Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?

The first primaries are just a month away! I’m talking, of course, about the Illinois congressional primaries, which feature a marquee matchup between netroots-backed Mark Pera and out-of-touch incumbent Dan Lipinski.

What races are you looking at?

Notable User Diaries

Ton of great diaries this week.

  • Glacial Erratic updates us on the Republican field in PA-05, where Rep. John Peterson (R) is the latest GOPer to announce his retirement.

  • Skywrnchsr509 surveys competitive House races in the states with early filing deadlines: Ohio, Texas, Illinois, and Maryland.

  • Plf515‘s series on House races continues, with looks at MS, KY & WV, MD , and PA.

  • Fbihop tells us about a move to liberalize ballot access requirements in New Mexico, which could make an already wide-open campaign season even more boisterous.

  • Some good news on the state level in Mississippi: Mississippiboy passes along word that Democrat Billy McCoy was narrowly re-elected speaker of the MS House over Barbour ally (and DINO) Jeff Smith.

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

  1. Just diaried – Matt Blunt being sued for illegal email-deletions. Sounds like a cover-up.

    I still can’t decide who I’m going to back in the Delaware primary for Governor. Both Markell and Carney are backing Obama (as am I), and I like them both. As much as I’d love one of them to run against Castle (no way, this is Delaware, incumbents are considered deities for some stupid reason), the upside is that we’re bless with two good choices.

  2. that MoveOn has endorsed  Donna Edwards’ campaign to oust Al Wynn?

    If they send out an email to their members, Donna will get at least tens of thousands in donations.  

    Quite awesome, I say.  

  3. was endorsed.  The Bush Dog he’s trying to oust is even worse than Wynn…

    I hope they don’t ignore him.

  4. Check this out:

    A real estate executive seeking an open congressional seat in central Pennsylvania acknowledged Thursday he had been drinking and was in no condition to drive when he crashed his car a year ago, then left the scene.

    Republican Matt Shaner, who announced this week he will seek to replace the retiring U.S. Rep. John Peterson, said in an interview Thursday he made a big mistake when he left the accident site without speaking to police.

    No one was injured in the single-vehicle accident Jan. 19, 2007 in Patton Township. But Shaner was fined more than $500 after pleading guilty to running a stop sign, failing to report an accident and accidents involving damage to an unattended vehicle or property.

  5. I’m wondering if the voter turnout in the New Hampshire primary means something.  In a state that is basically 50-50, or 50-49 in favor of Democrats, 50,000 more people voted in the Democratic primary than in the Republican primary.  Could this difference point to a realigning of people behind the Democratic party?  Are people more excited to vote for Democrats?  Your thoughts please.

  6. The Oregon Senate race is going to be a biggie this year. I’ve been waiting for the chance to unseat Republican Gordon Smith.  I have decided to throw my support behind Jeff Merkley. He’s currently Oregon’s Speaker of the House and been a very strong progressive. He’s helped pass great labor legislation, multiple environmental bills and played an instrumental role in getting domestic partnerships passed in the House. I also think he’s electable which is very important if we want to have a chance at passing progressive legislation nationally.

  7. I disagree that Clinton will lower turnout or hurt senate candidates in the Pac-NW.  Polls out today by SurveyUSA show her leading just as substantially as Obama in Oregon and Washington.  Those states and Maine all have gone Democratic since 1992.  Why would they all the sudden change now, especially in what should be a Democratic year?  Hillary is not quite the anathema that she is sometimes made out to be.

  8. I meant to say Minnesota in that last post.  The polls were about Washington, but the same can be said for Minnesota..it’s voted Democratic for President since 1984 (Oregon joined them in 1988, the others in 92).

  9. Thanks for backing me up… this wasn’t against anybody!  I just don’t think she’s going to be a drag on the ticket in alot of places, especially those mentioned.  Now, at my home in NC, maybe, but I doubt in those states.  

    I think in the end America will go towards the Democrats for both the presidency and congress – then it will be up to us what we do with that majority.

    That being said… can we do anything to get Shows out of the Senate race down in MS?

  10. I believe that there is a reason why Congressional Democrats in competitive races are avoiding the Presidential campaign like the plague.  Its because they don’t want to be seen as supporting Hillary Clinton.  If she gets elected in 2008 and has trouble in the 2010 midterms, a lot of these Democrats in tough races can say, “Look, I didn’t want her anyway, I never endorsed her for 2008 and don’t endore her now”.  This is something Democrats should have done in 1992 and 1994 to save themselves and are doing it for 2008 and 2010.  Instead you had Democrats in conservative areas like Buddy Darden of Georgia, Marty Lancaster of North Carolina, and Dave McCurdy of Oklahoma stupidly pawing all over Clinton and jogging with him during the 1992 campaign and in early 1993 when he was fairly popular.  Republicans played ads with these guys and Clinton and they all lost.  They probably would still be Congressmen today had they steered clear of Clinton.  

  11. Am I underestimating him? It seems to be like he would be an easy win in the general election. Clinton is ahead of him in the polls 47%-41% and Obama is beating him 49%-37%.

    In the Republican Primaries you don’t here as much about him as McCain or Huckabee, but Romney keeps adding to his delegate count. Romney has 46 pledged delegates. Second is Huckabee with only 19. I know it is a long way to 1,191 for him, but he is always placing either first or second.

    He polls low nationally but that doesn’t matter. Most of the country has yet to see a political advertisement for the 2008 election. In a way I find national polls worthless right now.

  12. Bloomberg was a Democrat prior to switching parties to Republican to run for mayor of New York. Does anyone here know who he will hurt in the general election if he runs?

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