As might be expected in the week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day, there is very little campaign news on the docket for this Monday edition of the Wrap. One poll (and not even a campaign poll), and only a small handful of campaign stories are on tap for this Monday evening...
NATIONAL: The Winners and Losers of 2009
In one of what will undoubtedly be a series of year-end reflective pieces that will get launched this week, Gallup went into the field earlier in the month to ask voters who they thought were the "winners" and the "losers" of 2009.
There were four "winners", according to Gallup. All of them had close connections to President Obama, and the President himself even snuck into the category, with significantly more U.S. voters identifying him as a winner rather than those identifying him as a loser:
First Lady Michelle Obama: Net +52 (73/21)
Sec. of State Hillary Clinton: Net +45 (70/25)
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor: Net +33 (57/24)
President Barack Obama: Net +20 (58/38)
Gallup also identified five "losers" for 2009. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's status as the #1 target of the GOP this year cost her dearly, as she is the only Dem-affiliated entity that lands on this list. You can click on the link above if you want to know who the biggest loser was. I am choosing not to include them, because (A) they aren't necessarily political, and (B) their fifteen minutes should have expired last month.
In the field of actual politics, here were the four biggest losers, according to Gallup:
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford: Net Minus 51 (12/63)
Republican Rep. Joe "You Lie" Wilson: Net Minus 32 (29/61)
Republicans in Congress: Net Minus 14 (38/52)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Net Minus 11 (39/50)
Interestingly, the folks at Gallup polled the "Republicans in Congress" but NOT the "Democrats in Congress".
A handful of folks did not earn a majority either way, and thus were not classified as winners or losers. Three of them (Senate leader Harry Reid, talk show mouth Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin) had net negative ratings, while the fourth (Ben Bernanke) had a slightly net positive rating.
IN OTHER NEWS....