Month: February 2010

please see my following response to President Barack Obama. I’d love to hear what you think.  Imagine having a governor who fights to put in single-payer healthcare! Imagine the example that Minnesota could provide for the other 49 states? In my 23 years in the state senate, I’ve fought for healthcare for all. As the prime sponsor of the Minnesota Health Plan, I’ve helped organize over 1/3rd of the legislature to co-sponsor the bill.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Thanks,

John

p.s. Please visit our brand new website at  http://www.johnmarty.org  

Single Payer Solution for Obama

by Senator John Marty

January 29, 2010



“If anyone…has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.”

— State of the Union

January 27, 2010

An open letter in response to President Obama’s State of the Union request for a better approach to health care reform:

Dear President Obama,

During your State of the Union address, you explained why you are fighting for health care reform, expressed frustration at the lack of success, and invited others to suggest a better approach.

I’m taking you up on that invitation and offer a bold suggestion:

Take a look at our Minnesota Health Plan — a proposal that covers everyone, saves money, and creates a logical health care system to replace the dysfunctional non-system which currently exists. It is a proposal that would provide health care to everyone, not merely health insurance for many. Our MN Health Plan (mnhealthplan.org) could be readily adapted as a nation-wide plan. It would meet each of the five requirements you mentioned in your State of the Union request:

Bring Down Premiums. Most Americans would see a big reduction in premiums because the plan would be significantly cheaper than our current health care non-system. Because the premiums for the MHP would be based on ability to pay, everyone’s premiums would be affordable. Some would pay more, but overall, costs would go down. Most people would save money, while getting the care they need and deserve. The total costs for the plan would be less than we now are paying for premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and taxes for medical programs.

Bring Down the Deficit. By keeping people healthier and by delivering quality health care efficiently, it would save hundreds of billions of dollars for the federal government, and even more for states. For example, by covering chemical dependency treatment and providing comprehensive mental health services, it would cut crime and human service costs (such as out-of-home placement of children), some of the biggest and fastest growing expenses facing state and local governments.

Cover the Uninsured. It would cover the uninsured and the under-insured. In fact it would cover everyone — 100% of the public.

Strengthen Medicare for Seniors (and everyone else). It would cover prescription drugs — with no “doughnut hole.” It would cover long term care, in-home care, dental, eye care, physical therapy, and medical supplies — it would cover all medical needs. And, they would have their choice of doctor, hospital, clinic, dentist — complete freedom to choose their medical providers.

Stop Insurance Company Abuses. There would be no “pre-existing conditions” to worry about, no underwriting, no denials of coverage, no “out of network” problems. I like to use the analogy of police and fire protection. When you return home to find a burglary in process and call 911, the police dispatcher does not ask if you qualify. They do not ask if you have police insurance. They do not ask whether your policy covers home burglary. They don’t ask if you have pre-existing conditions that would disqualify you. They don’t waste time and money having you fill out forms so your insurance company can be billed. The police response does not depend on your insurance status. Everyone is treated equally. It’s the American way. It is time to treat health care the same way.

As a 23 year member of the Minnesota Senate, let me comment briefly on the politics of this proposal:

The MHP is a single payer proposal. You have acknowledged that single payer is the only way to cover everyone. Seven years ago you said that single payer health care is “what I’d like to see. But… we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.” Now that we have taken back the White House and the Congress, it is time to act.

I recognize, as you do, that you do not have the votes to pass truly universal health care at this time. The insurance and pharmaceutical industries contribute so much to members of Congress — they control the debate — so health care for everyone isn’t even on the table.

This, however, is your opportunity for leadership. If you propose and fight for health care for all, as FDR did with Social Security in 1935, the voters would respond. If you don’t win this year, ask the American people to elect candidates who will stand with you. Make it the issue of the campaign: Health Care for All vs. Health Insurance for Some. Instead of losing Democratic members of Congress this year — as Massachusetts illustrates — you would gain votes and could actually pass the bill next year.

