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September 03, 2010
Dan Maes (R) will continue running for Colorado governor despite calls from many in the Republican party to drop out by today's ballot certification deadline, the
Denver Post reports.
Meanwhile, Tom Tancredo (I) reiterated that under no circumstances will he pull out of the governor's race.
Said Tancredo: "I no longer consider Dan Maes a serious candidate. He is now the third-party candidate."
A Hollywood team has starting filming South Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene for a documentary, according to the
Daily Caller.
Explained Greene: "It's just like that, you know, they follow me, get some behind the scenes."
One of the filmmakers said Greene's story "was too good to ignore. He said that it did take some convincing, however, to get Greene to agree."
After a bungled debate performance this week, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) told the
Arizona Daily Star that she "has no intention of participating in any more events with Democrat Terry Goddard. She said the only reason she debated him on Wednesday is she had to to qualify for more than $1.7 million in public funds for her campaign."
Said Brewer: "I certainly will take my message in a different venue out to the people of Arizona."
"Brewer conceded that her performance in Wednesday's debate, and her refusal to answer a question from reporters afterward, was not well-handled. That includes an
opening statement when she lost her train of thought and went silent, and walking away after the event rather than answering questions about her prior statements about headless bodies in the desert."
A new
Magellan Strategies poll in New Hampshire shows Kelly Ayotte (R) leads Ovide Lamontagne (R) by 13 points in the Republican race for the U.S. Senate nomination, 34% to 21%, followed by Bill Binnie (R) at 17% and Jim Bender (R) at 13%.
Charlie Cook: "For much of this year, it seemed a near mathematical impossibility that Republicans could score the 10-seat net gain needed to flip the Senate, which is split between 59 Democrats (including two independents who caucus with Democrats and largely vote with the party) and 41 Republicans. As recently as six weeks ago, I wrote in a
CongressDailyAM column that a GOP win was 'certainly possible' but 'still fairly unlikely.' Although the 'fairly unlikely' part is still valid, the possibility of a GOP takeover is growing."
The key factor is that "wave elections produce a cascading effect in which the close races often break disproportionately toward the wave."
An internal
Associated Press memo advises reporters not to believe President Obama's declaration of the end of combat operations in Iraq.
"To begin with, combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials. The situation on the ground in Iraq is no different today than it has been for some months... Unless there is balancing language, our content should not refer to the end of combat in Iraq, or the end of U.S. military involvement. Nor should it say flat-out (since we can't predict the future) that the United States is at the end of its military role."
"People are angry in a way that I have never seen them before."
-- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by
Politico, predicting a "tsunami" in the midterm elections.
A new
Braun Research poll in Kentucky finds Gov. Steve Beshear (D) leading both announced Republican candidates in next year's race for governor.
Beshear leads David Williams (R), 44% to 38%, and beats Phil Moffett (R), 49% to 29%.
The Upshot reports a 2006 investigation "into the purchase of child pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department -- including some with the highest available security clearance -- who used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon only investigated a comparative handful of the cases."
The investigation focused "on people who had security clearances -- since those who have a
taste for child pornography can be vulnerable to blackmail and
espionage -- senior positions."
Levi Johnston may be
attempting a run for public office but a new
Public Policy Polling survey in Alaska suggests his political career might be short-lived.
Just 6% of Alaskans have a favorable view of Sarah Palin's almost son-in-law while 72% have an unfavorable view. He is reviled pretty universally across the board but he's a little more popular with Democrats (15/61) than he is with Republicans (4/76) or independents (4/74).
Key point: "It's hard to muster a favorability rating lower than 6% -- that's about where the average person off the street we polled on a lark would be -- so Johnson may hold this dubious distinction for a long time."
A new
Rasmussen survey in Nevada shows Sen. Harry Reid (D) and challenger Sharron Angle (R) are still neck-and-neck in the U.S. Senate race among likely voters, 45% to 45%.
The U.S. economy lost 54,000 jobs in August pushing the unemployment rate up to 9.6% -- the highest it's been since May.
The decline was actually smaller than many
economists expected. Excluding government employees, private sector jobs expanded by 67,000 last month. Though it's still very small, it's the 8th consecutive month of private sector job growth.
A new
Braun Research poll in Kentucky shows Rand Paul (R) slightly ahead of Jack Conway (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 42% to 37%.
A new
USA/Today Gallup poll finds the Republican lead in the congressional generic ballot may be due as much to voters rejecting the Democrats as embracing the Republicans.
