Tag: Jim Slattery

Senate Guru is on strike!  What are the Guru’s demands?  To get the Guru back to blogging, we need to raise seven twenty-dollar bills each for red state Democratic Senate candidates Jim Martin, Jim Slattery, and Ronnie Musgrove on the Expand the Map! ActBlue page.  Your Andrew Jacksons will go toward a great cause: dislodging Shameless Saxby Chambliss, Bush-cover-up-artist Pat Roberts, and ethically questionable Roger Wicker from the U.S. Senate.  So, please, this weekend, send your twenties to these competitive Democrats in red states via the Expand the Map! ActBlue page and get the Guru back to blogging!

Rasmussen (7/14, likely voters) (6/11 in parentheses):

Jim Slattery (D): 30 (39)

Pat Roberts (R-inc.): 57 (48)

(MoE: ±4.5%)

Rasmussen (7/9, likely voters) (6/10 in parentheses):

Tim Johnson (D-inc.): 60 (60)

Joel Dykstra (R): 35 (34)

(MoE: ±4%)

Rasmussen (7/10, likely voters) (6/10 in parentheses):

Tom Harkin (D-inc.): 52 (53)

Christopher Reed (R): 36 (37)

(MoE: ±4%)

Rasmussen unleashed a torrent of midwest Senate polls yesterday and today. Kansas is the only eye-opener here. After their previous poll showed ex-Rep. Jim Slattery showing surprising strength against three-term Sen. Pat Roberts (and Roberts in the danger zone below 50%), things gravitated back toward more typical second-tier numbers this month.

Democratic Senators Johnson and Harkin both seem entirely safe. In fact, the big surprise is that Johnson, who, until New Jersey became interesting, was usually slotted in as the GOP’s second-best pickup opportunity after Landrieu (more a statement on their paltry chances than on actual likelihood of flipping the seat), is safer than Harkin. (Although I’m not sure Harkin has ever broken 60% in a Senate race, so maybe it’s not that surprising.)

[First, a cheap plug for my blog Senate 2008 Guru: Following the Races.]

Pat Roberts and his unintimidating approval ratings may see a tough challenge yet. Six-term former Congressman Jim Slattery is publicly considering a 2008 Senate bid. Slattery retired from Congress in 1994 to run for Governor that year. Of course, we all know 1994 was not a good year for Democrats. His reputation as a stern budget-cutter may serve him well in Kansas. I’ve thought for some time that Kansas could be the sleeper competitive Senate race of the cycle, for reasons ranging from Roberts’ flaws to the breakdown of the Kansas Republican Party. We’ll see if Slattery can bring that prediction to fruition. Think Progress offers a fine summary of Pat Roberts’ failures and scandals as Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for those interested in learning more about Roberts’ sad record.