More On Tasini and The Backing of The Left, Plus - One Poll Suggests Things May Not Be So Bad For The GOP

The question of why certain progressive groups have not embraced the Jonathan Tasini candidacy with the same enthusiasm as the Ned Lamont campaign was discussed on the Huffungton Post blog today, in addition to the New York Post.

In a post today, blogger Normon Solomon focused primarily on MoveOn.org's lack of interest in Tasini.

Here's the crux of the answer according to Solomon's post:

"I put the question to the executive director of the MoveOn.org political action committee, Eli Pariser. Here's his full reply: "We focus on the issues and candidates our members are excited about. We've heard almost nothing from MoveOn members on Tasini -- New York MoveOn members are more focused on winning back Congress, ending the war on Iraq, and Ned Lamont. As for our formal endorsement process, that's triggered where there are two viable candidates and where there's a baseline of interest from our members. Right now, this one doesn't meet that second threshold.""

Solomon points out in his post that Tasini has received the support of Democracy For America, another progressive grass-roots, Internet-based organization.

Our friends on the right, or sort of on the right, at Urban Elephants.com, noticed the Huffington Post piece as well. They're often on the mark, and their take of the situation is that New York progressives are concentrating on the House races, where they feel they may pull off three or four surprises.

While the progressives are pretty passionate about their chances in New York this November, the same can not be said for the GOP, at least not according to the top Republican on the party ticket, John Faso. According to a story today in the New York Sun, Faso is complaining his party's leaders aren't really leaders at all and seem to have little interest in success in November.

Faso, of course, is trailing Democrat Eliot Spitzer by double digits in the race for governor.

All is not lost however for the Republicans, at least according to a poll conducted early this month by CNN. According to a story in the Washington Times, the CNN poll bucks the trend of pessimism being displayed by those questioned in other recent polls.

While several recent right-direction/wrong-direction polls show 60% to 70% of Americans say we're heading the wrong way, the CNN poll indicates 55% think things are going pretty well (47%) or very well (8%) in the country. The other choices were pretty badly (29%) and very badly (15%).

Once again proving the problem with polling lies in how you frame the question.

The rosiness of CNN poll notwithstanding, The Hill, the Capitol Hill newspaper, quoted independent observers who said the tide continues to turn rapidly and forcefully against the Republicans as more Congressional races seem to be in play.