Pollster Mark Blumenthal's column today, “What Liberal Revolt?” echoes a column I wrote a couple weeks ago: “No Liberal Revolt Against Obama.” Blumenthal cites the same data and makes generally the same point: Obama retains liberal voters support. Politico's Ben Smith has picked up on the Blumenthal piece today. So we have a string of conventional wisdom pushback.

It evokes a lesson for the entire political press: bloggers/activists are not the same as voters! Leading activists views are news. But a small clan of prominent loud voices (often of the same demographic/ideological makeup) does not necessarily make a national trend. Think anti-Vietnam/anti-establishment college protests. They occurred on a minority of campuses and Nixon won youth in 1972. But America was told a national movement was underway. It's been clear for years that liberal bloggers, like Kos, are the heirs to those McGovernites.

Reporters have long had the bad habit of conflating prominent activist voices with the actual voters they claim to represent (sometimes the two agree, sometimes not). But this automatic conflation is indeed a vice. And that vice has been exacerbated in the age of blogging, since most (not-reported) political bloggers tend to be of the activist ilk—more radically liberal or conservative than the electorate at large. The problem is magnified as bloggers engage each other and write about their argument as if it is indicative of the national conversation. Reporters pick up on that conversation and we have a meme (to borrow a popular blog term). It's all so very insular and so very uninformative. And we could do with a great deal less of it.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is jumping on comments Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele made yesterday on Sean Hannity's radio show. Steele said that he expects the GOP to pick up some seats in the House, but as far as winning back the House, he said, "Not this year."

He also questioned whether Republicans were ready for control of Congress again, after being swept from power in 2006.

DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider, in a released statement:

"If the NRCC hasn't convinced the Republican National Committee chairman they can win, it's no wonder that Tea Party activists, Republican small donors, and Republican House Members are not confident and have failed to invest in the NRCC. For all their overly optimistic spin the facts remain: Republicans are in the midst of civil war, the NRCC has merely $4 million dollars in the bank, more House Republicans are retiring than Democrats, the Republican brand is still at historic lows, and now even Republican Chairman Michael Steele is questioning whether House Republican candidates are principled. Ten months from Election Day and House Republicans are still in disarray."

Rarely do you find a piece of video that so clearly demonstrates an individual's rank hypocrisy. But here is Harry Reid in 2006 complaining about the use of a "manager's amendment" - the same procedure he used to ram through a vote on health care on Christmas Eve.

Rod Blagojevich will be on The Celebrity Apprentice. Contrary to those who think this is a sign of the coming Apocalypse, it's a fitting end for our buffoonish thug of a governor.

The special election to fill Ted Kennedy's unexpired Senate term is just two weeks from today, and we now have our first public polling on the race since the parties chose their nominees. A new Rasmussen survey (500 LVs, 1/4, MoE +/- 4.5%) shows Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) leading state Sen. Scott Brown (R) by 9 points.

Special Election Matchup
Coakley 50
Brown 41
Und 7

It's a solid lead, but even in deep-blue Massachusetts there are warning signs for Democrats. In previous surveys before the December primary, Coakley led by more than 25 points.

By way of comparison, Obama carried the state in November 2008 with 62 percent of the vote, with McCain getting 36 percent of the vote. John Kerry was re-elected that year with a slightly wider share of the vote. And there's this from Rasmussen:

Both candidates get better than 70% of the vote from members of their respective parties, but Brown leads 65% to 21% among voters not affiliated with either of the major parties. In Massachusetts, however, Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans and it is very difficult for the GOP to compete except in special circumstances. Eight percent (8%) of Democrats remain undecided while just 3% of Republicans are in that category.

If Democratic turnout is depressed as it was in November's gubernatorial elections, Brown may have a fighting chance. Rasmussen also found that "among those who are absolutely certain they will vote, Brown pulls to within two points of Coakley."

Favorable Ratings
Coakley 60 / 35
Brown 58 / 25

The survey found that health care reform legislation has support of 53 percent of voters, with 45 percent opposed. President Obama's job approval rating is at 57 percent, with 42 percent disapproving. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has a 42 percent job approval rating, while 57 percent disapprove.

Alan Grayson played a large part in 2009 being termed "The Year of the Political Jackass." It seems he's picked up right where he left off, wondering aloud on MSNBC whether Satan was writing the foreward to Dick Cheney's book.

That's actually a somewhat humorous line, and far more amusing than Grayson's previous dig against Cheney when he said he has trouble listening to what [Vice President Dick Cheney] says sometimes because of the blood that drips from his teeth while he's talking."

Even less funny is the fact that Grayson is one of those rare birds: a petulant demagogue who dishes out the nastiest rhetoric imaginable but who turns into a goose-stepping fascist when someone has the temerity to criticize him.

Hence Grayon's ridiculous 4-page letter last month asking  Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute a  woman named Angie Langley who set up a website critical of Grayson called "MyCongressmanIsNuts.com."

Among Grayson's complaints - I kid you not - was that "Ms. Langley has chosen a name for her committee that is utterly
tasteless and juvenile."  Cue the laugh track.

Even the Orlando Sentinel editorial page - not exactly a bastion of right wing nuts - slammed Grayson for the move, calling it "an odd and ironic response from Mr. Grayson, one of the most intemperate voices in Washington."

One can only hope the good folks in Florida's 8th Congressional district will make this Grayson's last year in office.