Month: June 2010

AR-Sen: John Boozman says that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will be coming to Little Rock to stump for him next month.

CO-Sen: Ex-Lt. Gov. Jane Norton is attempting to rebut some ugly public polling with an internal of her own from Public Opinion Strategies. Norton’s survey has her up 39-33 in the GOP primary against Weld County DA Ken Buck, but a SurveyUSA poll taken last week showed her getting killed, 53-37.

FL-Sen: Rep. Kendrick Meek and zillionaire asshole Jeff Greene had a seriously feisty debate the other night. I cannot do it justice by summarizing, so I encourage you read the Palm Beach Post’s account. Also of note, Greene is taking a page from the John Kasich playbook and refusing to make his tax returns public. In a display of leadership, he said disclosure was his wife’s call – who said “hell no” when asked by reporters if she would do so.

LA-Sen: As Crisitunity noted, Rep. Charlie Melancon has a real crisitunity to deal with vis-a-vis the gulf oil spill, and it’s been interesting watching the issue play out on the campaign trail. Melancon may have gotten a gift with a federal district court judge’s ruling against the offshore drilling moratorium (something Melancon opposes), but contrary to his wishes, the Obama administration will indeed appeal.

NV-Sen: Jon Ralston, one of Nevada’s top political analysts, points out that Sharron Angle has been touting an endorsement on her website from a bunch of lunatics called the “Declaration Alliance.” They’re a birther outfit, and Ralston has been trying to get Angle on the record as to whether she shares their views – but, says Ralston, “She no longer answers her voicemail, and her press secretary’s voicemail is full.” I’m sure Ralston’ll ask her all about this next week, when he interviews her on his TV show. Here are a couple of other things he ought to bring up: Angle’s statements that unemployed folks have been “spoiled” by government “entitlement” – and that bringing jobs to Nevada wouldn’t be, well, her job as senator. This should be a fun interview!

OH-Gov: As Dave Catanese says, on the campaign trail, “a candidate’s humble upbringing is almost always safe from attack.” So you really have to wonder why in the fuck John Kasich thought it would be a good idea to mock Ted Strickland’s background, braying about his opponent: “Having grown up in a chicken shack on Duck Run, he has all but ignored our cities’ economies and their workers.” Not that you needed it, but even more evidence that Kasich is a grade-A schmuck with a tin ear: He told Alan Colmes he would not be “singing in any chorus for LeBron James” to help keep the NBA uber-star Ohio’ #1 Citizen in Cleveland. Christ, what an asshole!

NV-Gov: Anjeanette Damon of the Las Vegas Sun says that Rory Reid may be going up on the air with TV ads as soon as today – but that’s it. No further details on the nature of the ad, where it might run, or, of course, the size of the buy.

AR-01: Tim Wooldridge is doing everything in his power to convince 1st CD Democrats that they were right to select Chad Causey as their nominee instead of him. He’s still refusing to endorse Causey, and in an interview with Politico, he had kind words for Rick Crawford, the GOP nominee, calling him a “fine fella.” With Dems like these….

FL-06: Will Joe Barton be the next Joe Wilson? Or will he become… well, I just can’t think of a single Republican in recent memory who has been exorcised by the party for saying something outrageous. Which suggests to me that, in fact, GOP rank-and-file are probably cheering Barton for having the “guts” to say the quiet part loud. Indeed, Dave Weigel points to several Republicans who have been aping Barton’s “shakedown” language.) Anyhow, Barton’s doing a fundraiser for Cliff Stearns next week, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of draw Smokey Joe will be. Stearns doesn’t face any meaningful opposition in this 56% McCain district and has $2.5 million on hand, so I wonder why Barton is doing him the favor in the first place.

KY-03: Todd Lally, the GOP nominee in the 3rd CD, said that fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell told him to go twist when he asked for fundraising help. But not to worry – Rand Paul to the rescue! The libertarian freakazoid will apparently do two events with Lally this summer, something I’m sure will play well back in Louisville.

MI-03: Retiring Rep. Vern Ehlers endorsed businessman and former Kent County Commissioner Steve Heacock to succeed him, but pledged to support whomever wins the August 3rd GOP primary. Also in the race are state Sen. Bill Hardiman, state Rep. Justin Amash, attorney Louise Johnson, and Air Force vet Bob Overbeek. Amash recently dinged Heacock for copying and pasting position statements from other Republicans (like Paul Ryan and fellow Michigander Dave Camp) and posting them on his website without attribution. (Heacock has since taken them down.)

MI-07: After a local Republican club announced that Rudy Giuliani would be doing a fundraiser for ex-Rep. Tim Walberg, Brian Rooney (Walberg’s primary opponent) pounced, citing Giuliani’s squishiness on abortion. Rooney’s camp must have been pleased to make the hit, since Walberg had previously zinged Rooney for failing to show up at an anti-abortion group event a few months ago. In any case, Walberg is now saying no, no, no – there was never going to be a Rudy fundraiser in the first place (though his campaign manager said they’d like to do something in the future).

