A new Quinnipiac poll in Connecticut shows that Sen. Chris Dodd (D) in a dangerous position a year before the election, with a ceiling of just 42 percent against any of his potential GOP opponents, some barely known to state voters.

General Election Matchups
Simmons 49 -- Dodd 38 -- Und 11
Foley 47 -- Dodd 40 -- Und 13
McMahon 43 -- Dodd 41 -- Und 14
Dodd 42 -- Caligiuri 42 -- Und 14
Dodd 42 -- Schiff 41 -- Und 15

The RCP Average for Dodd vs. Simmons has the former Republican Congressman up 8.3 percent. On a general re-elect question, 39 percent say Dodd deserves another term and 53 percent say no. Voters give him high marks on leadership (61 percent) but fewer say he is honest or trustworthy (39 percent).

In a GOP primary, Simmons gets 28 percent in the multi-candidate field, with former WWE CEO Linda McMahon the next closest challenger at 17 percent. Former Ambassador Tom Foley (9 percent), stockbroker Peter Schiff (5 percent) and state Sen. Sam Caligiuri (4 percent) round up the field. Simmons had taken 43 percent in a September poll taken before McMahon entered the race. In a Democratic primary, Dodd just gets 55 percent compared to 22 percent for Merrick Alpert, a former Gore staffer who has virtually no name recognition.

Favorable Ratings
Dodd 42 / 49
Simmons 40 / 10
McMahon 20 / 13
Caligiuri 10 / 3
Foley 20 / 6
Schiff 7 / 4
Alpert 1 / 3

Dodd has a 40 percent job approval rating, with 54 percent disapproving. His colleague Joe Lieberman, up for re-election in 2012, has a 49 percent approval rating, and 46 percent say he should be re-elected vs. 45 percent who say no -- a drop from the last time that question was asked. President Obama's is strong in the Nutmeg State: 58 percent approve, 35 percent disapprove.

The survey of 1,236 registered voters was conducted November 3-8 and has margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent. The GOP primary subsample of 332 voters had a +/- 5.4 percent margin of error, and the Democratic subsample of 474 voters had a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percent.

As President Obama's approval rating goes net negative in Ohio for the first time, the latest Quinnipiac poll also shows former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) leading his two potential Democratic opponents in the U.S. Senate race for the first time (Nov. 5-9, 1123 RV, MoE +/- 2.9%).

"The Democratic wave that swept through Ohio in 2006 and 2008 may be cresting," said Quinnipiac assistant director Peter Brown. "The Democratic lead in the Governor's and Senate races has evaporated and for the first time President Barack Obama is under water in the most important swing state in the country."

More than half of voters remain undecided in the Democratic primary, where most outside observers expect Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher to defeat Sec. of State Jennifer Brunner. However, Brunner closed on Fisher this month, making a 7-point deficit now just 2 points.

General Election
Portman 39 (+8 vs. last poll, Sept. 16)
Fisher 36 (-6)
Und 24 (-2)

Fisher leads by 1.0 points in the RCP Average

Portman 38 (+4 vs. last poll, Sept. 16)
Brunner 34 (-5)
Und 27 (+2)

Portman leads by 0.7 of a point in the RCP Average

GOP Primary
Portman 26 (-1 vs. last poll, Sept. 16)
Ganley 7 (-2)
Und 64 (+3)

Dem Primary
Fisher 24 (-2 vs. last poll, Sept. 16)
Brunner 22 (+5)
Und 51 (-4)

See other polling results for the Ohio Senate Demcoratic Primary

AP called it a "funk." The Pew Research Center describes the mood of the nation as "glum" in its new survey (2,000 Americans, 10/28-11/8, +/- 3%), which offers a significant warning for incumbents in both parties in the 2010 midterms.

