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Click here to see how prominent political bloggers responded to these questions.

Q: Are moderate Democrats helping or hurting their re-election prospects by resisting President Obama's legislative agenda?

Democrats (37 votes)

Helping   41%
Hurting   54%
Depends*   5%

*Volunteered.

Helping

"I believe in the separation of powers, which includes the belief that the legislative branch has the most power to influence its own re-election."

"They are more resisting Speaker Pelosi's agenda, which has swung far to the left of President Obama's agenda."

"Helping themselves; hurting the party."

Hurting

"All Democrats will rise or fall with their president. Democrats weakening their own president: Brilliant strategy calculated to lose seats in November 2010."

"Hurting, big-time. They should look back at what seats were lost in 1994 and heed the admonition of George Santayana, 'If you fail to learn the lessons of history, you are bound to repeat them.' "

"The president and the majority of Democrats support a strong health care reform bill. This vocal minority is undermining that effort."

"Now is the time for bold moves. And their reticence to change what's not working is frustrating the American people."

"Shortsighted; they misread the public."

"While some may have legitimate concerns about certain legislative initiatives, the overall appearance is that the moderate Democrats are objecting just for the sake of objecting.%C2%A0This lends credence to a Republican narrative that Democrats are in disarray and can't be trusted to govern.%C2%A0If this narrative becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, the Democrats most likely to suffer at the ballot box next November are the moderate Democrats."

"It really depends on how much Americans want a different health care system. If it is really not a great concern, then they will help themselves."

"I say 'hurting,' but it is presumptuous to say one knows more about someone else's district than he/she does."

"They'll be beaten up so badly, they'll need the public option!"

Depends

"Helping when they focus on cost; hurting when they demand higher Medicare spending in their districts and oppose a 'public plan' that can compete with private insurance companies and, therefore, restrain costs."

Q: Are moderate Democrats helping or hurting their re-election prospects by resisting President Obama's legislative agenda?

Republicans (43 votes)

Helping   86%
Hurting   14%

Helping

"It may not matter, though. If the ship is sinking, many of these guys may not survive anyway."

"BHO and Pelosi are driving their moderates over a cliff by forcing them to support unpopular proposals. Who would have guessed in January that Obama would be the top fundraiser for the GOP by July?"

"In the past two weeks, President Obama has demonstrated a Bush-like ability to convince the country to oppose whatever it is he might be for."

"Their constituents are having huge buyer's remorse about Obama. All this spending has frightened them, and the [Henry Louis] Gates [Jr.] incident just solidified their belief that Obama always knew what the Rev. [Jeremiah] Wright was spewing all those years -- and agreed with it."

"Particularly if they are able to make it a much-improved plan."

"The same way it (usually) helped moderate GOPers who stood up to President Bush."

"Depends on their district and their primary situation."

"Without any resistance, they'll get tagged by their opponents with being just a go-along, get-along member. Ask Republicans how that worked for those who did everything the Bush administration wanted them to do."

"Obama has lost his magic with mainstream America. Moderates will start covering themselves with statements like, 'I generally support him and share his goals, but I can't vote with him on everything.' Moderates have read their mail on cap-and-tax and health care."

"It's not clear how an Obama health care tour is going to gain support from Democrats in McCain districts."

"Cloning with Obamacare will be fatal."

Hurting

"Congressional majorities cannot be successful at the polls when their president is unsuccessful politically and legislatively. (Didn't we just learn that lesson with Bush?) If conservative Democrats hurt their president, they are only hurting themselves."

"If they are going to roll over like they usually do (after they get minuscule concessions), they should just go along with President Obama. Otherwise, they are making liberals mad by thwarting Obama's agenda and making conservatives mad by not standing up for fiscal sanity."

Q: Should the 111th Congress increase the gasoline tax to fund a six-year highway bill?

Democrats (38 votes)

Yes  58%
No   40%

Yes

"The six-year highway bill is the stimulus package our country desperately needs."

"Taxes are the price of democracy -- and good roads!"

"Only with a 50-50 split with mass transit."

"For too long, American subsidies, unlike in Europe, have masked the real cost of gasoline, making it difficult for any clean-energy alternatives to surface. Petrol prices at the pump should reflect the true costs to America's climate-change commitment, energy independence, and energy security."

"In a 'paygo' world, if we want to fund construction projects and create jobs, we must increase revenues."

"But you'll never get me to say that!"

