There are a number of political nuggets to pass along this morning, from both inside the beltway and from far beyond. We'll begin with the president's falling poll numbers and then move on to Mississippi and finish with the state of Washington.

Yesterday, the Gallup New Service released polling information which showed that President George W. Bush's approval rating has dropped below the 60% level for the first time since the attacks on September 11, 2001. The poll showed a 58% approval rate and a 39% disapproval rate. After the attacks, his approval skyrocketed reaching a record 90% in mid-September 2001. It has been gradually declining since.

The most recent drop may be related to the controversy over North Korea's nuclear weapons capability. In a poll conducted a week ago, the President had a 60% foreign affairs approval rating. That rating is now 53% with 42% of Americans disapproving of the way he is handling foreign affairs. The seven-point drop in foreign affairs approval is nearly equal in size to the five-point drop in Bush's overall approval rating. In contrast, the President's economic ratings have shown no change from last week, thus leading to the implication that foreign affairs is the reason for the President's declining ratings.

Meanwhile, the current head of the Republican National Committee, Haley Barbour, confirmed in a letter that he'll be running for governor of Mississippi in the fall against incumbent Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. Barbour ran unsuccesfully for a Senate seat in the 1980s, and the race is expected to cost several million dollars according to both sides.

And finally, in Olympia, Washington, Democratic Governor Gary Locke has been chosen to deliver the Democratic Party's response to the President's State of the Union address on January 28th. Locke was chosen by Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) because he wanted the response to be delivered by a governor. Locke currently chairs the Democratic Governors Association and provided the Democratic response to one of the President's radio addresses in 2001.