It looks like Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry found unlikely supporters within President Barack Obama’s re-election team. The Texas governor is seen by Obama’s supporters, election fundraisers, and senior Democrats to be easier to beat than Mitt Romney in next year’s presidential election.

President Obama’s campaign headquarters in Chicago doesn’t want to issue any statements about possible election rivals but people close to the president said that Perry would polarize the opposition and would make it easier for Obama to win.

According to the recent Republican polls, Perry has placed second place behind Mitt Romney, who also topped the fundraising race. Perry recently criticized Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, a move that was shunned by some Republicans.

President Obama’s approval rating dropped as unemployment rate remained above nine percent. His re-election bid has grown bleaker than it was a few months ago. But some Obama supporters said that a Republican candidate that leans more to the right will be an easy target for Obama.

Michele Bachmann is another Republic nominee that President Obama would like to face in 2012 but it would take a miracle for her to win the Republican nomination. She promised that if she wins the presidency, she’ll bring down the cost of gas to $2 a gallon.

Wisconsin’s recall election has attracted a lot of interest from across the United States. Analysts say that it would have a ripple effect, no matter what its outcome will be. Millions of dollars were spent to campaign for the six Republican state senators for their role in the union battle last February and March.

The recall elections can unseat the six Republican senators. Next week, two Democrats will face the recall election as well. These can shift the balance of power in Wisconsin’s Senate from the present 19-14 Republican majority.

The Republicans still have control of the governor’s mansion and the Assembly and a Democratic victory in the recall elections would not make a lot of difference with regards to new legislations. The summer election is just a symbolic victory for the Democrats.

The recall elections are the latest development in the union battles that placed Wisconsin into the spotlight. It was began when Governor Scott Walker introduced an anti-union legislation and hundreds of thousands of protestors flooded the streets and moved into the capitol building. Voters asked to recall the legislators from both sides of the aisle, which resulted into this month’s elections.

Since winning last fall, Governor Walker approved several measures including tax cuts, concealed-carry gun rights, limits on union collective bargaining powers, new political redistricting, and ID restrictions in the voting booths.

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum announced his intension to run for president in the race to choose a Republican presidential candidate by making an appeal directed right at the tea party conservative GOPs.

His speech took place in front of the Somerset County (Pa.) Courthouse. Several serious questions were raised, however, about whether or not he was capable of becoming the GOP 2012 presidential nominee. Is it possible for him to win over some of the other, same-minded Republicans looking to impress the same people? Is it possible for a person who plans to run as a diehard conservative to win in a general election?

And is it possible for the 53-year-old Santorum, who previously lost a bid for re-election in 2006 because of 18 percentage points via a crucial swing state vote, to get the needed votes to win?

Analysts were not sure of the answers to any of those key questions and one of them, Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., stated that it isn’t likely he will get the nomination.

However, they admitted that they can’t rule him out either.

Santorum gave the 30 minute speech to announce his decision right near the same coal mine that his immigrant grandfather worked used to work at. The grandfather departed Italy in 1927 because he didn’t want to stay there and live under a fascist ruler. Freedom, that single valuable word, is why he came to America, said Santorum.

Santorum then argued that he believes that freedom in America is being eroded.  He explained his concerns by saying that President Obama has “taken the faith Americans gave him, ruined the economy, stole freedom from the people and centralized power in Washington, D.C. He stated the 2010 federal health care law as part of his evidence, as it will make almost everyone purchase coverage by 2014.

Santorum will face many tests. First is of course getting chosen for the Republican nomination, because he is competing against all the same social conservative votes just like all the current or possible other candidates such as Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and possibly Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Time will tell as to who will be the breakthrough candidate as some either drop out or self-implode, according to Madonna.

Madonna sees the GOP nomination battle taking two possible tracks along the same line, a fight for social conservative voters who would like a candidate who’s totally against abortion and raising taxes, amongst others, and against the other mainstream Republicans who are emphasizing monetary problems.

The conservative party is seen as stronger in Iowa, especially ever since several conventional candidates such as previous Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and, should he decide to run, previous Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, will be expected to make gestures of their efforts there.

Romney started his own campaign in Stratham, N.H. last week and talked a little on how important the Constitution is, and the majority of the speech consisted of his ideas to help fix the slow economy.

Romney strategists think that even though they will have to appeal to the GOP’s party’s conservatives, they will still need to watch the general election and all the voters who are more moderate.

During the 2006 Senate re-election race, Santorum only received 28 percent of the independent vote. Even though he was a two-term Senate incumbent, and raised millions more dollar than his opponent did, he lost to Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.

