Inside the Beltway

VOIGHT BREW

An instant “tea party” is in the works, courtesy of Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is asking alarmed Americans to journey to the hallowed halls of Congress at high noon Thursday to protest a “budget-busting government takeover of health care.”

Those alarmed Americans should make a “house call” on their own lawmakers, the Minnesota Republican suggests - and she will have plenty of star power for her mobilization, which is gaining serious traction by the moment. Talk-radio god Mark Levin will be on hand for the rally, along with a certain silver-screen conservative who is not shy about expressing his views.

“Jon Voight will be there. Will you?” Mrs. Bachmann asks.

RANGE OF CHANGE

Change is coming, but it’s not President Obama’s version, Gary Bauer says. And now we know where he’ll be during Tuesday’s elections. Near a TV.

“Whatever happens, Virginia seems to be headed back to the Republican column, and New Jersey has an incumbent Democratic governor who clearly will not get 50 percent of the vote even with the president’s help. And in New York’s 23rd [Congressional District] House race, a grass-roots rebellion threatens to put a Conservative Party candidate into the Congress. It’s definitely must-see TV,” Mr. Bauer tells Inside the Beltway.

The one-time presidential hopeful is the chairman of the Campaign for Working Families, a conservative PAC supporting pro-life, pro-free enterprise candidates.

“As one who has been very active in the races, I do believe that change is coming. Change conservatives can believe in,” Mr. Bauer adds.

FLAKE’S TAKE

Rep. Jeff Flake voted against H.R. 784, which was intended to “honor the 2,560th anniversary of the birth of Confucius and recognizing his invaluable contributions to philosophy and social and political thought.”

The Arizona Republican is philosophical, too.

“He who spends time passing trivial legislation may find himself out of time to read health care bill,” Mr. Flake observes.

LEERY OF QUERIES

Wait a minute. Wasn’t something else happening beside the elections? Oh, yeah. The heath care bill. As a reminder, Conservatives for Patients Rights has bought up $325,000 worth of ad time on CNN and the Fox News Channel beginning Tuesday, asking these bare-bones questions:

Does the government-run, public option plan guarantee Americans can keep their own doctors and health plan and steer clear of health care rationing?

“These are simple questions that a majority of Americans want answered before Congress votes to spend a trillion dollars to radically and permanently alter our health care system,” Rick Scott, chairman of the group, tells the Beltway. “This is one of the most important votes in the history of our nation. Members of Congress owe it to their constituents to go on the record with their answers to these three questions before they cast a vote.”

RIGHT BACK AH-CHOO

Lawmakers bent on health care policy change should consider sneezing. Our growing fear of H1N1 has become so acute that even a sneeze can provoke a cascade of other fears — and influence political leanings, says University of Michigan psychologist Norbert Schwarz. How does he know this? The therapist positioned a brazen actor who staged messy, fake sneezes on a busy campus corner - then interviewed subsequent sneeze witnesses.

Results? The majority were spooked by the spectacle, admitting they felt a greater chance of getting sick, dying of a heart attack or as a result of a crime in the aftermath. Sheesh. Sneeze witnesses also expressed “far more negative views of health care in America.”

Mr. Schwarz repeated the experiment at a mall, to discover the witnesses were more likely to favor federal spending of $1.3 billion on the production of flu vaccines rather than the creation of green jobs.

“Public sneezing has the power to shift policy preferences from other current priorities,” Mr. Schwarz tells the Beltway.

LUNTZ UNLEASHED

Politics is theater, particularly when pollsters star in it. Republican strategists John Brabender and Sara Taylor plus Democratic consultant Tad Devine have fired up Zolitics.com, the “world’s first political entertainment network,” meant to woo audiences who favors Stephen Colbert and his ilk.

“Moving Numbers,” a comedy based on a fictional conservative senator debuts Wednesday at the new site (www.zolitics.com), featuring cameo appearances from pollster Frank Luntz, the Atlantic senior editor Josh Green and Democratic strategist Robert Shrum.

Will there be musicals with dancing girls, or cartoons? The creators are not telling, though networks appear to have noticed this unorthodox combo of Hollywood and political “strategery”.

“Part drama and part comedy. Theres a lot of absurdity built into this show, so its just like a real campaign,” Mr. Brabender says.

For the uninformed, he counts Rudolph W. Giuliani, Tom Ridge and Rick Santorum among his clients; Mr. Devine served as the lead consultant on the Gore for President campaign in 2000. A former director of the White House Office of Political Affairs, Ms. Taylor was a strategist for former President George W. Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns.

POLL DU JOUR

• 56 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of Democrats say the Supreme Court is too liberal.

• 55 percent of Americans overall say justices “have their own political agenda.”

• 40 percent say the high court is doing a “fair job”; 36 percent say “good”; 7 percent say “excellent.”

• 70 percent say justices should base decisions on the Constitution and legal precedents.

• 29 percent say they should be guided by “a sense of fairness and justice.”

• 29 percent say the justices remain impartial; 15 percent are unsure.

Source: A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted Oct. 22-23.

• Squeaks, squawks, squabbles to jharper@washingtontimes.com.