If at first you succeed, do it again! House Republicans are having a second House Call on the steps of the U.S. Capitol tomorrow, ahead of the vote on ObamaCare. It starts at 1pm EST.

Rep. Bill Owens has broken four campaign promises all within the first hour of being a congressman.

There are two new state polls out today by OnMessage, Inc. (Virginia voters) and McLaughlin & Associates (New Jersey voters).

Simple question (800 voter sample in each state):

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: One of the reasons I voted for (Christie/McDonnell) is to send a message to the Obama administration that I am unhappy with the direction they are taking Washington and the country.

Answer:

NJ -- 68% said they agreed with the statement, and 46% strongly agreed.
VA -- 74% said they agreed with the statement, and 54% strongly agreed.

63% of NJ Independents and 76% of VA Independents agreed, as did even 63% of NJ Democrats and 46% of VA Democrats.

More details here.

The next question is this: Are President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid listening?

Larry Kudlow reflects on yesterday's 200-point rally in the stock market.

Political analyst Stu Rothenberg shares his thoughts on the Florida Senate race.

AARP endorses ObamaCare. Now's the time to cancel that membership if you have one.

There's a civil war brewing within the American Medical Association after the group endorsed ObamaCare.

Pelosi breaks her pledge to put the final health care bill online for 72 hours before the vote.

WSJ Editorial: "The return of the inflation tax"

U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk says South Korea has to open up its market to U.S. cars before Obama will sign a free trade agreement.

Meanwhile, South Korea approves a free trade agreement with India.

Check out the size of Ford's agreement with its labor union.

IBD's editorial board asks, "Are Democrats politically tone-deaf?"

From the good folks in Mike Pence's office:

It's the highest rate in 26 years.

KEY VOTE ALERT
"NO" ON AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA ACT (HR 3962)

The Club for Growth urges all members of the U.S. House to vote "NO" on the so-called Affordable Health Care for America Act (HR 3962). The bill is expected to be considered as early as this Saturday. This vote will be included in the Club for Growth's 2009 Congressional Scorecard.

This $1.2 trillion bill would dramatically increase the government's involvement in the health care insurance industry through higher taxes, higher spending, more mandates, more regulations, and added levels of bureaucracy.

Rather than seek pro-growth solutions to health care reform that would lower costs and not add to the federal deficit, House leaders are pushing a bill that forces people and businesses to buy insurance, under penalty of a tax. The failures of this bill are endless, but it also puts the government in charge of deciding what can and can't be covered in an insurance contract, regardless of whether or not it meets a person's specific medical needs. It raises taxes by over $700 billion - a bad idea to begin with, but a more dreadful one when the economy is still on shaky ground. Finally, it creates a "public option" that we believe is a back door attempt to a full government takeover of the health care insurance industry. This bill needs to be vigorously defeated.

Our Congressional Scorecard for the 111th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to our members and to the public.

From a letter signed by Gov. Charlie Crist and addressed to President Obama:

Dear Mr. President,

We are writing to express our support for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which just passed last week the House and is under consideration currently in the Senate.

More here (PDF).

Club for Growth Releases Ad in Florida
Day After Crist Says He “Didn’t Endorse” Stimulus, TV Spot Corrects the Record

WASHINGTON - The Club for Growth today released a TV advertisement encouraging Florida Governor Charlie Crist to set aside his big government record and embrace pro-growth policies to revive Florida's economy.

The ad, which will air soon on Florida television stations, details the consequences of Crist's embrace of big government spending, and comes one day after Crist told CNN that he never endorsed the $787 federal stimulus bill this year. The ad states:

"Since Charlie Crist helped pass Barack Obama's spending program, nearly two hundred thousand Floridians have lost their jobs. Unemployment is the highest in decades. Personal income's down. And the deficit in Washington is three times larger."

"Yesterday, Charlie Crist said he never endorsed the stimulus, but that's simply not true," said Club President Chris Chocola. "Crist embraced the stimulus, and Florida's economy has suffered for it. The Club for Growth's ad sets the record straight, and we encourage Floridians to remind their governor that jobs are created by free markets and competition, not big government spending and debt."

From a press release issued by the University of Illinois at Chicago:<.p>

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have received $1 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study the relationship between "fat taxes" and food consumption, diet quality and obesity.

The funding for the two-year project was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

For the uninformed, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" is Obama's stimulus plan.

From ABC News:

Senior Congressional Democrats told ABC News today it is highly unlikely that a health care reform bill will be completed this year, just a week after President Barack Obama declared he was "absolutely confident" he'll be able to sign one by then.

"Getting this done by the by the end of the year is a no-go," a senior Democratic leadership aide told ABC News. Two other key Congressional Democrats also told ABC News the same thing.

