SSP Daily Digest: 10/14 (Morning Edition)

What would you do without the Daily Digests?

  • MO-Sen: Republican media trackers tell Politico that the DSCC has cancelled $1.3 million worth of ad buys in Kansas City and St. Louis for the final week before the election. The DS tried to push back, saying that “decisions are made on a week-to-week basis,” but as Swingnuts well know, cancelling early reservations now subjects you to forfeiting deposits – and means you have to pay higher rates if you decide to go back in later. In other words, late cancellations are not made lightly.
  • WV-Sen: John Raese has one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads!
  • NV-Sen: So maybe some of that cash earmarked for Missouri is going to Nevada instead. On the heels of Sharron Angle’s eye-bursting $14 million haul, the DSCC is making its first ad reservations in the Silver State, apparently for a million bucks a week.
  • GA-Gov: Wow, Nathan Deal really is the epitome of the corrupt scumbag who thinks the purposes of getting elected to public office is to use his position for personal gain. As the AP explains: “While in Congress, Republican Nathan Deal lobbied Georgia’s attorney general and top state environmental officials to allow the development of a landfill that he and his business partner wanted next to their auto salvage yard….” Note that though this involves Deal’s auto salvage business, this is actually a different scandal from the one which inspired him to resign from Congress (there, he had lobbied the state from his perch in the House to preserve a questionable vehicle inspection program from which he profited immensely).
  • NY-Gov: For the trouble of offering a half-assed, bullshit, “I’m sorry if you were offended” non-apology, Carl Paladino has now lost the backing of the right-wing rabbi, Yehuda Levin, who helped pen the anti-gay speech which got Paladino into such hot water to begin with.

    • Relatedly, a truly awesome catch by Politico’s Maggie Haberman: She digs waaay deep to link a story at the Orthodox-oriented news blog Voz Iz Neias (Yiddish for “What’s News?”) about Paladino’s flubbed outreach in the Orthodox community. Though it’s getting far less play than his homophobic outburst, Paladino also attacked a bunch of big-time rebbes (Hasidic leaders) for supposedly being suckered into going soft on the libruhl Andrew Cuomo (who had also done the ritual meet-and-greets in Hasidic communities). Several prominent rabbis are now rebuking Paladino for waltzing on to their turf and making such presumptuous accusations against some of their own. So not only did Paladino piss off half the state thanks to this trip, he pissed off the very people he was trying to win over! In a word: fail.

  • CA-03: There aren’t a whole lot of bright spots these days, but one of them is definitely Dan Lungren. The former state AG managed to win in 2008 against a badly underfunded opponent with less than 50% of the vote, and has been getting his ass kicked in fundraising literally every quarter this cycle by Ami Bera. So with his back against the wall, Karl Rove is coming to the rescue. American Crossroads/Crossroads GPS is launching ads in the district on Friday, but NWOTSOTB as yet.
  • CA-45: You know I’m a ratfucking fetishist, so of course it warms my heart to hear that Dem Steve Pougnet is doing his best to prop up teabagger Bill Lussenheide. He’s targeting Republicans with robocalls that say Lussenheide is the “true conservative” – but he’s also sending out mailers to the same households describing him as “extreme” and “dangerous” while calling Rep. Mary Bono Mack a “raging liberal.” I imagine the idea is that what’s “extreme” and “dangerous” to normal people is actually appealing to crazies. I also love the fact that Bono Mack’s people whined that this was a “dirty trick” – just shows they are a bunch of weenies who don’t know how to fight.
  • LA-02: Man, it seems like most pols in Louisiana care about party loyalty as much as the writers of LOST cared about not pissing off their fans after six fucking years of slavishly watching that goddamn… uh, where was I? Oh yeah, state Rep. Juan LaFonta, who got pasted in the Democratic primary by Cedric Richmond, has decided to endorse Republican Rep. Joe Cao for re-election. This does not seem like the winning move to me. (And screw you, J. J. Abrams!)
  • OH-09: This comment has the flavor of Star Trek nerds debating whether Captain Picard ever wore the Federation dress uniform while on the bridge of the Enterprise D during season 4… only, except, you know, this guy is actually trying to be serious. Rich Iott’s spokesbot pleaded with Politico to understand that no, it was an SS uniform, not a NAZI uniform! I’m sure that will please John Boehner, who, as it turns out, gave $5,000 to Iott last month. Think he wants his Reichsmarks back?
  • PA-03: Paging Mark Twain… Mark Twain to the white courtesy phone. The AFSCME evidently thinks that rumors of Kathy Dahlkemper’s demise are at least somewhat exaggerated, since they’re dropping $350K on ads on her behalf. Triage is a tricky business.
  • WI-08: Aaron Blake tweets that the DCCC is “pulling out” of the 8th CD, but as is often the case, the picture is more nuanced. First off, AFSCME just dropped $750K here (to which Blake alludes). Secondly, Kagen is personally wealthy. In fact, in 2008, he was the 28th-richest member of the House, with a net worth of anywhere between $7 and $20 million. Hopefully his investments haven’t taken too bad of hit the last couple of years and he can still afford to spend large (he gave his campaign almost $900K last cycle).

