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

  1. If you had one hundred dollars to give 5 candidates in the 2010 election cycle who would they be? List the amount for each candidate. I do not care the amount, you can give $99 to one candidate and give the other four a quarter for all I care but you have to have five, no more, and they can’t be from your state or any state you have ever lived in. Here is mine:

    Bill White-$20 I would LOVE to see a Democratic Governor of Texas

    Alex Sink-$20 I would also LOVE to see a Democratic Governor of Florida

    Robin Carnahan-$20 I like Robin, she has the potential to be a great Senator

    Joe Sestak-$20 I have always liked Sestak, I have no doubt he can win and be a terrific Senator

    Chet Edwards-$20 Edwards is a great representative and cares about the party. He is a Democrat and not afraid to vote like a Democrat even in an R++++++++++++ district. I was a bit disappointed when Obama did not chose him to be his running mate, if he does lose I hope Obama has a cabinet spot for him.  

  2. … the filing deadlines in all 50 states have passed with Delaware being the last today.  

  3. PPP is polling Washington State. Dustin Ingalis says they are polling the jungle primary, Murray vs Rossi, Murray vs Didier, Initiative 1098, Cantwell 2012, and open governor 2012.

    In North Carolina, they have Marshall, and whether or not the party should host the Democratic National Convention in that state.

  4. The administration claims they can’t find the money to pay for the Pigford settlement, but Rahm promised Blanche Lincoln more than that for disaster assistance for farmers to get her support for the small business bill.

    Blanche’s quote, which is of so typical: “I don’t forget who I represent,” Lincoln told The Hill. “I’m willing to stand up to my caucus and everybody else to remind them who I represent. And I do represent farmers.”

    She’s tilting at windmills if she thinks the hickory smoked wingnuts in Razorback country are going to vote for her over Boozman if she just sticks it to the Democrats enough.

    I propose a contest! Post what industry you think Blanche will be lobbying for come January when she ends her tenure in Congress. I’m torn between whether it will be the pharmaceutical industry or big ag. She’ll definitely serve part-time on the Wal-Mart board.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/se

  5. as blogs continue to have a greater impact in politics, do you think politicians, especially senators,will start seeing everyone as constituents, and change accordingly?  case in point, the previous ben nelson debate.  many of us aren’t from NE, but we have thoughts and beliefs on it.  we can also donate to him.  would other senators (not nelson ofc) try to treat the entire nation as a constituency for fund raising or stick with those who can vote for them?  would this make politics better or worse?

  6. We all know that some small percentage of voters are lucky to know what month it is, let alone anything significant about the candidates.  In Nevada earlier this year, Rory Reid suffered from being named “Reid”.  I suspect some small number of poll respondents though they were opposing Harry when stating a preference against Rory.

    But now things have shifted.  Some number of voters now know that Reid’s opponent is crazy… and while it is Harry’s and not Rory’s who is crazy, perhaps Rory gained a point or two in Ras’ latest faux-poll because some people now chose “Reid” because they knew the opponent of “Reid” was someone their friends thought was crazy.

    The effect of being named Reid surely is very bad still, but perhaps this one factor is making the Reid name “less bad”.

  7. We were talking about it this week, so figured we should bring it up here.

    Name your:

    Top 5 male House members

    Top 5 female House members

    Top 5 female senators

    Top 5 male senators

    And, since there are less governors, and even fewer attractive ones, Top 5 overall govs.  

  8. Brad Zaun (R) doesn’t have a coherent position on the right government response to flood disasters. Now he is rethinking his opposition to biofuels subsidies. I still think this guy is not ready for prime time. I expect Boswell (longtime farmer, member of House Ag Committee) will push the rural/ag issues hard. Zaun is unusually strong in Polk County (Des Moines area) for a Republican, but he may underperform the top of the OGP ticket in rural areas.

    Dave Funk, the guy who finished third in the GOP primary for IA-03, is running for Polk County supervisor. He will make it interesting,, but my money is on the Democratic incumbent to win.

    No word yet on the future plans of Jim “burn the boats” Gibbons, who outspent the rest of the field but finished a distant second to Zaun in the IA-03 primary.

  9. I’ve been doing block walking for Bill White today (as is the plan EVERY Saturday).

    Denton County, south side near Dallas in the mornings, City of Denton in the evenings. I’m just about to head back out for the second half. It’s a long journey, but someone has to knock on those doors. Also, in Texas, there are pools everywhere, so guess what I’m going to dive into in about 3 hours.

    Jesus, it’s hot.

    Oh, and btw, the responses are pretty good, lots of undecideds and building name ID, but it’s working.

  10. Buz Mills, who said he was dropping out of the Arizona Republican gubernatorial primary, has decided to stay on the ballot for the August 24th primary, though he will not be actively campaigning.

    So what is it that Simmons and now Mills imagine they will accomplish from this strategy?

  11. Governor:

    http://www.denverpost.com/elec

    Republican primary:

    Dan Maes – 43

    Scott McInnis – 39

    General:

    John Hickenlooper (D) – 46

    Dan Maes (R) – 24

    Tom Tancredo (C) – 24

    The article doesn’t seem to specify the Hickenlooper/McInnis/Tancredo numbers. They did do two-way matchups, in which Hick beats Maes 50-41 and McInnis 48-43.

    Senator:

    http://www.denverpost.com/elec

    Democratic primary:

    Andrew Romanoff – 48

    Michael Bennet – 45

    Republican primary:

    Ken Buck – 50

    Jane Norton – 41

    General election:

    Michael Bennet (D) – 43

    Ken Buck (R) – 43

    Michael Bennet (D) – 46

    Jane Norton (R) – 43

    Andrew Romanoff (D) – 44

    Ken Buck (R) – 44

    Jane Norton (R) – 45

    Andrew Romanoff (D) – 40

  12. a few weeks ago, gov patterson said his biggest regret was not appointing himself senator in 2009.  if he had, do you think he/ny dems would be better or worse off?  during the discussions of manchin appointing himself it was mentioned how often appointing oneself senator backfires, but would it have backfired worse than patterson’s current situation?

  13. A new edition of the Minnesota Poll (conducted by the Star Tribune), done July 26-29 with 902 adults (MOE 4.3%):

    http://www.startribune.com/pol

    General election match-ups:

    Mark Dayton (DFL):  40%

    Tom Emmer (R):  30%

    Tom Horner (I):  13%

    undecided:  17%

    Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL):  38%

    Tom Emmer (R):  29%

    Tom Horner (I):  13%

    undecided:  18%

    Matt Entenza (DFL):  36%

    Tom Emmer (R):  31%

    Tom Horner (I):  15%

    undecided:  17%

    ************

    DFL primary (MOE 7.8%):

    Mark Dayton:  40%

    Margaret Anderson Kelliher:  30%

    Matt Entenza:  17%

    undecided:  12%

    ************

    Partisan breakdown:

    DFL:  32%

    Independent:  30%

    Republican:  27%

  14. poll numbers coming out of California in the Attorney General’s race there. Cooley internal has him up 41 to 34 percent over Harris. Cooley is leading by over 15 percent in the LA area and in every other area of the state except San Francisco.

    And the Harris campaign says this poll is nothing but a push poll….

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/

    1. I am sick of people attacking someone who takes all the risks in a business paying themselves a decent salary.  I would actually argue Lamont pays himself less than he should for such a position.

    1. but they still can’t vote. Given how he’s been voting, Nelson clearly hasn’t been worrying about losing Democratic donors.

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