MO-07: Missouri Right to Life endorsed self-funding businessman Billy Long, citing unhappiness with the voting record of state Sens. Gary Nodler and Jack Goodman, the other two major candidates in the race to succeed Roy Blunt. This is a 63% McCain district, though, and we have no real candidate, so any cat fud here is for entertainment purposes only.

WATN: Former Rep. Don Cazayoux was unanimously confirmed as the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana by the Senate yesterday. Here’s wishing Cazayoux – who is only 46 – a successful tenure and, hopefully, a return to electoral politics some day.

2:27 am: With 100% of precincts reporting in CA-SD15, Blakeslee has 49.71% of the vote. The AP hasn’t signaled a runoff yet, with Blakeslee catching a runoff by about 750 votes.

2:14 am: That last set of precincts bailed us out here – Blakeslee’s at 49.93%, but everything else has reported and the remaining Monterey precincts should keep him under 50.

1:56 am: Pick your poison – things are looking bad whichever source you choose. Laird ends up losing Santa Clara by 3%, 7% off the pace. Model is suggesting 50.1% or 50.3% for Blakeslee…

1:40 am: With a few more Santa Clara precincts trickling in, the SoS model projects Blakeslee finishing at 49.7% but the AP model sees him finishing at 50.3%. This’ll be a nailbiter (as to whether or not we do the whole thing over again).

1:32 am: A few more precincts in, we’re now at 44% by the AP. Blakeslee’s at 49.47%, but the model has that improving to 50.03% by night’s end. Laird’s staying consistently 11% off the pace in SLO and Santa Barbara. All of these jurisdictions have pretty diverse precincts, but without significant shift, thing’s still aren’t looking good.

1:12 am: There’s a slow trickle of precincts in from California, either 117/362 or 143/399, depending on whether you believe the SoS or the AP. Regardless, Laird’s still 7.5% off the baseline, and we’ll still be lucky to get a runoff here.

12:51 am: AP calls UT-Sen for Mike Lee, who is maintaining his 3% advantage.

12:49 am: In CA-SD-15, Laird’s performance against the baseline is varying quite a bit. He’s 11% off the pace in Santa Barbara and SLO, 6% off in Santa Clara, 4% off in Santa Cruz, and running even in Monterey. SSP Labs thinks we’ll be fortunate to have a runoff here.

12:46 am: Surfing around the county websites and aggregating the total, we’re at 83% reporting. Lee has a 4,500 vote (or 3%) edge on Bridgewater, with little shift from the status quo in Utah County or SLCo.

12:35 am: With Weber County (Ogden) all in, we’re at 72% and only three major players are left: SLCo, Utah County (Provo/Orem), and Washington (St. George). SLCo is quite diverse, so it really depends where these precincts have come in. Bridgewater continues to do marginally better along the Wasatch Front, with 55% in Box Elder, 54% in Weber, 51% in Davis, 51% in SLCo; the exception is his 47% in Utah. For the first time tonight, though, the SSP Mainframe is telling us that the outstanding precincts will be more favorable to Bridgewater than Lee.

12:22 am: This is like watching paint dry, except there are interesting variations in how fast the paint dries in different places. We’re close to 2/3rds in Utah, and it’s crept up to Lee 52, Bridgewater 48. That’s odd because Bridgewater has pulled into the lead in SLCo, now up 51-49, but Lee’s going the other way in Utah County, now up 53-47. Only real hope for Bridgewater here is that SLCo is still half out (400 precincts remain, which is more than half of all outstanding precincts throughout the state), while Utah is 2/3rds in and the rest of the state is already basically done and gone to bed.

12:04 am: We’ve passed the 50% mark in Utah, and there’s still no change: Lee 51, Bridgewater 49. The only development that seems worth noting is that Salt Lake County (which was 52 Lee, 48 Bridgewater) is now 50-50. Are late-reporting urban precincts more Bridgewater-favorable?

11:52 pm: The AP has called UT-02 for Matheson. The tally right now, with 234 of 850 reporting, is Matheson 68, Wright 32. Fairly convincing, but Aaron Blake points out that Matheson spent $800K to make sure of it.

11:45 pm: Past the one-third mark in Utah, and it’s still Lee 51, Bridgewater 49. About a 1,400 margin between them.

11:37 pm: We’re getting some Monterey and Santa Cruz numbers, and the trend’s moving back in our direction: Blakeslee 49, Laird 41. I don’t know if Laird can pull into the lead, but he can probably keep Blakeslee under 50 and force a do-over.

11:30 pm: Over 20% in in Utah, and it keeps narrowing: 51 Lee, 49 Bridgewater. It’s 52 Lee, 48 Bridgewater in both Salt Lake and Utah Counties (the two biggest counties by far… both of the candidates are from Utah Co.), but Bridgewater seems to have an edge in the majority of the smaller counties.

11:25 pm: It didn’t occur to me that SD-15 would be such a NoCal/SoCal rivalry, but that’s what’s happening. Blakeslee has pushed past 50 (to 52, with Laird at 37), but that’s because a lot more reports have come in from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara (Blakeslee’s Assembly district). Laird’s saving grace may be that none of Monterey’s 110 precincts have reported.

