SSP Daily Digest: 4/1 (Morning Edition)

The daily digest is so hunormous today that we had to CHOP IT IN HALF!

  • AR-Sen: Chris Cillizza’s incredibly annoying Mr. Rogers wallpaper tweets that Bill Halter raised $2 million in his first month on the trail.
  • AZ-Sen: This Roll Call piece has some interesting tidbits about the nascent Democratic (yes, Democratic) primary in the Arizona senate race. Tucson city councilman Rodney Glassman is all but running, and he has some personal wealth due to his family’s farming business. He also has the backing of Rep. Raul Grijalva (Glassman was once a Grijalva aide). Some other Dems, however, are talking up the potential candidacy of Nan Stockholm Walden, who is also wealthy and is a well-connected Democratic donor. The knock on Glassman is that he’s young and inexperienced; the knock on Walden is that she was a registered lobbyist for several years. Glassman says he’ll run no matter what Walden decides, and I think a primary here could actually be helpful if it stays clean.

    • On the GOP side of things, John McCain says he raised $2.2 million in the first quarter and has $4.5m on hand. Primary opponent J.D. Hayworth, meanwhile, seems like he hasn’t been doing quite so hot on the money front.

  • CA-Sen: A whiff of extra-special dumb: Carly Fiorina sent around an email to supporters describing Passover as a time to “break bread.” Of course, the one thing that Jews don’t eat on Passover is… bread. Trying to wiggle their way out of this one, a staffer tells TWI: “We meant all bread, leavened and unleavened, and matzo is just unleavened bread so that’s what we meant by that.” That still doesn’t work.
  • CT-Sen: GOP hopeful Linda McMahon is taking heat from opponent and ex-Rep. Rob Simmons for her $10,000 donation to the DCCC in 2006. Not only should this make McMahon suspect to Republicans, argues Simmons, but he seems to be tying that donation to the fact that he himself lost in 2006, perhaps nudged out the door by McMahon’s very own cash. (Considering Simmons came up just 83 votes short, he may have a point.)
  • FL-Sen: The joke is that when the New York Times finally gets to writing about a hitherto underground phenomenon (steampunk, miracle fruit, etc.), that’s the moment it becomes mainstream and therefore loses its cool. Marco Rubio’s “NYT moment” happened months ago, so anyone endorsing him at this late stage is about as cool as your mom using Facebook. Welcome to the club, Sen. Tom Coburn. Meanwhile, Charlie Crist’s old buddy, former FL GOP chair Jim Greer, is under criminal investigation for some sort of self-dealing.
  • KY-Sen: I think this is where Paulists probably part ways from teabaggers: Rand Paul thinks the government “shouldn’t be involved” in requiring people to wear seat belts. Not really sure ultra-libertarian whackness like this plays too well in most quarters. Please, please let this guy win the GOP primary. Incidentally, Paul says he’s raised $600K in the last quarter (lower than I would have thought), but also says he’s spent almost all of it. Apparently, though, he’s pre-paid for “the next six weeks of activity” (until the primary), perhaps locking in lower rates on things like TV ads.
  • MO-Sen: One last odd-n-end from PPP’s MO-Sen poll: Roy Blunt is under 50% against his unknown GOP primary challenger, Chuck Purgason – he leads 48-18. Purgason’s favorables are just 7-9 (not a typo), so obviously there’s a chunk of Republicans out there who just hate Blunt.
  • NC-Sen: Former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt will endorse attorney Ken Lewis, who is seeking the Dem senate nomination. Gantt himself ran for the Senate twice, losing two close races to the unthinkably odious Jesse Helms. Meanwhile, GOP Sen. Richard Burr says he’s raised $1.4 million in the first quarter and is sitting on a $5.3 mil warchest. No word yet on any of the Dems.
  • TX-Sen: It looks we will have Kay Bailey Hutchison to kick around some more – for at least the next two years. She announced yesterday that she’ll serve out the remainder of her term, which ends in 2012. I wouldn’t be surprised if she subsequently changed her mind (at least, after this November), but for now, that means TX-Sen comes off our “Races to Watch” list.
  • WI-Sen: Richie rich Terrence Wall says he’ll stay in the GOP primary even if ex-Gov. Tommy Thompson gets in. Wall had kind words for Thompson, and also thanked him for drawing Democratic fire, but it sounds like Wall wants to present himself as the “true conservative” option.
  • CA-Gov: Meg Whitman is the latest moron-American to jump onto the “healthcare reform is unconstitutional” bandwagon, agreeing wholeheartedly with a supporter who asked at a campaign event if she would “force your attorney general to file suit” against the legislation. (Of course, CA’s governor can do no such thing.) I really can’t wait until these idiots get punked out of court.
  • PA-Gov: Some fundraising numbers from some of the big players in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race – click the link for details. One of them, Dan Onorato, is up on the air with his first TV ads. No exact word on the size of the buy, but supposedly the ads are in “heavy rotation around the state,” which could cost $1 million.

    • 62 thoughts on “SSP Daily Digest: 4/1 (Morning Edition)”

    1. So much for only one digest-a-day this week. Hey, at least I didn’t call you a “baby killer” right? 🙂

    4. I know that Harvey was a 2 time loser to Jesse Helms, but his endorsement will help Lewis in the Democratic Primary.  Many of us in NC will definitely consider Lewis because of this endorsement.

