SSP Daily Digest: 3/23 (Morning Edition)

  • FL-08: Former hospital administrator Peg Dunmire has left the Republican Party and will officially challenge Alan Grayson as a member of Florida’s new Tea Party.
  • GA-09: The special election for Nathan Deal’s now-vacant seat has been set for April 27th. This is an all-party “jungle” election, with the winner needing 50% to win. If no one hits that mark, a runoff would be held on May 25th. With 11 Republicans and only one Democrat (former Navy chaplain Mike Freeman) running, is it completely insane to imagine…? Also note that Georgia has a “resign to run” rule, so folks who hold other offices will have to quit before getting into this race, setting off a domino chain of further special elections.
  • IN-05: Former state Rep. Luke Messer is on the air with a biographical tv spot. He’s one of several Republicans challenging Rep. Dan Burton in the primary.
  • MA-05: Seven Republicans and four independents have lined up so far to take on Dem Rep. Niki Tsongas. Scott Brown won this district 56-43 in January.
  • NY-13: The Brooklyn Conservative Party has endorsed former FBI agent Mike Grimm. This has touched off another fight with Staten Island Conservatives who, as they did in 2008, seem inclined to endorse Democratic Rep. Mike McMahon. But back then, the Brooklyn Cons (who represent a much smaller part of the district) engineered a coup at the state party level with the backing of chair Michael Long in order to thwart the will of their SI counterparts. It looks like the same might happen again this cycle.
  • OK-05: SoonerPoll.com surveyed the GOP primary for the open 5th CD, which Rep. Mary Fallin is leaving to run for governor. They find former state Rep. Ken Calvey leading with 20, while state Rep. Mike Thompson is at 9 and “political newcomer” James Lankford is at 7. State Rep. Shane Jett, who just joined the field, was not included.
  • PA-04: Could Jason Altmire get Arcuri’d? Thanks to his vote against the healthcare reform bill, Jack Shea, the president of the Allegheny County Labor Council, says he’s considering a primary challenge. The problem is that Pennsylvania’s filing deadline closed earlier this month, so Shea would have to run as a write-in. Alternately, he could run as an independent (indies have a much later filing deadline).
  • PA-19: Rep. Todd Platts is expected to be on a shortlist of four possible names to fill the top spot at the Government Accountability Office. The House and Senate are compiling this list and will send it to the White House “soon.” President Obama can then select a nominee from this slate, or pick his own. Either way, his choice is subject to confirmation in the Senate.
  • RI-01: Retired Superior Court Judge Roy Pfeiffer is weighing a run for the now-open 1st CD as a Republican. The GOP actually already has a candidate here, state Rep. John Loughlin.
  • SD-AL: I’m unsurprised – Obama strategist Steve Hildebrand says he won’t challenge Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in the Dem primary, even though she voted against healthcare reform.
  • TN-08: Roy Herron will have the Democratic field to himself: Educator and former John Tanner staffer Luther Mercer has dropped out, citing difficulties in fundraising. On the, well, non-Dem side, meanwhile, the knives are out for GOP frontrunner Stephen Fincher.  Teabaggy independent Donn Janes is slamming Fincher for claiming to want to cut DC spending despite having been a big beneficiary of farm subsidies.
  • VA-05: Ex-Rep. Virgil Goode will appear at a fundraiser on the 25th for state Sen. Rob Hurt, who is seeking to reclaim Goode’s seat for the Republicans. Hurt is the establishment favorite in this race, but the teabaggers truly seem to hate him and are determined not to let him win the primary. So it remains to be seen whether Goode can sprinkle him with winger fairy dust, or befoul him with DC stink lines.
  • WY-AL: Democrats have found a candidate to take on freshman Cynthia Lummis: David Wendt, president of the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs. Wendt specifically cited Lummis’s vote against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and also congressional inaction on emissions, as reasons for his run.
  • Polltopia: The boys at PPP are choosing between AL, IL, MD & WA for their next poll, and you can go over there to vote. I can also tell you that R2K will have a WA poll out this week (as well as polls in AR and WI).
  • Passings: Fred Heineman, a one term congressman from North Carolina, passed away this past weekend at the age of 80. The Republican Heineman beat Dem Rep. David Price in the 1994 Republican Revolution, but Price won his seat right back in 1996. Heineman’s brief tenure had a lot to do with how mind-bogglingly clueless he was, most infamously remarking:

    “When I see a first-class individual who makes $80,000 a year, he’s lower middle class. When I see someone who is making anywhere from $300,000 to $750,000, that’s middle class. When I see anyone above that, that’s upper middle class.

    • 34 thoughts on “SSP Daily Digest: 3/23 (Morning Edition)”

    2. but it’s in last place. Sigh.

      Also, it’s interesting to see Goode giving his teabaggy friends the finger by supporting Hurt.

    3. Why is Pennsylvania not on the list.  In addition to the Senate race (which is a blowout in either direction depending on which pollsters you believe in), you’ve got 4 competitive house races in PA-6, PA-7, PA-11, PA-12 and PA-15 that we haven’t seen any polling on yet.  And that’s just scratching the surface.  The Keystone State is perhaps the most critical in the whole nation this cycle, outside of perhaps Ohio, (and maybe Florida and Texas b/c of the governor’s races there if you believe that Sink and/or White can win.) and it’s amazing to me that we’ve seen little to no polling whatsoever here outside of the Senate race.

    4. Thanks for the shout out! Mike is raking it in on ActBlue and we have yet to tap the vast expanse of blogosphere cash so please consider a donation so the folks in GA can shock the world!

      Disclosure: As I have stated before I am the Finance Director for Mike.

    6. The General Assembly adjourns sine die soon.  The National Conference of State Legislatures says late March (http://www.ncsl.org/?tabid=18630).  If that’s the case, they may just let any vacated state legislature seats stay open until the general election.

    7. OK if Deutch lose this it will be a bigger upset than Scott Brown’s win but Republican Ed Lynch is trying to get some milage out of the fact that Ted Deutch won’t critize the Obama adminstration for the current crisis in U.S.-Israel relations.

      FL-19 has the highest percentage of Jewish voters in the country. A lot of them are upset at Obama for coming down so hard on Israel for building in Jerusalem.

      This puts Deutch in a tight spot. Does he side with Obama’s get tough approach to Israel? Does he support what Obama’s doing?

      It’s a headache I am sure he doesn’t need in an election in a D+15 district.

    9. Where can I find out what districts are VRA protected and in what way (majority vs plurality).  I’ve tried to find it and I can’t and I want to know for redistricting TX.

      Any chance of another contest soon?  I’m having quite a bit of fun with Dallas and Houston!  

      Gonna have fun with LA/OC tomorrow if the internet works.

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