Part of the problem was that there was an anti-GOP trend, because the election was seen somewhat as a referendum on his support of the rapidly unpopular Iraq war and President George W. Bush.

Santorum said on Monday that he kept to his main beliefs during the race — stating his attempt to overhaul Social Security — notwithstanding any political danger. And he hopes his devotion to those ideals will be seen as a huge advantage as he starts his new mission.

The Democrats collected enough signatures to force a recall election of State Senator Dan Kapanke of La Crosse. He is one of the eight Republican state senators that the Democrats want to oust for supporting the governor’s law that would ban the labor bargaining rights of the public employees.

The recall supporters have managed to collect 21,700 signatures but it would take at least a month for the state election officials to verify the names on the list. If the Government Accountability Board finds at least 15,588 signatures to be valid then it would lead to the fifth recall of a state official in history of Wisconsin. It would also be the 21ist recall of a state official in United States history.

The board has 31 days to verify the signatures but Kevin Kennedy said that the board will ask the court to extend the verification period to take into consideration the signature challenges and other petitions from across the state.

The other Republican legislators who are facing similar recall challenges are Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac, Robert Cowles of Green Bay, and Luther Olsen of Ripon.

On the other side of the fence, the Republicans are preparing their recall campaign against eight Democratic state senators.

California Republicans had a party convention and used the meeting to rebuild after their defeat in last fall’s election. They also tackled pressing economic issues as well as Governor Brown’s budget proposal. The party’s membership fell to 30.9 percent in California and it failed to win majority of the positions as it did in other states.

The agenda of the Republicans in California includes cut state spending, limiting union power, and stop Governor Brown’s budget plan. They hope that these can drive voters to their favor. As the Republicans see the tide going back to their favor, other political observers see that the state’s demographic changes are still in favor of the Democrats.

Donors think that the Republican Party is becoming irrelevant. The party is speaking to just 30 percent of the state. They say that there are a few stars on the Republican Party roster for the next statewide elections.

People are saying that the GOP should bring in the Latinos into the party. In 2010 the Republicans had a small share of voters from the fastest growing demographic in California. If they want to win in the state, they should start wooing the Latinos.

The party leaders promised to show their presence in the minority neighbors even during non-election years. Even though it is not reflected in the election results, most voters agree with the GOP when it comes to tax issues.

A recent poll in Colorado run by the Public Policy Polling (PPP) has results that put President Barack Obama in a very good spot as we head into the 2012 election cycle.

The poll results put President Obama ahead with a 51 percent approval rating, and a 45 percent disapproval rating in the states that don’t approve of his performance. This is a much better showing than in a previous poll by PPP which had the President with an approval of only 41 percent and a disapproval rating of 53

Survey questions also contained poll takers choices in a hypothetical 2012 general election with the candidates being Obama and several eligible Republican candidates.

The PPP poll resulted in Obama having a 47-41 lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, he showed a 51-42 lead over former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and had a 55-36 lead over former Alaska Governor and Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Obama did win Colorado 53.5 percent to 44.9 percent during the 2008 elections. President of PPP, Dean Debnam reported that the poll shows that President Obama is as strong in the same states he won in the 2008 elections as he is now.

The PPP poll surveyed 517 Colorado voters during the timeframe from February 4th to 6th, and it has a margin of error of 4.3 percent.

Ted Gaines, Republican Assemblyman, became the winner of a special election, which was held on Tuesday. It was necessary to conduct this runoff election as no candidate had got more than 50 percent of the vote back in November.

Gaines won 63 percent, while his opponent Democrat Ken Cooley had 37 percent. The latter was the only Democrat in a primary campaign. Both candidates became the top vote-getters in their parties after the special primary was held on November 2.

After the victory Gaines promised not to vote to raise taxes.

In a telephone interview he said that his team will have to work hard to balance budget as well as control spending. Moreover, it is planned to create private sector jobs in California.

Being an assemblyman, he represents about a third of the first Senate District, which was previously represented by Sen. Dave Cox, a Republican from Fair Oaks, who died in July because of prostate cancer.

Although Cooley conceded the race, he is sure that he will be able to work amicably with Gaines in the Senate. He is known to be a legislative consultant of the Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee. Moreover, he serves as Rancho Cordova’s mayor. According to Cooley, the most important in managing the state is to establish the highest as well as lowest priorities and only then embody them in the fiscal decisions of the state. Among other priorities one can name the protection of California’s investment in education as well as opposition to new taxes without people’s vote.

It was agreed by both, Cooley and Gaines, Cox had managed to set a high standard for his successor.

Cooley was the only Democrat in a primary campaign.

Results from a brand new Internet poll show that President Obama’s approval rating is at 45 percent and remaining steady despite election setbacks.

