A new Minneapolis Star Tribune Minnesota Poll finds Sen. Al Franken (D) leads challenger Mike McFadden (R) by double digits, 49% to 36%.
In the race for governor, Gov. Mark Dayton (D) leads challenger Jeff Johnson (R), 45% to 33%.
Sanders Sounds Serious About White House Bid
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told Meet the Press that he is thinking about running for president in 2016 as either a Democrat or an independent.
Said Sanders: “I think anybody who speaks to the needs of the working class and the middle class of this country and shows the courage to take on the billionaire class, I think that candidate will do pretty well.”
First Read: “He seemed to be leaning toward running as a Democrat (instead of his current status as an independent), but it’s worth asking if that will fly with Democratic voters in a Democratic primary.”
Obamacare Critic Won’t Say How She’s Covered
New Hampshire congressional candidate Marilinda Garcia (R), one of the most avid critics of Obamacare, declined to tell New Hampshire Public Radio to say how she gets her own health insurance coverage.
Dead Heat in New Hampshire
A new CNN poll shows New Hampshire’s U.S. Senate contest in a dead heat with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and challenger Scott Brown (R) tied, 48% to 48%.
Democrats also released an internal poll claiming Shaheen had an eight point lead, 51% to 43%.
Kasich Headed for Landslide Win in Ohio
A new Columbus Dispatch poll in Ohio finds Gov. John Kasich (R) leading challenger Ed FitzGerald (D) in the race for governor by a 2-to-1 ratio, 59% to 29%.
Grimes Shoots
Alison Lundergran Grimes (D) has a new ad out featuring her skeet shooting and chastising Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) by saying, “Mitch, that’s not how you hold a gun.”
The Senate’s Secret Book of Rules
USA Today: “The U.S. Senate has for years lived by a secret book of rules that governs everything from how many sheets of paper and potted plants each Senate office is allotted to when Senators can use taxpayer money to charter planes or boats. The document has never been available to the public — until now.”
U.S. Senate Handbook:
GOP Official Resigns Over Sterilization Remarks
Russell Pearce, who has recently served as the Arizona Republican Party’s first vice chair, resigned his post in the wake of criticism over his comments about contraception, the Arizona Republic reports.
Said Pearce: “You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I’d do is get Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations…Then we’ll test recipients for drugs and alcohol, and if you want to [reproduce] or use drugs or alcohol, then get a job.”
Hagan Widens Lead in North Carolina
A new American Insights poll in North Carolina finds Sen. Kay Hagan (D) with a nine point lead over challenger Thom Tillis (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 43% to 34%.
A new Elon University poll shows Hagan ahead by four points, 45% to 41%.
Quote of the Day
“In the art of politics he’s Michelangelo, and in the science of politics he is Einstein. He follows political results like a baseball junkie follows box scores. Because he has campaigned in so many places, he has absorbed and integrated millions of data points, yet can assemble them into a narrative that folks can follow.”
— Paul Begala, quoted by Businessweek, on Bill Clinton.
Bayh Will Not Run for Indiana Governor
Former Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh (D) told the Indianapolis Star that he won’t try to win back his old job in 2016 was a “governing decision, not a political decision.”
Said Bayh: “I didn’t want to be a symbolic governor. I didn’t want to just have the job for the title or for my ego. If I was going to run for governor and be governor, it was going to be because I had a realistic belief that I could get big, good things done for the people of Indiana. In the current political and legislative climate that was going to be problematic.”
Paul Shifts Views to Seek Broader Appeal
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) “has built a reputation as a libertarian ideologue, a Washington outsider guided by a rigid devotion to principle,” the Washington Post reports.
“But his policy vision is, in fact, a work in progress. While he has maintained his core support for cutting spending and protecting Americans’ privacy rights, Paul has shaded, changed or dropped some of the ideas that he espoused as a tea party candidate and in his confrontational early days as a senator. As the prospect of a 2016 presidential bid looms larger, Paul is making it clear that he did not come to Washington to be a purist like his father, former congressman Ron Paul (R-TX).”
Palin Family Gives Their Side of the Brawl
“Palin has not commented publicly on the episode, and there is little doubt that the former Alaska governor would rather talk about anything else. But RealClearPolitics spoke with a source close to the Palin family, who wanted to provide their version of the events in question.”
Clinton Teases White House Bid in Iowa
Hillary Clinton laid down a placeholder for a 2016 presidential bid Sunday during the feel-good nostalgia festival that was the Harkin Steak Fry, the Des Moines Register reports.
“She teased her White House ambitions by referring to ‘that other thing’ — and elicited a reaction of delight from the audience of about 10,000 on a sunny hillside in rural Indianola.”
Said Clinton: “Well. It is true. I am thinking about it. But for today, that is not why I’m here. I’m here for the steak.”
Huffington Post: Hillary Clinton all but announces her presidential campaign
Revolt in Kansas Over Conservative Experiment
“Although every statewide elected official in Kansas is a Republican and President Obama lost the state by more than 20 points in the last election,” Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) “proudly conservative policies have turned out to be so divisive and his tax cuts have generated such a drop in state revenue that they have caused even many Republicans to revolt,” the New York Times reports.
“Projections put state budget shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually, raising questions of whether the state can adequately fund education in particular.”
“This has boosted the hopes of the Democratic candidate, Paul Davis, the State House minority leader, who has shot up in the polls even though he has offered few specifics about how he would run the state. Many disaffected Republicans might give Mr. Davis their vote because, if nothing else, he is not Mr. Brownback.”
Martinez Looks Safe in New Mexico
A new Albuquerque Journal in New Mexico finds Gov. Susana Martinez (R) leading challenger Dave King (D) by a wide margin, 54% to 36%.
Voters Split on Generic Ballot
A new Politico poll finds the two parties “were closely matched on the 2014 ballot, with 42% of likely voters planning to vote Democratic and 41% picking Republicans.”
“That’s a slight shift in the Democratic direction since July, when a Politico poll showed Republicans with a 2-point edge. But the movement can largely be explained by a shift in the polling sample: Since the poll tests only states and congressional districts that are the most competitive in the country, that list now includes more Democratic-leaning seats.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Hello Iowa — I’m ba-ack!”
— Hillary Clinton, quoted by The Hill.
