Tom Cole dead? Not quite, but John Boehner definitely just took some advice from Bob Barker and spayed his NRCC Chair:
The NRCC will now wade into competitive GOP primaries when appropriate. This is a significant shift, as Cole’s policy has been to stay out of such contests even when the party believes one candidate would clearly be the best general election bet. In Illinois and Louisiana in particular, Republicans suffered because they fielded a poor nominee. The race to replace retiring Rep. Vito Fossella (R) in New York, which could draw several GOP contenders, could be the first high-profile test of the new policy.
There will be an “audit” of the three special election losses conducted by two as-yet-unnamed Republican lawmakers, designed to figure out what went wrong and how to avoid repeating those mistakes in the future. This could be an embarrassing exercise for Cole and his top staff, but they agreed to it, likely because they didn’t have a choice.
The party will step up its efforts to establish special fundraising committees for seats with contested GOP primaries occurring late in the season, which will raise cash that will automatically go to the eventual nominees. This fairly common practice will prevent those nominees from starting the general election race at a financial disadvantage after a costly primary. This effort will be led by Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), who lost to Cole in the race to chair the NRCC for this Congress. (Emphasis added.)
Oh, and one of the two “auditors” will be Tom Davis, who just wrote a scathing memo about the GOP’s problems as a party. I’d be surprised if his report on Cole is any less harsh.
Cole is in denial mode, though, flatly contradicting Boehner by announcing that, with regard to primaries, NRCC “policy hasn’t changed. There seems to be some confusion about that.” And just to prove he’s utterly delusional, he invoked Lou Gherig:
I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the conference to have this job.
On June 3rd, congressional primaries will be decided New Jersey, New Mexico, Montana, Iowa, California, South Dakota, and Alabama. As such, candidates from these states had to file pre-primary financial reports covering the period from 4/1 to 5/14. We’ve rounded up a few filings of interest below (all numbers subject to rounding; candidate loans or large self-donations excluded where possible):
A few quick notes:
AL-02: Democrat Bobby Bright is finally getting his act together, raising a respectable haul in a very well-financed field.
CA-11: What is Dean Andal doing? Including the $11,000 that he raised in the last six weeks, he’s barely raised $100K all year. And this guy is supposed to be the GOP’s great hope this cycle? Now, Andal does have over $500K on-hand, so McNerney is far from safe, but this has got to be disappointing for Tom Cole & co.
CA-46: Dana Rohrabacher sure is lazy.
NJ-03: Here’s one quarrelsome primary that the GOP sure didn’t need. While Jack Kelly and Chris Myers squabble over scraps, Democrat John Adler has taken a monster fundraising lead, with $1.1 million on hand to a combined $200K for the GOP jokers. With numbers as stark as these, it’s no small wonder that the Hotline pondered aloud yesterday if it’s time for the GOP to “write this one off”. Ouch.
NJ-07: Things aren’t quite as bleak for the GOP here, but that’s not saying much. Stender is heading into the general election with a huge lead over whomever the GOP nominates.
“For the past week I have been considering whether or not to seek the 13th Congressional Seat that has been vacated by the current Congressman. I have received dozens of calls of support, asking me to run and I am very appreciative.
“In spite of that, I have decided to seek re-election for the 23rd Senate District and continue the work that I was elected to do for the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn, as well as helping to take the Senate back into the hands of the Democratic Party, so we can usher in a new era of economic opportunity and fairness for one New York, Upstate and Downstate.”
All eyes now turn to Assemblyman Mike Cusick and NYC Councilman Mike McMahon as we wait for a Richmond County resident to pick up the Democratic banner.
As we wrote earlier, the GOP’s top choice, DA Dan Donovan, won’t run.
Garin-Hart-Yang for Frank Kratovil (4/23-24, likely voters):
Andy Harris (R): 43
Frank Kratovil (D): 34
Undecided: 23
(MoE: ±5)
Harris, as you recall, knocked off moderate GOP Rep. Wayne Gilchrest in a contentious primary earlier this year. Despite Gilchrest’s non-endorsement of war wingnut Harris, at a PVI of R+9.8, this is going to be a tough district for Kratovil to win. He’ll need to wage an aggressive campaign painting Harris as an extremist in order to have a shot here.
