That's how the New York Daily News is treating the news that Obama gave himself a "good, solid B plus" when asked by Oprah Winfrey to grade his first year in office. Obama went on to say he'd boost his grade to an "A minus" once health care reform gets passed but added he "can't give myself the grade I'd like" until more Americans are back to work.

While Obama (and his most fervent supporters like the slavish Jacob Weisberg) might truly believe he deserves an B+/A-, it's safe to say the rest of the country sees that as a fairly generous grading curve for a man who entered his first December in office with the lowest job approval rating ever recorded for any president at this point in his term.  Obama has shed a net of 40 points in job approval since taking office and now finds a majority of Independents disapproving of the job he's doing as president.

Two stories of note this morning on the California Senate race. The Wall Street Journal profiles Republican underdog Chuck DeVore, saying that he's counting on his stellar conservative credentials to power him past moderate Carly Fiorina.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle notes that Ms. Fiorina is looking ahead to the general election and hoping to make Barbara Boxer's left-wing partisanship a defining issue in the campaign.

According to the most recent general poll, Boxer is under 50% but still leads Fiorina by nine points, 46 to 37.

Also from the WGN/Chicago Tribune poll are numbers of the gubernatorial race. Incumbent Democrat Pat Quinn has a healthy lead over his primary challenger Dan Hynes, while former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan leads his closest challenger by 14 points in a crowded Republican field.

Twenty-one percent of Democrats and 31% of Republicans remain undecided.

Democrats
Quinn 49
Hynes 23
Others 7
Undecided 21

Republicans
Ryan 26
McKenna 12
Brady 10
Dillard 9
Andrzejewski 6
Others 6
Undecided 31

New poll from WGN/Chicago Tribune shows Democratic State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Congressman Mark Kirk leading their respective primaries in the race to replace Roland Burris.

Giannoulias has a comfortable lead over his nearest challenger, Cheryl Jackson, while Kirk, despite not being well liked by conservatives, is dominating a weak field.

There's still lots of fluidity in the race, however, as 35% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans remain undecided. The primary is on February 10, 2010.

Democrats
Giannoulias 31
Jackson 17
Hoffman 9
Others 8
Undecided 35

Republicans
Kirk 41
Others 13
Undecided 46

Some classic Joe Biden at a fundraiser today for Chris Dodd in Connecticut. It's probably for the best that the embattled senator couldn't be there.

From a pool report:

"Chris is getting the living hell beat out of him, the living bejesus beat out of him,'' Biden said. "Why? Because he's being a leader.

"This is going to be a hell of a race and it's an uphill race,'' Biden said, “but Chris Dodd will prevail.''

President Obama released the following statement on the House's passage of financial regulatory reform:

I commend the House of Representatives for passing The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009.  This legislation brings us another important step closer to necessary, comprehensive financial reform that will create clear rules of the road, consistent and systematic enforcement of those rules, and a stronger, more stable financial system with better protections for consumers and investors.

The Senate is working on similar legislation, and I urge both houses of Congress to pass this necessary reform as quickly as possible on behalf of the American people.  I look forward to signing a strong bill that establishes and enforces clear rules; closes the loopholes that allowed Wall Street firms and other creditors to game the system and evade accountability; protects consumers and investors from predatory lending and deceptive financial practices; and gives the government the necessary tools to prevent any institution from posing a risk to the whole system or making the American taxpayer collateral damage in the event of future turmoil.

The crisis from which we are still recovering was born not only of failure on Wall Street, but also in Washington. We have a responsibility to learn from it, and to put in place reforms that will promote sound investment, encourage real competition and innovation, and prevent such a crisis from ever happening again. That's how we will build a stronger foundation for our lasting growth.

Excluding the Rasmussen and Gallup overnight tracking polls, there have been seven major national surveys released this week. President Obama has recorded an all-time low job approval rating in six of the seven:

Quinnipiac 46%
Marist 46%
CNN/Opinion Research 48%
Ipsos/McClatchy 49%
CBS News/NY Times 50%
Bloomberg* 54%

Only one poll - FOX News/Opinion Dynamics - showed in increase in President Obama's job approval rating over the last month. In the current survey, FOX has Obama at 50% approval, up from his all-time low of 46% recorded in last month's poll.

The net result, of course, is that Obama has also reached an all-time low approval rating in the RCP National Average at 48.9%. Obama initially dropped under the 50% for the first time over Thanksgiving - he spent three days at 49.9% between November 25 and November 28.  After ticking up back over 50% right after the holiday break, Obama went under 50% again on December 4th and has remained there for seven straight days:

*Bloomberg has only measured President Obama's job approval in national surveys twice this year. President Obama's job approval was 56% in Bloomberg's other poll in September.

Another poll shows Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid trailing much lesser-known Republican challengers. In the Rasmussen survey (500 LVs, 12/9, +/- 4.5%), the incumbent is stuck at 43 percent in each potential matchup.

General Election Matchups
Lowden 49 (-1 vs. last poll, 9/14)
Reid 43 (+3)
Und 3 (-2)

Tarkanian 49 (-1)
Reid 43 (unch)
Und 2 (-1)

Angle 47 (no trend)
Reid 43
Und 3

Favorable Ratings
Reid 40 / 57
Lowden 46 / 32
Tarkanian 49 / 30
Angle 40 / 37

Forty-four percent of Nevada voters favor the health care plan Reid is shepherding through the Senate, while 54 percent oppose it.

President Obama's approval rating is 46 percent, while 55 percent disapprove. Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) remains unpopular, with 61 percent disapproving of his job performance while 35 percent approve.

The race for President Obama's former Senate seat remains a tossup. According to a new Rasmussen survey (500 LVs, 12/9, MoE +/- 4.5%), Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D) has taken a slight lead over Rep. Mark Kirk (R), but the Republican holds on to his advantage against other potential Democratic foes.

General Election Matchups
Giannoulias 42 (+1 vs. last poll, 10/14)
Kirk 39 (-2)
Und 15 (-2)

Kirk 42 (-1)
Jackson 39 (unch)
Und 15 (+2)

Kirk 42 (-1)
Hoffman 38 (+5)
Und 17 (+1)

The primary, the first in the nation in the 2010 cycle, is just 53 days away.

Favorable Ratings
Kirk 50 / 32
Giannoulias 48 / 36
Jackson 38 / 34
Hoffman 40 / 27

Obama remains popular in his adopted home state, with 58 percent approving of his job performance and 43 percent disapproving. Gov. Pat Quinn (D) also has a solid 51 percent job approval rating. Fifty percent support the Democratic health care plan, while 46 percent oppose.

President Obama dominates Sunday night television this weekend, with the serious, another interview with "60 Minutes," and the trivial, a "Christmas at the White House" special from Oprah Winfrey.

Harpo has just released some excerpts from the latter, which includes a rare anecdote from the president about his father. Asked about the favorite gifts he received as a child, Obama says one was a basketball his father gave him in the rare moments he had with him in his youth:

"The one time I met my father he was visiting during Christmas and he gave me a basketball and - the degree to which I came to love basketball - it wasn't until much later in life that I realized, ‘Actually, he gave me that basketball.' I think there was some cause and effect there in terms of the degree to which I just ended up taking up the sport as a kid who didn't know his dad.

Harpo does tease in the release that Oprah asked the president to give himself a grade at the end of the first year in office, and that the grade "might surprise you." The special airs at 10 pm ET on ABC. More excerpts after the jump:

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