Offered without comment:

In the race to take on California Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) next year, many consider former HP CEO Carly Fiorina to be the favorite of the Republican primary field. A new L.A. Times/USC poll shows that may not be the case:

Fiorina 27
DeVore 27
Other 2
Und 40

It's still extremely early in the primary race, as two in five remain undecided and Fiorina and DeVore are largely unknown quantities. However, Boxer's low 44% approval rating gives the GOP, no matter who the primary winner is, hope in the general election.

In the race for governor, businesswoman Meg Whitman, former congressman
Tom Campbell and California State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner were tested in the GOP primary.

Whitman 35
Campbell 27
Poizner 10
Other 2
Und 23

The winner of the GOP primary will most likely take on Attorney General Jerry Brown, a former governor, in the general election. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ended his bid Oct. 30. For now, voters appear to be split on their feelings about Brown's political experience: 47% say he has the experience necessary to lead the state during tough times, while 44% say he's a career politician with outdated ideas.

The survey, based on interviews of 1,500 registered voters from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3, was conducted by two prominent national pollsters, the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies.

Who knew Russian mobsters had so much in common with the (soon to be ex) junior Senator from Illinois.

Just when you think things couldn't possibly get worse for poor, bumbling Gordon Brown, they do:

The mother of a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan has accused Gordon Brown of disrespecting her son's memory by misspelling their surname in a letter of condolence. [snip]

In total, said Mrs Janes, there were 20 mistakes in the letter, which was only four sentences long.

"In the days after Jamie's death I got letters from Prince Philip, Buckingham Palace, the Defence Secretary and his regiment. They were all written from the heart and made me feel Jamie's death was important to them," she added. "Then I got Gordon Brown's. I only got through the first four lines before I threw it across the room in disgust."

"If I wanted to be part of socialized medicine, I would have moved to Europe. I'll be damned if I'm going to let a socialistic Washington shove a new mandate down the (Illinois) taxpayers' throats, especially if it's health care." - Republican Kirk Dillard, the Illinois state senator who famously cut a campaign ad on behalf of Barack Obama during the 2008 primary campaign, at a debate last night among GOP gubernatorial hopefuls.

Ironically enough, one of the issues touted in the spot while Dillard sang Obama's praises is....wait for it....health care. Watch:

Pretty funny stuff from Jon Stewart:

As part of a late-summer onslaught against Chris Christie meant to narrow a steep gap in the polls, Gov. Jon Corzine's campaign hammered the Republican for a health care plan they said would lift a state regulation on insurance companies mandating that all policies cover mammogram screenings. When the polls soon tightened, Democrats thought they had found a silver bullet that shored up support among a key demographic -- women voters – and soon amplified that message in advertisements.

Yet on Election Day, Chris Christie performed better than expected among women overall, and won a commanding two-to-one vote among independent women. Ultimately, both in New Jersey and Virginia this Tuesday, pocketbook concerns trumped all issue-based appeals Democrats made, a warning sign for the party as focus turns to the midterm races of 2010.

“You do the math: if a Republican ties with women, they win the election,” said Glenn Bolger, a Republican pollster who advised Virginia Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell's campaign.

McDonnell did better than that, winning by 6-points among women despite Democratic efforts to highlight what they argued were the out-of-touch views expressed on the role of women in a thesis from their opponent. Yes, the McDonnell campaign “made a concerted effort to reach women voters,” Bolger said, highlighting the endorsement of “credible women leaders” in television ads to rebut Democratic charges. But more importantly, McDonnell's unyielding focus on the economy ensured that he was the choice of the plurality of voters who identified that as their top concern.

The same held in New Jersey. A Quinnipiac Poll showed Corzine leading among women by 20 points in late October. But on Election Day, he only won that 50-45 in the final vote. Christie won 60-30 percent among independent women, the very target of the mammogram issue campaign. President Obama, in carrying New Jersey in 2008, won 58 percent of the women's vote.

“The economy was the number one issue in our polling among women by a significant margin,” Bolger said. “Women are very concerned, and there was not much of an issue-gender gap” because of that.

Democrats seem aware that appeals like the ones Deeds and Corzine hoped would draw women out simply won't cut through in 2010 if the party's candidates first do not hold firm on the economy. In New Jersey, 31 percent of voters cited that as their top concern, compared to just 13 percent who said health care.

“We as Democrats still carry a burden of proof [on the economy],” said Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association. “[Voters] need to see results. We need to show that we're not just a party of rhetoric, we're a party of action.”

Democratic women's groups are also pointing to the depressed turnout among women as a key factor, and are seeking to raise money. “Republicans made gains this week for one reason: we saw crucial groups of voters staying home or, worse yet, moving to the Republicans,” EMILY's List president Ellen Malcolm wrote to supporters Thursday.

(UPDATE) Twelve shot dead and two to three dozen wounded at Ford Hood, Texas, the largest U.S. military instillation in the world. Perhaps as many as three shooters. One assailant, an Army officer, was killed. The Houston Chronicle reports:

... Most of those killed were also soldiers, according to the briefing by Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the post commander. One shooter was killed and the other two were in custody, he said.

Cone said that local police responded relatively quickly and killed one of the shooters. He said he believed that one Fort Hood civilian police officer was among the dead. Fort Hood has contract and military police, he said.

"This is a terrible tragedy," Cone said.

ABC News identified the dead assailant as Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan of Virginia.

President Obama, speaking in Washington, called the shootings a "horrific incident" in his first public comments:

... It's difficult enough when we lose these great Americans in battles overseas. It's horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

"I believe Mark Kirk, who has consistently supported President Obama's legislative agenda, including cap and trade legislation, is quickly realizing that Republican Primary voters do not share his extreme views. In a desperate attempt to prove otherwise, he is seeking the endorsement of Sarah Palin, a true Reagan conservative, to help disguise his liberal voting record." - Patrick Hughes, who is challenging Kirk for the Republican nomination in the Illinois Senate race.

Leading GOP strategists offer candid assessments of the steep road (still) ahead for Republicans. In my column today-- GOP Gets Up Off Gurney, But is Far From Recovery. Two key bits of analysis:

John McCain's '08 chief strategist Bill McInturff:

Look, if I were a Democrat, I would be very sober now looking toward 2010 ... [But] Tuesday night did not fix the Republican Party's problems. And Tuesday night does not mean much in the context of 2012. But it's still the best night Republicans have had in five years. It's still a lot better day Wednesday for Republicans than it was Monday.

Bob Dole's '96 chief strategist Tony Fabrizio:

This certainly was a much needed shot in the arm for Republicans. And should be a dire warning sign for Democrats … [Yet moving forward] The smart Republicans are looking at it and saying ok, we're not dead yet. But we can't assume that the election of these two Republicans means that the voters think we are right and are embracing Republican principles.