Campaign and Election News – Covering Key Races Around the Country
Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?
Here comes your Weekly Open Thread.
74 thoughts on “Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?”
Currently there are four GOP congressmen in the Palmetto State. But I just realized with Henry Brown’s retirement, Gresham Barrett leaving the House because he ran for governor, and Bob Inglis losing his primary, the most senior GOP House member from SC is…..’YOU LIE!’ Joe Wilson.
Field Poll just polled the Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General races.
Newsom is in the drivers seat with a 9 point lead (43%-34%) over Maldonado and he’s leading with independents by 24 points. Cooley has a small 3 point lead (37%-34%) over Harris.
Will Wesley Sneijder play more beautifully than David Villa? They’re showing the final game tomorrow in downtown Portland (Pioneer Square) on the big screen, and several thousands will be watching. We’ll probably be watching in our favorite European-themed coffee house.
And as I type this, The Tour de France is now in the Alps. Can Lance do one more? I’ll always remember that look Lance gave his rival (Jan Ulrich?) a few years back before accelerating up that mountain… and then the sportsmanship he showed by waiting for Ulrich (in a later stage) after he fell off the road.
I am surprised how little this IMF report is being talked about in the press. Maybe its because the press realizes neither party wants to tackle the real big issues like Social Security solvency seeing its politically toxic to consider things like means testing, raising the retirement age, cutting benefits or substantially raising taxes to fund it.
I am curious if anyone on here thinks its possible to even talk about making Social Security financially sustainable from any point of view. Is it possible to have this discussion or will it be put off until our national bond rating is consistently slashed?
Enough gloom and doom. How would you rank the potential pickups in the Senate. Here is mine.
1. Florida- I am counting Crist winning as a Democratic win as I think he will caucus with us. I thought Crist stood no chance of winning when he went indy but he is slowly becoming our de facto nominee and I feel confident about this race.
2. Ohio- I really think Lee Fisher may win, the problem is that Portman has a lot of money and Fisher will have to improve his finances to win.
3. Kentucky- Gotta love Rand Paul. If the Republicans would have nominated Grayson and be done with it this would be likely or safe R but know they went with the nutcase. So we may just defy the odds and get a Democrat in Kentucky.
4. Missouri- I am sure many users would have this at number one or two but while I think Carnahan is a great candidate and Blunt is a marginal one I still have my doubts. Don’t get me wrong, we can win it but Blunt will have to run a very sloppy campaign for that to happen.
5. North Carolina- After nearly six years in the Senate Burr is pretty much generic R. He has crappy approvals and high unknowns. Yet he still has a big bank account and is running in a Republican year. So lets see, I could actually envision myself moving this rating higher up later on but it is too early to do that.
6. Louisiana- We have a top tier candidate and the Republicans have a less than perfect one with primary challengers but Louisiana is just that Republican. I think it unlikely that we win but I have been surprised a lot in the past so who knows.
We also have a lot of competitive gubernatorial races, much more than Senate.
A late count of misplaced mail-in ballots in Riverside County has reportedly resulted in a new victor for a state Senate nomination.
Assemblywoman Mary Salas edged 83 votes above former Assemblyman Juan Vargas in the 40th Senate district Democratic primary race, in an unofficial tally of new votes added to results already posted by the California Secretary of State.
Officials said the 12,563 mail-in ballots had been routed to a post office in Moreno Valley that elections officials had never visited…
My home district, I’m really curious to see some primary polling. Saujani was on Chris Matthews yesterday: http://www.nydailynews.com/blo…
I was less than impressed with her interview. Though, I still don’t know what to make of her, and I already have my opinions of Maloney. We’ll see what happens…
Should be interesting to get a confirmation on the close or not-at-all-tight MD governor’s race. A couple questions about Michael Steele (he was the Lieutenant Governor) are also on the poll, as well as Cardin reelects.
Currently there are four GOP congressmen in the Palmetto State. But I just realized with Henry Brown’s retirement, Gresham Barrett leaving the House because he ran for governor, and Bob Inglis losing his primary, the most senior GOP House member from SC is…..’YOU LIE!’ Joe Wilson.
Field Poll just polled the Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General races.
http://www.field.com/fieldpoll…
Newsom is in the drivers seat with a 9 point lead (43%-34%) over Maldonado and he’s leading with independents by 24 points. Cooley has a small 3 point lead (37%-34%) over Harris.
