Rhode Island's recession-wracked voters have scant confidence that the state's elected leaders can bring the state out of the current economic mess, according to Brown University's latest public opinion survey.

The survey was sent after poll supervisor, Brown Political Science Prof. Marian Orr, rechecked numbers for U.S. Sen. Jack Reed. In the first version of the poll sent earlier today, Reed's numbers added up to more than 100.

The confirmation of Ben S. Bernanke to a second four year term as chairman of the Federal Reserve has hit some bumps of late, but Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed says he will cast a vote to give the former Princeton economics professor a second term.

One of the cliches of national politics is that Republicans are tough on national security and military issues and Democrats aren't.

This was once laid out as American voters viewing Democrats as the Mommy Party and Republicans as the Daddy Party. The thinking was that voters trusted Democrats on  social programs, such as taking care of education and family issues, but looked to Republicans to assume responsibility for deflecting terrorism and building up the military.

Sen. Jack Reed and Terry and Suzanne Murray are hosting a cocktail reception for Rep. Patrick Kennedy's reelection campaign. The event is scheduled for Sunday, December 5 at the Murray's home on Providence's East Side. Murray, of course, is a retired banker who once headed Fleet Financial and Bank of America. Contributions begin at $500 for an individual, $1,000 for a supporter and $2,400 for a host.

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will visit a Job Corps center in Exeter during a vist on Sept. 8 with Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed. Solis will also in an on-line back-to-school discussion being coordinated by the Obama Administration the same day.

Governor Don Carcieri announced today that he will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. tomorrow to announce a $5.7 million law-enforcement grant the state will receive due to the federal stimulus program, the official name of which is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The iconic image of a New England Town Meeting was painted by Norman Rockwell in his World-War II-era Freedom of Speech illustration. The 1943 painting, inspired by a Vermont town meeting, shows a plainly-clothed working man speaking up while his white collar neighbors look on.

The working fellow delivered an unpopular opinion, but no one objected to his remarks.

As expected, both Rhode Island Democratic U.S. Senators, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor as the new U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Just 9 Republicans joined all the Senate Democrats in approving Sotomayor, who will become the natin's first Latina high court justice when she is sworn in tomorrow.

For a telling tribute to Claiborne Pell's vison for helping American youths afford higher education, see Sen. Jack Reed's recent article on Forbes.Com.

Reed states: "A blue-blooded statesman who personified blue-collar values, Sen. Claiborne Pell understood that the human spirit, enlightened by the educaion, would invariably triumph over the forces of inhumanity."

Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are on their way to Providence to atend a wake for Martha Buonanno, a Providence civic leader and the sister of Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd. Buonanno died earlier this week of cancer. She was the wife of Bernard Buonanno, a prominent Providence lawyer.

Sen. Jack Reed, who is close to the Buonanno family, is also expected to attend the wake and tomorrow's funeral, said Reed spokesman Chip Unruh.