Most Democrats are still in approval of the President’s job performance, and the general public also has a good opinion of him, even though the poll also shows they think the economy is not improving fast enough. Top of Form

The President’s approval rating is only three percent lower than it was in January, according to the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll.
Obama’s approval rating has been between 45 and 50 percent for the last seven months, which is considered very good according to some analysts since he is dealing with things like 10 percent unemployment rates, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the devastating BP oil spillage incident, and the Democrats losing seats in the midterm elections recently

The WSJ/NBC poll included votes from 1,000 people, including 200 by phone. It was completed during Dec. 9-13, which is about halfway through Obama’s term of office as President.

Even though the President’s ranking has stayed stable around 50 percent, about 63 percent of the people surveyed think the U.S. is going in the wrong direction and 32 percent say they think the economy will get better in the next year.
Even so, a lot of Americans aren’t ready to say if they think Obama’s term as President is going to be successful or not, which survey takers say is a positive bit of news for Obama.

A spokesperson told NBC that people believe that since things are not very good all over, that it makes it so the US can’t afford to have Obama be unsuccessful as President.

The President retains his popularity with most Democrats, who rated him with a 76 percent approval.
Particularly, a majority of Democrats are in favor of Obama’s recent attempts to come to an agreement with the Republicans on issues facing the nation such as the tax cut package that is now being put through Congress.

In total, 63 percent of Democrats surveyed reported that they desired their party leaders to work with Republicans, whereas only 29 percent didn’t want a compromise.

However, despite Obama’s popularity with Democrats, he is still not popular with the Republicans or Independents. Polls showed that only 11 percent of Republicans and 35 percent of Independents agree he is going a good job.

There always seems to be big plans when a new group of politicians arrive in Washington. This new group always tends to re-make what the past party has and tries to fix everything that the last party seemed to have screwed up, in at least the new parties eye’s. This seems to be what the next to years are going to be about with the elected in republican party.

The economy will end up being a huge decisive issue when it comes to the 2012 elections. This is going to be like this years elections,m but 2 years away which means where we go from here, the republicans decide. Either they pick up all the fallen pieces and rise to the occasion. Or, they fix what was already right and just complain about everything that was wrong. But, these future elections rely heavily on whether or not they will succeed in turning Washington around.

Unemployment is just one of the many factors that makes up the economy and our absolute employment rate.  If this rate was to rise any further in the next year or so, you can bet a swing vote election wouldn’t be to much of a surprise for anyone. The predictions around this matter is still shaky. But, politicians are still planning ahead, who knows maybe they’ll predict a correct outcome and the whole U.S. Will benefit in the economy and many other political aspects.

If you want to know if the economy could actually bring a swing election, it actually could! Take a look at the biggest factors when it comes to the economy GDP growth, unemployment rate, Consumer confidence, Inflation, Interest rates, and the federal deficit. If these are at all out of order within the next year many predictions coincide with the idea that we could even hit another recession if not a depression!

Early Wednesday morning, the National Republican Congressional Committee proceeded with a victory lap after a historical election. On November 2^nd, 2012 the republican party took over the house  and has their sites set on 10 democrat’s who survived what was a terrifyingly ugly evening. But, the democrats accomplished what they hoped for and plan to change the future for the better. Their plan is to re-do everything that has already been “messed” up.

NRCC Executive Director Guy Harrison claimed that everything that has been sought by the democrat’s is accomplished, and only good change is bound to come. Harrison then want on to name who won the races and who would be at the top of the NRCC’s priority list. This list included Dan Boren (Okla.), Mike Ross (Ark.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Nick Rahall (W.Va.), Jason Altmire (Pa.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), Heath Shuler (N.C.), Tim Holden (Pa.), Mark Critz (Pa.) and Collin Peterson (Minn.)

Reporters that where in a conference call on Wednesday asked Harrison how he thinks the republicans are going to keep seats now when they were just flipped? He didn’t sound one bit worried in his reply which stated that those republicans who have just won have already been put through a tough campaign.

It really is going to be tough to make a judgment about the upcoming 2012 elections. This is because candidates will be starting with new districts following redistricting. Harrison claimed that the party’s success included member participation, high paying donations, and a few mother crowd pleasing programs.

“Last night’s election was a perfect political storm born out of the understandable frustration felt by the American people in response to high unemployment caused by the worst financial crash since the Great Depression,” Harrison said in a statement. “The record amount of secret money spent by right-wing outside groups turned this political storm into a category 3 political hurricane,” Harrison went on to say. Maybe this is the turn around of a future generation with a little political guidance?