All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

A Rasmussen Reports poll out this week finds that 36 percent of American adults now call themselves Democrats – a figure that is down two points from a month ago and one that represents a four-year low.

The percentage that describes themselves as Democrats has fallen five points this year, according to Rasmussen. There are still, according to the poll, more Democrats than Republicans: 33.1 percent of Americans say they are members of the GOP. But the 2.9 point gap between the two is the smallest it has been since December 2007.

The percentage of American adults unaffiliated with either party has increased one-half point from last month. It now stands at 30.8 percent in the poll.

The slide in party identification is not good news for Democrats, including President Obama, who has seen his approval rating fall below 50 percent in Rasmussen polling. The drop comes in part because of increasingly skeptical views of his handling of the war in Afghanistan and health care reform.

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Senate Republicans are boasting about their health care opposition strategy, and frustrated Democrats are responding in kind. If the GOP keeps up its stall tactics, Democrats said today, they are prepared to stay on the Senate floor to debate health care through Christmas.

After three days of debate, the Senate has yet to actually vote on any amendments to the health care bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) introduced. Democrats are placing the blame on Republicans for the delay, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer John Nolen reports. Reid held a special meeting with his party today to discuss how to proceed in the face of a united Republican front.

"At some point, we are going to have to say enough is enough on the stall and start voting," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said.

Democratic members appeared committed to stay and complete health care legislation no matter how long it takes, Nolen reports.

"The general consensus in the room was that we're here, we ought to stay here," said Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who led much of the health care debate in a Senate committee over the summer. "As one member said, if those young men and women -- most of whom are under 25 -- are sitting in some outpost in Afghanistan or Iraq on Christmas eve, we can be here on Christmas eve to deal with health care."

Republicans are not shying away from the fact they are trying to slowly kill Reid's bill.

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House Republicans aren't backing the President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan policy. At least, not yet. The issue is not the additional 30,000 troops, which they support. It's the timeline for withdrawal.

Mr. Obama announced last night that he would begin removing troops from Afghanistan in July of 2011. That's a move that Republicans say will make the surge less effective.

"It never makes sense to tell the enemy when your commitment to fight will run out," said House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN), at left, after members met this morning to discuss the president's new strategy.

Republicans also questioned the president's true commitment to winning the war and criticized his speech last night for not focusing enough on commitment to success.

"Republicans want to know, is the president serious about fulfilling this mission?" said Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

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Members of the Republican National Committee are pushing a resolution built on "conservative principles and public policies" and opposition to "Obama's socialist agenda" that Republican candidates would have to largely accept and adopt if they want the party's support.

The New York Times reports that ten RNC members have signed onto the resolution, which was circulated today. It contains ten principles, among them support for the Defense of Marriage Act, gun rights and "military-recommended troop surges" in Iraq and Afghanistan; opposition to President Obama's health care reform efforts, cap and trade legislation, a card check bill and amnesty for illegal immigrants; and support for "smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes."

Any Republican who breaks with more than two of the ten principles, the resolution says, would be denied

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Before Sarah Palin's highly-anticipated book, "Going Rogue," goes on sale this week, it has already generated controversy, skepticism and blowback.

"This is Sarah Palin's turn to get even, as it were," said CBS News chief Washington correspondent and host of "Face the Nation" Bob Schieffer.

"She came under this intense criticism all during the campaign and now she's giving her version of why she didn't succeed as a candidate."

But Schieffer, speaking on "The Early Show" Monday, said he does not think her strategy will work. "It's kind of like a baseball player going into a slump and blaming the manager or blaming the bat boy or blaming the fans or something. You know, it makes for provocative reading, I think she'll sell a lot of books, but I don't think it's going to help re-establish her as a political candidate."

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Updated 2:28 p.m. ET

Congressional Republicans – along with independent Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman – are not happy with the Obama administration's decision to try alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (left) and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees in civilian federal court in New York.

"The Obama Administration's irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people," said House Republican leader John Boehner in a statement. "The possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found 'not guilty' due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause."

"This decision is further evidence that the White House is reverting to a dangerous pre-9/11 mentality – treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue and hoping for the best," he added.

Sen. Republican Whip Jon Kyl, meanwhile, said "It is a constant amazement to me that there are some who seem more concerned about extending legal protections to terrorists than security protection to Americans."