11:23 pm: Up to 15% reporting in Utah, gap has narrowed to Lee 52, Bridgewater 48.

11:15 pm: We’re seeing a little progress in counting in Utah; we’re up to 5% in for Sen. and 7% in for UT-02. The needle hasn’t really budged, though. It’s still Lee 53, Bridgewater 47, and Matheson 68, Wright 32.

11:08 pm: Wow, things are happening fast in California; maybe they’ll lap Utah. With nearly 10% reporting, it’s 46% for Blakeslee (R), 44% for Laird (D). Remember that this somebody needs to break 50 to win, though, so if this keeps up we’ll just be doing the exact same thing in mid-August.

10:52 pm: Is it time for a ganja fry sauce break? Still very few precincts in; Lee’s keeping his 53-47 edge for UT-Sen and Matheson’s now up more than 2-1 in UT-02.

10:27 pm: A smattering of early votes and precincts are reporting in Utah, with Mike Lee out to a 53-47 lead over Tim Bridgewater. Bridgewater is doing marginally better on the more heavily-populated Wasatch Front. In UT-02, Jim Matheson is sporting a 65-35 lead over Claudia Wright, including an identical advantage in the relatively-liberal part of the district, Salt Lake County.

Polls have now closed in Utah (we’ve got another hour to go in California). Let’s bust a move.

RESULTS:

• Utah: Utah | Utah.gov | Politico
• California: Associated Press

9:20pm: 100% is now reporting in SC-03. Duncan’s sporting a 3% or 2,100 vote lead over Cash, but still no call from the AP after a short delay, the AP has called it for Duncan.

9:00pm: Given that the Ark of the Covenant is in Arizona, Tim D’Annunzio can try his next congressional run there. AP calls NC-08 for Johnson.

8:57pm: Duncan continues to hold his lead over Cash in SC-03; this territory went for Cash narrowly by 0.4% in the first round. This is a swing of 3.7% to Duncan, who needs a swing of 2.3% to win. In NC-08, Johnson continues to whomp D’Annunzio 62-38.

8:47pm: AP calls SC-01 for Tim Scott. He will likely become the first black Republican in Congress since JC Watts left office in 2003.

8:40pm: It’s over for Rep. Bob Inglis – the AP calls it. Trey Gowdy has beaten him soundly. Inglis is the third House incumbent and fifth member of Congress to lose a primary/convention so far this cycle.

8:37pm: Man, maybe SSP HQ needs to take a ganja break this time! The two biggest races have been called (NC-Sen and SC-Gov), and NC-08, SC-01, and SC-04 all look like blowouts. And SC-03 isn’t exactly a barnburner. We may not have much real action until Utah starts coming in later tonight.

8:33pm: Really bad news for fans of Raiders of the Lost Ark: Tim D’Annunzio is getting smashed by Harold Johnson, 68-32, with about 18% reporting. This represents an almost 15% swing to Johnson, which means Timmy D might wind up with a smaller share than in the first round. Pretty pathetic, but if anyone could pull this off, he could.

8:31pm: The one real barnburner tonight might be SC-03, the seat being vacated by gubernatorial loser Gresh Barrett. Duncan leads Cash 52-48 with over half the vote in. This represents a nice swing toward Duncan from round one, though, so it might not wind up being this close in the end.

8:30pm: Yeah, it’s officially official – We Are Marshall. She’ll take on Richard Burr this fall.

8:29pm: Buncha people on Twitter are saying the AP has called NC-Sen for Elaine Marshall. Really gotta wonder what the DSCC was thinking here. Time for them to embrace her fully.

8:22pm: AP calls SC-Gov for Nikki Haley. She’ll face Dem state Sen. Vincent Sheheen in the fall. Unlike in SC-Sen, we definitely got the candidate we wanted in our primary.

8:19pm: Meanwhile, in SC-01, Tim Scott is cruising with a 73-27 lead with a quarter of the voted reporting. Hard to see him losing this one. I guess Paul Thurmond can go commiserate with Ethan Hastert.

8:17pm: With about 30% of the vote in, Nikki Haley is crushing Gresham Barrett 64-36. Gotta wonder what folks like Andre Bauer and the local Chamber of Commerce were thinking.

8:16pm: Terrible sign for Inglis – he’s down 60-40 in his purported “base” of Greenville. He was a dead man walking for the last couple of weeks. Tonight is just the grand finale.

8:11pm: 1% of the vote has trickled in in NC-08, and Harold Johnson leads Tim D’Annunzio 70-30. This represents a 13% swing to Johnson from the first round (based on the two-candidate share of the vote).

8:04pm: True to the Greenville v. Spartanburg divide in SC-04, the one precinct from Greenville in has closed this to 70-30 Gowdy.

8:02pm: Cash has retaken the lead in SC-03 over Duncan narrowly at 50.3-46.7, but this is territory that went for him 26-19 in the first round.

7:59pm: In NC-Sen, Elaine Marshall continues to sport her 64-36 lead over Cal Cunningham. This is territory that went for Marshall 39-30 in the first round. In SC-Gov, Haley’s lead is 62-38 over Barrett; this territory went for her 49-23 in the first round.