Dr. Martin Luther King stated, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

Almost a half century later, we still have not addressed the injustice in health care that Dr. King described as the most inhumane. Ignoring this injustice is immoral and it is economically unsustainable. People are hurting, some are literally dying, businesses are folding, and it is crushing our national economy.

Please, restore the Hope that you raised in all of us, bring back the inspiration that made the American people so excited by your inauguration. I urge you to step back, reconsider, introduce a health care plan that is truly universal, and fight for it.

Justice requires no less.

Respectfully,

John Marty  

One of the things that I value about the netroots in general, and about SSP in particular, is the ease with which it allows me to find information on specific elections and and races that the MSM would never dream of covering (I guess us nerds are just too few to be a profitable marketing demographic).

As an MA resident and Democratic activist, I’d like to dedicate this, my very first SSP diary, to developing race to succeed State Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts’ Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex State Senate District. I think that this is a vital race for political nerds across the country to watch, because it has the opportunity to change the narrative here in New England, where conventional wisdom is that we Democrats are about to be the victims of a 1990/1994 style Republican wave this November.

The race for Scott Brown’s former State Senate seat is relevent across the region because it is traditionally one of the swingiest of swing districts in the Commonwealth.

A little history:

The Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex seat was held by the former Republican floor leader in the MA Senate right up until 1992, when it was won by a young, charismatic and openly lesbian county prosecutor named Cheryl Jacques. Jacques was (and is) a national figure in the LGBT rights movement, and is a former president of Human Rights Campaign (she resigned from the Senate to take that position and move her family to Washington in March of 2004). Jacques was also the progressive standard-bearer in the 2001 special election for US congress that was eventually won by the less-than-liberal US Rep. Steve Lynch of South Boston.

http://www.cheryljacques.org/

Scott Brown, than a little-known State Rep. from his native Wrentham, went on to win the special election caused by Jacques’ resignation over her CoS in a massive upset, winning by only a handful of votes despite the fact that the special election was scheduled for the day of the 2004 Presidential Primary, which was unopposed by President Bush on the Republican side.

http://www.boston.com/news/spe…

The Candidates:

There are three currently declared candidates in the race for Scott Brown’s Senate seat, two Democrats and one Republican.

The Republican is formidable. He is Wrentham State Rep. Richard Ross, a Scott Brown protege who succeeded Brown in the State House when Brown moved up to the Senate. Unlike Brown, Ross has a moderate reputation, having been one of only a handful of Republican supporters of gay marriage during the key votes on the Constitutional Amendment in 2007. Ross, like Brown, is charismatic and a strong campaigner.

On the Democratic side, we have a two candidates who probably could not be in sharper contrast with one another. State Rep. Lida Harkins is a 21-year veteran of the State Legislature, and was a trusted lieutenant to both of our most recently previous Speakers of the House, Tom Finneran and Sal DiMasi, both of whom are currently facing federal corruption charges. Harkins is also a conservative on some social issues, such as choice. But she is a proven vote-getter in her hometown of Needham, the biggest D-leaning town in the district, and a close-in suburb of Boston.

Needham Town Meeting member Dr. Peter Smulowitz is young- 33- and has only two years in elected office under his belt. Smulowitz, however, has the advantage of having been in this race the longest- he declared his candidacy against than-incumbent Scott Brown last November- and the organizational and fundraising advantages that go along with it. Smulowitz has almost double the CoH than Ross does, and almost seven times as much as Harkins, and he also already has a campaign organization in place, with a top-notch staff, open campaign office and in-place volunteer network. Smulowitz also benefits from not being associated with the taint of Beacon Hill (We Massholes are very, very annoyed at our state legislature right now), and of being the pro-choice progressive in a primary race where liberal voters will almost certainly dominate.

I’m supporting Dr. Smulowitz because I believe he will not only be a better progressive legislator in office, but I also believe he would be our party’s strongest nominee against the formidable Rep. Ross. While Ross could paint Harkins as the out-of-touch insider from Beacon Hill, since she has been there 21 years to his 6, Smulowitz, who is not currently serving in the legislature, could do the same to Ross. I believe it’s also vital not to underestimate the power of an already-assembled organization in the short time frame of a special election.