Added Sen. John Cornyn: "These terrorists planned and executed the mass murder of thousands of innocent Americans. Treating them like common criminals is unconscionable."

"Our court system was never designed for this purpose," said Sen. Jeff Sessions. "These trials will turn lawyers, juries, and judges into targets, and will needlessly endanger Americans living nearby. They will give men like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed an international stage to mock America and advance his own celebrity and jihad."

New York Republican Rep. Peter King suggested the decision makes New York City more of a target for terrorists.

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Marco Rubio, whose battle with Charlie Crist for the Republican Senate nomination in Florida is doubling as a fight for the soul of the Republican Party, will headline the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC, as it's known, is the much-discussed annual confab for the conservative wing of the GOP.

CPAC Director Lisa De Pasquale announced the choice on the CPAC Twitter feed yesterday, adding: "CPAC keynote/opening speaker is usually an up-and-comer. Past: Rep. Paul Ryan, Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Mike Pence. Rubio fits that mold."

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, argues that President Obama's spending policies "will rob my children and their generation of their prosperity, and some of their freedoms." In an interview with CBSNews.com earlier this week, he said he largely supports the tea party protesters. He also said he couldn't think of an area of disagreement with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

Alex Burgos, Rubio's Communications Director, said that the candidate is "honored by the invitation and opportunity."

"He looks forward to sharing his vision of why mainstream conservative Republicans are needed in Washington more than ever," Burgos said.

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Updated at 10:45 a.m. ET with reaction from RNC Chair Michael Steele.

The Republican National Committee offers its employees insurance coverage for elective abortions, the Politico reports. That’s a seeming contradiction to the party platform and the GOP’s current position on an abortion amendment added to the House health care bill.

The GOP platform calls elective abortion "a fundamental assault on innocent human life," according to Politico.

RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho reportedly said the policy has been in effect since 1991, long before current RNC Chairman Michael Steele assumed his leadership role. Upon learning of the coverage in their insurance plan, Steele instructed the RNC to opt out of any coverage for elective abortion services.

"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose," Steele said in a statement. "I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."

Originally, the RNC chose not to opt out of abortion coverage, Cigna representatives told Politico.

Almost every single Republican in the House of Representatives voted in favor of an amendment to the Democrats' health care bill, offered by Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Joe Pitts (R-Penn.), that explicitly prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for plans that cover abortion. It also effectively limits private insurers from being able to offer abortion coverage within the proposed national health insurance exchange. The amendment passed with some Democratic support.

The only Republican who bucked the party and voted "present" on the amendment did so in an attempt to foil the overall health care bill's chances of passage.

"We believe in the sanctity of life, and the Stupak-Pitts Amendment addresses a moral issue of the utmost concern," House GOP leaders John Boehner (R-Ohio), Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said in a statement after the vote. "It will limit abortion in the United States. Because of this, while we strongly and deeply oppose the underlying bill, we decided to stand with Life and support Stupak-Pitts."

Republican South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who was formally censured by members of his own party earlier this week for playing nice with Democrats on climate change and other legislation, has spoken out in his own defense, according to Capitol Hill's newspaper Roll Call.

The Charleston, South Carolina Post and Courier reported that the Charleston County Republican Party voted on Monday to censure Graham for not upholding the Republican platform. The group cited his cooperation with Democratic senator John Kerry on the proposed cap-and-trade bill and his support for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Obama's $700 billion bailout plan.

"U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham -- in the name of bipartisanship -- continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom, rule of law, and fiscal conservatism," the resolution reportedly reads.

"There have been a lot of things over the years that people have been dissatisfied with the senator for doing but I think the cap-and-trade issue is the straw that broke the camel's back," Lin Bennett, the county GOP chairwoman, said according to the South Carolina State. "We have a state platform that if you want to run as a Republican in our state part of that platform includes ideals and goals we would like to see and one of them is smaller, and less government intrusion into people's lives."

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A Gallup poll released today gives the Republicans a 48 percent to 44 percent edge over Democrats in a generic congressional ballot if the 2010 elections were held today. The Republicans have been inching closer to the lead after trailing the Democrats by six points in a similar poll conducted last July.

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