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Election Central Sunday Roundup

Today: The Inaugural Concert
Today is the big inaugural concert to celebrate Barack Obama's incoming presidency, featuring acts such as Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Beyonce, Stevie Wonder and many more. HBO has the exclusive TV rights, but the audio will also be streamed online by NPR from 2-5 p.m. ET.

Obama And Biden Visits Arlington National Cemetery
Barack Obama and Joe Biden visited Arlington National Cemetery this morning, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Obamas Attend Church In Washington
The Obamas attended church this morning at the 19th Street Baptist Church, the oldest historically-black church in Washington. A release from the Presidential Inauguration Committee indicated that the Obamas are still looking at various churches in the area, and will settle on a permanent one at a later time.

Polls Give Obama Sky-High Ratings Ahead Of Inauguration
Multiple polls out this morning give Barack Obama some incredibly high approval ratings in the days leading up to his inauguration. A new CBS/New York Times poll has 79% of Americans saying they are optimistic about the next four years with Obama as president, compared to only 16% who are pessimistic; the new CNN poll gives him an 84% approval rating; and the new ABC/Washington Post poll gives him an 80%-15% approval ratings.

Polls Also Show Approval For Obama's Economic Plan
The new CBS/NYT poll shows a 63%-24% approval of Obama's economic plan. The ABC/WaPo poll shows that 72% of Americans are confident that Obama's plan will improve the economy, compared to only 17% who are not confident. And the CNN poll finds 58%-40% approval for increased government spending to stimulate the economy, with support jumping to 71%-28% when the spending is combined with tax cuts.

More Polls: People Don't Like Bush
The new CBS/NYT poll gives George W. Bush an approval rating of only 22%, with a disapproval of 73%. The ABC/WaPo poll gives him a 33%-66% rating. And the CNN poll shows 68% of Americans rating George W. Bush's president as a failure, with only 31% saying it was a success.

Pelosi To Obama: Don't Wait For 2010, Repeal Bush Tax Cuts Sooner
During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Nancy Pelosi said that Barack Obama should not wait for the Bush tax cuts on the top-earners to expire, but should instead seek to repeal them ahead of schedule. However, she did add that any discussion on this issue is not part of the economic stimulus plan.

Axelrod Predicts Strong Action From Obama
David Axelrod told CNN that Barack Obama will take diplomatic action "early and aggressively." Said Axelrod: "I think that the events around the world demand that he act quickly, and I think you'll see him act quickly."


15 Comments

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David Axelrod told CNN that Barack Obama will take diplomatic action "early and aggressively."

Intended meaning aside, given the history of the Bush administration and it's effect on our image abroad, if I were Axelroad I'd avoid using references to diplomacy and aggression in the same sentence.

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I wanted to make sure you knew that HBO is unscrambling their signal for all cable and satellite subscribers for this afternoon's festivities. That's not to bash NPR's coverage in any way, but just to give you another option.

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Steamed audio at the Inaugural Concert, eh? Must really be hot!

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I am watching HBO. Amazing!!!

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I missed 45 minutes of the concert because I was watching a repeat of Obama on BookTv-Cspan discussing Dreams From My Father. It was in NYC at Barnes & Nobles. This was in 2004 after Bush won again. I just kept thinking how Obama had no idea then where he would be now. There were people in the audience who were hoping he would be president, but he played it down saying that he ranked 99th in the senate and will be sharpening pencils and sweeping the floors.

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Thanks for the heads up. It looks like they're replaying it at 8 pm, so I'm going to try and catch it then.

Just today my husband and I saw some video of his '04 convention speech and we started talking about how meteoric his rise has been. I just can't believe that in less than 48 hrs he'll be sworn in as president when 4 yrs ago very few people even knew his name. Just one of the many things that makes this inauguration so remarkable.

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Screw HBO, I was there, great show! :P

Granted, watching it on HBO was probably more comfortable!

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I had planned on going but my friends aren't the type to stand out in the cold for anyone. One of them lives in Maryland and I was going to stay with her and go to the inauguration, but she was complaining about the cold and the crowd. Plans were still on but then I read some article that crowds were going to be at crush level - then I remembered that Wal-mart employee that was crushed to death.....and so I'm going to watch Obama swear in at a movie theater (set up by MSNBC). I just want to be around people who are as excited about this as I am.

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"Wolf, these polling results can only be interpreted as a serious problem for Obama."

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Are there any estimates on the crowd size expected? The Huffington Post pic of the Lincoln memorial looks to be in excess of 100K.

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I can certainly see why Josh is giving TpmTV face time to the lovely and talented Elana Shor

But for the rest of us

WE WANT ERIC!

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Hey, I don't have HBO, but I would have liked to see that concert too. Can't go to Washington. What can I do? Frankly, I'm disappointed that the Obama campaign allowed this celebration to go elsewhere. Was it on CSPAN?

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You could have watched it online on HBO.com.

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I don't have HBO either. They broadcasted it for free. From 2:30-4:30pm. I was able to watch the concert on HBO.

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My local cable company still blocks HBO, et al, for everyone who's not paying big $$ for digital service, even when they're doing free previews. Buggers.

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