The rising costs of oil prices are pinching consumers everywhere, not just Kentucky or the First Congressional District therein. All over the country American consumers are being gouged at the pump, which has caused the prices of everything else to sky rocket. Here at Ryan for Kentucky we believe that the Oil Companies should be held accountable for there record profits in a time of war, a war mismanaged terribly by the Bush Administration.
We simply can’t expect leaders like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell and Ed Whitfield to care about the pain that American consumers are feeling because they are actually beholden to Big Oil and Big Energy. They recieve millions of dollars in special interest money to maintain the status-quo and in the case of Exxon Eddie are actually invested in those areas. He makes a profit while we suffer.
Here is Heather Ryan’s take on the high price of Gas:
I could not agree with Heather more. It is almost criminal how the Bush Administration has allowed the Energy lobby to write Energy policy in this country. We need leaders who fight against that, not invest in it. We need leaders like Heather Ryan.
Heather would fight the Culture of Corruption that still exists in Washington:
The Budget Reconciliation Bill, signed by President Bush and passed by Congress, cut future spending for Medicare, Medicaid, Student Loans and even free and reduced lunches for poor children; all while giving a $2.3 Billion tax break to Oil Companies and affording a $5.7 billion slush fund to Pharmaceutical Companies (both of which Representative Ed Whitfield has personal financial investments and large campaign contributions). Corporate welfare for profitable companies who donate heavily to Congressmen is corrupt and scandalous. I will work diligently against the culture of corruption which permeates the political system.
Heather is young, energetic, and has a fighting Democrat spirit. She is a veteran, wife, mother and citizen of the First Congressional District of Kentucky. She lives and works and raises her family among us, and feels our pain too as she watches the prices of everyday neccessities skyrocket due to the cost of fuel. She is ready to fight, just like we are as this speech shows:
We can and will fight for and win this district, expanding our Congressional majorities for our next President. We just need the party to get behind us and give us the resources we need. We have the candidate, as Heather Ryan is educated, smart, and ready to fight!!
Recent Congressional pickups have shown us that in every district this year we will have a chance to fight and pickup seats. This is one of those most essential districts. Even if we don’t win which we can, we will force Republicans to play defense here, freeing up money that would have went to other races.
With that in mind I started my ActBlue page, Americans for Ryan. I had a goal of trying to help Heather get the resources she needed as a serious fighting Democrat to fight for my home. I set a goal of $1500 by May 20, the date of Kentucky’s primary Heather was unopposed in. Thanks to many of you in the blogosphere and right here in Kentucky, I shattered my goal and raised $1745!!!
Now however, the primary is over and it is time to run against Exxon Eddie and the corrupt McConnell Republican machine here in Kentucky. Democrats in this state have serious momentum. Kentucky voters are beginning to shun Republicans on the local level, and this state is poised for Congressional pickups this fall.
If we can get our message out in this district we win. These voters want to be part of the process and to matter again. The Republicans have invested here in the recent past to take over, but with help from our party we can win again.
So now I have to raise the stakes. I hope to get Americans for Ryan to $5000 by July 4, the “Independence from Exxon Eddie” drive. Thats $3255 in a relatively short time, so please anyone who is able send some grassroots Democrats fighting to take back this country from the ground up some love, please consider it:
Anyone donating between now and July 4th will be entered into a drawing for a Robert Kennedy Memorial button, and a Kennedy/Fulbright bumper sticker from 1968. I will have the pics up soon, I have to get them out of storage.
