On national television this past Sunday Dan Rather said that despite being "articulate," President Obama ""couldn't sell watermelons if you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic." Naturally, his comment caused an uproar, since it could fairly be interpreted as being racist - and almost certainly would have been labeled as such if a conservative had said the same thing.

Here is Rather's 1,251-word response to Watermelongate, which basically boils down to a lament about the new media age, a reminiscence of how great things used to be, and a plug for his new show.  But about halfway through Rather gets to the nut:

All this is the backdrop for what I said on the Matthews show. I was talking about Obama and health care and I used the analogy of selling watermelons by the side of the road. It's an expression that stretches to my boyhood roots in Southeast Texas, when country highways were lined with stands manned by sellers of all races. Now of course watermelons have become a stereotype for African Americans and so my analogy entered a charged environment. I'm sorry people took offense.

I always laugh when I see such a weasely apology. Not "I'm sorry for saying something that played right into an obvious racial stereotype." Instead, he's sorry any "people" out there took offense to his comment. In other words, it's not his fault for saying what he said, it's your fault for taking offense to it.

Nor does his "gee whiz it's just a boyhood saying from South Texas" offer absolution. There are plenty of sayings from days gone by that may not be considered appropriate in certain contexts today - and it's nothing short of amazing that Rather wasn't bright enough to recognize his comment would fall into that category.

Rather's response is especially ironic, because even if we take him at his word and assume in this instance he's fallen victim to a hyper-sensitive, politically correct culture boosted by cable news steroids, Rather is one of the members of the left wing media elite who spent a few incredibly influential decades helping to create this PC-crazed environment in the first place.

A Rasmussen survey earlier this week showed former Rep. Scott McInnis (R) leading Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) in the Colorado governor race. Today, Public Policy Polling (D) releases its survey (580 RVs, 3/5-8, MoE +/- 4.1%) showing the Democrat with an advantage.

General Election Matchup
Hickenlooper 50
McInnis 39
Und 11

Hickenlooper has an apparent advantage in name recognition, with 51 percent of Coloradoans viewing him favorably and 27 percent unfavorably. McInnis is viewed favorably by 28 percent, unfavorably by 27 percent, and 44 percent are unsure.

Retiring Gov. Bill Ritter (D) has a net negative job approval rating, with 38 percent approving and 50 percent disapproving. In an August survey, PPP showed McInnis leading Ritter by 8 points.

A new Public Policy Polling survey finds Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and fellow Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio both defeating Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek in hypothetical general election matchups. However, Crist beats Meek by 13 points, while Rubio wins by just 5 points.

Crist 46 - Meek 33 - Und 22

Rubio 44 - Meek 39 - Und 18

PPP released a survey yesterday finding Rubio leading Crist by 32 points in the GOP primary, giving him a 16.8-point lead in the RCP Average. Some have now suggested the one-time frontrunner Crist could be more successful in the general election if he ran as an independent or Democrat -- two prospects the PPP poll also looked into.

Rubio (R) 43
Crist (D) 34
Und 22

Rubio (R) 34
Crist (I) 27
Meek (D) 25
Und 14

The survey was conducted March 5-8 of 849 RV with a MoE of +/- 3.4%.

Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has a real fight on his hands to hold on to his job in Massachusetts, facing not just a Republican foe in either Charlie Baker or Christy Mihos, but also Democrat-turned-Independent state Treasurer Tim Cahill. Nearly two months after a Republican upset in the special election for Senate, a new Rasmussen poll out today shows Patrick hovering in the mid-30s in two potential matchups, with Baker coming in just points behind the incumbent.

General Election Matchups
Patrick (D) 35 (+2 vs. last poll, 11/23)
Baker (R) 32 (+4)
Cahill (I) 19 (-6)

Patrick (D) 34 (+2)
Cahill (I) 30 (+2)
Mihos (R) 19 (-9)

Rasmussen also tested new Sen. Scott Brown (R), and found that 70 percent of Bay State voters approve of his job performance so far, while 26 percent disapprove. Fifty-eight percent say the Kennedy dynasty is over in Massachusetts.

