Dems Face Trouble in Northeast

Three Democrats are causing the party a great deal of trouble in the liberal northeast.  In New York, David Patteron's tax policy and Caroline Kennedy fiasco have sent his approval ratings to 30%...twice as many Democrats disapproving as approving.  In Massachusetts, Deval Patrick's taxes, ethics complains among other things have his approval ratings in the same territory.  And in New Jersey, polls have Jon Corzine behind his Republican challenger by about 10%.

In Massachusetts, as went the economy so went Deval Patrick's approval numbers.  While it's hard to complain about a mere $2B deficit during a crisis of this magnitude in a state as large as Massachusetts, after four years of balanced Romney budgets, Patrick looks like Bush next to Clinton.

People in Massachusetts are afraid of their healthcare plan failing.  Under Romney Healthcare, working families recieve a large government subsidy on their private plans while the unemployed are granted insurance for twelve months.  In Mass, it is illegal to not have health insurance.

And now, Patrick has decided to chip away at whatever is left of his base (although more Dems are against him than for him) by denying Boston Mayor Tom Menino stimulus money for Boston's schools.  Tomorrow, many Boston parents will march on the capital with a sign reading, "Patrick to Boston: Drop Dead".  I compare what Patrick's doing to Pres. Obama deciding to give California $1B and Maine $100B.

Patrick is up for re-election in 2010 and "does Patrick deserve re-election" poll has far more saying no than yes.  And his flipping of the Mass state bird at the city of Boston has yet to be responded to with a poll...that fiasco will likely push his numbers even lower.

If someone challenges Patrick, they will likely win the Democratic nomination for the 2010 election.  If not, Mass is likely to make an unexpected swing to the right following Vermont & Connecticut.  It should be noted that Patrick was never elected to any office before Governor.

Meanwhile in New York, David "I'm Only Governor Cuz My Boss was a Sex-addict" Patterson is about to be rudely interrupted from his new job by two Italians: Cuomo and Giuliani.

Patterson assumed office after Spitzer resigned.  Patterson decided to come clean on he and his wife's extra marital affairs among other issues.

Patterson has two problems.  Not-Senator Caroline Kennedy and taxes.

As preface, most of New York has 8% sales tax, the highest in the union.  It also has the unpopular bottle deposit program that charges 5 cents per bottle which most people never bother to collect when they finish their drinks.

Now, Patterson suggested many unpopular tax increases to balance the budget.  The most spoofed tax was the "fat-tax" on non-diet soda and other unhealthy drinks.  Taxes on haircuts, video games and music downloads were also proposed.  

Of course, we all know that nobody is more likely to stop spending as a result of tax hikes than teenagers so targeting that age group will obviously hurt the economy.  Patterson didn't consider that when he decided on the video game and music downloads tax.

$2.3B in taxes remained after the state's assembly and Senate compromised with the governor.

And of course, the speculation (probably not founded, but still believed by many) that Patterson waited days to tell Kennedy she was not going to be chosen (he said he knew he was choosing Gillibrand on Tuesday, January 20th but Kennedy didn't know that until days later).  Of course, the Kennedy democrats, many of whom were the last of Patterson's dwindling base, were furious.

Then, take a trip across the Hudson River to New Jersey and Jon Corzine.

Currently there are no serious Democratic challenges for the June 2nd primary and the obvious Republican challenger, Chris Christie is ahead in the polls solidly.

Corzine's accident caused a dip in approval ratings as he was regarded as the cause of the accident.  It didn't help that he let the officer driving him apologize when the officer was obviously speeding because the Governor told him to.  Few blamed the officer.

And, of course, the state government shut down angered many.  Taxes went up and the state deficit went up, too.  So New Jersans have to ask, why are we paying the same property taxes if not higher and 7% sales tax for no reason?

So the Republicans will likely keep their seat in Connecticut until 2014 with their untouchable governor, Jodi Rell, a likely re-elect.  Will they gain three more in the next few years?

Without Democratic challenges to Patrick, Corzine and Patterson, most likely.