Politics Digest: Survey on Facebook Asked About Assassinating Obama

More Are Following Politics Closely

Thirty-six percent of Americans say they are following national political news "very closely," Gallup reported, the highest number for a year without a national election since the polling operation began asking the question in 2001.

That number stood at 30 percent in 2007 and 28 percent in 2005.

The increase is largely a result of Republicans and, to a lesser extent, independents, paying more attention to political news.

Just 26 percent of Republicans said they were closely following such news in 2005, but the number jumped to 41 percent in the most recent survey. The percentage of independents paying close attention rose from 30 percent in 2005 to 37 percent this year. Democrats had more modest gains in that time frame -- from 26 percent to 30 percent.

Typically, the challenge for both political parties in a non-election year is to get people to even notice their policy proposals, which are far less sexy than the daily back-and-forth of a campaign.

With so many people paying such close attention, however, the opportunity may exist for both Democrats and Republicans to move people in a real way on issues such as health care over the next few months.

-- Chris Cillizza

HEALTH CARE

Liberal Groups Aim An Ad at Baucus

Two liberal groups launched an advertising campaign targeting Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), whose role in attempting to forge a compromise health-care bill with Republicans has raised the ire of many on the political left.

The television ad, from the Progressive Campaign Change Committee and Democracy for America, will be run in Montana and the D.C. area. It features an uninsured young father who faces more than $100,000 in medical bills because of a congenital heart defect.

"Senator Baucus, when you take millions of dollars from health and insurance interests that oppose reform and oppose giving families like mine the choice of a public option, I have to ask: Whose side are you on?" asks Bing Perrine of Billings, Mont.

The spot comes as Baucus's Senate Finance Committee considers a bill that does not contain a government-sponsored insurance plan -- commonly known as the "public option" -- which many liberals consider crucial to reform but which is strongly opposed by Republicans and private insurers.

As they have during past campaigns targeting Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the two groups have launched a fundraising drive specifically aimed at extending the ad run. The groups say they have already dedicated $50,000 for cable television spots, with a goal of raising another $50,000 through Internet appeals.

-- Dan Eggen

Palin's Memoir Set for Nov. 17 Release: Sarah Palin has finished her memoir just four months after the book deal was announced, and the release date for "Going Rogue: An American Life" has been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, her publisher said. Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins, has commissioned a first printing of 1.5 million copies of the book, the first by the former Alaska governor.

-- Associated Press