KY-Sen: Obnoxious theocrat James Dobson is endorsing establishment dude Trey Grayson over weirdo Rand Paul. It feels like it’s gotten late early around here, with Grayson badly trailing in the last few polls, so you gotta wonder whether this or anything else can make much of a difference.
NV-Sen: According to Reid Wilson, the Tea Party Express (the political action wing, such as it is, of the teabaggers) says they’ll spend $100 to $150K on behalf of wingnut favorite Sharron Angle. Angle’s trailed pretty badly in most polling, though.
OH-Sen: With Ohio’s primary around the corner, the Hotline is reporting that the DSCC will apparently step into the race on Lee Fisher’s behalf. The not-terribly-well-funded Fisher is facing off against the almost-penniless Jennifer Brunner, but apparently Bob Menendez doesn’t want to take any chances.
WI-Sen: One-time beer baron Dick Leinenkugel officially decided to join the now-crowded GOP field hoping to take on Sen. Russ Feingold. Leinenkugel’s chief problem appears to be the fact that he just resigned as the governor’s Commerce Secretary… and the governor of Wisconsin is Jim Doyle, a Democrat. The Kugel’s new opponents were, needless to say, quick to point this out.
AZ-Gov: A couple of tidbits from a PPP poll that is slated to be released later today:
• Brewer has seen a significant improvement in her job approval numbers with Republicans. When we looked at the state in September she was under water even with voters of her own party, as 37% of them expressed disapproval of her job performance while only 28% felt she was doing a good job. Now 54% of Republicans approve of her and only 27% disapprove, so she’s seen a good deal of improvement on that front, which should be particularly helpful for her prospects of winning nomination for a full term against a crowded field of primary opponents.
• At the same time Democratic candidate Terry Goddard leads Brewer 71-25 with Hispanics. That may seem ho hum, but consider this: Barack Obama only won Hispanic voters in the state by a 56-41 margin. So Goddard’s outperforming him by more than 30 points there. And on our September poll Goddard was up just 53-33 with Hispanics so it’s a 26 point improvement on the margin even relative to that.
FL-22: Combustible Republican Allen West is flashing an internal poll (from Wilson Research Strategies) which allegedly has him up 44-42 over incumbent Dem Ron Klein.
IN-09: Todd Young, seeking the GOP nod against ultra-retread Mike Sodrel, has a new ad up on TV, trying to paint himself as the “true conservative” choice. To CQ’s credit, they asked how much is being spent on the ad. To the Young campaign’s discredit, they declined to say.
MI-01: The Republican field in this race is getting’ mighty crowded here, too. GOP state Sen. Jason Allen, who is term-limited, is the latest to seek the Republican nod to replace Bart Stupak.
Fundraising: CQ has a handy chart of pre-primary fundraising filings in the three states which have primaries next week: Indiana, North Carolina, and Ohio.
Immigration: The Hill surveys the races out West where Arizona’s new immigration law may bolster Latino turnout – and help Dems. Jon Ralston notes that Brian Sandoval, the GOP’s would-be savior in the NV-Gov race, has come out in favor of the law. This could all get very ugly – well, even uglier than it already is.
as to why the DSCC would get involved in the Ohio Senate primary at this late a date. Maybe they figure the final result is going to be close and their assistance will be enough to get him over the top.
But really, if this is the course they wanted to take, shouldn’t they have done this months ago and put Brunner out of contention early? Why even take the chance that Brunner might squeak through by waiting this long? Ohio isn’t traditionally a state that has a lot of undecideds in its electorate going into the final week.
The DSCC should have either done this weeks ago, or should just save their money, because no matter who wins the primary, they’re going to be spending a TON of it in Ohio. They can’t afford not to seeing as Ohio is the Democrats’ #1 shot at a pickup this cycle (with only Missouri perhaps being a debate on that point)
He’s felt, despite the incumbent’s continued popularity among Dems, Ron Klein is a goner for a while now. It wouldn’t surprise me if Allen West pulled this one out, even if he’s a little too conservative for this district.
Of the statewide, partisan races on the ballot (U.S. Senator, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, School Superintendent, Insurance Commissioner, Labor Commissioner, Agriculture Commissioner, and a seat on the Public Service Commissioner, only Lt. Gov, SoS, and Superintendent are NOT open. And the last two have strong primary challenges and the former may get one as well.
One Republican Senator was stripped of his chairmanship after voting against a hospital tax. His response was, basically, fuck you, I’m going to run for Attorney General instead.
Rubio expresses less than 100% support for Arizona’s new illegal immigration bill. I hope he likes being called a RINO.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo…
Elaine Marshall is up on the airwaves with her first ad in NC, here it is:
Now all three of the major Dem candidates for U.S. Senate in NC are running ads, so it will be interesting to see how everything turns out. I think Richard Burr is really in serious trouble considering the fact that in the recent Elon poll, 44% of people want to elect a new Senator. After the primary and his opponent becomes better known in the context of the race I think he’ll have a much harder time.
http://www.sacbee.com/static/w…
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x128…