Marco Rubio (R) gets a jump on Charlie Crist (R) by launching the first TV ad of the Florida Senate campaign.

"Americans need Republicans who will stand up to Barack Obama, not join him," Rubio says in the direct-to-camera spot.

The effort to define himself on television comes after Crist's campaign has seized on reports of Rubio's use of the Florida GOP's credit card as state House speaker. The ad is reportedly airing statewide on cable.

New York Gov. David Paterson's 21% approval rating appears to have bottomed out, according to a new Quinnipiac survey. It's identical to a Q poll taken last week following new allegations regarding the governor.

Last week, just 46% said Paterson should serve out his term to the end of the year and 42% said he should resign. Now 50% think the governor should stay, compared to 39% who want him out.

“When the headlines die down, Gov. David Paterson's poll numbers level off,” said Quinnipiac pollster Maurice Carroll. “It's hardly a vote of confidence, but the should-he-stay or should-he-go number edged up a trifle in the Governor's favor.”

The survey was conducted March 5-8 of 1,454 RV with a MoE of +/- 2.6%.

Polling firm Right Way Marketing and the website Rightosphere collaborated to produce the first poll of the Iowa caucuses.  Unsurprisingly, "undecided" is the big winner.  Mike Huckabee, 2008's Republican winner, took first place, with 21% of the vote.  Mitt Romney is second with 14%, Sarah Palin is third with 12%, while T-Paw and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (who will presumably be competing for the Ron Paul vote) come in with 1% and 0% of the vote, respectively.

Interestingly, if Sarah Palin is removed from the mix, the number of undecideds drop substantially, and we're left with Huckabee 33%, Romney 30%, and Pawlenty/Johnson at 1/0%.  My takeaway from this is that Republican voters are ambivalent about Sarah Palin -- introducing her name is enough to peel voters away from other caucus-goers, but she hasn't gotten their votes yet.  In other words, Palin would be given a chance by caucus-goers, but she hasn't sealed the deal yet, and is going to have to assuage some doubts.

The poll was taken of 300 registered voters, of whom 223 were determined to be "likely voters."

Just days after Bill Brady officially became the GOP nominee for Governor in Illinois (beating out Kirk Dillard by just over 190 votes), Rasmussen is out with a new poll showing the Republican challenger running ten points ahead of the Democratic incumbent, Pat Quinn:

Brady (R) 47
Quinn (D) 37
Other 6
Undecided 9

According to Rasmussen,only 43% of Illinois voters approve of the job Pat Quinn is doing as Governor, while 56% disapprove.

Anonymous Democratic sources in the House fire back at Massa via the Washington Post:

Former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) has been under investigation for allegations that he groped multiple male staffers working in his office, according to three sources familiar with the probe.

The allegations surrounding the former lawmaker date back at least a year, and involve "a pattern of behavior and physical harassment," according to one source. The new claims of alleged groping contradict statements by Massa, who resigned his office on Monday after it became public that he was the subject of a House ethics committee investigation for possible harassment. [snip]

According to two sources familiar with the probe, Massa's former deputy chief of staff Ron Hikel provided the information about the staffers' allegations to the House ethics committee three weeks ago. Hikel had earlier sought advice from Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office about brewing internal complaints, the sources said, and had been urged to report the allegations to the committee.

Hikel, reached at his home Tuesday, declined to comment on the ethics investigation.

Massa is scheduled to be on Glenn Beck's show shortly and on Larry King later tonight.

A new Marist poll shows that 68% of New York voters want embattled Governor Paterson to finish out his term. Twenty-eight percent think he should resign and 4 percent don't have an opinion. These numbers are essentially unchanged from Marist's survey one week ago, taken in the immediate wake of news that Paterson was directly involved in intervening in an alleged case of domestic abuse by one of his top aides.