Campaign and Election News – Covering Key Races Around the Country
Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?
246 thoughts on “Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?”
(a couple of reposts from last week of questions that didn’t get answers)
1. When did the Democratic Party last control the Utah State House of Representatives?
2. Which reliably Republican state in the plains had a Democratic majority in it’s State House for two years in the 1980s?
3. What is the last county created in the United States?
I am going to start volunteering (hopefully) for the state supreme court race, the Dane county exec race, and maybe the Madison mayoral contest.
We can’t recall Walker until next year, but there are eight Republican Senators elected in 2008 who are eligible for a recall. Three to five of them are in blue enough districts that we’d have a shot at winning. Their names are Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Luther Olsen, and Sheila Harsdorf. (SSPers might remember Kapanke from his run against Ron Kind in WI-3).
We only need to win three of these five races and the Dems will be back in control of the State Senate. And I’m sure because of the Wisconsin 14 and their national recognition, we can count on having the money we need to compete with the Koch brothers.
Anyway, I’m going to work on figuring out the PVIs for these districts and write up a diary.
You all know about the upcoming special election for Congress but there are also L.A. local elections on 3/8. For some reason I find the LACCD (Community College Board of Trustees) races more interesting than the LAUSD (School Board) elections.
One interesting difference is that the School Board elections are by district while the LACCD Trustees are elected at-large. The LACCD area (including the city of Los Angeles and many smaller cities) is insanely large with at least a couple of million voters. Of course they won’t all vote (very few will turn out) and you can get some interesting results. Several years ago a Green Party member was elected on the strength of her ballot occupation description and female Jewish name. Now the elections are not as low key; the local righties have been running real campaigns in recent cycles and picked up one seat on the seven-member board two years ago.
I support Mona Field in Seat #1, Steven Veres in #3, Scott Svonkin in #5 and Miguel Santiago in #7. Miguel and Mona are incumbents and the others are in open seats. These are the candidates supported by the college teachers and other unions and the LACDP and local Democratic Party groups. They also have the support of the environmentalists because this board has been progressive and pro-active on green building standards and related issues. If you live in this area be sure to vote because your vote counts even more in ridiculously low turnout elections.
First, it looks like Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel won’t run for governor. I know a bunch of our posters from Indiana had mentioned his name, and as the article notes, he himself had given many indications he won’t run.
I’m not sure what to make of this. Perhaps he has his eye on Lugar’s senate seat (more on that in a second). Other candidates mentioned are John Gregg, the former Indiana House Speaker; U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly; state Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson; and U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth.
As far as Lugar goes, there’s speculation that Lugar could run as a Democrat in 2012. He’s probably more of a responsible conservative than an adult moderate, but is there that much daylight between him and, say, Evan Bayh? I have no idea how serious this sort of talk is–probably not very, but you never know–yet if it is a possibility, Democrats should probably welcome him with open arms. If he’s that well liked, he’ll probably win, and the Democrats will have one less headache.
What say you, Hoosier Democrats? Are state Democrats actively pursuing him? Would he consider doing it? Would he have as much of a fight on his hands if he ran as a Democrat?
Since the Senate is currently 19-19, this election will determine control (until the next party switcher if the Democrat wins, anyway).
Portland is actually running a budget surplus. Refreshing in an area where the county actually had a separate temporary income tax a couple of years ago.
“He did a significant amount of damage to himself out of the blocks. Is he vulnerable to losing? Yes,” says Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts. “[But] is he a viable candidate for re-election? Yes.”
Lots of pluses and minuses. Adams started with a hiring freeze, and some increased fees (e.g. parking, public transit). Portland no longer even has minor league baseball.
Among others, some are pushing for Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) to run for mayor in ’12. If Earl runs for mayor, OR-03 is probably safe D (even in most redistricting scenarios).
amazingly for a non-southern state, he held something like a +10 district for the opposite party
Interesting stuff on Lugar. I can’t help but think how ironic this would be, in terms of Evan Bayh. He just retired rather abruptly, probably thinking he couldn’t win as a Dem, with the party base seeing him as too conservative and the rest of the voters seeing him as more liberal. Then, Lugar, who is really a lot more conservative than Bayh comes in as a Democrat and wins handily. I am sure this huge irony wouldn’t be unnoticed by our Hoosier brethren. Of course Lugar is more principled, he votes how he believes. Bayh is more of the weather vane type, blowing with the most recent breeze that comes through.