7:55pm: In SC-01, Scott’s lead remains an impressive 70-30 over Thrumond. Further west in SC-03, Duncan now has a 52-48 lead over Cash.

7:49pm: Marshall’s lead has ticked up slightly to 64-36 with 6% reporting in NC. Johnson is whomping D’Annunzio 75-25 with two precincts in.

7:47pm: Duncan’s now taken the lead in SC-03, a slim 89-vote lead over Cash.

7:42pm: 1% reporting in North Carolina now, Marshall is up on Cunningham 63-37.

7:30pm: We only have five precincts reporting in South Carolina, and Nikki Haley leads Gresham Barrett by 61-39. In SC-01, Tim Scott leads Paul Thurmond by 67-33, and ice cream truck driver businessman Richard Cash leads state Rep. Jeff Duncan by 54-46 with one precinct counted in SC-03. Trey Gowdy is also crushing Bob Inglis by 85-15 in the early vote.

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Polls have now closed in South Carolina. (North Carolina will close at 7:30pm ET.) We’ll be using this thread to follow the returns.

RESULTS:

• North Carolina: Associated Press | NC BoE | Politico
• South Carolina: Associated Press | SC SEC | Politico

• AZ-Sen: Chances are you’ve already seen this video, but if you haven’t, check out ex-Rep. J.D. Hayworth going the full Matthew Lesko, pitching seminars for how to get free government grant money. Typical teabagging mindset at work: I hate the gub’ment! Except when it’s giving me money for doing nothing!

• CT-Sen: Linda McMahon, I’m sure, is from the “all PR is good PR” school, but this still has to go in the “bad PR” column. The widow of a professional wrestler who died in a 1999 stunt gone awry is suing both the WWE and McMahon personally.

• NH-Sen: Making your first TV ad a negative one isn’t really a sign of strength, but in this case, I’m sure Paul Hodes thinks he has something potent here. His first ad hits Kelly Ayotte for being asleep at the switch as AG during the collapse of Financial Resources Mortgage. Hodes’ ad includes footage of Ayotte’s widely-panned testimony before state legislators last week, framing it as an almost-Gonzales-esque litany of evasions.

• NY-Sen-B, NY-Gov: Quinnipiac polls the Empire State, and like Rasmussen, finds intensely competitive races brewing… oh, who am I kidding; Dems are crushing, as usual. Kirsten Gillibrand beats Bruce Blakeman 46-26, and beats David Malpass 47-25. Blakeman beats Malpass 14-11 in the GOP primary. Interestingly, they seem to have decided not to poll Joe DioGuardi (who other polls have seen as the GOP primary’s frontrunner) this time, who did not get a ballot slot at the convention but seems to be at work trying to petition on. On the gubernatorial side, Andrew Cuomo beats Rick Lazio 58-26 and beats Carl Paladino 59-23. Lazio wins the GOP primary over Paladino, 46-17.

• FL-Gov: Bill McCollum got a lifeline of sorts from the Tea Party community, with an endorsement from ex-Rep. Dick Armey, now one of the movement’s chief cat-herders at FreedomWorks. This looks like an endorsement from Armey individually, though, not from FreedomWorks. Filing day also came and went: independent candidate Bud Chiles filed at the last moment, and Alex Sink also found herself with an unexpected Democratic primary challenger, although one of the “perennial candidate” variety (Brian Moore).

• GA-Gov, GA-Sen: SurveyUSA takes a look at the Georgia races, but unfortunately only at the already-thoroughly-polled primaries. On the Dem side, ex-Gov. Roy Barnes’ comeback is well underway; he’s out of runoff territory at 63, leading Thurbert Baker at 13, David Poythress at 5, Dubose Porter at 4, and three Some Dudes at 1. On the GOP side, the question seems to be who makes the runoff against John Oxendine. Oxendine is at 34, followed by Karen Handel at 18 and Nathan Deal at 17. If Eric Johnson’s late push is going to succeed, he has a big climb: he’s at 6, down near the weirdos like Ray McBerry (at 3). They also look at the Democratic Senate primary (Michael Thurmond leads 68-11 over R.J. Hadley), and some downballot races too (click the link for those… maybe most interesting, Carol Porter, wife of Dubose Porter, is doing a lot better than her husband; she’s leading the Dem Lt. Gov. primary).

• CT-04: After having had to pull the plug on his campaign after he wound up without enough valid signatures to qualify, Tom Herrmann (First Selectman of Easton) threw his backing to state Sen. Dan Debicella in the GOP primary.

• FL-08: Here’s some more grist for the mill for those who think that the local Tea Party is nothing more than an Alan Grayson plant to split the conservative vote in November: one of the candidates running for the State House under the Tea Party aegis is Victoria Torres, a consultant who did $11,000 worth of polling work for Grayson. (Amusingly, her polling “firm” is named Public Opinion Strategies Inc., not to be confused with the prolific Republican internal pollster Public Opinion Strategies.) Meanwhile, appointed Sen. George LeMieux just threw his support to ex-state Sen. Daniel Webster, despite the NRCC’s seeming preference in the GOP primary for businessman Bruce O’Donoghue.

