Summary: NBC News’ Political Unit and MSNBC.com have created the Voter Confidence Index (VCI) as a measure of the current political climate and what it may signal about the November 2010 elections. The index uses a combination of three questions commonly asked in national polls: the president’s job approval rating, the direction of the country (right track / wrong track), and the generic congressional ballot. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 24, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), delivered the Third Annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.
Summary: Politico reports that Charlie Cook has sent out a special update to Cook Political Report in which he envisions a scenario in which Democratic House losses could exceed 20 seats in 2010. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 39th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman started his second walking tour — a 50-mile campaign swing down Minnesota Highway 23 from Foley in the east through St. Cloud, Waite Park, Rockville, Cold Spring, and Richmond to Paynesville on the western boundary of the Sixth Congressional District.
Summary: The National Republican Congressional Committee has added U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann to its list of most vulnerable incumbents for 2010 in the NRCC’s “Patriot Program,” while the Swing State Project rates Bachmann as being in “real danger” of losing her seat in the next election. … A survey of 25 nations conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center in spring 2009 has found that positive public attitudes toward the United States have surged in many parts of the world since President Barack Obama’s election. Positive opinions about the United States have returned to higher levels not seen since before President George W. Bush took office in 2001. The Bush presidency marked a steep decline in U.S. popularity overseas, notably after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, because of a perception that the post-9/11 war on terrorism was targeted at Muslims. … One-year retrospective: On the 10th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman met with residents on Little Rock Lake, near Rice in Benton County, to learn about the lake’s persistent water quality problems.
Summary: Speculation about the potential entry of Tarryl Clark, assistant majority leader in the Minnesota senate, into the race for the Democratic endorsement to run against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) in the 2010 general election for U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District.