Candidate websites can be found here:

Ross (R) :    http://reprichardross.org/

Smulowitz (D) :   http://petersmulowitz.com/

Harkins (D) : No campaign website up yet, legislative website here http://www.mass.gov/legis/memb…

As I mentioned earlier in this post, this will be a vital race for Democrats to win, not because we need another seat in the MA State Senate (although that’s always nice…) but because a win here can change the narrative about Democratic doom and Republican ascendency in our state. Check out the candidates, and if you’re in the area, come help out!

UPDATE:

Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray announced today that she is scheduling the special election for Scott Brown’s former State Senate seat for April 13th (primary) and May 11th (general). That means that it’s just a little more than two months before we find out who our nominees are!

Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates (R) (PDF) for a “private client” (1/27-28, likely voters, no trendlines):

Marco Rubio (R): 44

Charlie Crist (R): 30

Undecided: 25

(MoE: ±5.6%)

Charlie Crist (R): 47

Kendrick Meek (D): 29

Undecided: 24

Charlie Crist (R): 49

Maurice Ferre (D): 27

Undecided: 27

Marco Rubio (R): 42

Kendrick Meek (D): 30

Undecided: 28

Marco Rubio (R): 43

Maurice Ferre (D): 27

Undecided: 29

Kendrick Meek (D): 24

Marco Rubio (R): 31

Charlie Crist (I): 26

Undecided: 19

Maurice Ferre (D): 19

Marco Rubio (R): 32

Charlie Crist (I): 29

Undecided: 20

(MoE: ±3.5%)

Crisitunity teased this poll earlier, but now we have the full memo. The primary numbers can’t be seen as terribly surprising at this point, and the “Crist-as-indie” scenario is not too far off R2K’s test of this matchup. They had Crist 32, Meek 31, and Rubio 27, while here, Charlie is the man-in-the-middle. One obvious option this pollsters didn’t test was Crist running as a Dem. Who knows what axe Fabrizio’s mysterious client has to grind, but recall that R2K showed Crist (D) beating Rubio (R) by a healthy 45-34 margin. If you’re trying to ease Crist out of the Senate race, those are numbers you probably don’t want to flash.

Now, why would I suggest that this incognito polling sugar daddy would want to do something like that? Well, take a look at the rest of the nums FMA published:

Charlie Crist (R): 39

Bill McCollum (R): 31

Paula Dockery (R): 4

Undecided: 25

(MoE: ±5.6%)

Alex Sink (D): 31

Charlie Crist (R): 48

Undecided: 22

Alex Sink (D): 32

Bill McCollum (R): 41

Undecided: 27

(MoE: ±3.5%)

Charlie Crist abandoned a gubernatorial election bid all the way back in May of last year, yet here we have poll numbers testing him in the gubernatorial race! What gives? Well, the polling memo is a bit heavy-handed about its intentions, with statements like: “The only GOP Primary Crist appears to be able to win this year is the Gubernatorial primary where he leads Bill McCollum by several points and performs far better across the board.” Hey, that’s probably true! But Charlie Crist’s advisors can read the numbers as well as anyone, so a line like that has to be for media consumption – i.e., you’re hoping that the tradmed will spin this as “Crist should run for a second term as governor.”

Maybe good ol’ Charlie has ruled it out. But if he doesn’t want to leave the GOP, he ought to be thinking about it.

If I had a dollar for every time…. Here are the December fundraising numbers for the six major party committees (November numbers are here):

Heavy spending by many of the committees leaves both sides with lighter wallets as of December 31st, but moreso for Democrats than Republicans. The DNC gets whooped yet again, and even the NRSC edges the DSCC. All three Dem committees paid down some debt, but the NRCC managed to wipe out all of the $2 million it owed. Feisty creditors, or expectations that good times are about to roll?