• IA-03: It’s not surprising this is a close race, given Rep. Leonard Boswell’s long history of underwhelming performances, but these numbers may a little too-good-to-be-true for GOP state Sen. Brad Zaun. His internal (taken by Victory Enterprises) gives him a 41-32 lead over Boswell. The party registration composition looks hinky (43 D-38 R-19 I, instead of 38 D-30 R-32 I), but it still should be a big red flag for Boswell.

• KS-03: State Rep. Kevin Yoder’s new web video has him walking with his wife through a field, with several small children in tow. There’s one slight problem: Yoder doesn’t have any kids. (Yoder’s CM believes that the kids in question are nieces and nephews, not rentals.)

• LA-02: Bayou Buzz points to a couple possible speedbumps on the road for Democrats expecting to take back the 2nd from accidental freshman Rep. Joe Cao, in the form of two potential independent candidates. Orleans Sewerage and Water Board member Tommie Vassel, and prominent black minister Byron Clay, are both floating the idea of independent bids. That’s presumably to avoid the pileup of establishment candidates (state Reps. Cedric Richmond and Juan LaFonta) in the Dem primary, but the questions are a) whether they pull the trigger and b) if so, are they well-known enough to create a big-enough spoiler effect to save even Cao?

• MS-01: Facing a strong challenge from state Sen. Alan Nunnellee, Democratic Rep. Travis Childers could use some good news, and he just got some: he got the endorsement of the NRA.

• NY-16: This is the first (and apparently last) I’d heard of state Assemblyman Michael Benjamin’s interest in running in the Democratic primary against Rep. Jose Serrano. Benjamin said he won’t run against Serrano this year, but is watching with great interest to see what happens with redistricting in 2012; he might run then if a second majority-minority seat centered in the Bronx gets created.

• PA-03: The Susan B. Anthony List (the bizarro-world version of EMILY’s List, focused on electing anti-abortion candidates) has Kathy Dahlkemper in its sights after her vote in favor of HCR. They’re laying out $300K to help her GOP opponent Mike Kelly.

• SC-04: Politico has a look at how Rep. Bob Inglis has gotten very little help from his congressional Republican colleagues, suggesting that they (like us) have been doing the Inglis Deathwatch for the last year and, whatever they may think of him personally, don’t see him as a good repository for their political capital. Inglis, who’s likely to lose the GOP runoff to the more rhetorically-conservative Trey Gowdy tonight, has received money from only two GOP colleagues this cycle (both of whom are also despised by their bases: Lindsey Graham and Dan Burton). He hasn’t gotten any NRCC help either, despite their earlier all-out efforts to help fellow incumbent Parker Griffith in his primary.

• VA-02: One other GOP internal poll to report: Scott Rigell has one from POS, giving him a 41-35 lead over Democratic freshman Rep. Glenn Nye. (No other details about the poll were discussed.) This comes in the context of a larger question over the recent blitz of GOP internal polls, and strange silence on the Democratic end: do the Democrats just not have good news in those districts to counter with, or (as many have speculated) are they engaged in a bit of expectations gaming/rope-a-dope?

• $$$: Remember how fearsome the Karl Rove-founded 527 American Crossroads was going to be, and how it was going to be some sort of unstoppable killing machine? The big-donor-oriented group set a target of $52 million raised this year, but they’ve raised a grand total of $1.2 million so far, with a whopping $200 last month. (That’s not $200K… it’s $200.)

• Polltopia: With everybody seemingly buzzing about the “enthusiasm gap!” all the time (or maybe that was just for the duration of yesterday, a lifetime ago in politics), PPP’s Tom Jensen simply shrugs. He points to huge GOP enthusiasm advantages in his polling of recent races like PA-12 (where the GOP lost) and NJ-Gov (where the GOP only narrowly won). He also points to Democratic advantages in generic ballot tests among likely but only the “somewhat excited” or “not very excited.” As long as those less-excited voters still show up (as they did in, say, PA-12), their votes still count just as much.

PPP (pdf) (6/19-21, Pennsylvania voters, 3/29-4/1 in parens):

Joe Sestak (D): 41 (36)

Pat Toomey (R): 41 (42)

Undecided: 18 (22)

(MoE: ±4%)

PPP gives us the second tied big-name race of the day, this time in Pennsylvania. Enough time seems to have passed since the Democratic primary that any immediate bounce effects have probably worn off, and the net result is a pure tossup between Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak and Republican ex-Rep. Pat Toomey.

Most of Sestak’s gains come from consolidating Democrats behind him; he was drawing only 59% of Dems three months ago, but now he’s up to 70%, while Toomey has the support of 73% of GOPers. Toomey leads 41-21 among independents, but indies make up a much smaller part of the Pennsylvania electorate than most other states. Sestak and Toomey have very similar favorables (29/28 for Sestak, 30/28 for Toomey), so unless something happens to redefine one of them, this is going to be all about turnout. And with a rather Republican-leaning sample here (it went for McCain 48-47 in 2008), that means that if Dems can coax out a few more currently-unlikely voters, they should be in position to pull out the victory.

