New York Gov. David Paterson is planning to run for re-election in 2010, and conventional wisdom suggests he will lose. Polling shows him trailing a potential opponent from his own party by a more than 4-to-1 margin. If he gets the Democratic nomination, he could face a national Republican figure who leads him by 23 points. Even the president is telling him to not run.

Maybe it’s because I enjoy being a contrarian, but I’m not convinced Paterson can’t win. The mess that is New York State and Paterson’s potential to stand apart from the political establishment of both parties make his election no more unlikely than his shocking ascendance to the office.

Read all of John Zogby’s analysis about next year’s New York State Governor’s race at Forbes.com.

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Some say that the main priority of every elected official is to be re-elected. Taken to the extreme, that would mean carrying out policies that you firmly believe are very bad for your constituents and even the nation as a whole, but doing so anyway in order to win re-election.

On most issues, voting for your political survival is not difficult; especially since politicians can rationalize that there will be many other issues where their decisions will better serve the public good than that of anyone who might beat them in the next election.

But some issues are of such magnitude that we would hope a politician with a conscience would sacrifice their electoral survival and “do the right thing”   as he or she sees it.

Is healthcare reform such an issue? Will any members of Congress base their vote on how the bill will impact the nation, even if that vote will be used against them and could, on its own, defeat them?  Let me be clear that such a vote could be either for or against the bill.

Some of you will post responses that will point out how good or bad the evolving healthcare bill will be, but I’m hoping you will also focus on these questions.

Do you believe there are any members of Congress who see the outcome of this bill as more important than their own re-election?  Does history show any cases where a politician did sacrifice re-election because of a vote taken based on principle?

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Today, the politics of Afghanistan are Obama’s problem, and what he said during the campaign now gives him much less room to maneuver in Afghanistan, especially politically.

A Zogby Interactive poll of nearly 2,300 likely voters conducted Nov. 4-6 reinforces the dilemma Obama now faces with Afghanistan.

Read John Zogby’s column at Forbes.com that discusses the latest public opinion on the War in Afghanistan and finds several similarities to the Vietnam War.

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Every week, John Zogby grades the performance of President Barack Obama for U.S. News and World Report. Read the full report card by clicking on the quote below.

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So what did we learn from Tuesday’s elections? And what lessons should Democrats and Republicans draw from the results?

The big races resulted in Republican wins in the gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia, and the first win by a Democrat this century for the Congressional district that comprises most of northern New York State.

Read all of John Zogby’s take on Tuesday’s elections at Forbes.com.

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Every week, John Zogby grades the performance of President Barack Obama for U.S. News and World Report. Read the full report card by clicking on the quote below.

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This may be an off-year election, but two governor’s races and one congressional district are making national news. From my perspective, there will be three themes coming out of Tuesday’s governor races in New Jersey and Virginia, and the election to fill a vacant House seat in northern New York state.

First, most elections are seen as a referendum on the president, and that’s especially true for Barack Obama, who in his first year in office is taking up major issues. Second, two of the races, for New Jersey governor and New York’s 23rd Congressional District seat, include third-party candidates, and how well they do will have significance. Third, the congressional election is splitting the national Republican Party, with some big names in the GOP backing the third-party candidate.

Read all of John Zogby’s thoughts on next week’s elections at Forbes.com.

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Every week, John Zogby grades the performance of President Barack Obama for U.S. News and World Report. Read the full report card by clicking on the quote below.

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After many months of talking about health care legislation, Congress now moves to the real action phase. But don’t expect the arguments to end when a bill is passed.

Democrats want voters to believe that their plan will achieve their set goals, and our recent polling shows large majorities of voters believe those goals are important. Republicans will continue raising fears about what reform might reap, and our polling also shows a majority of voters share the doubts expressed by Republicans. So expect a whirlwind that will pick up intensity the closer we get to the 2010 midterm election.

Read all of John Zogby’s analysis of this recent polling data on healthcare reform at Forbes.com.

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In every crowd, there is always one person that everybody else sees as just lucky. In my neighborhood, that was a boy named Eddie. He was from Brooklyn and only lived in my hometown of Utica, N.Y., long enough to gain that reputation for good fortune.

After he pitched a no-hitter and hit a home run in a Little League game, we dismissed his achievements by saying that the other team was lousy, and that the wind carried his home run over the fence. Our coach would have none of our guff, so he sat us down and said that Eddie did what he did, because he is obviously a talented baseball player. We needed to get over our envy and move on. The same can be said of all those who are now griping about Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Read all of John Zogby’s thoughts on Obama winning the Peace Prize at Forbes.com.

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