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OBAMA APPROVAL MIRRORS 2008 FINAL TALLY: One year after he won a historical presidential election, a slight majority of Americans approve of the job Barack Obama’s doing in the White House. 
Fifty-four percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday approve of how Obama is handling his duties as president, with 45 percent saying they disapprove. “Obama’s approval rating of 54 percent is nearly identical to the 53 percent of the vote he won a year ago,” notes CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “And in nearly every demographic category, the percent that approve of Obama today is within two to three points of the percent who voted for him in 2008. It’s a different story when we turn to ideology. His approval rating among liberals is 7 points higher than the number of liberals who voted for him. But among conservatives, the number who like Obama today is down 10 points compared to his share of the vote among that group in 2008.”
HILL CALLS FOR PASSAGE OF HEALTH REFORMS: U.S. Rep. Baron Hill sounded as much like a barn-storming candidate as a congressman when he told a Madison audience Saturday that health care reform must be passed this year and that Democrats must be elected next year (Madison Courier). Hill, D-Ind., was speaking to Jefferson County Democrats at their annual fall breakfast, so he wasn’t facing critics and doubters. For anyone wondering how Hill will vote when the House health care reform bill comes up Friday, he left no doubt. “There’s some angst out there, no doubt about it,” he said. “There will be a lot more angst if we don’t (pass) health care reform. … If we pass this bill, 47 million folks will be insured. The time has come. It is time to do this. It is time to step up to the plate and do this. “If we do this, I think the people next year will say the Democrats deserve to stay in power.” Health care action has been a long time coming, Hill said “We have been debating health care in this country since Theodore Roosevelt first raised it when he ran on the Progressive Party (ticket),” Hill said. “Every Republican will vote no on this piece of legislation. … The ‘party of no’ doesn’t want this piece of legislation. … Every time I come back to southern Indiana to do a town hall meeting or come to a place like this, somebody asks me about health care. The stakes are pretty high. When you hear the ‘Tea Party’ people say ‘no, no, no,’ (or) hear that the Republican Party is gaining ground, it ain’t so.” Hill said a new poll shows public support for the Democratic Party is 10 percentage points higher than for the GOP and that only 20 percent claim to be Republicans. “That is unbelievable,” Hill said.
BAYH TRIES TO EXPAND HEALTH FLIP: Democrat Senator Evan Bayh said his change of heart on the health care reform bill was a misunderstanding. WLFI-TV caught up with him and asked about his waffling regarding the health care bill. Earlier, Bayh said he would support Republicans in blocking the bill from being debated. Other reports show he will allow the health care bill to move forward for discussion. Bayh told News Channel 18 his comments were misconstrued. He always intended to allow debate to happen. “They said are there any conceivable circumstances you might possibly imagine not being able to support the legislation. I said I suppose theoretically and immediately I was opposed to it going forward, but I made it clear it had to be completely unconscionable and I was unaware of anything that meets that test in the bill,” said Bayh.
‘WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO COMMIT TROOPS’: Rep, Hill also was asked about President Barack Obama’s consideration of an increase in the number of troops in Afghanistan (Madison Courier). He said he is concerned about sending troops to Afghanistan for “nation building.” “We’re going to have to commit troops … and keep them there a minimum of 10 years,” Hill said. “We have problems at home we need to address.” But, he said, “I want to give this president a chance.”
CONSERVATIVES TO TARGET GOP INCUMBENTS: In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010 (Politico). Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others. But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined. Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank. “I would say it’s the tip of the spear,” said Dick Armey, the former GOP House majority leader who now serves as chairman of FreedomWorks, an organization that has been closely aligned with the tea party movement. “We are the biggest source of energy in American politics today.”
EDUCATORS LASH OUT AT BENNETT, DANIELS: Calling state schools chief Tony Bennett’s plan to revise teacher licensing requirements a slap in the face, Indiana’s public education establishment is fighting back hard (Bradner, Evansville Courier & Press). An overflow crowd of nearly 300 teachers, college education professors and more packed into the Indiana State Library on Monday, each awaiting a turn to testify — and in most cases, lambast — a proposed rule change that would have those who are training to become teachers focus more on content and less on methods. The criticism was direct, and it was aimed at Bennett and Gov. Mitch Daniels, the two Republicans who, teachers said, have packed their supporters onto the Indiana Professional Standards Board, the licensing panel considering the changes. “The more I study his efforts, the more it becomes apparent that he is making a mockery of the teaching profession,” said Rick Muir, the president of the Indiana Federation of Teachers. “Would anyone let a teacher fly an airplane with a crash course in aviation? Would anyone in this room let your teacher extract a cavity or perform a root canal with an expedited degree in dentistry?” Muir asked why only three hearings were being held on the issue, and why they were during the school day, prohibiting many teachers from participating. Cam Savage, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Education, said about 100 people total had testified at two hearings last week. Another 1,000, he said, have commented online. Bennett’s plan would require those who seek to teach high school and middle school to major in the topic they wish to teach and minor in education. He has asserted that the change would lead to more teachers who are experts in their subject areas. “Let me be as direct as I can be: It’s not true,” said Gerardo M. Gonzalez, dean of the Indiana University School of Education. “Math education majors are sitting side by side with math majors, taking the same classes under the same math department faculty. The only difference is that our majors must take more of these classes than their peers in the math major.”
STANDARDS BOARD TO MEET ON NOV. 18: Next up is a Nov. 18 meeting of the Indiana Professional Standards Board. There, board members will discuss the public testimony and consider revisions. It’s not clear when the board will vote. Bennett’s proposals also will need the approval of the Indiana General Assembly, and they could run into resistance in the Democratic-controlled House (Evansville Courier & Press).
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