Public Policy Polling (pdf) (6/19-21, Texas voters, 2/4-7 in parens):

Bill White (D): 43 (42)

Rick Perry (R-inc): 43 (48)

Undecided: 14 (10)

(MoE: ±4.4%)

For a Texas Democrat in 2010, those are some very strong numbers. Jensen has more:

In almost every race in the country right now Republican voters are more unified around their candidates than Democrats are and independents are leaning toward the GOP. Texas is running against the national grain on both of those counts- White is winning 15% of Republicans while Perry gets just 10% of Democrats and White also has a 42-36 advantage with independent voters.

Perry’s job approval is underwater at 36-49, but that’s actually a slight uptick from February, when Perry’s rating was a dismal 33-50. Among independent voters, Perry’s approval is a brutal 27-55. With an A-grade recruit in former Houston Mayor Bill White at the helm, that all adds up to the rare opportunity for a Democratic pick-up in a solid red state like Texas. While the odds are still steep, this should be a fun race to watch.

Here’s what’s on-tap for tonight:

• NC-Sen (D): They take a long time to get around to their runoffs in North Carolina, but we’re finally here. The marquee contest pits Secretary of State Elaine Marshall against former state Sen. Cal Cunningham. Marshall led 36-27 in the first round, with 17% going to third-place finisher Ken Lewis, who endorsed Marshall a few weeks after the primary. As evidenced by Lewis’s backing, Marshall seems to have rallied the black political community to her side, while Cunningham still retains the support of the DC establishment (DSCC chair Bob Menendez’s PAC recently gave him $5,000). The only public poll of this race was from PPP, which showed things tied at 36. However, that survey was taken just after the primary, at the beginning of May, and it’s hard to say how things may have changed since then. But if Marshall can consolidate Lewis’s vote (see Jeff’s maps here), she ought to be in good position to win.
• NC-08 (R): It’s hard out there for a nutter – really, it is. There’s so much competition these days – from Rand Paul, from Sharron Angle, even from Vaughn Ward. But Tim D’Annunzio’s tried his best. In fact, he’s tried everything, from claiming he knows where the Ark of the Covenant lies buried (Arizona) to suing his opponent, former TV sportscaster Harold Johnson (for defamation). The entire Republican establishment from chimpan-a to chimpan-z has rushed to get behind Johnson, but he’s only raised about $363K. Meanwhile D’Annunzio has been flushing money like a smack addict (which he once was), to the tune $1.3 million. In a recent survey, PPP nonetheless had Johnson leading 49-39, but we can – nay, we must – still root for Timmy D!
• SC-Gov (R): Despite some misgivings from elements of the SC GOP establishment (including the Chamber of Commerce), it appears that state Rep. Nikki Haley is the smart money bet to win the Republican gubernatorial run-off against Congressman Gresham Barrett. Haley came oh-so-close to an outright victory in the first round of voting, scoring 49% to Barrett’s 22%. Third-place finisher Henry McMaster, the state’s attorney general, threw his support to Haley while Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer backed Barrett. It’s been mostly smooth sailing for Haley in the runoff, though, and an internal poll released by her campaign a week and a half ago gave her a commanding lead over Barrett. (J)
• SC-01 (R): The run-off for the nod to replace GOP Rep. Henry “Smokey” Brown in the House of Representatives is coming down to African-American state Rep. Tim Scott and attorney Paul Thurmond, the son of Strom. Scott has a lot going for him, including the support of the NRCC and other Washington power-players who are exited by the prospect of finally electing another black Republican to the House. Scott also has the muscle of the Club for Growth behind him, so it would probably be a serious upset if Thurmond, who won only 16% of the vote to Scott’s 31% in the first round, prevailed. (J)
• SC-03 (R): Businessman Richard Cash, who finished with a surprisingly strong 25% in the first round, and Laurens County State Rep. Jeff Duncan (who received 23%) are squaring off to replace outgoing would-be governor Gresham Barrett. The pair have split the endorsements of some also-rans, Duncan earning the support of 5th place finisher Neal Collins and Cash that of 6th place’s Mike Vasovski. Third and fourth place finishers Rex Rice (who was widely expected to make the runoff) and Joe Grimaud haven’t endorsed either. Duncan is the institutional candidate, but both are somewhat teabaggish. Regrettably, regardless of who wins, he will likely be the next Congressman from this R+17 district. (JMD)
• SC-04 (R): Bob Inglis version 2.0, and his rare voice of rationality in the House GOP caucus, seem to be going the way of Windows 3.1. His 28% tally in the first round against Spartanburg County Solicitor Trey Gowdy (who received 39%) and assorted teabaggery is the weakest of any House incumbent so far. Though none have made endorsements, Inglis’ other opponents in the first round, seem to be more in line ideologically with Gowdy. Given this, and despite a late endorsement from Stephen Colbert, we can likely chalk this one up to America Glenn Beck 1, Sanity 0. (JMD)
• UT-Sen (R): With three-term incumbent Bob Bennett having been unceremoniously retired at the GOP convention, Utah Republicans are deciding between the two insurgents who beat Bennett, former Utah County GOP chair Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee, the former counsel to ex-Gov. Jon Huntsman. Bridgewater may have the mantle of “establishment” thrust upon him, thanks to the endorsement of Bennett, and correspondingly, while Lee is running with the conglomerated FreedomWorks/Club for Growth/Jim DeMint/RedState axis backing him — but, as Ed Kilgore points out, that doesn’t really make Bridgewater appreciably any less ultra-conservative than Lee. Bridgewater leads the most recent public poll of the race, 42-33, but Lee is out with his own internal giving him the lead. (C)
• UT-02 (D): Rep. Jim Matheson shouldn’t have trouble winning tonight’s Democratic primary against activist and teacher Claudia Wright; it’s more a question of by what margin? It was something of a surprise when Matheson got forced into a primary at the Democratic state convention, but (like the flipside of the GOP convention) that’s dominated by the activist base, some of whom seem eager to punish Matheson over his ‘no’ vote on health care reform. A number of other anti-HCR Blue Doggish Dems (Heath Shuler, Tim Holden, Larry Kissell) in red districts have been held in the 65% region by no-namers in their primaries; the one poll of this primary, giving Matheson a 52-33 lead, suggests a similar outcome here. (C)