Via Rep. John Shimkus, here are the GOP's health care bill (on the left) and the Democrats' health care bill (on the right). Which one would you prefer?

The New York Times has a comprehensive list of yesterday's election results.

The Democrats' nationalized health care bill is getting bogged down in the Senate.

Senator Tom Coburn and Rep. Paul Ryan pen an op-ed about health reform's moment of untruth.

According to the Heritage Foundation, Democrats slipped a $6 billion slush fund into the House health care bill.

The House may vote on a health care bill as early as Friday.

From the WSJ, a shoe store owner tells a stimulus war story.

Remember when Republicans said they'd reform earmarks? That's not working out.

WSJ Editorial: Sacramento demands a loan from California taxpayers.

Jonah Goldberg writes, "After 15 or 20 years of steady moderation, many conservatives think it might be time to give their ideas a try."

Steve Landsburg: "The next time some Luddite tries to tell me that living standards haven’t improved in the past couple of decades, I think I’ll hand him a copy of this book."

The Conservative Party's Doug Hoffman, the Club PAC's endorsed candidate in NY-23, came close to winning last night, but fell short. With 93% reporting, here are totals:

CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTES	PCT.
Bill Owens	Dem.	63,496	49.3%
Doug Hoffman	Con.	58,161	45.2%
Dede Scozzafava	Rep.	7,137	5.5%

We're tweeting here on Election Night.

Writing about the money spent in the NY-23 race, Chris Good with The Atlantic writes:

The three key players have been the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the conservative, Hoffman-backing, Club for Growth, one of the nation's leading free-enterprise groups, which poured almost as much resources into the race as the national parties did.

The Club announced this afternoon that it spent over a million dollars--$1,022,040 to be exact--in support of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, including just over $375,000 in donations bundled from Club members. It's direct spending totaled $645,276.

To put this in perspective, it's more than Democrat Bill Owens ($373,836) and Hoffman himself ($229,878) had spent, put together, as of their last full finance reports two weeks ago. (Right now, neither campaign knows exactly how much it has spent, exactly, and if you call them and ask, they'll tell you they're a little busy.)

This puts the Club just shy of what the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent--$1,111,136--a figure that doesn't include bundled donations. The DCCC led everyone in spending, with the NRCC and the Club following, in order.

The National Republican Congressional Committee spent $897,404 on its candidate, Dede Scozzafava, who dropped out over the weekend. But, perhaps--and this is strictly conjecture--sensing that Scozzafava was in trouble, the NRCC shrewdly geared its ad campaign in the race's final two weeks to attacking Owens, meaning it will get some dividends from its spending if that helps Hoffman defeat the Democrat.

Consequently, the Club has been one of the biggest players in the NY-23 race. It endorsed Doug Hoffman in late September, before he began collecting accolades from conservative luminaries far and wide, and the effort it's put into the race validates, to some extent, what the Club's guiding project has been for the past few years: to support conservative candidates, sometimes in primaries against establishment-backed Republicans.

Club PAC Reports Final Tally in NY-23:
$1 Million from Club Members Backing Hoffman

Fmr. Gov. George Pataki Joins Club PAC Voter Calls in Final Days to Elect Doug Hoffman

WASHINGTON – In response to several requests for details about the Club for Growth member activities in New York’s 23rd congressional district special election, the Club for Growth PAC today released a comprehensive accounting of Club members’ support for Doug Hoffman’s campaign.

Club for Growth TV ads remain on the air today, and Club for Growth PAC launched a major get-out-the-vote effort featuring a voter mobilization phone call recorded by former New York Governor George Pataki to reach 75,000 likely voters.

Since Club for Growth PAC endorsed Hoffman thirty-six days ago, Club PAC and Club members made possible more than $1 million of support for Hoffman in the special election campaign, including more than $645,000 in radio and television advertising and over $363,000 in Club for Growth PAC bundled donations to Hoffman’s campaign from Club members.

To view the updated Fact Sheet, click here.

PAID FOR BY CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC AND NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE. 202-955-5500.

Here at Club for Growth World Headquarters, we'll be following the NY-23 election results as the numbers trickle in after polls close tonight at 9pm EST. I'll try to post something on the blog from time to time, but it's more likely that all updates will be written on the Club's Twitter page.

For background on the race, here is our NY-23 fact sheet.

Club President Chris Chocola was on ABC News' Top Line political show today to talk about the NY-23 race. You can watch here.

