A post by Peter Slutsky

Obama’s Southern Strategy

Last week on MSNBC, I was debating Obama’s southern strategy and his appeal to African-American voters in states that aren’t traditionally Democratic.

Today, Rep. Adam Putnam, who is a Republican and also Chairman of the House Republican Conference confirmed that even the GOP is worried about Obama’s Southern appeal.

No, U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, doesn’t think John McCain is in any real danger of losing Florida, given McCain’s natural appeal to veterans, independents, and pro-Israel voters. But the Chairman of the House Republican Conference thinks Barack Obama’s ability to turn out African-Americans voters across the south could pose trouble for some Republican incumbents in states that McCain will still carry.

“I think you’ll see House members who won their last race by 60%-65% percent lose because of the turnout model that Obama brings,” said Putnam after taping a Political Connections interview on Bay News 9. He wasn’t talking about any Florida seats, but his pick for the five races to watch in Florida: the seats held by Democrat Tim Mahoney, by the Diaz-Balart brothers, by Tom Feeney, and by Ric Keller.

On top of that, check out this Gallup headline…McCain Faces Enthusiasm Gap.

A post by Joshua Skaroff

Poll: More Bad News For GOP (in the South)

Conservative columnist Matt Towery is reporting on an as-of-yet unreleased poll that shows bad news for President Bush and the Republican party in the South, their last bastion of stubborn support.

[I]n the populous states of Florida and Georgia, more respondents want the Democrats to control Congress next year than they do the Republicans.

President George W. Bush won both states in 2004, and yet he now has higher disapproval ratings than approval ratings. In Georgia, his disapproval rate approaches 50 percent. In Florida, it’s 55 percent.

It gets worse for Republicans. Initial polling results seem to show that the disapproval of Washington Republicans is starting to translate into possible votes against GOP candidates this fall in statewide races back home. Most of these are races in which Republicans would expect to hold obvious upper hands.

And despite this President Bush thinks he still has “political capital” to spend.

Hat tip: RawStory.