The American Pundit

Prominent Democrats increasingly want little to do with Barack Obama’s despicable attacks on Bain Capital and Mitt Romney’s work there.

Earlier we noted seven prominent Democrats, including governors and senators, who condemned the attacks or outright defended Bain from Obama’s slime campaign. Two more Democrats have now joined the fold.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a widely respected member of Congress, stopped short of criticizing the president, but made it clear that the campaign should pivot.

“It’s done,” she said. “Go on to other things now.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told The Hill, “I think the average American … hopes that this campaign will focus on competing visions for how to strengthen our economy, help create jobs and move the country forward.”

Pressed on whether he thought Obama’s campaign had operated within those guidelines, Coons paused.

“I’m not going to comment on President Obama’s ad,” he said, shaking his head vigorously.

You know Obama’s attack has failed when even liberal Democrats are telling him to move on. Hopefully for the sake of decency he’ll listen to them.

In addition to the Kentucky presidential primary, Arkansas is voting tonight. Mitt Romney has already been declared the winner on the Republican side, but upstart candidate John Wolfe is expected to give Barack Obama a hard time in the Democratic primary. Results here.

Update: It’s early on, but with 4% of counties reported we have Obama at 59% and Wolfe at 41%.

Update X2: Things aren’t moving very quickly. We still only have 5.33% reporting, and Obama is at 66%.

Update X3: 14% reporting and it’s Obama 59% to Wolfe 41%. But Obama has just lost his first Arkansas county to Wolfe.

Update X4: Obama is trailing Wolfe in 30 of Arkansas’ 75 counties.

Update X5: Wolfe has defeated Obama in three counties so far.

Update X6: Obama is going to win the state (as would be expected) but he’s trailing in 32 counties. He’s lost 12 already.

Kentucky held its presidential primary today, and so far we’re seeing a repeat of what we witnessed in West Virginia and North Carolina: Large numbers of moderate and conservative Democrats abandoning Barack Obama.

So far tonight, eleven counties in the Bluegrass State have voted for “Uncommitted” over Obama in the Democratic primary. And the results are still being tallied as I write this. Stay tuned, because we have Arkansas coming up, too.

Update: We’re up to 14 counties that have gone to “Uncommitted” instead of Obama.

Update X2: And now it’s 15. Hey, national Democrats? How’s that plan to attack coal and demonize blue collar values working out for you?

Update X3: 18. This is getting absurd.

Update X4: 22. We’re up to 22 counties where “Uncommitted” has beaten Obama in the Democratic primary.

Update X5: 25. This has to stop at some point, right?

Update X6: Nope. Because we now have number 27.

Update X7: 34. “Uncommitted” taking 40% of the overall Democratic vote in the state.

Update X8: 38 counties.

Update X9: Obama has now lost 50 Kentucky counties to Uncommitted. There are another 13 where he trails.

The Obama campaign’s attack on Bain Capital and Mitt Romney is falling apart like a cheap suit. A short list of Democrats who have come out and condemned Obama’s despicable attacks on Bain:

• Newark Mayor Cory Booker
• Former Congressman Harold Ford
• Auto czar Steve Rattner
• Senator Mark Warner
• Former DNC chair and Governor Ed Rendell
• Obama major fundraiser Tony James

And now Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who defended Bain Capital from Obama’s attacks on CNN a short time ago. The Washington Free Beacon captured the interview.

Conservative grassroots favorite Ted Cruz has pulled within single-digits of establishment favorite David Dewhurst in the Texas Republican primary for U.S. Senate, according to a new non-partisan poll.

David Dewhurst: 40%

Ted Cruz: 31%

Tom Leppart: 17%

Dewhurst would need to achieve 51% of the vote or more in order to avoid a run-off between himself and Cruz.

Dewhurst isn’t certain he could win such a run-off primary with momentum swinging to his conservative challenger.

He’s a former venture capitalist himself. Remember, Democrats have never had a problem working on or taking money from Wall Street. They just demonize Wall Street while taking large cash donations in the back letter slot, hoping no one will discover the hypocrisy.

This morning on MSNBC, former venture capitalist Sen. Mark Warner D-Va. admitted that Bain Capital was “very successful” and “did what they were supposed to do.”

When asked about whether attacks on private equity were fair, Warner said that he was “proud” of his previous career in the private sector but noted that public service required a “different skill set.”

“Bain Capital was a very successful business. They got a good return for their investors. That is what they were supposed to do,” Warner said.

The Obama narrative continues to unravel.

A member of the union apparently thought it was a good idea to post this video. After all, who’ll see a video uploaded to and publicly available on YouTube? Oh…oh.

The woman beating the pinata of Governor Nikki Haley (R) is South Carolina AFL-CIO president Donna Hewitt. Someone who’d have a cow if Republicans beat a pinata of, say, Barack Obama.

Embedding has been disabled, so you’ll have to go to YouTube to watch it. It’s just 33 seconds so you’re not in for a long haul. Remember people like this when you hear “organized labor”.

Former Democratic Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania told BuzzFeed today that he can’t stand the Obama campaign’s despicable attacks on Bain Capital and Mitt Romney’s experience there.

Rendell joined the chorus of criticism of Obama’s attacks on finance, whose leaders have written checks to many members of both parties.

“I think they’re very disappointing,” Rendell said of the ads attacking Bain. “I think Bain is fair game, because Romney has made it fair game. But I think how you examine it, the tone, what you say, is important as well.”

As for Booker, “I admire him,” Rendell said. “People in politics should tell the truth. He could have qualified it better, he could have framed it better, but if you’re in this business, none of us like negative ads.”

Rendell joins Mayor Cory Booker, Former Congressman Harold Ford, and Obama auto czar Steve Rattner in coming out against his own party’s leadership over the attacks on Bain. Good for them.

The Obama Administration has signed a contract with Porter Novelli, a PR firm, to produce pro-ObamaCare propaganda in the run-up to the presidential election. The contract is worth $20 million, all of it taxpayer money.

Believe it or not, such propaganda was required by the ObamaCare law. You read that properly. The legislation mandated taxpayers spend money convincing themselves that the legislation is good. It was crafted that way.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows big trouble for Barack Obama. Why? The economy, stupid.

Just 16% of Americans say their financial situation has improved since Obama took office in January 2009. 30% say they’re worse off. Most haven’t seen a change.

That explains why Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy by a margin of 55-42. That has opened a significant opportunity for Romney.

That said, Romney has inched closer to Obama on the key question of who better understands the economic problems of average Americans, halving a 17-percentage point Obama lead in February to 8 points now. And while blame for the economy still falls more on Bush than on Obama, that’s narrowed to 49-34 percent – a still-substantial 15-point margin, but down from 25 points in January. The more Obama takes the blame, the greater his risk.

Another factor: Obama’s overall job approval rating, now back under 50 percent (47 percent approve, 49 percent disapprove) after hitting the halfway mark last month for just the second time since the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Part of what’s hurt Romney until now has been his favorable/unfavorable rating. But polls show those numbers improving the more people learn about him.

Last month this ABC News/Washington Post poll showed Obama leading Romney 51-44. The new poll has Romney behind by just three and Obama under 50% (49-46).