The race to replace 35th District Delegate and Democratic Attorney General candidate Steve Shannon is within a 2-point margin – or at least it was two weeks ago, according to polls conducted for Republican candidate Jim Hyland.

Hyland’s margin, described by his campaign manager Kevin Conroy as “within the margin of error,” reflects a tightening of the race since a July benchmark poll, when pollsters Barry Zeplowitz and Bill Lee of TelOpinion Research indicated in a confidential memo posted on Hyland’s website that Hyland held a 7-point lead 43 percent to 36 percent lead, with 21 percent undecided. The memo did not indicate the size of the sample or whether “likely voter” filters were used.

Read more at Collins on Politics

By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

At a press conference today, leading Republican Party members’ discussed their House Republican Housing Plan proposal.

Congressman Cantor said, “The notion in this country is you work hard, you play by the rules and that you can get a reward. This administration in the housing area doesn’t quite jive with that sense of the American spirit. Instead what we have seen are proposals that call upon the 90 some percent of the Americans, who are paying their mortgage, playing by the rules, calling on them to subsidize those who don’t. So the plan we have unveiled today responds to that notion and speaks to all Americans and tries to address the severe problem with excess and home inventories.”

Congressman Cantor added that this was a “central element to addressing the bank failures and capital markets failures.”

The Republican plan says that it can “provide a $5,000 refinancing tax credit to help families cover the costs of a mortgage refinancing, buy down points, or reduce their principle balance (covers refinancing through July 1, 2010).” The plan also states that, “in exchange for a lender investing in keeping a homeowner in their family home by refinancing their mortgage and lowering their monthly payments, if the homeowner agrees to share a portion of future home appreciation with the lender, then the lender will not be taxed on that future profit and the borrower will not incur any tax liability as a result of the refinancing (covers refinancing through July 1, 2010).”

Congressman Pence said, “Welcome to the next installment of the party of yes. Yes to new solutions, yes to alternatives that will resonate with millions of Americans because they are grounded in the timeless personal responsibility.

Congressman Pence added, “Unfortunately our democratic colleagues have only offered failed policies that reward bad behavior and massively expand government programs. The Republicans today unveil a better solution, and when the American people have a chance to look at it I believe most of them will agree.”

By Kayleigh Harvey

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, senior policy adviser for the 2008 McCain Presidential Campaign and Jim Pinkerton, senior adviser for the 2009 Huckabee Presidential Campaign talk about how to “Repair the Republican Brand” following their 2008 election defeat.

International Affairs Correspondent Blanquita Cullum interviews the former Texas Democratic Party Chairman Molly Beth Malcolm about Obama’s future, Texas, and female participation in politics. (11:55)

 

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