• CA-Sen (pdf): The Public Policy Institute of California takes a look at the California Senate race, and find it a fairly close-looking race if ex-Rep. Tom Campbell survives the primary against wealthy Carly Fiorina and teabagger-powered Chuck DeVore. Unfortunately, it looks like he’s poised to that, leading Fiorina and DeVore 27-16-8. Barbara Boxer leads Campbell 45-41 in the general, while she leads Fiorina by a more comfortable 48-40 and DeVore 47-39. (By comparison, Boxer leads Campbell by 10 in the most recent sample by the widely-respected Field Poll, who found Campbell leading Fiorina 35-25-6.) Another bit of bad news for Fiorina: apparently people at her former company doesn’t think that much of her. Boxer has received the maximum $10K from Hewlett-Packard’s PAC, while Fiorina has gotten nothing.

• IL-Sen: I don’t know if anyone was banking on Jacob Meister and the 1% of voters he was pulling in, but the wealthy attorney running a quixotic bid folded his hand and threw his backing behind Alexi Giannoulias with only a day to go before the primary. He cited David Hoffman’s negative ads and that Hoffman is “more conservative” than he lets on. PPP’s Tom Jensen also has some thoughts on the Republican primary, wondering why Patrick Hughes fizzled while other tea party-fueled insurgent candidates (Rand Paul) have caught a spark; basically, it has to do with money, and not just one’s own money (with Hughes has lots of) but institutional money (from folks like the Club for Growth) instead.

• KY-Sen: Speaking of Rand Paul, he got a top-drawer endorsement today, from Sarah Palin, as the common cause between teabaggers and Paulists now seems fully stitched-together. (Of course, whether that endorsement translates into dollars is another question, especially with today’s revelation that SarahPAC spent more money buying copies of “Going Rogue” to push it up the best-seller lists than on contributions to actual candidates.)

• NV-Sen: While he hasn’t taken any official steps, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki is souding more and more like a Republican candidate for the Senate, publicly saying “I can beat Senator Reid.” (And, the implication probably is, that the second-tier odds and ends currently cluttering the race can’t, once the gloves come off.) With Krolicki being courted by the John Cornyn at the NRSC, that’s just arousing the wrath of the anti-establishment set, though, and even some local bigwigs, like ex-Gov. (and current RNC committee member) Bob List, who’s telling Cornyn to back off.

• NY-Sen, NY-Sen-B (pdf): No particular surprises in Marist’s new poll of the Senate landscape in New York, finding that a hypothetical George Pataki challenge, rather than Harold Ford Jr., is the biggest threat to Kirsten Gillibrand. She wins the primary against Ford and Jonathan Tasini 44-27-4. Gillibrand loses to Pataki 49-43, while easily beating the only announced Republican, Port Authority commissioner Bruce Blakeman, 52-30. Ford also loses the general to Pataki, 52-35, while getting past Blakeman 39-35. They even test out the other Senate race, the one no one has been thinking about but that talk show host Larry Kudlow has made some noises about joining. Charles Schumer mops the floor with Kudlow, 67-25.

• WA-Sen: I don’t know if this is going to strike much fear in the heart of Patty Murray, who has flattened three prominent Republican U.S. Representatives over the course of her career, but a poll from Moore Insight (a Republican polling firm in Oregon) clearly designed to lure 2004 and 2008 gubernatorial loser Dino Rossi into the race finds Rossi leading, 45-43. Rossi says “I never say never,” but also says he has “no plans to run for any office at this point.”

• CA-Gov: That same PPIC poll has gubernatorial numbers as well, finding that Jerry Brown shouldn’t take his race for granted either. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has moved into commanding position in the GOP primary, between her outrageous spending and the disappearance of Tom Campbell from the race; she leads Insurance Comm. Steve Poizner 41-11 (an improvement from 32-8 in December). Brown leads Whitman by five, 41-36 (he led by 6 in December), while he leads Poizner 44-29. Calitics has some advice on how Brown should engage the race if and when he emerges from his Fortress of Solitude, and also some details on how Poizner isn’t going down without a fight, calling for federal investigation into Whitman’s efforts to push him out of the race.

