A series of television ads from Colorado's appointed senator, Michael Bennet, appears to have given his election hopes a boost as a new Rasmussen poll (500 LVs, 4/5, MoE +/- 4.5%) shows him narrowing the gap with two of three potential GOP foes. His primary opponent, former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, has lost ground against all three.

General Election Matchups
Norton (R) 46 (-2 vs. last poll, 3/2) -- Bennet (D) 41 (+2) -- Und 8 (+2)
Wiens (R) 45 (+2) -- Bennet (D) 39 (-1) -- Und 12 (+1)
Buck (R) 44 (unch) -- Bennet (D) 40 (+2) -- Und 12 (+1)

Norton (R) 49 (+5) -- Romanoff (D) 38 (-4) -- Und 8 (-1)
Wiens (R) 48 (+4) -- Romanoff (D) 38 (-3) -- Und 11 (-2)
Beck (R) 45 (+4) -- Romanoff (D) 37 (-3) -- Und 13 (unch)

President Obama's job rating slipped a point since March, with 42 percent approving and 57 percent disapproving. Gov. Bill Ritter (D) saw a 6-point jump in his approval rating, but only 40 percent approve now while 57 percent disapprove.

The health care plan is very unpopular in Colorado, with 37 percent saying it's good for the country and 55 percent saying it's bad. Fifty-seven percent would support a repeal effort.

Favorable Ratings
Bennet 45 / 41
Romanoff 39 / 39

Norton 43 / 39
Buck 42 / 22
Wiens 40 / 26

Pollster Scott Rasmussen released a poll of the Illinois Governor's race (4/5/2010, 500 LV, +/- 4.5%):

Bill Brady (R) 45% (-2)
Pat Quinn (D) 38% (+1)

Key graf:

The race in President Obama's home state has tightened slightly since last month, when Brady was 10 points ahead. Quinn, who became governor following the impeachment last year of fellow Democrat Rod Blagojevich, continues to fall far short of the 50% support viewed as critical for incumbents at this stage of a campaign. Perhaps most telling at this point is the poor showing he's making in a state that trends Democratic.

Brady leads by .7 in the RCP average.

Nothing like a brawl between a disgraced former politician from New Jersey and an opinion columnist from state's biggest paper. Newspapers may be dying, but you still shouldn't pick fights with the folks who buy ink by the barrel.

Just the other day Harry Reid was telling Greta Van Susteren how nice people were being toward him since the health care bill passed. "I mean, traveling on airplanes, people are so nice to me - and it wasn't that way before....," Reid said.

Or not:

STAGECOACH, Nev. — As he embarked on a campaign swing through his home state this week, Sen. Harry Reid didn't have to look far to see that trouble is coming at him.

A leather-clad biker at a pizza shop refused to shake his hand. A protester waved a sign, "Welcome to Harry Reid's throw Nevada under the bus tour." A woman confronted him with two pages of statistics that she said showed Washington is ripping off Nevada.

Reid also brushed off a question from Van Susteren about why his poll numbers were so dismal. "We're doing fine in the polls," Reid responded with a straight face.  Or not.

Quinnipiac's latest survey in Pennsylvania (1,412 RVs, 3/30-4/5, MoE +/- 2.6%) shows that the Senate race remains volatile. Sen. Arlen Specter (D) had a seven-point lead just a month ago, but former Rep. Pat Toomey (R) has now jumped out front.

Senate General Election Matchups
Toomey 46 (+4 vs. last poll, 2/22-28)
Specter 41 (-8)
Und 12 (+4)

Toomey 42 (+3)
Sestak 34 (-2)
Und 22 (-2)

A Quinnipiac poll released yesterday found Specter comfortably ahead of Rep. Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary.

“A Toomey-Specter race could continue swinging back and forth until November because most voters won't begin to focus on it until after Labor Day,” said Quinnipiac's Peter Brown. "On paper, Sen. Specter is vulnerable in the general election because only 36 percent of voters say he deserves another term. But Toomey is so little known that the electorate is torn which way to go."

Only 36 percent of state voters say Specter deserves another term, while 52 percent say he doesn't. Both are all time lows for the former Republican-turned-Democrat.

After the jump, the latest numbers in the gubernatorial race.

