Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Cool It
A new Gallup poll indicates public concerns over global warming continue to drop. Forty-eight percent of those surveyed believe the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated. That's up seven percentage points from last year, and 17 points since 1997, the first time Gallup asked that question. The Gallup poll surveyed 1,014 national adults between March 3-7 with a margin of error of 4 percent.
In Writing
Updating a story we've been following, California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa is asking the White House for more information about its alleged job offer to Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak aimed at getting him to drop out of the Senate race.
Sestak is challenging incumbent Democrat Arlen Specter in the May primary.
Issa, who is the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, writes in a letter to White House counsel Robert Bauer: "Sestak's account is startling because it is an open admission that Chicago-style political tactics are used by this White House."
Issa says such offers are illegal. The White House has so far refused to comment on Sestak's allegation. And today, well, we tried again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Major Garrett: Last Tuesday you told us I don't have the update with me on Sestak — two things have happened since then...
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: I don't have anything... (crosstalk)
Garrett: Issa sent a letter to the White House Counsel...
Gibbs: I don't have anything additional on that.
Garrett: Are you ever going to have anything additional on that?
Gibbs: I don't have it today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Maybe tomorrow.
Tea Party Crasher?
Some people in Nevada are wondering if tea party Senate candidate Scott Ashjian is the real deal. The political newcomer has caused quite a stir since entering the race against Republican challengers and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
His GOP rivals accuse him of being in cahoots with Reid, siphoning off conservative votes that they would otherwise get. A Las Vegas newspaper reports the latest polling has him getting as much as 18 percent of the vote, giving Reid an edge over the Republican candidates. Reid dismisses the accusations, saying to CNN: "there are too many conspiratorialists in the world today."
Republican candidate Danny Tarkanian says he's particularly concerned because Ashjian, like Tarkanian, is Armenian and could split the Armenian vote.
— Fox News Channel's Lanna Britt contributed to this report.
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