Asked if respondents want to see their representative re-elected in 2010, only 52 percent said yes and 29 percent said no. For comparison sake, 55 percent said yes just before the 2006 midterms when Democrats recaptured both chambers; it was 58 percent just before the 2002 midterms that saw Republicans score rare gains in a new president's first term; and it was 49 percent in October 1994, just before the Republican Revolution the following month.

In another generic ballot test Pew finds Democrats still ahead, 47-42. But those who say they plan to vote GOP are more enthusiastic than Dem backers. Sixty-four percent of Democrats say they want their Representative re-elected, compared to 50 percent of Republicans and just 42 percent of independents.

On Afghanistan, Pew finds that 57 percent of Americans say the war is not going well, up from 45 percent in January. Asked about how President Obama should proceed, 32 percent want to see an increase in troop levels, 40 percent want them decreased, and 19 percent prefer the status quo. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to support an increase in forces -- 48 percent to 21 percent.

Obama's job approval rating is now at 51 percent, down from 52 in the last survey.

Some cool Veterans Day stuff from around the web.

Arnold Garcia, Jr. of the Austin American-Statesman asked a bunch of veterans to reflect on their time in the military and tell him "what advice they would give their premilitary selves if they could."  My favorite:

Frank Espinosa Jr., who served in the Navy from 1978 through 2002, said he would tell his younger self "to trust the man next to you as you would trust your own brother because you never know when his action or actions are going to save your life or the lives of an entire crew."

In the Orlando Sentinel, former U.S. Navy chaplain Lt. Commander (Ret.) Robert A. Haines offered this reminder:

First, let me emphasize an important point, and that is, what Veterans Day is not.

It is not a time to memorialize the dead — those who gave their lives in service of their country. That purpose is set aside for Memorial Day.

Second, Veterans Day is not a day to honor our current service members. That's set aside for Armed Forces Day.

On Veterans Day, we give thanks for the millions of Americans who strengthened our nation with their example of service and sacrifice. Our veterans are drawn from many generations and backgrounds. Some charged across great battlefields. Some fought on the high seas. Some patrolled the open skies. All contributed to the character and to the greatness of America.

National Guardsman Sam Taylor is currently stationed in Iraq, and he apparently has a habit of writing friends and family with humorous bits from his week. Today, the Charlotte Observer prints Taylor's latest poignant note which, though tempered by the sadness of the news at Fort Hood, still contained three cheerful items. Taylor writes:

I really don't want to sound cold or inhuman, but over here, we're at war. You steel yourself up for monstrous things to happen. You have plans; you try to accept the possibility without letting the worry about it get the best of you.

I was up almost all last night watching the news, watching them present that five or six scraps of information while showing loops of footage. Folks from my unit were gathered around the television. Some just cursed, some had theories, some tried the same dark jokes kept in reserve for similar situations. Everybody was angry. The thing is, when something like that happens back in America, back in a place you kind of build up in your mind as being relatively safe, well, it feels like the rug is pulled out from under you. And that's pretty hard.

But I tell you what: Do you know why I'm sitting up in my office at 2:30 in the morning looking at a largely unfinished weekly update? Because I was going to try to avoid my normal policy of telling cheerful and humorous bits about the week, and take the time to focus on the - I don't know, the constant threat and unknowable nature of the future? But let's face it, I don't really have anything to say about that. Life can be hard. Terrible things can happen. But there is more to life than that. In these few years the Lord gives us on the Earth, each of us is capable of living into an infinite number of amazing, glorious possibilities.

Lastly, in the San Diego Tribune Michael Garnder has a riveting article about "the fight that turned the tide in Iraq." Garder interview soldiers from Camp Pendlelton who were part of Operation Phantom Fury, the battle to recapture Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004. One of those soldiers was David Bellavia:

Despite rigorous training, Bellavia said nothing could prepare him or his fellow soldiers for the fierce combat. His unit went house to house to flush out the enemy. In one confrontation, Bellavia told his squad to stay put while he went in, storming room after room to take out an insurgents' nest.

