Here’s a look at some of the recent political happenings that caught my attention over the weekend and this morning.

Today I take a look at a new poll, a kick-off, a fire suit, another candidate, and Medicare!

A Poll:

A poll in “The Hill” tells us: “More than one in three likely voters expect to be worse off when they go to the polls a year from this November, a somber fact for President Obama’s reelection campaign, while just 25 percent believe they will be better off, according to this week’s The Hill poll.”

You can read the whole story HERE.

The bigger question is:  Do the Republicans have any candidates who can run the country better – or can convince the voters they can?

Kick-Off:

Congressman Denny Rehberg kicked off his 2012 U.S. Senate campaign with a picnic in Billings on Saturday.

Billings is a key place to win in any statewide campaign.  In the not too distant future, I will be putting together some information about this race and key areas for each candidate that I think will be the battleground.

Montana congressman seeks settlement in fire suit:

If you saw that headline on the web or in the local newspaper over the weekend, then you were not alone.  Type that headline in Google and you’ll get over 3000 hits.  It was all over the country and around the world.

While this “fire suit” is not something that the Denny Rehberg camp wants in the news during his campaign, the most interesting part of the story (to me) is the “first-person” commentary from Sen. Jon Tester about Rep. Rehberg’s fire suit, “I think it fundamentally speaks to who he is: Somebody who is looking after himself,” Tester said.

Normally this early in a campaign, candidates have their spokespeople do the commenting and they stay away from the trenches.  Most people know that Tester is a pretty nasty campaigner from his 2006 campaign.

The “toothpaste” is out of the tube now (for Rehberg’s lawsuit AND for Tester’s first-person comments).

Sen. Jeff Essmann to Announce Bid for Governor:

That was the headline on the Montana blog 4&20 blackbirds over the weekend in a story written by jhwygirl.

jhwygirl writes, “Word is that Sen. Jeff Essmann is preparing to add his name to the pile – and I do mean pile – of Montana Republicans seeking to the GOP gubernatorial nomination.”

No kidding.  There are so many candidates now that if Bob Kelleher was still alive, he might win the GOP primary!

You can read the whole story HERE.

Senators tell Biden to reject GOP Medicare plan:

Senator Jon Tester is one of the five who signed the letter.  All five are up for reelection in 2012.  Four of the five senators made The Western Word’s list of 10 Most Vulnerable Senators.  You can read that list and an updated one HERE and HERE.

You can read the Associated Press story HERE.

Basically, these five senators know this is an issue they can capitalize on to be re-elected.  It’s not exactly like they really really care about Medicare or seniors.  That’s why nothing ever gets done to save Social Security and Medicare – it’s used too much as a political issue – to scare seniors.

That’s it for this week’s edition of “Monday Morning Politics.”  Have a great week!