Bonus race:

• CA SD-15: There’s one other race to watch tonight: the special election to fill the 15th Senate district in California, left vacant by Republican Abel Maldonado’s ascension to Lt. Governor. If there’s one good place left in California for a Democratic legislative pickup, this is it. It’s a D+5 district on California’s Central Coast, where Democratic former Assemblyman John Laird faces off against GOP Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee. Don’t forget, though, under California’s unusual special election system, this probably isn’t the decisive night. There are also an independent and Libertarian on the ballot, and if nobody clears the 50% hurdle, there’s a runoff on August 17. (C)

• CT-Sen: You might recall that late last week Peter Schiff was looking unlikely to qualify for the ballot, not having enough signatures. Well, now it looks like he will qualify; I’m not sure whether the outcome was ever in doubt or he was gaming expectations. At any rate, he managed to get the signatures of 2% of all registered Republicans in the state, and the SoS announced his certification today. Also in the Nutmeg State, Joe Lieberman, who’d floated the idea of a Linda McMahon endorsement, now sounds like he’ll stay out of the Senate race entirely… given the choice between supporting arch-foe Richard Blumenthal or McMahon (who, given her unlikeliness of winning, isn’t a good use of political capital).

• IL-Sen: The optics on this just aren’t good for Mark Kirk: after an appearance at the Metropolitan Planning Council, Kirk literally ran out the door instead of taking questions from the media (who probably want to know about his military and teaching claims) and peeled out in his SUV. Alexi Giannoulias was also present; in a sign of how the worm has turned, instead of running out the door (as he probably would have several months ago) he lingered comfortably. Bad news on the cat fud front, though: Mike Niecestro, the rich guy who came out of nowhere last week to announce that he had 25,000 signatures and $1 million for an independent Senate bid to Kirk’s right, has had to back down. Turns out he didn’t have enough signatures after all. However, here’s some limited good news: Niecestro says he’s backing somebody by the name of Randy Stufflebeam, who’ll be running under the Constitution Party banner. Stufflebeam doesn’t seem to have Niecestro’s money, but he at least seems to have enough signatures to qualify. (Also on the filings front, pawnbroker-turned-LG-nominee-turned-laughingstock Scott Lee Cohen brought in 130K signatures for his independent IL-Gov bid, five times as many as he needs.)

• AL-Gov: The recount is over in Alabama, and as expected, Tim James’ $200K was very badly spent. The official tally: he now finished down by more than 200 votes, instead of the 167 he trailed by on Election Night. This means that Robert Bentley has clinched the slot in the GOP runoff against Bradley Byrne.

• IA-Gov: In what’s not a surprise, Terry Branstad has been on bended knee trying to get the backing of GOP primary rival Bob Vander Plaats, but it’s not going well. Vander Plaats reportedly requested the Lt. Governor spot, which Branstad isn’t going to do. However, this is a surprise to me: apparently Iowa doesn’t have a sore loser law, because now there’s talk of this leading to an independent run by Vander Plaats, which he’s now “seriously considering.” A kamikaze run by Vander Plaats that peels off 10% might actually give Chet Culver a route to staying in office.

• MI-Gov: Another EPIC-MRA poll of the Michigan governor’s race is out, this time only of the two primaries. On the Dem side, Andy Dillon has a 34-24 lead over Virg Bernero (leaving 42% undecided). On the GOP side, here’s a new development: Mike Cox is actually pulling into the lead, at 26. He leads Peter Hoekstra at 24, Rick Snyder at 20, Mike Bouchard at 16, and Tom George at 2, with 12 undecided. Is this just a blip, or is Cox really gaining some ground, having gotten some big conservative endorsements (Michigan Right to Life, the DeVos family) lately? Chances are it’s for real, now that there’s another round of attack ads out targeting Cox for allegedly helping cover up a party-out-of-bounds at then-Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s mansion. (The radio ad is paid for by the mysterious Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, which the Cox camp seems to think is linked to Snyder.)