"Unfortunately, while this may be a smart policy move from a fiscal and environmental perspective, it's a political nonstarter given the current economic conditions and severe voter fatigue regarding more spending and taxes."

"If we are talking about a couple of pennies in return for creating a significant number of jobs and helping the economic recovery, I am willing to listen. Otherwise, the political price for the party is too much to bear."

"Yes, but only if we pass health care and the energy bill."

No

"A gasoline tax hike is a regressive tax hike. The tax would make it impossible for some working-class people to continue to drive, but it would not affect more-well-off people."

"We need the highway bill, but we don't need taxes that hit working families in the midst of the worst economy since the '30s."

"The bill is likely to be deferred 18 months. Assuming the economy is on the way back by then, all funding sources can be reconsidered."

Q: Should the 111th Congress increase the gasoline tax to fund a six-year highway bill?

Republicans (42 votes)

Yes  5%
No  95%

No

"Raising taxes on every American during a recession is political suicide."

"Why would we increase taxes in a recession? Bad idea -- and politically impossible as well."

"This is the wrong time to raise taxes, period. Considering it wasn't that long ago that gas prices were at record levels, nearing $5 a gallon, the American people don't have an appetite for paying any more for their gas."

"No way you can raise taxes while more than half the states are sending more money to D.C. than they're getting back. That would only increase the inequity."

"It would kill the Democrat majority almost as fast as socialized medicine. However, if it was linked to domestic drilling offshore and in Alaska, a new coalition of supporters could emerge."

"There are actually a number of good reasons to consider increasing the gasoline tax, but this isn't one of them."

"The gas tax is predicated on an antiquated formula. We need to push for toll roads, private-public partnerships, vehicle miles driven. We need to look to the future."

"Increasing taxes to build turtle fences is a really bad idea."

"Let's do what we always do: make a withdrawal from the People's Bank of China."

National Journal Insiders

Democratic Congressional Insiders Sens. Sherrod Brown, Ben Cardin, Thomas Carper, Christopher Dodd, Edward Kennedy, Frank Lautenberg, Barbara Mikulski, Mark Pryor, Jon Tester; Reps. Jason Altmire, Robert Andrews, Michael Arcuri, Tammy Baldwin, Melissa Bean, Xavier Becerra, Howard Berman, Marion Berry, Rick Boucher, Lois Capps, Michael Capuano, Dennis Cardoza, Chris Carney, James Clyburn, Jim Cooper, Joseph Crowley, Elijah Cummings, Artur Davis, Diana DeGette, Rosa DeLauro, Eliot Engel, Anna Eshoo, Sam Farr, Chaka Fattah, Bob Filner, Phil Hare, Alcee Hastings, Rush Holt, Mike Honda, Steve Israel, Frank Kratovil, Jim Langevin, John Lewis, Zoe Lofgren, Nita Lowey, Carolyn Maloney, Ed Markey, Jim McDermott, Jim McGovern, Kendrick Meek, Jim Moran, David Price, Silvestre Reyes, Linda Sanchez, Jan Schakowsky, Mark Schauer, Jose Serrano, Adam Smith, John Spratt, Pete Stark, John Tanner, Ellen Tauscher, Bennie Thompson, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Henry Waxman, and Peter Welch.

GOP Congressional Insiders Sens. Lamar Alexander, Jim Bunning, John Cornyn, Jim DeMint, John Ensign, Lindsey Graham, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Johnny Isakson, Richard Lugar, Mel Martinez, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Sessions, Olympia Snowe, John Thune, David Vitter; Reps. Michele Bachmann, Brian Bilbray, Marsha Blackburn, Roy Blunt, John Boehner, Charles Boustany, Kevin Brady, John Campbell, Eric Cantor, John Carter, Michael Castle, Tom Cole, Mike Conaway, David Dreier, Jeff Flake, Scott Garrett, Bob Goodlatte, Kay Granger, Doc Hastings, Pete Hoekstra, Bob Inglis, Darrell Issa, Peter King, Jack Kingston, Mark Kirk, John Kline, Christopher Lee, Dan Lungren, Kenny Marchant, Kevin McCarthy, Patrick McHenry, John Mica, Candice Miller, Sue Myrick, Devin Nunes, Mike Pence, Tom Price, Adam Putnam, Dave Reichert, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Mike Rogers of Michigan, Peter Roskam, Paul Ryan, Pete Sessions, John Shadegg, Adrian Smith, Mark Souder, Pat Tiberi, Fred Upton, and Joe Wilson.