Poll: Gov. Snyder in dead heat with 2 Democrats

By Kathleen Gray/Detroit Free Press:

Even though a big majority of recently polled Michigan voters don’t know who Democrats Mark Schauer and Bart Stupak are, the two politicians are in a dead heat with Gov. Rick Snyder in head-to-head matchups for the 2014 gubernatorial election.

Schauer of Battle Creek and Stupak of Menominee are both former state lawmakers and congressmen, and have been mentioned as potential candidates for governor, although neither has made an official announcement about running.

The poll of 600 people done April 13-16 by EPIC/MRA of Lansing showed that 56% of the people surveyed didn’t know who Stupak was and 75% didn’t know who Schauer was. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

And yet, Schauer holds a slim 39-38% lead over Snyder, while Stupak is a point behind Snyder at 38-39%.

“If they’re running even with Snyder and no one knows who they are, that’s an indication that Snyder is losing support,” said Bernie Porn, EPIC/MRA’s pollster.

The governor’s favorable rating hit a high of 55% in early December. But that was before controversial right-to-work legislation was passed in the raucous final days of the legislative session. Since then, Snyder’s ratings have been slipping. In the April survey, 42% of the people had a favorable view of him, while 46% had an unfavorable view. His job rating was 38% positive to 58% negative.

The poll was taken after Snyder proposed higher driver registration fees and gas taxes — as well as being done right around tax filing time when many Michiganders found their state refunds much lower because of new state policy pushed by Snyder.

“Those are not going over very well,” Porn said. “And now, people are doing taxes and realizing ‘I’m paying higher taxes.’ ”

But a majority of the people surveyed — 56% — said they think the economy has already bottomed out and is getting better, while 23% said the economy isn’t getting any better, with 18% saying it’s still getting worse.

President Barack Obama’s favorability ratings in the April survey are 52% favorable to 44% unfavorable.

Stupak receives death threats after voting for health reform.

By Matt Corley

As ThinkProgress has chronicled, the passage of health care reform has resulted in a series of vandalism incidents and threats aimed at lawmakers who voted for the bill. Vandals have struck the Tuscon office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), the Monroe County Democratic Committee headquarters in upstate New York, Rep. Louise Slaughter’s (D-NY) Niagara Falls office, the Knox County Democratic headquarters in Ohio, and the Sedgwick County Democratic Party headquarters in Wichita, KS. Now, Politico reports that Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), an anti-abortion Democrat who held out his support for the legislation until Sunday, has received phone calls threatening his life:

Stupak, the Michigan Democrat whose last-minute compromise on abortion guaranteed passage of the bill Sunday, said callers have left messages for him saying, “You’re dead; we know where you live; we’ll get you.”

“My wife still can’t answer the phone,” Stupak told POLITICO Tuesday. The messages are “full of obscenities if she leaves it plugged in. In my office, we can’t get a phone out. It’s just bombarded.”

Stupak, a former police officer, said he’s not fazed by the threats or by the prospect of protests at his district office this weekend. “I’ve looked down barrels of guns,” he said. “I’ve talked my way out of it.”

Politico also reports that “Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a Blue Dog Democrat from California, said he’s gotten physical threats over health care reform.” “There are some folks that identified themselves as being members of the tea party [who] called, [and] my staff has gotten to know their names over time, and they have been very loud and very ugly,” Cardoza said. Additionally, the Capitol Hill newspaper notes that “Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) said he had to change his personal cell phone number after a Republican gave it out to health care opponents.” The chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party read Pomeroy’s cell phone number aloud on the stage of the North Dakota Republican convention.

