Here’s the summary of the report from D-Corps:
The self-identifying conservative Republicans who make up the base of the Republican Party stand a world apart from the rest of America, according to focus groups conducted by Democracy Corps. These base Republican voters dislike Barak Obama to be sure – which is not very surprising as base Democrats had few positive things to say about George Bush – but these voters identify themselves as part of a ‘mocked’ minority with a set of shared beliefs and knowledge, and commitment to oppose Obama that sets them apart from the majority in the country. They believe Obama is ruthlessly advancing a ‘secret agenda’ to bankrupt the United States and dramatically expand government control to an extent nothing short of socialism. They overwhelmingly view a successful Obama presidency as the destruction of this country’s founding principles and are committed to seeing the president fail.
Key Findings
Instead of focusing on these intense ideological divisions, the press and elites continue to look for a racial element that drives these voters’ beliefs – but they need to get over it. Conducted on the heels of Joe Wilson’s incendiary comments at the president’s joint session address, we gave these groups of older, white Republican base voters in Georgia full opportunity to bring race into their discussion – but it did not ever become a central element, and indeed, was almost beside the point.
First and foremost, these conservative Republican voters believe Obama is deliberately and ruthlessly advancing a ‘secret agenda’ to bankrupt our country and dramatically expand government control over all aspects of our daily lives. They view this effort in sweeping terms, and cast a successful Obama presidency as the destruction of the United States as it was conceived by our founders and developed over the past 200 years. This concern combines with a profound sense of collective identity. They readily identify themselves as a minority in this country – a minority whose values are mocked and attacked by a liberal media and class of elites. They also believe they possess a level of knowledge and understanding when it comes to politics and current events, one gained from a rejection of the mainstream media and an embrace of conservative media and pundits such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, which sets them apart even more.
Looking at the current political debate, it was evident in our focus group discussions that the divide between conservative Republicans and even the most conservative-leaning independents remains very, very wide. Independents harbor doubts about Obama’s health care reform but are desperate to see some version of health care reform pass this year; the conservative Republicans view any health care reform as a victory for Obama and are militantly opposed. The language they use further reflects this divide. Conservative Republicans fully embrace the ‘socialism’ attacks on Obama and believe it is the best, most accurate way to describe him and his agenda. Independents largely dismiss these attacks as partisan rhetoric detracting from a legitimate debate about what many of them do see as excessive government control and spending

Mike Thomas of the Orlando Sentinel has a funny — and interesting — column. “Who’s taking on Grayson? Anyone? Hello?” on how Rep. Alan Grayson’s recent broadsides against the Republicans’ opposition to health care reform are playing out in his district vis a vis his potential challengers. Here’s a bite:

…The path to a long political career in Central Florida is win that first election, stay out of trouble and win the rest by default.
And now comes U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who dynamited that model, calling Republicans knuckle-dragging obstructionists who want the sick to “die quickly.”
If this fits the definition of unstable and unhinged, it certainly seems to have served a very lucid purpose.
The Republicans are cowering in knock-kneed terror.
Potential challengers are dropping out with comical regularity.
The last credible challenger standing is former state Sen. Dan Webster, who is so conflicted he can’t say yes and he can’t say no.
So he ponders away while the Republicans cross their fingers for a savior.
“I don’t have to be in elective office,” Webster says. “I am happy coasting right now. It’s great.”
You don’t enter a race against someone like Alan Grayson with this mindset. You go into this race needing to be in Congress more than you need to breathe.
…The Republicans look like a bunch of Chihuahuas yapping at the Rottweiler behind the fence. But this Rottweiler not only is snarling and frothing at the mouth, it also went to Harvard.

More?

…Consider state Rep. Steve Precourt.
Last week he boldly announced that Grayson was an “egomaniacal, socialist, loose cannon.”
Then he announced someone else would have to do something about it because he wasn’t running.
Yap. Yap. Yap.
Orange Mayor Rich Crotty once was considered the Republicans’ best hope. In June, Grayson released a seven-page letter explaining in detail how he would gut Crotty over Crotty’s leadership of the expressway authority.
In early July, Crotty said he had made a decision and would announce it shortly.
Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months — until finally, the mayor gave us his verdict.
He could beat Grayson “handily.” But he wasn’t going to run.
Pretty slick. He declared victory and bowed out of the race.

Thomas goes on, mining this vein for chuckles. If Thomas proves to be right, Democrats may have found a new template for winning in centrist districts.

Despite unfounded conservative attacks on President Obama’s stimulus measures, the public “remains supportive of specific spending measures to create jobs, improve the economy, and make investments” in key areas of concern, according to TDS Co-Editor Ruy Teixeira. In his ‘Public Opinion Snapshot’ at the Center for American Progress web pages, Teixeira explains:

…in a new Economic Policy Institute-Hart Research poll, the public, by 61-36, said “The focus for improving the economy should be on creating good jobs, and investing in education and energy independence,” rather than…“shrinking government spending in order to reduce the federal budget deficit.”