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Sorry about yesterday's absence.  I was on the road.  Fortunately it was a relatively slow polling day.  Oh wait . . .

President

The President continued to see his job approvals trade in their slightly-elevated post-healthcare band.  Rasmussen has him today at -11 with his "strongly approve/disapprove numbers."  This is due to his "strong approves" dropping three points over the past few days.  He's at 48/52 in the overall approve/disapprove, which is substantially better than the 43%/56% from a few weeks ago.  Gallup had the President at 50/45, up a point from yesterday.
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In the first three months of 2010, Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R) raised an impressive $3.6 million. Over the same time period, Rubio pushed Gov. Charlie Crist, the former frontrunner, out of the lead in their primary race.

Starting the year with a strong fundraising quarter was important for Rubio, who had some catching up to do. With more than $7.5 million in the bank, Crist held a $5.5 million cash advantage at the end of the year.

Rubio's take for the first quarter of the year represents nearly half of his total receipts over the entirety of his campaign. He raised $1.75 million in the 4th quarter of 2009 and more than $1 million in the 3rd quarter.

Rubio holds a 25.4-point lead in the RCP Average for the Florida Republican Senate primary. Florida is currently listed as Likely Republican on RCP's new Battle For The Senate Map.

The fight: For Illinois Governor

The spoils: A seat at the table to redistrict the state's 18 Congressional districts, and to determine who loses a seat.

The poll: Public Policy Polling (D), 4/1/2010-4/5/2010, MOE +/- 4%, 591 LVs

The result:

Bill Brady (R) 43%
Pat Quinn (D) 33%

Pat Quinn approval/disapproval: 25%/53%
Bill Brady fav/unfav: 25%/20%

Key graf:

There's virtually nothing positive that can be derived from Quinn's poll numbers. Democrats only approve of him by the smallest of margins, 37/36. African Americans disapprove of him by a 24/37 spread, although they still plan to vote for him 51-17. Only 23% of independents and 10% of Republicans think he's doing a good job.

Full polling can be found here

RCP currently rates the race as a Tossup

Republican Tom Foley, the former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, leads Democrats Ned Lamont and Dan Malloy in the open race for governor of Connecticut, according to a new Rasmussen poll (April 1, 500 LV, MoE +/- 4.5%).

Foley, who was endorsed by Mitt Romney last week, must first get through a large primary field that includes Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and former Rep. Larry DeNardis, among others. Only Foley and Fedele were tested in this survey.

Foley 44 (+7 vs. last poll, Feb. 4)
Lamont 37 (-3)
Und 13

Foley 44 (+8)
Malloy 35 (-2)

Lamont 41 (nc)
Fedele 38 (+5)
Und 12

Malloy 40 (-4)
Fedele 37 (+2)
Und 16

A new Rasmussen poll (500 LVs, 4/5, MoE +/- 4.5%) has some good news for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D). His approval rating has jumped seven points since March as Bay Staters see positive signs in the economy. But his re-election picture is still murky thanks to a three-way race.

General Election Matchups
Patrick (D) 35 (unch vs. last poll, 3/8)
Baker (R) 27 (-5)
Cahill (I) 23 (+4)
Und 15 (+1)

RCP Average: Patrick +9

Patrick (D) 38 (+4)
Cahill (I) 33 (+3)
Mihos (R) 15 (-4)
Und 14 (-2)

RCP Average: Patrick +7.4

Charlie Baker, endorsed this week by Sen. Scott Brown (R), continues to be the stronger Republican GOP nominee. But state Treasurer Tim Cahill, a former Democrat running as an independent, makes a stronger showing this month as he has taken a higher profile in attacking both the national health care plan passed last month and the state health care plan passed under former Gov. Romney. This despite reports about possibly illegal fundraising practices.

The state is fairly evenly split on the national health care plan -- 46 percent say it's good and 44 percent say bad for the country. An equal amount -- 48 percent each -- say they'd support and oppose a repeal effort. One positive factor that's a part of both plans -- 55 percent say they favor a mandate that everyone purchase health care, while 40 percent oppose one.

Obama's job rating has also ticked up in the past month -- 56 percent approve (up from 54) while 44 percent disapprove (down from 46).