survey from Public Policy Polling (June 12-14, 784 RV, MoE +/- 3.5%) finds Burr trailing an unnamed "Democratic Opponent" 41%-38%.

Just 64% of those who said they were conservative and 49% of Republicans said they would back Burr over a generic Democrat.

Attorney General Roy Cooper and Rep. Heath Shuler were once the leading Democratic contenters to take on Burr, but both have taken their hats out of the ring (Shuler twice), leaving Democrats with what looks like a vulnerable incumbent to challenge but with no challenger to do it.

In the survey, 29% said Burr deserves a second term in office, while 49% said it's time to give someone else a chance. Just 34% approve of the job Burr's doing in the Senate, compared to 35% who disapprove and 31% not sure.

It appears to be Wisconsin polling week at PPP.  Earlier this week they showed Governor Jim Doyle in big electoral trouble.  But whatever factors are weighing Doyle down don't seem to be affecting Democratic Senator Russ Feingold.  PPP has Feingold up 51%-39% over Representative Paul Ryan; he's enjoying a decent 53%-36% approval rating.

Ryan is viewed as a rising GOP House star, and seems unlikely to challenge Feingold; right now Feingold's only opposition is Constitution Party candidate Rob Taylor.  It's a little bit disconcerting for Feingold that he is toying with 51% while President Obama is riding high in the polls, and Feingoldhas underperformed against weak candidates in the past. Still, as things stand it is unlikely that Feingold is going anywhere other than back to the Senate anytime in the near future.

The Republican National Committee released a web video this morning using a series of cable news clips of anchors questioning how Democrats plan to pay for a public health care option.

House Republicans will offer an outline of their own plan at a 10:30 a.m. press conference. House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and penned an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to promote the plan.

Updated: President Obama will sign a memorandum Wednesday extending benefits to unwed domestic partners who are federal employees, including gays and lesbians. The decision, leaked to several news organizations Tuesday night, comes as gay rights activists were becoming increasingly frustrated with this White House. The memorandum follows similar State Department action on domestic partners last month.

But contrary to earlier reports, the move will not extend full health or retirement plans to domestic partners. Gay groups are likely to meet the measure with mixed emotions.

Still, it is Obama's first significant move supporting gay rights. And it may be more evidence of the Grey Lady's hold over this White House. Obama's decision follows a New York Times editorial Monday that strongly criticized Obama's inaction on gay rights, as well as his opposition.

The Times noted that the Obama administration submitted a brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which he pledged to push to overturn. To defend DOMA, the brief cited a precedent concerning incestuous relationships. The point? It was to argue that there are some relationships states are not compelled to recognize.

“There was no need to resort to specious arguments and inflammatory language to impugn same-sex marriage as an institution,” the Times wrote in response.

The editorial came on the same day the president of The Human Rights Campaign sent a letter to Obama urging him to “put your principles into action and send legislation repealing DOMA to Congress." In its most personal passage, the letter read that, "I cannot overstate the pain that we feel as human beings and as families when we read an argument, presented in federal court, implying that our own marriages have no more constitutional standing than incestuous ones.”

The letter was the latest evidence of gay groups impatience with this president. Obama has been, until now, silent or oppositional on the cause he pledged to take up.

But Wednesday's action on domestic partners will not end the issue. Full health insurance coverage for gay partners is offered across corporate America. Obama has not yet met the same bar as many conservative boardrooms.

The order will also not be extended to men and women in the military. Obama has, for example, yet to act on the Pentagon's policy of "don't ask, don't tell," which about seven in ten Americans oppose. This is a president behind his public.

But Wednesday's step will buy Obama some more time. As I wrote last week, gay activists were begining to wonder if Obama's comparisons between the civil rights movement and the gay rights movement were merely talk. Wednesday's signing represents Obama's first significant action to prove otherwise. But gay groups still seem unsure whether Obama's action Wednesday is a start or a stall tactic. They remain suspect of his campaign pledge to "fight hard" for their movement.

Next week, Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak at a fundraiser of gay Democrats. Some donations have already been withdrawn.

So much for the Ensign 2012 bandwagon.

Rumors have floated in Washington about a sex scandal breaking today. Now AP is reporting that Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) had an affair with a campaign staffer.

Ensign told The Associated Press in a statement, "I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions."

An aide in Ensign's office said the affair took place between December 2007 and August 2008, with a campaign staffer who was married to an employee in Ensign's Senate office. Neither have worked for the senator since May 2008. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity.