• MD-Gov: Ex-Gov. Bob Ehrlich seems to be moving closer to a rematch with the man who defeated him in 2006, Democrat Martin O’Malley. He’s been lining up fundraisers and a statewide “listening tour,” although he says he wants to hear what people actually say on said tour before making a decision one way or the other on the race. Another indicator that Ehrlich is likely to run: the only Republican in the race right now, Larry Hogan, a close Ehrlich friend who said he’s get out of the way for Ehrlich and was in the race as something of a placeholder, has ended his campaign, saying that he’s convinced Ehrlich is getting in.

• MI-Gov: Lt. Gov. John Cherry’s withdrawal from the gubernatorial race is certainly different from what we saw Connecticut and Colorado: instead of leading to an instant upgrade, we’re just seeing a lot of confusion, with none of the options seeming that much better. The newest EPIC-MRA poll of the race finds pizza magnate Denise Ilitch in the best position in the scrambled Dem primary, leading state House speaker Andy Dillon and Lansing mayor Virg Bernero 23-8-5, with a majority undecided. AG Mike Cox leads the Republican field, beating Rep. Peter Hoekstra and Oakland Co. Sheriff Mike Bouchard 32-25-16. Specific head-to-head numbers aren’t reported, but Ilitch reportedly trails Cox by 18 and Hoekstra by 7, with Dillon and Bernero faring even worse. (UPDATE: Thanks to RCP, those toplines are: Cox 48, Ilitch 30; Cox 47, Dillon 30; Cox 50, Bernero 28; Hoekstra 42, Ilitch 35; Hoekstra 40, Dillon 32; Hoekstra 45, Bernero 27.)

• PA-Gov: With rich guy Tom Knox suddenly out of the governor’s race, another Philadelphian is looking to fill his void in a Democratic primary dominated by western Pennsylvania figures. State Sen. Anthony Williams has been sounding out the race; he’d be the only African-American in the field.

• AR-03: We’ve already dissected the possible fields in Arkansas’ 1st and 2nd districts, but now that it looks like the 3rd will be vacant too, let’s see who might step up. One top name is John Arthur Hammerschmidt, the son of the guy who held the seat for more than 20 years (and who notably beat a young Bill Clinton many years ago). A possible return engagement by ex-Rep. and ex-DEA head Asa Hutchinson is also mentioned. Other names for the GOP include former US Attorney Bob Balfe, state Rep. Jonathan Barnett, former state Sen. Dave Bisbee, state Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, former state Sen. John Brown, state Rep. Rick Green, city councilor Kurt Maddox, former state Rep. Doug Matoyo, former state Rep. Daryl Pace, current Senate candidate Buddy Rogers, retired general Bernard Skoch, and Rogers mayor Steve Womack. Fayetteville city attorney David Whitaker seems to be the lone Democrat interested in this dark-red district.

• CA-12: Nothing sets off a stampede like an open U.S. House seat in California, where term limits keep people cycling in and out of the state legislature. With Rep. Jackie Speier sounding likely to run for state AG, state sen. Leland Yee, state Assemblyman Jerry Hill, and Assemblywoman Fiona Ma also have said they’re revving up for a run in the Democratic primary in this safely-blue seat.

• LA-02: Rep. Joe Cao seems to have gotten sucked into the downward spiral of direct mail marketing. He raised a pretty good $248K during the last quarter, but somehow managed to spend $283K, meaning he burned $35K and is sitting on only $316K CoH anymore.

• MN-03: Bad news in the 3rd: state Sen. Terri Bonoff, who probably should have been our candidate there in 2008, isn’t going to run there in 2010, instead going for another term in the state Senate. Maureen Hackett and Jim Meffert are facing off for the Democratic nod, but neither of them has Bonoff’s stature in the swingy suburban district.