According the The Oregonian, most of Rep. David Wu’s staff were concerned about his mental health, and were worried that his increasingly erratic behavior could cost him his seat. They were so concerned that they attempted an intervention just days before the election.
For quite a while there has been a slow trickle of news stories that have suggested that Rep. Wu may be suffering from mental health problems, but this seems like the most damning yet.
New Mexico State Auditor Hector Balderas has all but settled on running for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by Sen. Jeff Bingaman next year, according to a Democratic source familiar with his thinking.
Balderas, who is considered a rising star in his party for becoming the youngest Hispanic statewide elected official in the country in 2006, has already contacted the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, made phone calls to donors and consultants and taken the initial steps to build a campaign team, the source told POLITICO Saturday.
“It’s 95 percent. He’s all but in,” said the source.
It’s in violation of DNC/RNC rules. The RNC is pushing back, but FL is being stubborn.
I would suggest you begin to include in every post here the link to the twin threats in DailyKos elections 🙂
Their Obama job approval today?: 44-54. As in, 44% approve, 54% disapprove.
This while everyone else has Obama above water by a decent margin. Gallup had 51-42 yesterday (today’s not out yet)! A glance at the Real Clear Politics chart shows the starkness of Rasmussen’s incompetence.
Does anyone know any good resources on Thurbert Baker (ex-GA AG to jog your memory)? As part of Black History Month, I have to write an encyclopedic biography on him. Any good candidate summary or print book I’d be interested in – I will peruse the tag section of the site once I have time, but if someone can give me a hand that’d be amazing.
Republicans now control the Mississippi State Senate by a 27-24 margin.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee outraised their GOP counterparts in the first month of the year, but they still carry $18.6 million in debt from last cycle and used little of the $4.4 million they brought in during January to pay down that debt.
According to monthly reports filed Sunday with the Federal Election Commission, the National Republican Congressional Committee raised just over $3 million during January. The NRCC still has $10.5 million of their own debt, same as they carried at the end of December, after paying down $1.5 million since the November elections.
I want to see if Freshman Rick Crawford and Freshman Tim Griffin will get flipped this next election. Re-districting will play a big part. Rick Crawford isn’t very personable and won only 51% in an overly republican year. Any thoughts on the Arkansas Delta?
(a couple of reposts from last week of questions that didn’t get answers)
1. When did the Democratic Party last control the Utah State House of Representatives?
2. Which reliably Republican state in the plains had a Democratic majority in it’s State House for two years in the 1980s?
3. What is the last county created in the United States?
I am going to start volunteering (hopefully) for the state supreme court race, the Dane county exec race, and maybe the Madison mayoral contest.
We can’t recall Walker until next year, but there are eight Republican Senators elected in 2008 who are eligible for a recall. Three to five of them are in blue enough districts that we’d have a shot at winning. Their names are Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Luther Olsen, and Sheila Harsdorf. (SSPers might remember Kapanke from his run against Ron Kind in WI-3).
We only need to win three of these five races and the Dems will be back in control of the State Senate. And I’m sure because of the Wisconsin 14 and their national recognition, we can count on having the money we need to compete with the Koch brothers.
Anyway, I’m going to work on figuring out the PVIs for these districts and write up a diary.
You all know about the upcoming special election for Congress but there are also L.A. local elections on 3/8. For some reason I find the LACCD (Community College Board of Trustees) races more interesting than the LAUSD (School Board) elections.
One interesting difference is that the School Board elections are by district while the LACCD Trustees are elected at-large. The LACCD area (including the city of Los Angeles and many smaller cities) is insanely large with at least a couple of million voters. Of course they won’t all vote (very few will turn out) and you can get some interesting results. Several years ago a Green Party member was elected on the strength of her ballot occupation description and female Jewish name. Now the elections are not as low key; the local righties have been running real campaigns in recent cycles and picked up one seat on the seven-member board two years ago.
I support Mona Field in Seat #1, Steven Veres in #3, Scott Svonkin in #5 and Miguel Santiago in #7. Miguel and Mona are incumbents and the others are in open seats. These are the candidates supported by the college teachers and other unions and the LACDP and local Democratic Party groups. They also have the support of the environmentalists because this board has been progressive and pro-active on green building standards and related issues. If you live in this area be sure to vote because your vote counts even more in ridiculously low turnout elections.