Update Politico reports that "Law enforcement authorities are investigating an incident that occurred at the Virginia home of Rep. Tom Perriello’s (D-Va.) brother, whose address was publicized by tea party activists angry at the congressman’s vote for the health care bill." Law enforcement officials did not tell Politico any details of the incident, which appears to have occurred after "Mike Troxel, an organizer for the Lynchburg Tea Party, posted on his blog what he thought was the congressman’s address, encouraging tea party activists to 'drop by.'" M.C.L Comment: I guess in the pro-life movement telling people you hope they bleed from the ass and died is normal, if I have pro-life lurkers out there can you explain to me how can you call yourself pro-life and wish death to people that disagree with you? Frankly I dislike every aspect of the right wing movement from the pro-lifers, the gun nuts, the Christian Taliban, right wing radio show hosts, right wing bloggers, campus right wingers, tea baggers, Fox News and the Republican party but here's the difference between me and you, I don't want harm comes to those people who disagree with me. And Democrats need to take action either by pressing charges against these loons or call out the people who incite these loons.

GOP lawmaker shrieks ‘baby killer’ at pro-life Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak.

By Lee Fang

When House Republicans tried to use a motion to recommit to send the reconciliation package of health reforms back to committee to essentially kill the bill, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) gave a passionate speech urging his colleagues not to fall for the ploy. Stupak said that Democrats have moved a pro-life bill in every way, by restricting taxpayer funds to abortion and by providing millions of Americans will quality health insurance. However, CNN is reporting that as Stupak gave his speech, a Republican lawmaker yelled “baby killer” at him. Murmurs were heard from the Democratic side of the aisle, and a Democratic lawmaker shouted “who said that?” No Republican answered. Watch it:

CNN’s David Gergen observed that Republicans had joined rowdy, and at times vulgar, tea party protesters all weekend in rallying against the bill. He warned that the heavy influence of the tea parties, Rush Limbaugh, and other extreme right-wing voices is dangerous for the Republicans politically.

GOP To Kill Health Bill For Nonexistent Abortion Coverage, But Provide Abortion Coverage To GOP Staff

By Lee Fang Republican lawmakers, as well as Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), have falsely claimed that the health reform bill allows taxpayer funded abortions. At a press conference yesterday, GOP members of Congress convened to again hammer the lie home that health reform will provide taxpayer funds for abortion.

Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA), a member of the GOP leadership team at the press event yesterday, blasted Democrats for trying to pass a health reform bill with supposed funds for abortion coverage. ThinkProgress spoke to McMorris-Rodgers after the event. According to disclosure reports, McMorris-Rodgers’ state Republican Party provides health insurance through AWB Health Choice — a consortium of benefit packages including Lifewise Health Plans of Washington, which covers abortions. McMorris-Rodgers assailed the nonexistent abortion coverage in the health reform bill, while brushing aside her own campaign dollars going towards plans which cover abortion. Eventually, the congresswoman relented and admitted that her campaign dollars funding abortion coverage is “not” okay:

TP: But at the same time, Lifewise Health Plans, which is what the Washington State GOP uses to provide health insurance to their employees, they cover abortion. So when you fundraise for the Washington State GOP, aren’t you providing dollars to abortion?

MCMORRIS-RODGERS: Uh, we’re talking about federal taxpayer dollars.

TP: Yeah, but isn’t this kind of like, you know, “do as I say, but not what I do?”

MCMORRIS-RODGERS: Um, I think the issue at hand is whether or not federal taxpayer dollars should be used to fund abortion –

TP: But your fundraiser dollars are used for abortions. … But campaign dollars are okay, Republican campaign dollars that you raise?

MCMORRIS-RODGERS: No, that’s not.

Listen here:

McMorris-Rodger’s initial indifference to her own state party funding abortion coverage reveals the partisanship of her ploy to lie about the health bill and claim that it covers abortions. Like McMorris-Rodgers, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Newt Gingrich have health insurance plans for their campaign employees which provide abortion coverage. And until recently, even the staunchly anti-choice Republican National Committee provided abortion coverage to its employees.

The Catholic Health Association and a group of 59,000 Catholic nuns recently endorsed health reform, noting that the bill in Congress does not provide taxpayer funded abortions. Additionally, T.R. Reid, writing in the Washington Post this week, explained why anti-abortion activists should support health reform. “Increasing health-care coverage is one of the most powerful tools for reducing the number of abortions — a fact proved by years of experience in other industrialized nations.” Regardless, partisan hypocrites like McMorris-Rodgers are plowing ahead, hoping to exploit a polarizing issue to kill reform.