Research 2000 for Daily Kos (5/19-21, likely voters):
Ronnie Musgrove (D): 42
Roger Wicker (R-inc*): 46
(MoE: ±4)
The last time Markos commissioned a poll here, Wicker led Musgrove by a 47-39 margin. However, it would be a bit deceptive to put those results as trendlines. As Markos noted at the time, his December poll heavily undersampled African-Americans. They made up just 9% of his December poll sample, while their real share is closer to 35% of the Mississippi electorate. So if you re-weight that poll, Musgrove was actually leading in December — by a considerable margin.
So while this poll doesn’t show the eight point Musgrove lead that one of the Musgrove campaign’s internals showed earlier this week, it indicates a close race.
For now, Musgrove has the advantage of a statewide profile, which is something that Wicker is still working on. Here’s one area for Musgrove to consolidate some support: he currently leads among black voters by 73-9. He’ll need to push that to at least 90% (preferably higher) on election day.
We have a great opportunity to bring General Wesley Clark to campaign for John Adler here in the 3rd District!
A community service organization called Democrats Work and General Clark’s political action committee (WesPAC) just launched a contest called “Serve with the General” to see which district General Clark will visit next. And guess what? Our district is included in the list.
Please go to http://democratswork.org/index… and vote for John Adler and New Jersey’s 3rd District. Voting starts today and ends May 30th. Please forward this message to your friends and help get out the vote to bring Gen. Clark to New Jersey!
With two military bases (Fort Dix and McGuire), and a large veteran population in the district, a visit by a well respected veteran like General Wesley Clark will be a great boost to our efforts this November.
Please go to http://democratswork.org/index… and vote now, and spread the message to your family & friends! We need your help to bring General Clark here to New Jersey’s 3rd district.
Disclaimer: I am a volunteer for Adler for Congress.
Wow — this is big. The NRCC’s top choice to replace Vito Fossella in the House, Richmond County DA Dan Donovan, won’t do it:
Staten Island DA Dan Donovan has decided to take a pass on running for the seat that will be vacated by Rep. Vito Fossella at the end of the year.
Donovan, who is a protege of former Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari, had fielded calls from GOP leaders in Washington, D.C. urging him to get into the race. […]
In a prepared statement, Donovan expressed a desire to address unfinished business in his current post, specifically mentioning a need to curb domestic violence and crack down on deadbeat dads.
Donovan would have been a formidable candidate for the GOP — even in a rough year like this one. He was re-elected to his borough-wide post last November with 68%, and national Republicans believed he had the right profile to retain this seat.
The GOP’s second choice would be state Sen. Andrew Lanza — but his candidacy could be problematic for New York Republicans, who need to mount a vigorous defense of the state Senate this year.
It looks like Tom Udall is the big winner of the money race again.
His campaign sent out a press release minutes ago touting the fact that he will enter the general election with $2,876,030 cash on hand. Nearly three million dollars cash on hand — before June.
From the release:
Udall reported total expenses of $431,865 and finished the period with $2,876,030 cash-on-hand.
This is the third consecutive reporting period Udall has outraised both of his potential GOP opponents combined. He reported a strong total of over $1.3 million in the first quarter of 2008, which ended March 31, and in the final months of 2007 he raised over $1 million.
Not only did Udall raise more money than both combined, his cash on hand advantage is tremendous.
The AP reported on the numbers from Pearce and Wilson.
Pearce’s campaign spent more than $964,000 from April 1 to May 14, according to a fundraising summary released today by his campaign.
Wilson spent more than $776,000 during the same period.
Wilson, however, has a larger stockpile of campaign cash for the closing weeks of the hotly contested race. Her campaign cash balance stood at $712,476 as of last week; Pearce reported $247,207 cash on hand.
Pearce raised about $357,000 during the latest campaign finance reporting period, and Wilson received contributions of about $291,000.
Combined,t he two have a cash on hand balance of just $959,683 heading into the general election — and with lots of money being spent by the two on television ads in the final days leading up to the primary, it’s not of the realm of possibility that the winner could come out of the race actually in debt.
Even if the numbers stay where they are now, Udall has three times the cash on hand of Wilson and Pearce — combined. Well, actually 2.996854 times the money of the two Republicans combined.
Not the way one wants to start the general election.
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