    • SSP TV:

    • GA-08: Jim Marshall’s anti-Pelosi ad actually has hippies in it – for reals
    • NY-20: Fuck yes – Scott Murphy’s latest lacerates Chris Gibson for supporting repeal of the healthcare reform bill. Murphy, like Earl Pomeroy, knows the only way to win is to go loud and proud
    • TN-04: Lincoln Davis lacerates Scott DesJarlais for reportedly threatening his ex-wife with a gun – and threatening to kill himself. Stories like this were a big reason why Don Sherwood and Randy Kuhl both lost
    • ID-01: On behalf of Walt Minnick, the mother of a woman murdered by her abuser hits Raul Labrador for his failure to support laws that would protect women in abusive relationships
    • MA-06: Republican Bill Hudak hits Rep. John Tierney on a story we’ve been somewhat remiss in covering here: namely, his wife’s recent guilty plea for tax fraud. By referring to “Tierney’s family,” the ad makes it sound like Tierney himself was involved, but Hudak gets away with this legerdemain because the wife’s brother (family by marriage, I suppose) was also involved. The ad is only running on cable (Hudak had less than $100K on hand at the end of August)

    Independent Expenditures:

    • America’s Families First Action Fund: Sounds like a GOP group, but it’s actually Dem to the bone: $80K against David Schweikert (AZ-05); $403K against David Rivera (FL-25); $94K on mail against Bob Dold! (FL-25); $200K against Randy Hultgren (IL-14)
    • EMILY: $520K against Tom Ganley (OH-13); $212K against Cory Gardner (CO-04); $20K against Frank Guinta (NH-01)
    • NEA: $1.4 million against Ken Buck (CO-Sen); $306K against Harold Johnson (NC-08)
    • Realtors: $450K for Jim Gerlach (PA-06)
    • SEIU: $100K on radio ads for Cedric Richmond (LA-02); smaller amounts in MI-07 & IL-17
    • VoteVets: $325K cable buy against Pat Toomey (PA-Sen); $31K buy against Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-08); $296K for Harry Reid (NV-Sen)

    232 thoughts on “SSP Daily Digest: 10/14 (Morning Edition)”

    2. Marino ahead 44-38.

      Barletta ahead 43-41.

      http://www.timesleader.com/new…

      Why am I beginning to think that ’10 will end up a repeat of ’08 in PA 11.

      And is this the type of people teaching political science nowadays?

      Dave Sosar, a political science professor at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, said he is by no means stunned by the poll results in the 11th. But the 10th District results drew a deeper reaction.

      He said he was surprised that not only did Marino, 58, have a lead, but that it was greater than the margin of error rate of +/- 4.9 percent.

      Ugh.