Several media outlets have asked about the Club for Growth and Club for Growth PAC's involvement in the NY-23 special election. Below are some details, and here's a PDF version:

FINANCIAL NUMBERS:

Club for Growth PAC Independent Expenditures:
TV/Radio - $376,822
Mail, Phone, Other - $31,940
Subtotal - $408,762

Club for Growth Independent Expenditures:
TV - $184,688
Mail, other - $51,839
Subtotal - $236,514

Club and PAC Total - $645,276
Bundled Club member donations - $376,764 (2,546 donations)

GRAND TOTAL - $1,008,388

---

TIMELINE OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

Sep 24, 2009 - Club releases poll that shows a statistical 3-way tie in NY-23

Sep 28, 2009 - Club PAC endorses Doug Hoffman in NY-23

Sep 28, 2009 - Fred Thompson is the first of what will much later become a parade of GOP leaders to endorse Hoffman

Oct 1, 2009 - Club PAC launches $250,000 TV and radio ad campaign ("Four of a Kind")

Oct 1, 2009 - Club PAC responds to Scozzafava's claim that our ad is false. We call it the Spitzer-Paterson-Scozzafava budget

Oct 6, 2009 - Club President Chris Chocola pens op-ed, "Politics and principle in upstate New York," in the Washington Examiner.

Oct 19, 2009 - The Club and the Club's PAC launch $300,000 ad campaign ("Tired of Choosing Between Two Liberals?")

Oct. 26, 2009 - Club releases poll showing Hoffman at 31.3%, Owens 27%, Scozzafava 19.7%

Oct. 27, 2009 - Club launches new TV ad ("It Comes Down to Two Very Different Candidates")

Nov. 2, 2009 - Club for Growth PAC funds phone calls from former Gov. George Pataki to 75,000 people district-wide.

---

TV SPOT COUNT (# of Ads Show on Broadcast TV in District from 9/24-10/30):

Candidate/Committee	# of Ads
Owens:	2,088
Club/Club PAC:	1,597
DCCC:	1,592
NRCC:	1,520
Hoffman:	1,077
Scozzafava:	677
AFSCME:	236
SEIU:	147
Common Sense:	96

---

PRESS QUOTES:

Hoffman's success in driving Scozzafava from the race is being played as a "grass-roots" conservative rebellion in the district against the imposition of a moderate Republican nominee by party leaders. But the truth is that it was national money (notably from the conservative Club for Growth) and national muscle (from former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and Sarah Palin, among others) that prevented Scozzafava from ever having a chance.

-- E.J. Dionne, The Washington Post (Nov. 1, 2009)

The anti-tax group Club for Growth, whose endorsement of Hoffman in September provided the campaign its initial surge of momentum, also announced it would begin airing a new TV ad Tuesday in Watertown, Burlington, and Syracuse highlighting the differences between Hoffman and attorney Bill Owens, the Democratic nominee. Scozzafava is not mentioned.

-- Emily Cadei, CQ Politics (Oct. 27, 2009)

[I]ts $275,000 investment in the race has effectively turned it into one of the highest-profile races in the history of the Club for Growth, which has taken out centrist House Republicans and waged strong challenges to centrist senators like Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Lincoln Chafee (R.I.).

"It's always possible we'll spend more money, sure," Club Executive Director David Keating said.

-- Aaron Blake, The Hill (Oct. 3, 2009)

Heavy TV advertising by the Club for Growth, which is backing Hoffman, in all three major media markets has peeled conservative voters away from the Republican, and GOP insiders worry that the bleeding will continue.

-- Stu Rothenberg, Roll Call (Oct. 13, 2009)

PAID FOR BY CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC AND NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE. 202-955-5500.

The Club for Growth's pollster shares his thoughts on the NY-23 race.

Ken Blackwell says hiking the Death Tax is an insult to Jack Kemp's legacy.

Here are 10 facts you should know about the House health care bill.

And don't forget about these 13 tax hikes in the same bill.

Naturally, the IBD editorial board calls it the 1,990-page medical monstrosity.

Don't be fooled. Kim Strassel says the public option diverts attention from the House health care bill's real faults.

How will the health care bill move through Congress? Keith Hennessey provides a great examination. And here's more.

George Soros is launching an effort to get free market ideas out of economics.

Here's a fantastic profile of Tom Coburn in the New York Times.

Arlen Specter has the lowest approval ratings since 1991.

It's business as usual in the undrained swamp of DC. From the Washington Post:

President Obama and members of Congress told federal agencies earlier this year to avoid awarding funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to contractors with troubled histories of work for the federal government.

But that isn't happening at numerous agencies, a Washington Post analysis shows. So far, 33 federal departments and agencies have awarded more than $1.2 billion in stimulus contracts to at least 30 companies that are ranked by one watchdog group as among the most egregious offenders of state and federal laws.

Government records show that as a group, these contractors have sold defective products, manufactured safety tests, submitted false travel claims and padded contracts with fraudulent fees.