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

  1. AZ-03- Bob Lord. Hot damn! That poll makes me think this year is going to be even better than anyone ever imagined…

    GA-Senate- Jim Martin. The idea of a true progressive knocking Chambliss out of office…

    WY-AL- Trauner

    CO-04- Markey

    MO-09- Baker

    WA-08- Hang in there Darcy!

    NV-02 and NV-03

    NM-01 and NM-02

    ID-01

    CA-46- Got to love Debbie Cook!

  2. I went to visit my grandmother after work today at her assisted living facility.  By the time I left I’d swayed 5 undecided seniors to vote for Obama as well as getting them to vote for most of the democrats on the ballot and against the gay marriage ban amendment.  I even helped them fill out their absentee mail-in ballots and explained what all the amendments were.  Took me about 3 hours but was well-worth the time.  Most of them were leaning towards McCain before I talked to them.  Chalk up 5 more Florida votes for Obama!

    The only bad thing was that my grandma lives just outside the 24th district, so I couldn’t swing any votes against my own Rep. Tom Feeney.

  3. We didn’t get a note with ours, so for a day or so at the Jim Himes office it was The Mystery of the Chocolate Babkas, but eventually we figured out the sender.

    And they were delicious.  Atomic weight, and each Babka probably has about 37,000 calories, but delicious.  

  4. It’s my second donation to him–I gave $20 this summer when Senate Guru went “on strike.”

    Love to see a Democrat doing so well in a state like Georgia.

  5. We very likely aren’t going to have as favorable a playing field in 2010 as we do right now. I want more safe incumbents to give to the DCCC and DSCC so we can fully capitalize on this year’s opportunities.

    Supposedly Harkin gave $250,000 to the DSCC in late September, but I have no confirmation of that yet.

    I’m not the only Iowan annoyed to see Harkin sitting on more than $4 million when his opponent’s cash on hand number has three digits:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

    With Obama leading McCain by double digits in 10 out of the last 11 Iowa polls, we have a great chance to pick up seats on his coattails, but only if our candidates have the resources to compete.

  6. Ruh Roh!  The golden girl just keeps losing her luster.

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI…

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) — Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her power as Alaska’s governor by trying to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from the state police, a state investigator’s report concluded Friday.

    “Gov. Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda,” the report states.

    Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten from the state police force was “likely a contributing factor” to Monegan’s July dismissal, but Palin had the authority as governor to fire him, the report by former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower states.

    However, it states that her efforts to get Wooten fired broke a state ethics law that bars public officials from pursuing personal interest through official action.

    The bipartisan Legislative Council, which commissioned the investigation after Monegan was fired, unanimously adopted the 263-page public report after a marathon executive session Friday. About 1,000 more pages of documents compiled during the inquiry will remain confidential, the council’s chairman, state Sen. Kim Elton, said.

    Rep. John Coghill, a Republican who criticized the handling of the investigation, said it was “well-done professionally.”

    But he said some of the conclusions were judgment calls by Branchflower, and recommended readers should view them with a “jaundiced eye.”

    Monegan said he was fired after refusing pressure to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten, who had gone through an acrimonious divorce and custody battle with Palin’s sister.

    Palin has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, describing Wooten as a “rogue trooper” who had threatened her family. Wooten denied the allegations.

    At a campaign stop Thursday, Palin told reporters that she has “absolutely nothing to hide” in the investigation.

    The governor originally agreed to cooperate with the Legislative Council inquiry, and disclosed in August that her advisers had contacted Department of Public Safety officials nearly two dozen times regarding her ex-brother-in-law.

    But when she became Sen. John McCain’s running mate, her advisers began painting the investigation as a weapon of Democratic partisans.

    Ahead of Friday’s hearing, Palin supporters wearing clown costumes and carrying balloons denounced the investigation as a “kangaroo court” and a “three-ring circus” led by supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

    The state senator managing the investigation, Sen. Hollis French, fueled those complaints with a September 2 interview in which he warned the inquiry could yield an “October Surprise” for the GOP.

    But Palin’s lawyers already had begun pushing for the state Personnel Board to launch its own investigation, calling it the proper legal venue for the matter.

  7. The candidates in IA-04 had two radio debates this week. I think Becky Greenwald did quite well, but Latham was clinging to his no votes on the bailout like a life raft:

    http://www.bleedingheartland.c…

    http://www.bleedingheartland.c…

    On paper, IA-04 (D+0) is much more likely to flip than IA-05 (R+8). On the other hand, Latham avoids saying stupid and offensive things regularly (which cannot be said of Steve King). Also, Latham has been campaigning seriously with direct mail and lots of tv and radio ads.