Teixeira adds that impressive majorities now favor a range of federal spending measures to increase employment and economic recovery, including:

Pass a major new job creation tax credit for businesses that create jobs in the United States in the next two years (87 percent support)
Extend unemployment insurance benefits for those who have lost their jobs during the recession and are unable to find new jobs (81 percent support)
Put unemployed people back to work at government-funded public service jobs that help meet important community needs as Roosevelt did when he created the Civilian Conservation Corps (74 percent support)
Put unemployed people back to work at government-funded public service jobs that help meet important community needs (71 percent support)
Give a new round of tax rebates to lower- and middle-income Americans (63 percent support)
Provide increased federal assistance to state and local governments to prevent additional layoffs of government employees because government layoffs add to unemployment and harm vital services (52 percent support)

Teixeira concludes that “there may be a reservoir of public support” for more federal investment in economic recovery measures, “provided they are clear, specific, and not labeled as part of a new stimulus package.”

A new ‘Public Polling Report’ by Democracy Corps, “Analysis of Public Polls Shows GOP Obstruction Damaging Republican Brand” darkens prospects for conservatives who were hoping to block health care reform and win back control of congress. According to the DCorps analysis,

…In the past week, both the AP and Gallup…have released surveys showing a significant decline in opposition to President Obama’s health care plan, with Gallup showing the plan favored by a 51 to 41 percent majority… Recent public polls show Americans weary of both the status quo in health care and Republican obstructionism: overwhelming majorities say Republicans lack ideas and put politics ahead of the nation’s needs. This extreme partisanship is contributing to the continued stagnant and unimpressive standing of the Republican brand and threatens to further isolate Republican leaders from the American political mainstream.

In addition to the AP and Gallup polls, the DCorps analysis also cited a range of recent polls spelling bad news for the Republicans regarding their obstruction of health care reform and in general. These include:

The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 57 percent of Americans say “it is more important than ever to take on health care reform now” versus 39 percent who says “we cannot afford to take on health care right now.”
A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal survey found that a 45 to 39 percent plurality think it would be better to “pass Obama’s health care plan” rather than not pass the plan and “keep the current system.”
A Democracy Corps survey conducted in early September finds 56 percent agreeing that Republicans are “More interested in partisan politics than solving the country’s problems.”
The same poll finds just 29 percent saying that Republicans have “new ideas for addressing the country’s problems,” a lower rating than when we last asked this question in 2005.
Quinnipiac finds just 29 percent think that Republicans are “making a good faith effort to cooperate” with Obama on health care, versus 59 percent who say they are not.
A CBS/New York Times survey finds that just 27 percent think Republican members of Congress are opposing Obama’s plans because they think they are “bad for the country” while 64 percent say they are doing it for “political reasons.”
CNN finds that 61 percent say Republicans are “being obstructionist for mostly political reasons” versus 35 percent who say they are being “constructive.”
A Washington Post/ABC survey finds 62 percent saying Republicans in Congress are “not making a good faith effort to cooperate” on health care, versus just 31 percent who say they are.
Pew finds that 62 percent of opponents of health care reform think that “policymakers who oppose the current proposals” should compromise with supporters while only 33 percent think they should try to block passage of legislation.
That Quinnipiac survey finds that just 25 percent approve of the way Republicans in Congress are handling their job, while 64 percent disapprove.
The latest Democracy Corps survey finds just 30 percent with a favorable opinion the GOP while 44 have an unfavorable opinion. That -14 point net approval rating is nearly twice as bad as it was on Election Day in 2008. Moreover, the net 17-point favorability gap between the two parties is down only slightly from Election Day 2008 and is still substantially larger than when Democrats secured their first of two successive wave victories on Election Day in 2006.
A similar analysis of Pew data from Brendan Nylan at Pollster.com finds that “the Republicans are currently viewed more negatively than any minority party in the previous four midterms in terms of both net favorables and the difference in net favorables between parties.”
The early September Democracy Corps survey finds that just 35 percent think Republicans are “on your side,” one of the most important traits we measure. This is down 7 points from when we last asked it the summer before the wave election of 2006.
The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that just 21 percent approve of the job Republicans are doing on health care while 65 percent disapprove.

The DCorps report includes revealing comments behind the numbers drawn from focus groups, and provides linked sources for all of the aforementioned data points, which the analysis says “show the Republican brand in tatters.”

Larry J. Sabato has a new post up at his Crystal Ball website, “Statehouse Rock 2010” spotlighting what is shaping up to be the most competitive year for gubernatorial races in a long time. Sabato’s post focuses on the northeast and midwest states this week (south and west next week), but he has this to say about the Governors’ races next year:

2010 competitive action is in the statehouse races. A much higher proportion of contests for governor are clearly competitive than contests for Senate and House…All but a handful of governorships are moderately to highly competitive in 2010. Moreover, in comparing this midterm to those over the past two decades, it appears that a higher proportion of governorship races will be competitive in 2010 than in the most recent half-dozen midterm years…Twenty-one of these statehouses are currently held by Democrats, and 18 by Republicans. (In the 50 states as a whole, the count is 28 D, 22 R.)…There are 19 open governor’s races in 2010 without an incumbent running (plus one in Virginia in 2009), balanced almost evenly between the two parties (9 D, 10 R)….in most of the states, a real horserace is underway just for the party nominations, and it is impossible to handicap the general election until we know the party nominees.

