Real Clear Politics | Mike Memoli

Public Policy Polling (D) revisits the Missouri Senate race today, an in the expected matchup of Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) and Rep. Roy Blunt (R), the result is just where it was at the start of the year.

General Election Matchup
Carnahan 43 (-2 vs. last poll, 1/10-11)
Blunt 42 (-2)
Und 15 (+4)

*Swing State Project | MO-Sen: Carnahan Leads Blunt By 1

*The Hill | Is the environment buoying Blunt?

*Politics Daily | Carnahan, Blunt Are Neck-and-Neck in Race for Missouri Senate Seat

Fox News | Serafin Gomez

Marco Rubio has no scheduled meeting with Palin, who will be in Jacksonville, Orlando and The Villages retirement community on Tuesday, but the former Florida House speaker’s spokesman said the campaign would fully appreciate support from the former Alaska governor and best-selling author.

*Gainesville Sun | Crist faces a tougher primary as luster dulls

The State | Staff reports

First lady Jenny Sanford is supporting Lexington state Rep. Nikki Haley for governor, Sanford said in a letter of support released by the Haley campaign.

Sanford, who helped manage her husband Gov. Mark Sanford’s campaigns for Congress and governor, said Haley stands out in the five- candidate Republican field mainly for her history of fiscal conservatism and her advocacy of government restructuring.

Rasmussen Report

State Attorney General Jerry Brown is the only major Democrat still running for governor of California next year, and now he’s tied with Republican hopeful Meg Whitman at 41% each in the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state.

*GOP 12

*Swing State Project

CQ Politics | Poll Tracker

Fifty-one percent of voters disapprove of the job Patrick is doing in his first term, including majorities of Republicans and independents; 42 percent approve. Just 32 percent of voters think Patrick deserves to be re-elected, wile 55 percent say it is time to elect someone else. The margin of error is 4 percent.

Patrick, however, leads in a three-way race against independent Tim Cahill, the state’s current treasurer, and either of two prospective Republican candidates. Against Republican businessman Christy Mihos, Patrick takes 36 percent of the vote while Cahill nabs 26 percent and Mihos comes in at 20 percent. Eighteen percent remain undecided.

Boston Globe | Mihos campaign coming up short in funds

USA Today | USA TODAY’s Congress Team

Ohio’s Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland has a fight on his hands.

A Quinnipiac University Poll released today shows Strickland and his Republican challenger John Kasich in a dead heat in the 2010 governor’s race, 40% to 40%.

The poll found Ohio voters believe Kasich is better qualified to rebuild the state economy and handle the budget.

An earlier poll, taken in September, found Strickland leading Kasich, 46% to 36%.

Philadelphia Bulletin | Dems Fade In Ohio Senate Race

CQ Politics | By Greg Giroux

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison won’t resign her seat until after she participates in a Republican primary for governor next March.

According to the Associated Press, Hutchison plans to say in a speech Saturday in Galveston that she’ll remain in the Senate to fight Democratic proposals to overhaul health care and enact a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gases.

CQ Politics | Emily Cadei

Democrat El Tinklenberg withdrew from Minnesota’s 6th District race Tuesday, an abrupt reversal after weeks of tough talk about how he was the best candidate to take on Republican incumbent Michele Bachmann among a crowded field of Democrats.

Tinklenberg, who lost to Bachmann by just 3 percentage points in 2008, issued a statement saying, “While the image of the next campaign against Michele Bachmann is certainly energizing, the path to that campaign is becoming increasingly improbable.”

State Democrats weren’t commenting Tuesday, but it’s likely Tinklenberg got the hint that he was not their first choice for the nomination this time around, given state Sen. Tarryl Clark’s entry into the race last week. Still, Tinklenberg gave no inkling that he was willing to step aside as buzz about Clark’s run built in July, declaring defiantly in the local press that he was prepared to run in a competitive primary and believed he was the “only one” who could beat the colorful and controversial Bachmann.

Howey Politics Indiana | BRIAN A. HOWEY

When it comes to looking at the “invincibility” element in U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh’s 2010 re-election campaign, it is worth a journey back through Howey Politics Indiana archives.

In the July 10, 2003, edition of Howey Politics, Johnson County Council President Brent Waltz was preparing his challenge to Senate Finance Chairman Larry Borst. “At first glance it would be easy to dismiss Waltz as a freshman county official who, as one long-time Republican strategist put it, is about to ‘commit political suicide.’ But an unprecedented political crisis is unfolding and the talkative, energetic Waltz is positioning himself in what gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels might call the ultimate ‘china breaker.’ It is Waltz who has produced a stunning political indictment on the status quo ….”

George Washington University | No Author Listed

The latest edition of The George Washington University Battleground Poll finds a majority of voters (51%) believing that the country is on the wrong track. Their top areas of concern are the economy and jobs, health care costs, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the federal budget deficit.

Looking ahead to the 2010 Congressional Elections, the Democratic Party enjoys a three point advantage (43%-40%) on the Congressional generic ballot. However, voters are closely divided on their preference for a divided government (41%) or for a unified government (39%). In addition, a majority (57%) of voters disapprove of the job performance of Congress.

In contrast, President Obama has a job approval rating of 53%, a personal approval rating of 72%, and a 61% favorable rating on name identification.