Jim Matheson

Republican House candidate Mia Love of Utah has a 12-point lead over her Democratic opponent, incumbent member Jim Matheson, in a new poll from the Salt Lake Tribune. According to the poll, 52 percent of voters in Utah's Fourth District support Love, while 40 percent support Matheson.

Republican House candidate Mia Love of Utah leads her opponent, Democratic congressman Jim Matheson, by six points, according to a new poll from the Deseret News and KSL-TV. Love has 49 percent support in Utah's new Fourth Congressional District, while Matheson has 43 percent support. Here's more from the News:

Utah Republican Mia Love has pulled ahead of Democratic congressman Jim Matheson, according to an internal poll released by the Love campaign. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Love leads Matheson 51 percent to 36 percent; the same poll found Matheson leading Love 51 percent to 38 percent in July, before Love's well received address to the Republican National Convention.

In another sign that an endangered Georgia congressman is distancing himself from the Obama administration, Democrat John Barrow has released a statement saying he will vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt when the House votes on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

Mia Love, the 36-year-old mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah and Republican candidate for Congress in the state’s newly created Fourth District, is something of a political anomaly. A conservative and a Mormon, Love would be the first black female Republican in Congress ever.

Congressman Jim Matheson responded to the story about his brother's nomination to the federal court--just as President Obama is trying to persuade the congressman to switch his vote from No to Yes on health care--with this statement to Fox News:

"I am happy for my brother... The federal 10th Circuit Court will gain a judge devoted to judicial integrity, fairness and knowledge of the law. The Weekly Standard's piece is rubbish."

By pretending that the issue is whether or not Scott Matheson is qualified to be a judge, Congressman Matheson and Jonathan Chait are deploying a "weapon of mass distraction," to quote another estimable Democrat, Alan Grayson. No one has questioned Scott Matheson's qualifications; my original post included his sterling credentials, as detailed in a White House press release.

The real question is whether or not the White House used the nomination to influence Congressman Matheson's vote on health care. Did the White House engage in an explicit quid pro quo, i.e., did someone in the administration threaten to hold up the nomination until Matheson agreed in private to vote for the bill?

As reported here earlier, President Obama nominated Congressman Jim Matheson's brother Scott to the Appeals Court yesterday. No one has questioned Scott Matheson's qualifications to be on the bench, but Congressman Matheson is one of the Democrats who voted against the health care bill earlier that President Obama is trying to flip. Is it possible that this appointment was used to persuade Congressman Matheson to change his vote?

Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he's obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson's brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.