    Steve King doesn’t seem to realize he has an opponent in IA-05–so far he’s done no radio or tv, little direct mail, very few town hall meetings. King has only one campaign office, while Rob Hubler has six offices around the district.

    Now that Obama is making a serious play in Omaha/NE-02, those tv ads are spilling over the river to Council Bluffs, the largest city in IA-05. I think the Iowa wingnuts will be demoralized about McCain’s chances and less likely to show up, especially if they don’t believe King is seriously threatened.

  9. Wednesday = Due date.  Until those are in, I care about nothing else.  I am going to update my list accordingly after that and share it with people as we wait for election night.  

  10. I’m interested in way too many races.

    How about AZ-03, VA-05, LA-01 and TX-07. Three longer shots with great candidates running uphill campaigns in tough districts who are suring in the polls recently. I hope they can all pull it off.

  11. Especially when they’re swinging our way! That’s why I’ll be monitoring closely:

    – Ohio (OH-02, 15, 16)

    – Florida (FL-18, 21, 24, 25)

    – North Carolina (NC-SEN, 08)

    – Missouri (MO-06, 09)

    – Colorado (CO-SEN, 04)

    – New Mexico (NM-01, 02)

    – Nevada (NV-02, 03)

    Now I know McCrazy is already toast in some of these states, but I’d like to see Obama win by a large enough margin in these states that we win as many of these seats as possible! This is a special opportunity for us to expand our majority, and I hope we take it! 😀

  13. I’m really digging that Hillary Clinton was in WV-02 yesterday endorsing Democratic challenger Anne Barth. Sen. Byrd made a surprise appearance at the event as well.

    My favorite quote from the event:

    During her remarks, Barth called Hillary Clinton “a role model and an inspiration to so many women in West Virginia and across America.”

    “Your example is one for all of us to follow, and I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting things done in Washington for the people of West Virginia.

    “When I decided to get in this race, Senator Byrd advised me to view you as a role model and an example of how to be a workhorse and not a show horse,” Barth told Clinton.

    Anne Barth is the toughest challenger Capito has faced yet. Barth’s campaign has put together great ads, all she needs is even more money to get the word out.

  14. In 2006 the earliest sign was the fate of Ann Northup in Kentucky so in a similar vein I will be looking to KY-Sen, KY-02, IN-03 and IN-Pres for a possible trend.

  15. Though I live in Missouri and am interested in MO-6 and MO-9, I’m also very interested in MN-6, where El Tinklenberg is taking on the detestable Michele Bachmann.  I would love to see her gone.

  16. I’m looking at just about all of them.  This election will be a complete bloodbath and the Republicans are f’d, I’m considering making a shirt for the day after saying, “They had it coming.”  

    I think now it’s time to start moving down to the likely Republican holds and see which ones of those we will flip.  This whole economic nosedive has really brought back my hope for an all Democratic delegation from MN.  Extremely unlikely but, as we saw in 1932, if you screw up the economy, you are going to pay big time.

  17. WV-Pres.  ARG has a poll showing Obama +8 here.  I know ARG is the crappiest pirate themed pollster around, but they can’t be that far off. I want to see some more polls from this one.

    GA-Sen.  I wasn’t really around to witness the horrible smears against Max Cleland, but I never liked Chambliss. (what kind of name is “Saxby”???) I hope we have the chance to replace him with a more progressive Democrat like Martin, not a whack-job DINO like Zell Miller.

    AZ-3. I hope we can pickup 2 seats in McCain’s homestate this year.  What CD does McCain live in, by the way.  It would be even better if we won his CD.

    MI-7, MI-9.  Schauer +8, Peters +9 in recent polls!  I’m suprised how much McCain hurt republicans here.  According to Rasmussen, the Pres. race went from O+7 before MCCain pulled out to O+16 after.

    MI-state House.  I’m guessing we net 10 seats here.  Obama will win big here, and local Democrats are really benefitting.  If we win 10, we will have 68. 73 seats is 2/3, and I wouldn’t rule that out yet.  We have double the targets they have, and much more cash.

    MN-3, NM-1, OH-15,16, NV-3, and other seats where the NRCC is pulling out.  

    Stakeout tonight!  Some bastards have been pulling the Bart Stupak sign out of the ground and laying it flat in  our front yard during the night.  We got 2 new signs today, a Carl Levin sign and a circuit judge sign. (Unfortunately the Obama signs wont be in until Tues.)  I’ll be up late watching for anyone to come by.

  18. 1. Are we (particularly in the presedential race) peaking too soon?

    2. NY state senate race is not in good shape for the dems.

    3. AL-05

    4. MN-03

    5. CT-04 – are we going to be rid of Chris Shays?

    4. PA-11

    5. NY-26

    6. WA Governor race

    7. I would like to know about the statewide races in WA, NC and MO. State legislatures too.

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