...and they don't care about party. Webb lost support among indys because he and other Democrats failed to make a difference in the the biggest issue before Congress and the nation, ending the war. While Dems tend to stick by their elected, even when they disagree about a vote, indys by definition have no party loyalty. This should be a warning bell to Democrats to not be bamboozled again by a lame-duck president and use their power of the purse to force the Administration to end the war before more die needlessly. Otherwise, in 2008, in will be the Democrats war, too.

I find Webb's amendment fair. Unless the text changed, his amendment would take out the requirement to apply for the visas in the country of origin. This requirement is a huge hardship on people who are here because they are poor. A trip home to Mexico can easily cost between $500 and $1,000, depending where one lives; immigrants from Africa or Asia would have to pay even more money.

These Survey USA polls seem crazy and all seem to have the same minority biases...like to see results from a more reputable firm.

I've heard the approval ratings are down sharply for Congress overall, are these numbers just a reflection of that?

Obviously Congress has angered voters by failing to cut off funds for the Iraq War.  But it also took a worst-of-all-worlds approach to immigration -- taking the heat for taking on the issue, then failing to get anything done.  If you're not going to get anything done, why take the heat?

Overall, I can't blame voters for being frustrated with Congress -- Democrats for not being able to push their agenda through, and Republicans for filibustering almost everything.  Congress has done nothing ethics, energy, immigration, Iraq, the deficit, global warming ... what accomplishments CAN members of Congress point to?

Congress' numbers are worse than Dubya's.  Un-freakin-believable. 

Taking TGM point a step further, I suspect there's an overall level of frustration with all congress critters not only because we're having the usual problems, but because the November vote represented a major change and so far nothing is very different.  Or at least it doesn't seem different to the average American. 

If people think that the new crop of elected leaders has already devolved into mirror images of those they replaced, those people are going to be unhappy.  Expectations have not been met - the only thing worse than a bad government is raising hopes that a good government is coming in and then failing to deliver on that hope.

Just as a rising tide raises all boats, The sinking presidency of GW BUSH is dragging down the democratic congress.

Watch the toad like republicans blame everything on the democrats.

Also in this mix is the question of secret elections for unionisation of a plant or company, something naturally bitterly resisted by republicans and anyone in the pockets of the corporations.

And what about negotiations to install labor protections and the right of collective bargaining in our trade agreements? I find it ironic that republicans and the corporatists who argue so strongly for globalisation for business fight it when labor tries to go global. All these questions meld into the immigration and foreign trade questions.

As for Iraq (and, ultimately, Iran), the Democrats squandered their chance during the debate on funding--- frightened to be seen as "surrendering" they caved in. No Democrat responded to the republican attacks, no one presented the Democratic case, no one re-framed the debate in a way more favorable to the Democrats. I truly believe the national Democrats are setting themselves up to lose the next election. They get no respect because they earned none. "Dangerfield Democrats."

First off, I think Tim Kaine is probably best explained by a spike representing the admirable job he did leading Virginia through a very tough moment in the state's history following the Virginia Tech shooting.  He was highly visible, bringing exactly the right tone which Virginians needed to hear while also taking a strong lead on establishing a commission to look into the actions of the state and school leading up to and during the tragedy.  As Virginians try to move forward past this sad event and it begins to have less of a hold on our daily thoughts, Kaine's visibility has started to fall off again, and some people aren't evaluating him just on Virginia Tech anymore but on a broader view of his job performance.  He should be very happy to hear that he's still near 60% because at this point in time it means that most Virginians not only think he did a good job handling Tech but that he's doing a pretty credible job as a whole.

Webb's numbers are trickier to explain, but they're going to share some similarities between both Kaine and Webb.  First off, I don't know how visible he's been lately for non-democrats around the state, and if you're not as visible, your numbers aren't going to be as much about what people think about you specifically but more about how people feel about things in general.  Surely this accounts for the independent voters, who have seem to have less esteem every day for the Government's ability to accomplish anything. 

This might also be reflected in his fall off among black voters (I don't know how much minority outreach he's continuing to do post-election, but he needs to keep working on it).  I can't help but wonder, too, if perhaps part of that aftermath of the Lambert/McEachin primary?  Yes, Benny started it, but there's sure to be some bad blood among the people who supported him and are sorry to see him lose.  That primary was basically entirely about the Webb/Allen race, and while I'm glad Webb and McEachin won, I think Webb's going to pay a price at least in the short-term with some African Americans for not just letting the whole thing slide.

I mean, even Congressman Jefferson (D-LA) is finding supporters who think he's being set up by whites because he's black, and the FBI found bundles of cash in his freezer!

The number that really jumps out is Webb's disapproval among Hispanics.  I have to imagine that those numbers--if they are in fact representative--are part of the immigration bill story.

Also, it seems like there's a general malaise right now in reference to the war and other factors (gas prices is a guess).

SurveyUSA is not the most reliable poll, but it does have some value in terms of tracking overall trends.  The big drop across the board for all three VA politicos is indicative of something.