In this week’s installment, Sabato has inside skinny on the N.E. and Midwest gubernatorial races, along with handy charts depicting the nation-wide red state-blue state breakdown in terms of governors and the electoral situation regarding governors of all the states.
As Ed Kilgore notes in his post below, delegating health care reform to the states could be inviting a world of headaches, all the more so in light of Sabato’s prediction of fiercely-fought competitive races for governorships across the nation. If gubernatorial candidates didn’t have enough to worry about, they may soon need to get up to speed on the myriad issues of health care reform they assumed would be resolved by congress.

The reporting about it in the major rags has been sketchy, to put it charitably. But Ryan Grim has a HuffPo post that outlines the basics of Sen. Maria Cantwell’s “quasi-public option” health reform amendment, just passed by the Senate Finance Committee. Grim says the Cantwell amendment (full text here) “moves the conservative panel as close as it will likely get to a public health insurance option” and he provides this synopsis:

The amendment creates a “federally funded, non-Medicaid, state plan which combines the innovation and quality of private sector competition with the purchasing power of the states,” according to an overview.
It would be available to people with incomes above Medicaid eligibility but below 200 percent of the federal poverty level — a very narrow window. However, Republicans fear — and progressives hope — that once the plan becomes law there will be pressure to expand it…The plan would not be free. It is based on Washington state’s Basic Health plan, which costs roughly 60 dollars a month, with the remainder of the premium subsidized by the state.
Private insurers would be eligible to participate in the plan, as would HMOs or other networks of health care providers…Cantwell says that her measure…would assure coverage of 75 percent of people who are currently uninsured.

Cantwell’s amendment did win the support of four of the five Dems who voted against stronger public option amendments, the exception being Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln. Grim notes that Sen. Snowe voted against it, which could be a problem down the road. The 12-11 margin suggests, for better or worse, that it may be a tweakable approach to a consensus.

Just in case you thought that, gee, maybe the GOP has a point about Rep. Alan Grayson owing them an apology for his remarks (see J.P. Green’s post below) about their bogus health care “plan,” Think Progress has a collection of some of their more intemperate ‘greatest hits’ bashing the Democratic health care reform proposals — none of which they have apologized for. Read the following, and then decide whether you think Rep. Grayson owes the Republicans any kind of apology:

– “Last week Democrats released a health care bill which essentially said to America’s seniors: Drop dead.” [Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), 7/21/09] (video clip here)
– “They’re going to save money by rationing care, getting you in a long line. Places like Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe. People die when they’re in line.” [Rep. Steve King (R-IA), 7/15/09] – “The Republican plan will] make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.” [Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), 7/28/09] (video clip here)
– “That’s exactly what’s going on in Canada and Great Britain today…and a lot of people are going to die.” [Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), 7/10/09] – “One in five people have to die because they went to socialized medicine! … I would hate to think that among five women, one of ‘em is gonna die because we go to socialized care.” [Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), 7/15/09]

And hey, we don’t remember Saint Joan of the Tundra apologizing for her drivel about Democratic “death panels,” nor Rep. Michelle Bachman’s apology for calling for renewed witch hunts to ferret out ‘anti-American’ elected officials (video here). If the Republicans want to declare a moritorium on overheated rhetoric, let them set an example. Otherwise Dems should not feel guilty for using every media opportunity to educate the public about the Republicans’ lack of a health plan and the Democrats serious reforms.

it’s easy enough to find doomsayers who pronouce the public option a dead issue after the negative votes in the Senate Finance Committee this week. But Robert Creamer, author of Stand up Straight: How Progressive Can Win, has a potent antidote for the faithless in his HuffPo column on “Growing Momentum for Public Option.” According to Creamer:

First and foremost, voters’ support for a public health insurance option is as strong as ever…Last weekend’s New York Times poll showed that 65% of all voters support giving Americans the choice of a public option and only 26% oppose it.
More importantly, the public option is also popular in swing Congressional districts. The firm of Anzeloni Liszt just released the results of a poll it conducted in 91 Blue Dog, Rural Caucus and Frontline districts. The poll found that 54% of the voters in these battleground districts support the choice of a public option.
And the poll also found that the voters in these districts want reform and want it this year. The polling report says: Overall, 58% of voters believe the health care system is in need of major reform or a complete overhaul, and almost 59% are concerned that Congress will not take action on health care reform this year. The risks of inaction to Democrats in swing districts increases if voters perceive opposition stems from ties to the insurance industry, as 74% are concerned that the health insurance industry will have too much influence over reform.
Those kinds of polling results get the attention of Members of Congress.

Creamer goes on to argue that members of congress are beginning to face up to the fact that they have to produce reform that is actually affordable, if they want to get re-elected, and the public option is an essential element of any reform package that accomplishes this central objective. As Creamer concludes, “the odds are better by the day that before the holidays President Obama will sign a health insurance reform bill that for the first time provides Americans universal health insurance coverage — and includes the choice of a robust public option.”