AND NOW - DEM TROUBLE IN CONNECTICUT - AT 8:47 A.M. ET:  Yesterday, we reported on polls showing Democrats in trouble in the key state of Ohio, a swing state.

But Connecticut isn't a swing state.  It's blue, bright blue, the state where the libs tried to politically execute Joe Lieberman for caring about national defense.  And, as Michael Barone reports, the Dems are in trouble in Connecticut as well:

In Connecticut Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd remains in political trouble. After representing the state for 29 years in the Senate, and having represented the eastern Connecticut 2nd congressional district for six years before that, only 40% of his state’s voters approve of his performance and 54% disapprove. That’s in a state which Barack Obama carried 61%-38%. Dodd’s approval numbers look a lot like those of defeated New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.

There’s lots of bad news here for Dodd. In a Democratic primary pairing against an utterly unknown opponent he gets only 55% of the vote—a stunningly low number for a longtime incumbent. In general election pairings he loses 49%-38% to former Congressman Rob Simmons and by a 58%-38% margin in the three eastern counties which he has represented in the Senate or House for 35 years. Obama carried those counties by a 59%-39% margin. Interestingly, Dodd is weaker in this downscale, usually Democratic-leaning area than in higher-income Fairfield County, where he runs even against Simmons. Against four other, lesser-known Republican candidates, Dodd does not top 42% of the vote.

Is the health care issue hurting Democrats in key Senate races? Sure looks like it.

COMMENT:  We stress that it's early in the game.  Our next target is the 2010 midterms, and they're a year away.  That's 20 lifetimes in politics.  So nothing is in the bag.  Even where Dems are weakening, they are still very competitive.

I get the feeling that Obama's White House political strategy will have a larger-than-normal impact on how people vote next November.  So far, that strategy, based on results last week, isn't getting any gold medals, or even Nobel Peace Prizes.

Well look, what do you need to get a Nobel Peace Prize?

November 13, 2009