The aide declined to comment on Ensign's political future.

Ensign recently traveled to Iowa in a visit that immediately set off speculation he was considering a presidential bid in 2012.

This comes as Nevada's only other Republican statewide officials are also fending off scandal. Gov. Jim Gibbons is currently going through a divorce, with his estranged wife alleging he was unfaithful as well. In December 2008, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki was indicted on four felony counts based on alleged wrongdoing in his previous role as the Silver State's treasurer.

Developing...

UPDATE: You can read Ensign's full statement over at Politics Nation.

Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) endorsement this morning of Marco Rubio in next year's Florida Senate race puts the first term senator at odds with his party leadership, which is backing Gov. Charlie Crist. With Rubio by his side at a press conference on Capitol Hill today, DeMint emphasized that Rubio is the kind of leader Republicans need to win back power in Congress and get the country back on the right track.

"We've got a real diamond in our own backyard," DeMint said of the former Florida House speaker. "And he'll be one of the ones to lead our party out of the wilderness."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee endorsed Crist just minutes after he announced his candidacy last month. The campaign committee explained that it saw Crist as the most electable in the general election, though DeMint argued today that Rubio was just as electable.

Before announcing his endorsement, DeMint spoke with both NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who said "he's fine with the direction I'm going," DeMint said. At the press conference, the senator railed against any Republican who believes there should not be a primary.

Crist's name I.D. and national party backing will give him what's expected to be a large fundraising advantage over the young state representative. The exact numbers won't be known until next month when campaign finance reports are due.

"Marco's in a lot better position to win than I was" in 2004, DeMint argued. "Fundraising will come."

Rubio assured reporters he knows what he's getting himself into.

"I'm not involved in a fundraising contest," Rubio said. "We're going to raise the money we need to communicate with voters. I'm fully cognizant of what this race will require."

A Quinnipiac University survey released last week found Crist leading with 54 percent to Rubio's 23 percent. Besides fundraising, Crist also holds a high favorability rating among voters -- yet another obstacle for Rubio's chances. The two will meet in September 2010.

During a morning phone call from Crist, DeMint said he told the governor he would support his Senate candidacy if he makes it to the general election, but that he was throwing his full support behind the more conservative Rubio in the primary. DeMint's support for Rubio stems from when they first met a few weeks ago, during which, he told reporters today, he was moved by what Rubio had to say.

"When I heard him talk about his vision for the country, I wanted to break down and weep because I don't hear those words spoken too often," DeMint said.

Not the U.S. President, though. At today's Rose Garden press conference, it was South Korea's Lee Myung-Bak who made a strong statement on the detention of Current TV reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling.

"I urge the North Koreans to release not only the two American journalists but also the South Korean worker -- without any conditions, to release them as soon as possible," he said. "The international community is asking the North Koreans to take that path. And once again, I urge in the strongest terms that they release these two American journalists, as well as the Korean worker being held."

Obama was not asked about the reporters, nor did he mention it in his opening statement. As the press conference wrapped up, however, a reporter asked if former Vice President Al Gore was being sent there to work for their release. Obama ignored the question.

You can read more about today's presser over at Politics Nation.

UPDATE: Robert Gibbs was asked about this at today's White House briefing. He explained that White House policy with regard to visitor logs has "been involved in litigation" for years, and that the new administration is "reviewing that policy."

"This is a president who underscored his commitment to transparency on this first full day in office," he said when asked if this review squared with the stated goal of the administration to be the most transparent. "

He later was asked about specific denials by the White House of requests for the logs from MSNBC and CREW.

"I think there are obviously occasions in which the president is going to meet privately with advisers on topics that are of great national importance," he said.

ORIGINAL POST:

MSNBC.com is reporting today that the Obama administration is fighting a request to release the list of White House visitors, "taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions."

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present. It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies.

CREW says it will file a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.

You can read more here.

Some developments in key 2010 races worth noting, from RCP's Politics Nation:

Is Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle in trouble?  That's what the latest poll from PPP seems to say.  PPP has Doyle with an upside-down approval rating, with 34% approving and 60% disapproving.  He trails Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker 48-40%, and former Congressman and almost-Senator Mark Neumann 42%-41%.  This is obviously a very perilous position for any incumbent to find himself in; Doyle's main comfort comes from the fact that there is a spirited Republican primary to face him and that this poll is sharply at odds with a DailyKos/Research2000 poll taken during the same time period.

All of this, of course, assumes that Doyle survives his primary challenge from high school student Jared Christiansen.