Will Wesley Sneijder play more beautifully than David Villa? They’re showing the final game tomorrow in downtown Portland (Pioneer Square) on the big screen, and several thousands will be watching. We’ll probably be watching in our favorite European-themed coffee house.
And as I type this, The Tour de France is now in the Alps. Can Lance do one more? I’ll always remember that look Lance gave his rival (Jan Ulrich?) a few years back before accelerating up that mountain… and then the sportsmanship he showed by waiting for Ulrich (in a later stage) after he fell off the road.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
I am surprised how little this IMF report is being talked about in the press. Maybe its because the press realizes neither party wants to tackle the real big issues like Social Security solvency seeing its politically toxic to consider things like means testing, raising the retirement age, cutting benefits or substantially raising taxes to fund it.
I am curious if anyone on here thinks its possible to even talk about making Social Security financially sustainable from any point of view. Is it possible to have this discussion or will it be put off until our national bond rating is consistently slashed?
Enough gloom and doom. How would you rank the potential pickups in the Senate. Here is mine.
1. Florida- I am counting Crist winning as a Democratic win as I think he will caucus with us. I thought Crist stood no chance of winning when he went indy but he is slowly becoming our de facto nominee and I feel confident about this race.
2. Ohio- I really think Lee Fisher may win, the problem is that Portman has a lot of money and Fisher will have to improve his finances to win.
3. Kentucky- Gotta love Rand Paul. If the Republicans would have nominated Grayson and be done with it this would be likely or safe R but know they went with the nutcase. So we may just defy the odds and get a Democrat in Kentucky.
4. Missouri- I am sure many users would have this at number one or two but while I think Carnahan is a great candidate and Blunt is a marginal one I still have my doubts. Don’t get me wrong, we can win it but Blunt will have to run a very sloppy campaign for that to happen.
5. North Carolina- After nearly six years in the Senate Burr is pretty much generic R. He has crappy approvals and high unknowns. Yet he still has a big bank account and is running in a Republican year. So lets see, I could actually envision myself moving this rating higher up later on but it is too early to do that.
6. Louisiana- We have a top tier candidate and the Republicans have a less than perfect one with primary challengers but Louisiana is just that Republican. I think it unlikely that we win but I have been surprised a lot in the past so who knows.
We also have a lot of competitive gubernatorial races, much more than Senate.
1. Hawaii
2. Rhode Island (Chaffee is a win in my book)
3. California
4. Minnesota
5. Connecticut
6. Vermont
7. Georgia
8. Florida
9.Texas
10. Arizona
11. South Carolina
12. Alabama
13. Nevada
14. South Dakota
http://cbs2.com/local/riversid…
My home district, I’m really curious to see some primary polling. Saujani was on Chris Matthews yesterday: http://www.nydailynews.com/blo…
I was less than impressed with her interview. Though, I still don’t know what to make of her, and I already have my opinions of Maloney. We’ll see what happens…
Iowa journalists are AWOL as Branstad can’t back up his state budget talk. Really irritating.
10 days in, Branstad has studiously not commented on numerous documents showing he and senior staffers did Republican campaign work on the public’s dime. He is hoping that journalists will not pursue this story as long as he doesn’t deny/apologize/promise not to do it again. So far it seems to be working.
Maryland is being polled this week by PPP.
Should be interesting to get a confirmation on the close or not-at-all-tight MD governor’s race. A couple questions about Michael Steele (he was the Lieutenant Governor) are also on the poll, as well as Cardin reelects.
He raised 501k last quarter, 200k from his pocket, and has 472k on hand. http://www.politickernj.com/ru…
CA-11
David Harmer (5/20 – 6/30) – $232k raised, $233k on hand
GA-Sen
Mike Thurmond – $117k raised, $110k on hand
GA-02
Sanford Bishop – $123k raised, $405k on hand
Mike Keown – $123k raised, $238k on hand
PA-17
Tim Holden (4/29 – 6/30) – $211k raised, $884k on hand
http://politicalwire.com/archi…
Is this now a possibility?
Or is this just fool’s gold like Senate Guru’s 10 reasons why Larry LaRocco would win?
Terry Branstad’s running mate Kim Reynolds let slip in an interview that she might be open to civil unions. Conservatives are going nuts. I still don’t think Bob Vander Plaats will run as an independent, though. He has until August 13 to file.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com…
Interesting prescription — 4 basic points
–Win the Support of Middle Class Women
–Enact a Pro-Business Agenda
–It’s All About Passion
–Don’t Worry About the Tea Party