• NY-15: The Memphis newspaper has an interesting profile of one of the candidates seeking to knock off increasingly-sketchy Rep. Charlie Rangel in the Democratic primary, Harlem community banker Vincent Morgan. What’s the Memphis angle on all this? Morgan is really a Ford; he’s the estranged son of currently imprisoned former state Sen. John Ford, and the cousin of former TN-09 Rep. and current possible NY-Sen candidate Harold Ford Jr. Morgan isn’t close with the family, and prefers to downplay the link.

• PA-08: The minor GOP candidates in the 8th seem to be bailing out, in the wake of the entry of a relative heavyweight, in the form of ex-Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, back to reclaim his seat. Attorney and Iraq vet Dean Malik, who seemed to be as close to a frontrunner as the GOP had pre-Fitzpatrick, dropped out last week and endorsed Fitzpatrick. The self-proclaimed teabagger in the race, Rob Mitchell, also pulled out and threw his support to Fitzpatrick.

• TN-04: Rep. Lincoln Davis had previously made it clear that he was running again, but it’s official today: he filed his paperwork for another run. That’s gotta be a relief for the DCCC, already trying to plug two holes in TN-06 and TN-08.

• TX-23: Former Bexar Co. Commissioner Lyle Larson, who torpedoed the GOP’s preferred candidate (Quico Canseco) in the 2008 primary and then went on to get swamped by Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in the general, won’t be running again this year. Instead, he’s getting into an open seat race for a Texas state House seat instead, giving Canseco a clearer shot this time.

• WV-01: A last-minute primary challenge to Rep. Alan Mollohan sneaked in, and it’s a rather serious one, from long-time state Sen. Mike Oliverio. Oliverio is giving up his Senate seat this year, maybe in hopes that Mollohan would retire; when Mollohan filed for re-election anyway, he may have figured he had nothing to lose by running anyway (although with Mollohan’s ethical cloud having been recently lifted, I’m not sure what Oliverio’s angle would be anymore). Also worth noting: state Sen. Clark Barnes, considering a leading GOP challenger, didn’t even file to run, apparently thinking better of it after the party started touting former state Rep. (and more importantly, potential self-financer) David McKinley instead. (You can check out all the Kentucky and West Virginia filings action in benawu‘s new diary.)

• Facebook: Which political website are you? If you answered “Swing State Project,” you can become a fan of us on Facebook and get regular updates in a largely quiz-free environment.

PPP (pdf) (1/27-28, likely voters)

Harry Crawford (D): 34

Don Young (R-inc): 49

Undecided: 17

Generic Democrat (D): 25

Lisa Murkowski (R): 52

Undecided: 23

(MoE: ±3.7%)

2008’s Alaska at-large House race was a disappointment for Dems, with all polls projecting a pickup for former state House minority leader Ethan Berkowitz over long-time Republican Rep. Don Young, with voters seemingly having tired of his ethically questionable reputation. Young pulled it out in the end, though, as Sarah Palin on the ticket (and probably also some desire to keep at least one old-time pork-barreler in place as Alaska voted out Ted Stevens) pushed him over the top.

It doesn’t look like Dems are poised to finish the job in 2010. State Rep. Harry Crawford doesn’t seem as well-known as Berkowitz. And more importantly, Young’s reputation seems to have recovered a bit (with 43/41 approvals — not in the safety zone, but between it being dark-red Alaska and a Republican year, probably good enough). Despite his name often popping up connection with the VECO affair, it doesn’t seem like he’s in any imminent danger of being indicted, which is probably the only way he’s going to get pried out of this seat. (Although his primary against Andrew Halcro will bear watching too.)

In the Senate, Lisa Murkowski can count on an easy return to office (no surprise, as all prognosticators have had her down with Schumer and Shelby at the bottom of the vulnerability list). With no prominent Democrat interested in sticking his head on the chopping block so far, PPP just runs a Generic Democrat test, and finds even G.D. trailing by a wide margin.