First, it looks like Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel won’t run for governor. I know a bunch of our posters from Indiana had mentioned his name, and as the article notes, he himself had given many indications he won’t run.
I’m not sure what to make of this. Perhaps he has his eye on Lugar’s senate seat (more on that in a second). Other candidates mentioned are John Gregg, the former Indiana House Speaker; U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly; state Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson; and U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth.
http://www.courierpress.com/ne…
As far as Lugar goes, there’s speculation that Lugar could run as a Democrat in 2012. He’s probably more of a responsible conservative than an adult moderate, but is there that much daylight between him and, say, Evan Bayh? I have no idea how serious this sort of talk is–probably not very, but you never know–yet if it is a possibility, Democrats should probably welcome him with open arms. If he’s that well liked, he’ll probably win, and the Democrats will have one less headache.
What say you, Hoosier Democrats? Are state Democrats actively pursuing him? Would he consider doing it? Would he have as much of a fight on his hands if he ran as a Democrat?
http://www.courierpress.com/ne…
http://www.courierpress.com/ne…
Since the Senate is currently 19-19, this election will determine control (until the next party switcher if the Democrat wins, anyway).
Portland is actually running a budget surplus. Refreshing in an area where the county actually had a separate temporary income tax a couple of years ago.
Lots of pluses and minuses. Adams started with a hiring freeze, and some increased fees (e.g. parking, public transit). Portland no longer even has minor league baseball.
http://wweek.com/portland/arti…
Among others, some are pushing for Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) to run for mayor in ’12. If Earl runs for mayor, OR-03 is probably safe D (even in most redistricting scenarios).
former rep. steve horn
has died.
http://www.presstelegram.com/b…
amazingly for a non-southern state, he held something like a +10 district for the opposite party
Interesting stuff on Lugar. I can’t help but think how ironic this would be, in terms of Evan Bayh. He just retired rather abruptly, probably thinking he couldn’t win as a Dem, with the party base seeing him as too conservative and the rest of the voters seeing him as more liberal. Then, Lugar, who is really a lot more conservative than Bayh comes in as a Democrat and wins handily. I am sure this huge irony wouldn’t be unnoticed by our Hoosier brethren. Of course Lugar is more principled, he votes how he believes. Bayh is more of the weather vane type, blowing with the most recent breeze that comes through.
According the The Oregonian, most of Rep. David Wu’s staff were concerned about his mental health, and were worried that his increasingly erratic behavior could cost him his seat. They were so concerned that they attempted an intervention just days before the election.
For quite a while there has been a slow trickle of news stories that have suggested that Rep. Wu may be suffering from mental health problems, but this seems like the most damning yet.
http://staticresults.sos.louis…
With the absentees (I’m assuming, since it’s still 0 precincts reporting) in, the Dem is leading by 9.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/…
It’s in violation of DNC/RNC rules. The RNC is pushing back, but FL is being stubborn.
http://www.politico.com/news/s…
http://www.census.gov/newsroom…
I would suggest you begin to include in every post here the link to the twin threats in DailyKos elections 🙂
Their Obama job approval today?: 44-54. As in, 44% approve, 54% disapprove.
This while everyone else has Obama above water by a decent margin. Gallup had 51-42 yesterday (today’s not out yet)! A glance at the Real Clear Politics chart shows the starkness of Rasmussen’s incompetence.
Rassy really is a complete joke.
http://www.politico.com/news/s…
Egypt to Wisconsin with love. Egyptian protester shows his solidarity with the protesters in Madison:
http://twitpic.com/419nfm
Does anyone know any good resources on Thurbert Baker (ex-GA AG to jog your memory)? As part of Black History Month, I have to write an encyclopedic biography on him. Any good candidate summary or print book I’d be interested in – I will peruse the tag section of the site once I have time, but if someone can give me a hand that’d be amazing.
Republicans now control the Mississippi State Senate by a 27-24 margin.
http://majorityinms.com/2011/0…
http://www.swingstateproject.c…
I want to see if Freshman Rick Crawford and Freshman Tim Griffin will get flipped this next election. Re-districting will play a big part. Rick Crawford isn’t very personable and won only 51% in an overly republican year. Any thoughts on the Arkansas Delta?