“The Democratic Party’s worst fears about the midterm election look to be coming true,” The Hill reports.
“Polling in recent weeks suggests turnout on Election Day could be very low, even by the standards of recent midterms. That’s bad news for Democrats because core groups in the liberal base are more likely to stay home than are people in the demographic segments that lean Republican.”
“John Newcombe, an Australian former tennis champion, has finally revealed the details of an infamous ‘drinking duel’ with George W Bush that nearly cost the young Texan the presidency,” the Telegraph reports.
“The drinking bout near the Bush family’s Kennebunkport summer home in Maine, in which the two matched each other beer for beer, ended with Bush’s arrest for drink-driving, which he then kept secret for 24 years. But five days before winning his first presidential election in 2000, the story of the arrest broke on United States television, prompting Bush to confess to the traveling press pack that he had been arrested for drink-driving during his ‘party boy’ days. ”
The Daily Beast sifted through the latest document dump from the Clinton Library to find the most interesting items.
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CNN says new accusations by a former campaign aide could derail the career of “up-and-coming” congressional candidate Carl DeMaio (R).
“DeMaio’s former campaign policy director is accusing the candidate of sexual harassment, even saying DeMaio masturbated in front of him. DeMaio vehemently denies the allegations, saying they’re the cover story of a plagiarist and suspected criminal.”
“This is not the first time DeMaio has been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. Last year, a fellow city councilman said he twice caught DeMaio masturbating in a city hall restroom — an allegation DeMaio denied.”
The Army War College revoked Sen. John Walsh’s (D-MT) status as a graduate, citing plagiarism in his final paper submitted for a master’s degree, the Missoulian reports.
“You know at this point, I think we’re past that… I think at this stage what we should do is a number of bills that would fix flaws in Obamacare. I think we’re past the point of being able to repeal the bill altogether.”
— Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), in an interview with WCSH-TV, on GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare.
From the political dictionary: “wave election”
The New York Times digs deeper into the bankruptcy document that has roiled Georgia U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue’s (R) campaign in recent days.
“Though most of the attention — and the attacks from his opponent, Michelle Nunn — have focused on comments he made about outsourcing, a close reading of the 186-page deposition… paints Mr. Perdue as a hard-charging hired gun who was so aggressive in claiming his compensation perks from his failing textile company that other executives accused him of a ‘money grab’… In page after page, Mr. Perdue… expresses more concern with his own financial security than with the tanking business and the 7,600 jobs that were going down with it.”
“The last batch in a series of previously-undisclosed Clinton White House records went public Friday, spilling secrets on the creation of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, high-profile controversies involving Whitewater and the White House Travel Office, and then-First Lady Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful health care reform drive,” Politico reports.
Larry Pressler (I), who is running for Senate in South Dakota, has his principal residence in Washington, DC, according District of Columbia tax records, Politico reports.
Pressler, who served as a Republican in Congress from 1975 to 1997, and his wife receive the homestead deduction, a generous tax break meant for people who use their D.C. home as their “principle residence.”
A new set of New York Times/CBS News/YouGov polls finds there are 11 governor’s races within five percentage points, and 16 races within 10 percentage points.
“It appears the Democrats have made slight gains over the last month. They now lead in three states held by Republicans: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maine. An independent candidate, Bill Walker, leads the Republican Sean Parnell in Alaska.”
Wonk Wire: New study finds voter ID laws reduce turnout among blacks, young people and college students.
“Listen, I’m the one running for governor.”
— Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf (D), quoted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, after the crowd erupted with cheers after he mentioned Hillary Clinton.
First Read: “Less than a month out before November’s midterm elections, the Republican Party has had a simple message on the campaign trail and in TV ads: fear.”
“And frankly, they come when there’s no evidence of ISIS coming across the border and when (remarkably) there’s still been just one confirmed case of Ebola in the United States. Now we understand why Republicans are picking up this theme — they want to nationalize the election, and they have every incentive to. (The more they get voters going into the voting booth upset at Washington, the more likely they are to get Republicans defeating Democratic incumbents in Senate races.) But some of these candidates are walking a fine line; there is a Chicken Little aspect here regarding Ebola and it can border on the irresponsible.”
New York Times: “Darkness is enveloping American politics.”
A new Lukens Company poll in Iowa finds Bruce Braley (D) barely ahead of Joni Ernst (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 39% to 38%.
Alison Lundergan Grimes (D), who is running against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) this fall, refused to tell the Louisville Courier-Journal if she voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012. It’s a painful exchange.
Chuck Todd on Morning Joe: “I think she disqualified herself. I really do.”
Wisconsin Attorney General nominee Brad Schimel (R) said he would have reluctantly defended a ban on interracial marriage had he been attorney general in the 1950s, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Said Schumel: “It might be distasteful to me …but I’ve got to stay consistent with that — as the state’s lawyer, it’s not my job to pick and choose.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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