RaceTracker Wiki: AK-AL

Rasmussen (1/27, likely voters, 12/14 in parens)

Charlie Crist (R): 37 (43)

Marco Rubio (R): 49 (43)

Some other: 3 (5)

Not sure: 11 (9)

(MoE: ±5%)

Rasmussen (1/27, likely voters, 12/14 in parens)

Kendrick Meek (D): 33 (36)

Charlie Crist (R): 48 (42)

Some other: 10 (11)

Not sure: 9 (11)

Kendrick Meek (D): 32 (35)

Marco Rubio (R): 49 (49)

Some other: 6 (4)

Not sure: 13 (12)

(MoE: ±3%)

Wow, that’s a steep trendline up for Marco Rubio and down for Charlie Crist in the Republican primary. This isn’t the first time Rubio has led Crist (Quinnipiac gave Rubio a 47-44 lead last week, and Rasmussen had pegged the race at a tie last month), but, now down double digits, Crist has to be wondering what (if any) his options are. Cue even louder speculation about an indie bid or even a party switch — especially in view of consistently underwhelming numbers from Kendrick Meek on the Dem side.

UPDATE: Now there are rumors floating around about a second poll giving Rubio a double-digit primary lead, 44-30. The poll was taken by Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio for “a group not involved in the Senate contest.”

RaceTracker Wiki: FL-Sen

Two potential candidates are out.

Little Rock mayor, Mike Stodola (who I honestly never expected to run anyway) has declared for reelection.

More surprisingly, veteran and former AG candidate, Paul Suskie, who was apparently laying the groundwork for the campaign, has opted out, citing family obligations and his current work.

http://bluearkansasblog.com/?p…

It’s a real shame about Suskie.  I’ve met the guy and, while we don’t agree on much, he’d have been a strong candidate and I genuinely like him on a personal level.

Right now the race is looking like a three person affair in the primary-

State House Speaker Robbie Wills is running.  So is Snyder’s chief of staff, David Boling.  And then there’s state senate majority leader Joyce Elliott, the only woman and African American in the feild, so far at least.

Another bullet dodged for Evan Bayh:

Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita (R) will run to succeed retiring Rep. Steve Buyer (R) in the state’s 4th district.

“He is grateful for the strong encouragement from Hoosiers throughout the 4th CD, and has decided to campaign for the opportunity to serve in Congress on their behalf,” Kevin Kellems, a strategist for Rokita’s campaign, said in a statement Monday.

“Todd will post a statement today to his Facebook page,” Kellems said. “He wants to work at the federal level on the economic and security issues that directly affect the workers, families and small businesses of the 4th District.”

After Mike Pence decided not to challenge Bayh, Rokita was seen as the GOP’s next best option for the race. The GOP seems to realize, belatedly, that they should put up a stronger-than-usual challenger to Bayh (I don’t think that ex-Rep. John Hostettler qualifies as particularly “strong”, although he’s better than nothing), in case the environment is so favorable to them that they have a shot at knocking off the entrenched Democratic incumbent. But time is running out — the state’s filing deadline passes on February 16th.

RaceTracker Wiki: IN-Sen | IN-04

Now that the dust has settled on the Massachusetts Senate Special (ugh) it is time to turn our minds back to candidate filing.

Below the fold for all the details and hey go check out the 2010 Race Tracker Wiki over at Open Congress for all your House, Senate and Gubernatorial needs.

Candidate filing has closed in Kentucky and West Virginia with a full slate for both parties (boring but true)!

For the Democrats:

KY-01 (Whitfield) – R+15,

KY-02 (Guthrie) – R+15,

KY-04 (Davis) – R+14,

KY-05 (Rogers) – R+15,

WV-02 (Capito) – R+8,

And for the GOP:

KY-03 (Yarmuth) – D+2,

KY-06 (Chandler) – R+9,

WV-01 (Mollohan) – R+9,

WV-03 (Rahall) – R+6,

So for those of us that take notice of these things the progressive totals in states where candidate filing has closed is 6 Unopposed GOP House Reps and 2 unopposed Democratic House Reps.

And finally candidate filing season is open in Indiana. If you assume that all House incumbents recontest then as of the posting of this diary we have candidates in every district except the 3rd & 6th and the GOP every district but the 7th.

The next two states up after that are New Mexico and Ohio.