Wrap your head around this!

[yallerdawg]

Alabamians may not be crazy about President Barack Obama, but they overwhelmingly support his push for a free hand in negotiating a free trade deal with Asian nations, a survey released Friday suggests.

The survey, conducted by the Montgomery research firm Cygnal on behalf of the Main Street Opportunity & Growth Coalition – a national organization that supports free trade – found strong support for a measure approved by the U.S. Senate Friday night to give "fast track" trade authority to the president.

"Alabama voters – regardless of party, age, or geography – intensely support the Trade Promotion Authority currently being debated in Congress," Cygnal said in a news release "Considering the strong Republican bent of the state, it is powerful to see such a broad desire to provide trade negotiation authority to the president. These results show that Alabama voters want their senators and congressmen to vote for TPA."

U.S. Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, and Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, are not among that overwhelming majority indicated in the poll. They voted Friday against the deal. One three other GOP senators, however, voted "no." It passed on the strength of overwhelming support among Senate Republicans; a majority of Democratic senators opposed it.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/poll_indicates_alabamians_supp.html

[Hoppy]

1. We're the Koch bros. buying pro TPP ads on local TV?

That might explain it.

[d_r]

2. Korean car plants

In Alabama I think

[Wilms]

3. Astroturf?

First whiff you get is the name: Main Street Opportunity & Growth Coalition

So I google that and get nowhere except this story. OK. So who is Cygnal? http://www.cygn.al/

Actually, let's take a closer look at it's Managing Partner, Brent Buchanan.



So where's he been? The Leadership Institute, for one.

Brent Buchanan is a founding partner of Public Strategy Associates, a campaign strategy, public relations and governmental affairs firm based in Montgomery, Alabama. During the 2010 election cycle, Public Strategy Associates worked with over twenty Republican candidates for both the Primary and General elections. Many won their primaries and did not have general election opposition. However, ten candidates, including Lieutenant Governor, Agriculture Commissioner, five state senate, two state house candidates and a candidate for sheriff were victorious, many in Democrat-leaning districts. PSA also laid the groundwork for now-Governor Robert Bentley’s campaign.

http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/training/contact.cfm?FacultyID=477173

Something doesn't smell right.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Astroturf indeed. Most people around here are near-clueless, but suspicious.

They're sure somebody's up to something, not sure exactly what, but it's not likely to be good for them. Oh, and Obama. They're against it.

[Wilms]

4. Busted: Was pro-trade poll accurate? Sen. Jeff Sessions' staff points to contradictory surveys

From the same paper...

Sessions' office noted that a pro-trade interest group paid for the poll, conducted by the Montgomery-based firm Cygnal, and highlighted a number of other surveys pointing to skepticism among Americans.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/was_pro-trade_poll_accurate_se.html