Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?

Welcome to the weekend. Don’t forget to check back with us for tomorrow’s House primaries in Louisiana.

74 thoughts on “Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?”

  1. 1. Congress

    MN-03

    LA-06

    NC-08 (Hayes-Kissell) – The Wachovia deal will boost Hayes.

    PA-11 Kanjorski should have been primaried

    NY-26

    2. Senate

    Who are our most gaffe prone senate candidates?

    3. Governors

    Biggest headache

    WA – Was there nobody else available 4 yrs ago to win governorship? Gregoire is a horrible candidate.

    NC – This one seems to be gone.

    MA – Deval Patrick is as lovable as Marion Barry.

    CT – Where are the democrats gone? They are scared – beg your pardon – they are hibernating.

  2. Not the Biden race, that’s in the bag. But assuming Obama/Biden win, the DE Gov will appoint a replacement. That would be either Ruth Ann Minner or (hopefully) Jack Markell depending on the day Biden resigns.

    I’m wondering if Biden’s son Beau, the DE Attorney General, could be picked as Senator and serve until the 2010 special election?

    This wonderful diary today on Dailykos:  Biden Sees Beau Off  is what got me wondering about this

    (Yes he’s now a deployed soldier, but I’d guess the president can sign a special order for a nominated Senator to defer deployment)

  3. NYC is the biggest headache.

    However, losing Indianapolis still hurts. How is the new mayor doing?

    And year after year, we get a nonpartisan (R) mayor in San Diego.

    Very important:

    How many statewide Offices are we going to hold in NC after this election?

  4. NV-03: The conventional wisdom now seems to be that Dina Titus is a slight favorite here. Do we have more news from the ground to confirm this?

    NV-02: How’s Jill Derby been?

    NM-01: Any news on whether the new developments on the US Attorneys scandal are helping Martin Heinrich?

    NM-02: Harry Teague really has a shot here? Damn, those McCrash coattails aren’t helping!

    FL-08, 13, 16, 18, 21, 24, 25: Is Obama’s rising tide in The Sunshine State helping downballot?

    OH-15, 16: Same question as Florida. Are Obama’s coattails helping Kilroy & Boccieri?

    MI-09: Now with McCrash out of Michigan, should we help candidates like Gary Peters more?

    OK, I guess that’s all I’ve got for today! 😉

  7. everything in Michigan.  Especially MI-7, which I think we will win for sure, and MI-9, which is tougher, but with McSame out of the picture, and the suburban Oakland county bluing very quickly, I think we will win both.  And races in Ohio and Florida, where McSame is falling fast.  I’m hoping for a 3 pickup in Ohio at least and 3-5 in Florida.  

    Also Virginia, where Obama leads handily, I’m hoping that we can throw Drake out along with electing Connolly.  Perriello and Feder will be too hard, in my opinion.  Feder should come back when Wolf retires, then this seat will be all but ours.  Goode’s district is much harder, though.  It is more of

    the old south than the new, suburban Virginia that is been so favorable to us.

    North Carolina races too, especially NC-8 and NC-5, although we won’t win 5, Foxx maybe the Robin Hayes of 2008, and maybe Carter will return for a rematch.  Senate is very interesting as well.  Hagan is great, and Dole is useless.

    Also PA-4, which is suprisingly competitive.  Dahlkemper is not the greates candidate, but neither is “Philly the Hut”  And PA-11, which astounds me.  Barletta is the nuttiest of nutjobs, but still looks to beat Kanjorski in this D+5 district.  YOu would think that Joe Biden would help him up in Lackawana, though.  And PA-10, which is suprisingly less competitive than expected.  I’m friendly with Chris Carney’s nephew, and have a particular interest in this race.

    On a side note, We got some direct mail from Tom Casperson for Congress today in MI-1.  I saw a picture of his wife on the flier and realized that I had snubbed her last week.  She was giving out bags of Peanuts that said “Casperson for Congress”, and I told her outright that Stupak was much better and she should cast her vote for him.  Much better that it was his wife.

  8. why the DCCC has just made only it’s first expenditure of any kind in WA-08?  I thought thtis was one of our most competitive races.  I hope their not losing confidence in Burner.  Also in NY-29?  They haven’t spent money ther since August 8th, even though this is one of our most competitive races.

  9. I didn’t think it was going to be possible.  Needless to say, /w the wave of NM-02 polls, that has been on my mind this week.  

  10. I fail to understand fai calif’s statement that Wachovia’s collapse should aid Hayes.  

    About this situation Brownsox writes in Kos: “One notable aspect of the recent banking/financial crisis is that it seems to have had particular currency (no pun intended) in the South, where Democratic candidates in North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Kentucky appear to be surging.”