      Personally, I don’t know who I want to vote for.  I probably prefer Elaine Marshall over Cunningham, but I think Cunningham might be more electable in the GE.  Elaine has been very “low-profile” as our SOS.  However, I’ll probably vote for Elaine anyway because she deserves the chance to run against Burr.

      Burr is very beatable.  He’s not a bright bulb, but luckily for him he keeps a fairly low profile within the Senate where he’s not exposed as being an intellectual lightweight.  I’m hoping that whomever the Democratic candidate is will expose his flaws in the debates and on the campaign trail.

    6. Agree a primary could be good. Glassman’s bio sounds better though. And since I think it still very likely McCain wins it will mainly be about building name rec for the future. Good that either may be able to self-fund to some extent though if Hayworth somehow manages to pull it out.

    7. Happy April fools guys! I had to think about my headline, I considered “Charlie Crist is becoming a democrat”, or “Joe Biden to run for his old Senate seat”, but this seemed more believable.  

    8. Similar story. Lincoln gets smoked while Halter does slightly better because of more undecideds. I don’t see how she turns around those horrid favorables when people have such firmly entreched opinions. I’m guessing whoever the GOP nominate won’t have too much problem pumping Halter’s unfavorables if he wins the primary but it is far easier to make a good first impression than it is to change minds.

      http://www.rasmussenreports.co…

    9. What are you talking about? Didn’t you hear that Meg Whitman is a high-minded MODERATE? I mean sure she campaigned for Prop 8 and is dashing to the right despite her 492347293 point lead in the primary but you know, she’s an acceptable MODERATE!

      (…I think the Attack of the Faux Moderates has driven me nuts. Especially since here in Illinois one of them might become senator. sigh)

    10. Qualifying ended for the special elections in GA-09 (left open when Nathan Deal resigned to run for Governor/keep himself from being expelled), HD-12 and SD-49 (both left vacant when their incumbents resigned to run for GA-09), and SD-42 (left vacant when Senate Minority Whip David Adelman was confirmed as Ambassador to Singapore).

      In GA-09, eight candidates qualified. The lone Democrat is former(?) Hall County Democratic Chairman Mike Freeman.  The lone independent is Eugene Moon (who’s just as far-right as the others). The other six are Republicans: former State Senator Bill Stephens, former (as of a few days ago) Senator Lee Hawkins, former (as of a few days ago) State Representative Tom Graves, Whitfield County Commissioner Mike Cowan, Bert Loftman, Chris Cates (who had announced for GA-10 earlier), and Steve Tarvin.  

      Interestingly, State Rep. Bobby Reese (R) did not qualify despite having announced.  Reese actually lives in the 7th district, being left open by John Linder; this may be a sign that Reese intends to run there instead.  Also not running, despite speculation/recruiting are Former State Senator Wyc Orr (D), State Senator Chip Pearson (R), State Representative James Mills (R), radio host Martha Zoeller (R), former State Representative Ken Poston (D), current State House Speaker David Ralston (R), and former U.S. Representative Max Burns.

      House District 12 has two Republicans and one Democrat running.  The Republicans are Jasper Postmaster Rick Ballew and Truette Moss II (sounds like a name for a cop from a Smokey and the Bandit-type movie).  The lone Democrat is Jerry Nally, who may or may not be related to former Bartow County Tax Commissioner Jack Nally.  Jerry Nally, by the way, was a Republican up until a few years ago.

      Senate District 42 has two Democrats, a Libertarian, and an independent.  One Democrat is Jason Carter, grandson of Jimmy Carter and son of 2006 Nevada Senatorial candidate Jack Carter.  The other Democrat is Tom Stubbs.  In the likely also-ran category are Libertarian David Montane and independent Steve Patrick.

      In Senate District 49, two Republicans face one Libertarian.   Libertarian Brandon Givens has run for State House in 2006 (apparently not even qualifying) and Public Service Commissioner in 2008 (where he pulled in a respectable, for a Libertarian, 4.9% and sent the race into a runoff).  Car dealership owner Butch Miller is running as a Republican.  Looking at his website, I at least some a little bit of reasonableness, meaning I didn’t feel the need to bathe in holy water and bleach after visiting; he at least says there are some things that government should spend money on.  The other candidate is Fair Taxing, free market fundamentalist Jimmy Norman (R).

      I would be extremely shocked to see any of these seats change parties.  In GA-09 predict a runoff between any two of Stephens, Graves, Hawkins, and Freeman (but probably Graves and Hawkins and more likely between two Republicans).  In HD-09, I predict an all-Republican runoff.  My guess is that Miller will win SD-49 outright with no runoff as he seems far more likely to pick up the pockets of Democratic votes and will probably raise more money.  In SD-42, I’m guessing an all-Democratic runoff with Carter emerging victorious.

    12. http://www.lonestarproject.net…

      Bill Flores, Republican candidate for Congress in TX-17 is currently in a runoff with the 2008 Republican nominee Rob Curnock. He was caught lying recently about his voting record. When asked who he voted for during a primary debate with Curnock and others, Flores claimed to have voted for Curnock in 2008. Yet, Brazos County voting records show that Flores failed to vote in the 2008 General Election, meaning he failed to vote for Curnock in 2008.

      He’s also running ads in the district claiming to be the right candidate to stand up to the Pelosi-Obama agenda. Perhaps if he cared so much about standing up to their agenda he would have voted against them in the 2008 General Election.

      The Swing State Project lists the race in TX-17 as Lean Democrat. The district is currently held by Chet Edwards.

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