Among voters backing unnamed Republican candidates, 44% say it's "more a vote against the Democratic candidate," while 48% say it's "more a vote for the Republican candidate."
In addition, by a 75% to 14% margin, voters say Congress would be better off with mostly new members.
September 02, 2010
A new
Tribune/WGN-TV poll in Illinois finds Alexi Giannoulias (D) and Mark Kirk (R) are "wounded rivals" running neck and neck for the U.S. Senate.
Giannoulias and Kirk both had 34% in the statewide poll of likely voters while another 22% were undecided. But the "softness in support opens the door for third-party candidates to play a spoiler role in the close contest. LeAlan Jones, the Green Party candidate, had 6% and Libertarian Party candidate Mike Labno had 3% in the survey."
A new
SurveyUSA poll in California shows Meg Whitman (R) leading Jerry Brown (D) in the race for governor, 47% to 40%.
Compared to an identical poll three weeks ago, Whitman is up three
points, while Brown is down three.
A new
SurveyUSA poll in California shows Carly Fiorina (R) edging Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 48% to 46%.
This was the third consecutive poll to show the contest within the margin of error, though, in all 3 cases, challenger Fiorina has been nominally ahead of Boxer.
"I already have the votes to be re-elected as Republican leader, and will be re-elected."
-- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), in an interview with
ABC News, insisting he will not be challenged for his leadership post next year.
Nearly everyone expected Rep. Tom Perriello's (D-VA) re-election race to be a tough one in the current political environment, but a new
SurveyUSA poll shows a total blow out.
Robert Hurt (R) now leads Perriello by a whopping 61% to 35%.
Today's
must-see video is Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) giving an opening statement in last night's gubernatorial debate. Be warned: It's very painful.
Ben Smith notes it "reflects either an amazing lack of preparation, or sheer panic."
Brad Phillips: "In fairness, it's not unusual for people to go blank when the camera's red light comes on. Stress triggers our body's fight or flight instinct, resulting in an adrenaline surge that makes clear thinking difficult. But Gov. Brewer doesn't deserve that much fairness here, as her communications failure signals a lack of preparation."
See more...
While some wonder if Rep. Mike Castle's (R) U.S. Senate bid in Delaware is in jeopardy from Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell (R), a
radio interview she did with WGMD's Dan Gaffney will likely make the Castle campaign breathe easier.
The Hotline: "The 20+ minute interview is worth listening to. Gaffney takes O'Donnell to task for statements that she won two counties when she ran for Senate in '08 against Joe Biden. He also presses her over a recent scuffle between a member of her staff and a GOP video tracker. At one point, Gaffney actually mutes O'Donnell's microphone to get a word in and says O'Donnell is trying to filibuster his questions."
A new
Public Policy Polling survey in Ohio shows Rob Portman (R) has taken a seven point lead among likely voters over Lee Fisher (D) in the race for U.S. Senate, 45% to 38%.
"Things aren't looking great for Fisher now but there's a definite path to victory for him: Get the undecided Democrats to come home and reduce the enthusiasm gap by getting his party's voters more interested in the election. Easier said than done, but more than some Democratic candidates can hang their hats on."
This should be good:
Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry by former "car czar" Steven Rattner.
The Huffington Post notes Rattner "pulls no punches when it comes to describing the foibles of such heavyweights as Rahm Emanuel, Tim Geithner, Larry Summers and Sheila Bair. Though the 58-year-old financier lasted only six months, with his sudden resignation sparking speculation that a pay-for-play scandal at his old private equity firm was becoming an unhealthy distraction, Rattner has plenty of tales to tell. And Rattner's account is sure to attract interest within the Beltway, as one of the first books penned by an Obama administration insider."
As we highlighted earlier, Bud Chiles (I) dropped out of the race for Florida governor and will endorse Alex Sink (D), the
St. Petersburg Times reports.
First Read: "This has the potential of helping Sink, given that there was concern that Chiles -- with his familiar last name to Florida Democrats -- could take votes away from her in her race against Rick Scott."
A new
Rasmussen survey shows Rick Scott (R) just edging Sink, 45% to 44%.
An
internal poll conducted for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's (I) campaign shows the U.S. Senate race a two way battle, with Crist at 35%, Marco Rubio at 34% and Rep. Kendrick Meek at 17%.
Crist is currently splitting the Democratic vote with Meek, while Rubio is overwhelmingly preferred by Republicans.
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