    The Tarheel Wachovia employee I know is sweating bullets about his job.  I’m quite sure the situation doesn’t encourage him to be supportive of the admin.  Evidence that I’ve seen suggests that the credit/financial crisis is aiding Dem candidates everywhere.

  11. in odd stuff that barely fits into this thread.

    NYC ’09: Bloomberg is running again and needs to change the term limits to do that. It looks like he may pull it off. I’m disappointed beacuse I want to win that seat.

    Leadership ’10: Check out this article from The Hill.

    http://thehill.com/leading-the…

    Coleman is going down. So it looks like Cornyn will win the chairmanship. He’s not a total idiot and has a strong fundraising base. So that worries me a bit. The House Minority Leaders race will be interesting. I think Cantor will run and win.

    What would be REALLY interesting though is if Mitch loses.

    Then I think Kyl pretty much gets a free run at Minority Leader. Lamar! will probably run for whip. Will he face opposition though? Would Cornyn run for Conference Chair? Would Ensign? Would a conservative like DeMint make a bid? That would be a very fun thing to watch.

  13. CT-05. How Chris Murphy doing over there? I ask because he’s facing a extremely tough re-election campaign as he face State Senator David Cappiello, one of the GOP’s top fundraisers this year. I’ve been reading the Republicans have been hammering him over off shore drilling, his ethics violations and FISA. Hope there any truth to all this because I really don’t want to see the Dems start playing defense in safe territory like Connecticut.

  14. up and running this election?  The one that had all the vaguely competitive races listed with pics? And it had entries posted with partisan preference.  Team Blue blew away Team Red in the collective election predictions accuracy. There was a DailyKos league.  Sure hope they run it again and that I find it if they do, lol.  I figure someone here mus recall what I am talking about.

  15. Not sure if his standing in the polls will hold up, but the prospect of Conley winning is hilarious/slightly scary.  He’d caucus with us, right?  Although he’d make Nelson and Landrieu look like Sanders, ha.

    Like a few others in this thread, I am also really interested in leadership races (on both sides and chambers).  I think there is a contingent of Southern GOPers (DeMint/Burr/Sessions) who might make some leadership challenges, although I expect Kyl to remain unchallenged in the event of a McConnell defeat.  Hutchison won’t run for leadership (and likely resigns in a few months) and Cornyn wants NRSC.  I guess the Senate Leadership on our side remains the same, but I wouldn’t be too sad if Reid decided to focus on re-election and bringing his approvals up and having a new Senate Leader for the 111th.  It would be great if Schumer really did continue with the DSCC for a third cycle, but Menendez takes over if Chuck gets a real challenger.  And, in the House, I could fathom the Pence/Cantor/Hensarling types taking control.  Our side probably remains stable, the race for DCCC being the only open one (With Wasserman Schultz likely being the favorite…don’t throw things at me!, unless she has her eyes on Martinez’s seat).

    1. He’s got a number of ads up.  I dunno which ones up / still up.  I don’t watch enough to see them very often.  I believe that one is still getting played, along with a couple criticizing Kagan for voting against off-shore drilling, and one more about him being against the bailout, but I have yet to see it.  

  17. I can keep up with Congressional and other high-profile races on-line.  It drives me crazy that I can never get any information about the statehouse races I have sent a buck or two to.  Anyone have any info regarding the efforts (hopefully each is bringing some) of any of these statehouse candidates?:

    Mick Holm – Montana House District 3

    John Fleming – Montana House District 12

    Doc Woerner – Montana House District 58

    Allison Copening – Nevada Senate District 6

    Brian X. Foley – NY Senate District 3

    Jim Gennaro – NY Senate District 11

    Jennifer Brady – Ohio House District 16

    Matt Patten – Ohio House District 18

    Nancy Garland – Ohio House District 20

    Mike Moran – Ohio House District 42

    John Linder – Pennsylvania Senate District 9

    Judy Hirsh – Pennsylvania Senate District 15

    Peter J. Symons Jr. – Pennsylvania Senate District 29

    Dr. Anthony Bompiani – Pennsylvania Senate District 39

    Cindy Purvis – Pennsylvania Senate District 49

    Scott Heidepriem – South Dakota Senate District 13

    Penny Bernard-Schaber – Wisconsin Assembly District 57

    Lou Ann Weix – Wisconsin Assembly District 90

    Dale Klemme – Wisconsin Assembly District 96  

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