• NV-Gov: The Hatch Act is an obscure little piece of legislation, although it’s at the core of what the GOP thinks is illegal about the PA-Sen/Co-Sen “jobsgate.” Well, it might just bite the Republicans in the butt, too: there are increasing questions over whether Brian Sandoval, who stepped down from the federal district court in order to run for Governor, engaged in politicking with still on the bench. The RGA’s Haley Barbour and Nick Ayers reportedly heavily recruited Sandoval into the race; considering how little time passed between his resignation and his entry into the race, some of that recruiting must have happened while son the bench.

• SC-Gov: Mitt Romney really, really wants to see Nikki Haley as Governor (probably because he’d like to have someone in charge of S. Carolina in 2012 who owes him a favor or three); he just gave $42K to Haley, who faces a GOP runoff tomorrow. (He was able to give that much, despite contribution limits, by harnessing six different PACs.) There have also been some eyebrows raised over a $2,000 consulting fee paid to Haley in 2008 by a construction firm, revealed when she disclosed her tax returns; it has a quid pro quo-ish whiff to it (the firm’s head said it was to pay for business leads and “help with things”), but isn’t likely to put a dent in the outcome of tomorrow’s runoff at this point.

• CO-04: Cory Gardner’s decision to bail on a fundraiser with unpalatable Iowa Rep. Steve King may hurt him more than if he’d actually gone through with it. King is still harping on Gardner’s lack of fortitude. King was joined on a conservative radio talk show in Colorado last Friday by ex-Rep. Tom Tancredo, who took turns tag-team insulting Gardner for an hour.

• ID-01: I don’t know how much weight to give this, but Rep. Mike Simpson (from the 2nd) is publicly saying it’s possible that Rep. Walt Minnick could play a role in voting in a different speaker than Nancy Pelosi, if the Dem majority is small enough after 2010 and whatever Blue Dogs are left hold the vote in the balance. Minnick, for his part, shrugged it off, although without a categorical denial, saying it’s “premature.” In a weird way, though, Simpson might be doing Minnick a favor here. Already a beneficiary of endorsement as the Tea Party Express’s token Democrat, this gives Minnick further cover to keep Dem leadership at arm’s length in the runup to November.

• NC-08: “I’d do everything the crazy guy would do; I just wouldn’t do it in a crazy way,” seems to be the argument here, which may not be the best electability argument. But that’s Harold Johnson’s way of framing tomorrow’s GOP runoff in the 8th, saying that he’d vote the “basically the same way” as Tim D’Annunzio.

SurveyUSA for Denver Post (6/15-17, registered voters for general, likely voters for primary, no trendlines):

Michael Bennet (D-inc): 53

Andrew Romanoff (D): 36

Undecided: 11

(MoE: ±4.4%)

Ken Buck (R): 53

Jane Norton (R): 37

Undecided: 10

(MoE: ±3.6%)

Michael Bennet (D-inc): 43

Ken Buck (R): 46

“Third Party”: 6

Undecided: 5

Michael Bennet (D-inc): 44

Jane Norton (R): 47

“Third Party”: 5

Undecided: 4

Andrew Romanoff (D): 40

Ken Buck (R): 49

“Third Party”: 6

Undecided: 5

Andrew Romanoff (D): 41

Jane Norton (R): 45

“Third Party”: 8

Undecided: 7

(MoE: ±2.6%)

SurveyUSA, at the behest of the Denver Post, takes its first look at the two hotly-contested (and underpolled, except by Rasmussen) Colorado races. SurveyUSA’s results, as you might expect, aren’t as optimistic as PPP or pessimistic as Rasmussen, giving small leads to the GOP in general matchups. The real drama, for now, is the primaries, where SurveyUSA sees appointed Dem incumbent Michael Bennet with a comfortable lead (as all other polls have seen). SurveyUSA, however, is the first public pollster (well, second, if you count Magellan) to see Tea Party-preferred Ken Buck moving into the lead in the GOP primary against establishment choice Jane Norton, and by a quite substantial margin (PPP gave Norton a 5-point edge in May). Is it any wonder that Norton is sprinting to the right, going the full Rudy with her loathsome new 9/11 themed ad?

Gubernatorial numbers released separately:

Scott McInnis (R): 57

Dan Maes (R): 29

Undecided: 14

(MoE: ±3.6%)

John Hickenlooper (D): 43

Scott McInnis (R): 47

“Third Party”: 6

Undecided: 4

John Hickenlooper (D): 44

Dan Maes (R): 45

“Third Party”: 5

Undecided: 6

(MoE: ±2.6%)

The teabagger challenge to ex-Rep. Scott McInnis in the GOP gubernatorial primary, from businessman Dan Maes, isn’t going as well as Buck’s insurgency, which probably has a lot to do with Maes’ low name rec. Interestingly, though, Maes performs almost as well as McInnis in the general election matchups against Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, suggesting that there’s a big chunk of the Colorado population determined to vote Republican, even if it’s someone they’ve never heard of.