Bellavia received the Silver Star for his bravery. [snip]

“I hope we put a dagger in their hearts,” said Bellavia, reflecting on the importance of Fallujah. “The enemy learned we weren't going to back away.”

Bellavia now serves as executive director of the nonprofit Warrior Legacy Foundation, dedicated to promoting veterans causes.

He urges the public to support deployed troops every day, not just on Nov. 11.

“There's a kid right now kicking down the door and he has no idea what's on the other side,” Bellavia said. “That is valor.”

Thanks to all the veterans for their service to America.

A headline in today's Las Vegas Review-Journal reads, NEVADA ECONOMY: State showing some life at last:

Republicans are ecstatic over the latest Gallup poll showing their party leading the Democrats by four points on the generic ballot.  While this is undoubtedly good news for the Republican Party, let's recall that the last time Republicans led the Gallup generic ballot was . . . September 2008.  That didn't turn out so well.  Sure there was a black swan event in the interim that kind of turned things on their head, but that's also the point -- a year is plenty of time for things to be turned on their head.

Former President Bill Clinton spent Tuesday afternoon pushing Senate Democrats to move on health care legislation sooner rather than later, amid talk that the legislation may not get to the president's desk this year. Tuesday night, Clinton made an interesting point about what might politically be a final deadline for Obama's top legislative priority.

"We need to put a bill on the president's desk and he needs to sign it, so at the State of the Union he's not explaining why we haven't done health care," he told Delaware Democrats at their Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Wilmington, per the News Journal.

There's no set date for the State of the Union yet, but it would likely be in late January or early February. It's fair to say that if health care hasn't moved by that point, it may not ever get to his desk.

Last night's Delaware Dems' J-J Dinner was otherwise a pep talk for Attorney General Beau Biden's campaign in waiting. Though the son of the VP hasn't announced yet, Gov. Jack Markell (D) signaled the party is counting on it. "We will work hard by sending Attorney General Beau Biden to Washington," he said.

Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) is one of the five seantors to watch in the health care debate, and one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection next year. Not only is she a top GOP target, she's now being targeted from the left by a group called Blue America, which just launched this ad in her home state.

According to a new Rasmussen poll, 60% of respondents say the massacre at Fort Hood should be "investigated by military authorities as a terrorist act." Less than half that number, 27%, would like to see the shootings "investigated by civilian authorities as a criminal act." Thirteen percent were unsure.

One year after Barack Obama's election, a new AP/GfK poll (1,006 adults, Nov 5-9, +/- 3.1%) finds that the optimism for the new president has given way to increasing wariness over the economy and Afghanistan.

Just 38 percent of Americans think the country is heading in the right direction -- the lowest number are the worst since Obama took office -- while 56 percent say it's on the wrong track. His overall job approval rating is still in positive territory at 54 percent, though he's seeing slippage on the economy (46 percent), unemployment (44 percent), Iraq (46 percent) and Afghanistan (42 percent). More from AP:

Public attitudes like that are troubling for a president trying to accomplish an ambitious agenda at home while fighting wars abroad, as well as for a Democratic Party heading into a critical election year. It will look to stave off losses a new president typically experiences in his first midterms.

Along those lines, Gallup's new data has Republicans taking a 4-point advantage in the generic Congressional ballot for the first time this year, buoyed by a significant uptick in support among independent voters in just one month. More:

Since Gallup regularly began using the generic ballot to measure registered voters' preferences for the House of Representatives in 1950, it has been rare for Republicans to have an advantage over Democrats. This is likely because more Americans usually identify as Democrats than as Republicans, but Republicans can offset this typical Democratic advantage in preferences with greater turnout on Election Day. Most of the prior Republican registered-voter leads on the generic ballot in Gallup polling occurred in 1994 and 2002, two strong years for the GOP.

Gallup also puts Obama's approval rating at 54 percent. He's at 52 percent in the RCP Average for Presidential Job Approval.