Will Democrats lose liberal lion Ted Kennedy’s seat in liberal Massachusetts?

Political Wire:

Another Poll Gives Brown the Edge Over Coakley

A new American Research Group poll in Massachusetts finds Scott Brown (R) leading Martha Coakley (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 48% to 45%.

Coakley Trails in Her Own Internal Poll

Steve Kornacki reports Martha Coakley’s (D) internal poll for Thursday night showed her trailing Scott Brown (R) by three points, 47% to 44%.

Cannonfire:

[A] TPM correspondent in Massachusetts tries valiantly to convince us that Martha Coakley’s difficulties in keeping Ted Kennedy’s seat blue really have nothing to do with Obama or with a more generalized antipathy toward Democrats. It’s Coakley. Not Obama…

“All politics are local,” bleateth the TPM correspondent apologetically.

“We’re running against D.C.!” shouteth the Republicans defiantly.

Put those last two sentences together, and you get the picture. Obama is becoming politically toxic. The Democratic party’s new icon is the biohazard symbol.

And somewhere in the distance I hear a voice: ”You know who I blame for this situation? Bill Clinton.”

Huh? Who said that? Is that you, Dave Sirota? Chris Matthews? John Aravosis? Maureen Dowd? Ben Smith? Arianna? Markos Moulitsas? Let’s-get-this-to-Keith Olberman? Josh Marshall? Eric Alterman? The BooMan BDSM froggie? All of the above?

At a time when long-time Democrats should be cashing in on their years in the minority to pass legislation that favors the majority of Americans, and that the majority of Americans want, instead they’re quitting in droves.

Political Wire

Another Democrat Decides to Retire

Rep. Vic Snyder (D-AR) announced that he’ll retire rather than run for an eighth term, CQ Politics reports…

With the incumbent off the ballot, CQ-Roll Call has changed the rating on Arkansas’ 2nd district race to Leans Republican.

The Cook Political Report also moves the seat to Lean Republican.

Republicans could take back control of Congress this year.

Sam Stein:

Trumka: Democrats Are Inviting A Repeat Of 1994

One of the top union leaders in the country warned on Monday that the Democratic Party risked suffering electoral losses of historic proportions if they pass watered-down health care legislation and refuse to seriously tackle financial regulatory reform.

Political Wire:

Obama Approval Rating Takes Hit

President Obama’s job approval rating has fallen to 46%, according to a new CBS News poll…

Key finding: “Domestic issues — and not his response to terrorist threats — appear to be driving the president’s approval rating downward.”

Greg Sargent:

Poll: More Think Health Care Reform Isn’t Ambitious Enough

Could Obama’s dip to new lows on health care be driven partly by the fact that the reform proposal isn’t ambitious enough?

The internals of the new CBS poll suggest that this could be the case: They show that more people think reform doesn’t go far enough in multiple ways than think it goes too far.

Democrats spent a year trying to get Republican support for a health care bill that Republicans made it clear from the beginning they would never support. And they did it to please fossils like David Broder, with whom the American people disagree.

Think Progress:

Poll: Americans think standing for principle is more important than bipartisan compromise.

Asked what actions elected officials could undertake to increase trust in them, a majority said that “making a stronger effort to stand up for principle” would help “a lot” while only 35 percent said more focus “on compromising with members of the opposite political party” would help “a lot”.

It’s so bad that Obama may be in trouble in 2012.

Political Wire:

Obama Would Lose to Generic Opponent

A new Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll finds 39% of Americans would cast a ballot for President Obama in 2012, while 50% say they would probably or definitely vote for someone other else.

Still, Obama and the Democrats could pull it out. If they’d just be Democrats.

Bruce Judson, It Could Happen Here:

We Are A Better Nation Than This

The president must recognize that more of the same is not good enough. He must stop accepting the idea that our nation is limited in what it can accomplish. He must also realize that difficult moments require strong leadership, not moderation or a search for consensus. Great leaders articulate an unwavering vision that causes people to believe they can accomplish more than they thought possible.

Actually, a good leader would do, but we don’t even have that. We have a cautious incrementalist. Which I tried to warn liberals about in 2008, and was shouted down.