… look who’s more popular. Mean John McCain:

Candidate	Favorability Rating	Unfavorability Rating
Hillary Clinton	53%	44%
Barack Obama	62%	33%
John McCain	67%	27%

So McCain’s favorability ratings are higher than either Democrat candidate and his unfavorability ratings are lower than either Democrat candidate.

McCain gets an extraordinarily high 52% favorable from Democrats and independents who lean Democratic, while Obama gets a 39% favorable rating from Republicans and Republican leaners. Clinton, on the other hand, receives only a 20% favorable rating from Republicans and Republican leaners.

McCain is also helped by the fact that he receives an 87% favorable rating from Republicans, higher than the 80% and 79% that Clinton and Obama, respectively, currently receive from Democrats.

Interesting results.

Currently, SCOTUS Blog is live blogging the oral arguments before the Supreme Court in Heller vs Washington DC, the landmark Second Amendment case.  C-Span is supposed to stream the audio later today.  Go here to follow the proceedings and below is a sample of their coverage:

Based just on the questioning, which can prove inaccurate, the Court is divided along ideological lines in Heller, with Justice Kennedy taking a strong view that the “operative clause” of the Second Amendment protects an individual right unconnected with militia service that guarantees the right to hunt and engage in self-defense. If the oral argument line up were to hold when the Court votes, the Court will recognize an individual right to bear arms that will not be seriously constrained by military service of any kind. There was a seemingly broad consensus that the right would not extend to machine guns, plastic guns that could evade metal detectors, and the like. There was relatively little disccusion of the trigger lock provision. Justice Breyer seemingly sought to pick up a fifth vote for a narrower reading of the Second Amendment by attempting to tie the question of the reasonableness of the regulation to whether the challenged statute left individuals with the ability to possess weapons that could be used in milita service. But at argument, at least, none of the Court’s more conservative members expressed much interest in that approach, and Justice Kennedy’s view that the operative clause is not directed at militia service would seem not to point in that direction.

I will update with the C-Span link when I get it.

UPDATE:  Audio of today’s oral arguments is available here.  Scroll down to the link in the left center column titled Supreme Court Oral Argument: DC vs Heller.

UPDATE #2:  Constitutional scholar and Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett has an important, explanantory column on the Heller case today in the Wall Street Journal.  I highly recommend it to everyone and here is a sample:

Because the District of Columbia is a federal entity, Heller provides a clean application of the Second Amendment which, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, originally applied only to the federal government. Before a state or municipal gun law can be challenged, the Supreme Court will have to decide that the right to keep and bear arms is also protected by the 14th Amendment, which limits state powers.

As it usually is. The latest CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll confirms that the economy has replaced the Iraq war as the most important issue in the upcoming presidential election.

Seventy-four percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey say the economy has entered a recession.

That figure is up from 66 percent who felt that way in a similar survey last month. The number stood at 61 percent in January and 46 percent in October.

It’s no surprise then that the economy remains the key issue in the public’s mind.

By a 2-1 margin, it tops the Iraq war as the No. 1 issue for Americans in their choice for president.

Illegal immigration continues it’s slide as an important issue to voters, falling to just 7% from its high of 15%.

It’s come down to this.

On March 5th, the day after the Primary election, I challenged Shelley Sekula-Gibbs to a live debate in each county. Today, we have learned, she will not participate in any debates.

The news came to us from the Bay Area Republican Women, Shelley’s home Club in Clear Lake, who had spoken with Shelley’s campaign this morning and were told, “Shelley will not be participating in any debates or forums”. This confirmed what we were already beginning to believe.

• The Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce offered to hold a debate on March 25th - Shelley has not responded to them.
• ABC, Channel 13 offered to hold a debate on March 26th - Shelley has not responded to them.
• PBS-KUHT, offered to hold a debate on March 26th - Shelley has not responded to them.

In all cases, I have agreed to debates because voters deserve to hear a direct comparison between Shelley and me so they can make a determination about who can best represent the Republican Party against Nick Lampson.

Voters must ask themselves, what does Shelley Sekula-Gibbs not want them to know?

If my opponent doesn’t feel comfortable participating in live debates, then she is proving she is unfit to represent the voters of this district on the most important issues facing our country today - illegal immigration, national security, fiscal responsibility, and Conservative values. This is one more reason why folks just can’t trust Shelley.

Shelley knows she will have to answer for the liberal positions she took while on the Houston City Council:

• Pro-Illegal Immigration & Pro-Sanctuary City.
• Wasted $400,000 of tax payer money on day labor sites.
• Pro-Abortion and sought the endorsement of Planned Parenthood.
• Weakened our national security by voting to legitimize the Mexican Matricula ID card which is used by drug smugglers, human traffickers, and other criminal illegal aliens.

**All of these facts can be reviewed at www.shelleysaysanything.com.

Voters are tired of long-time politicians, like Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who make empty promises, misrepresent their records and avoid public scrutiny.

It is clear, there is only one true conservative candidate left in this race. Please let your friends and colleagues know about Shelley’s insult to voters and the democratic process.

Now that you know Shelley doesn’t consider herself accountable to you, I hope you will join our team. We need your support - I am working hard to earn it every day - please join Team Olson and let’s win this election for real conservative values.

[h/t: Email from Olson campaign]

In the interest of Increasing the Peace and bringing Unity to the Community, LST proposes a compromise debate between stand-in endorsers of both campaigns.

For Pete Olson, someone who has endorsed him, like John Culberson, or perhaps Phil Gramm.

For Shelley…

Better suit up!

 

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