    3. wow Kagen made a lot of money, he was one successful doctor. Two, Lott’s response is pretty bad, because the SS was the worst sector of the Nazi party; the sector primarily responsible for the actual systematic killing of more than six million jews, five hundred homosexuals, and hundreds of thousands of gypsies and political dissidents.  

    4. wow Kagen made a lot of money, he was one successful doctor. Two, Lott’s response is pretty bad, because the SS was the worst sector of the Nazi party; the sector primarily responsible for the actual systematic killing of more than six million jews, five hundred homosexuals, and hundreds of thousands of gypsies and political dissidents.  

    5. http://www.macon.com/2010/10/1…

      Marshall will not support Pelosi for Speaker.

      That’s four sitting members of Congress so far, not counting DeFazio’s call for new leadership.

      This is strictly hypothetical, but I could see a scenario where Skelton is the alternative choice, similar to Murtha was Taylor’s pick in the past.

      Let’s say there’s a large enough majority to allow for 10 or so anti-Pelosi votes, I could see those votes going to Skelton.

      The problem is going to be if the majority is slim. In that case, I still see Hoyer becoming the nominee. The Caucus itself is not going to nominate someone who cannot get enough votes. It’s one thing to act non-committal, but when you flat out say you will not support a person for Speaker, it’s kind of hard to combat that.

      I don’t think the Caucus wants to test Taylor, Bright, Marshall, etc. “Calling their bluff” might backfire.

    7. M-D: Angle +2, SUSA: Herrera +11, Rassy doesn’t see any change in margin for Toomey, +10, F&M poll in PA-7 has Sestak up 43-36, not where you want to be in your home district.

    8. those interested in the CA-AG’s race, Cooley’s up on the air. Also Harris has a new ad out where Steve Cooley is telling a debate moderator he is definitely going to double dip if he’s elected as Attorney General. Um…not the smartest thing to say Cooley.

    16. May be facing some adverse press soon due to some leaked documents from his divorce proceedings. The truth of these allegation have to be questioned because it was in a rancorous divorce, but it may play a role.

    18. It’s Reno Mayor Bob Cashell (R)!

      What? You expected something happy and positive? Nope, not here…

      But guess who brought on the feel-good goodness?

      Surprised? 😉

    21. Oh, this is just too funny.  Hapless Green Party nominee for IL-Gov, Rich Whitney has had his last name mangled and in a bunch of predominantly black districts in Chicago, will be listed as ‘Rich Whitey’!  That’s like something out of a B-grade comedy.  He’s fussing about it, but I can’t imagine that too many people in those districts would be voting for the Green Party anyway, even if it were not represented by a rich whitey. 🙂

      http://www.suntimes.com/news/e…

    23. I am seriously started to develop a personal hatred for douchebag KS-03 Republican Kevin Yoder, who just skipped out on a debate to hang out in his campaign office.

      http://midwestdemocracyproject…

      His spokeswoman’s excuse is weak sauce, too. Cuz yeah, I’m sure that “Women for Yoder Who Want to Take Away Their Own Rights” event wasn’t purposely scheduled at that time.

    26. Don’t know if this has been mentioned, but Majority Action PAC is doing something similar to what another group did a month or so in CO-04: running “attack ads” against the conservative third party candidate, Doug Aden, in hopes of splitting the conservative vote in the district.

      http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

      They’ve sent out $60K in mailers in the last two days and have bought $50K in ad time.  They’re also buying ad time against Scott Tipton in CO-03.

    32. mostly a bunch of mailers in the same districts they’re doing ad buys.  only surprise would be VA-11.

      also media buys in a few places that got skipped earlier this week:  SC-05, PA-03, OH-18, OH-16, OH-13, OH-06, NM-02, NC-07, MS-01, AR-01

    37. ref

      Man, it seems like most pols in Louisiana care about party loyalty as much as the writers of LOST cared about not pissing off their fans after six fucking years of slavishly watching that goddamn… uh, where was I?

      Does that mean that we can talk about LOST now?

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