Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) trounced challenger David Williams (R) and Gatewood Galbraith (I) to win another four-year term as Kentucky’s governor, the Lexington Herald Leader reports.
Bryant Will Be Next Governor of Mississippi
Phil Bryant (R) won the Mississippi governor’s race, headily defeating Johnny DuPree (D) to succeed Gov. Haley Barbour, who couldn’t seek a third term as governor, the Clarion Ledger reports.
“The 56-year-old Bryant makes history as the first Republican to succeed another Republican as Mississippi governor in modern times. Barbour unseated a one-term Democrat in 2003.”
Ohio Voters Reject Collective Bargaining Restrictions
Ohio’s new collective bargaining law was defeated “after an expensive union-backed campaign that pitted firefighters, police officers and teachers against the Republican establishment,” the AP reports.
“In a political blow to GOP Gov. John Kasich, voters handily rejected the law, which would have limited the bargaining abilities of 350,000 unionized public workers.”
National Journal: “The repeal of Issue 2 is also a blow for Kasich, whose approval
numbers have already been lousy this year. Republicans in the state who
supported the measure will also have to carry the baggage of vouching
for something that was overturned. And looking ahead to 2012, that’s
something that could potentially affect races at the federal level, as
Democrats will surely blast Republicans who supported SB 5 and cast its
repeal as a rejection of the GOP agenda.”
Second Accuser Comes Out Against Cain
Karen Kraushaar, one of the two women who settled sexual harassment claims against Herman Cain, spoke to the New York Times for the first time about her allegations.
Kraushaar said that she “was upset that her name had leaked into some press reports. But she said that she had decided to speak out now that her identity was publicly known.”
Said Kraushaar: “When you are being sexually harassed in the workplace, you are extremely vulnerable. You do whatever you can to quickly get yourself into a job some place safe, and that is what I thought I had achieved when I left.”
She added she had been warming “to the idea of a joint press conference
where all of the women would be together with our attorneys and all of
this evidence would be considered together.”
Voting Can Be Dangerous
A voter in Ohio told told WEWS-TV that he was bitten in the nose today by a poll worker.
The man said the incident started when he saw the poll worker arguing with a woman about signs she had outside the polling location. The voter stepped in to try to help the woman and was bitten by the worker who fled the scene.
Quote of the Day
“I don’t even know who this lady is.”
— Herman Cain, in an interview with ABC News, denying he even remembers Sharon Bialek, the woman who accused him yesterday of sexual harassment.
The Best Bits from Clinton’s New Book
The Daily Beast has the seven top highlights from Bill Clinton’s new book, Back to Work, which is full of ideas about reviving the economy.
Court Says Health Care Law is Constitutional
President Obama’s signature healthcare law got a boost when an appeals court agreed with a lower court that dismissed a challenge and found the law’s mandate that everyone buy health insurance was constitutional, Reuters reports.
Said one judge: “It certainly is an encroachment on individual liberty, but it is no more so than a command that restaurants or hotels are obliged to serve all customers regardless of race.”
The Wall Street Journal notes today’s ruling comes as the Supreme Court is scheduled to
discuss several challenges to the health-care overhaul during the
justices’ private conference. “The court decides during its
closed-door conferences which cases it will consider in the coming
months. The high court isn’t required to hear a health-care case, but
given the disagreement in the lower courts, it is highly likely to do
so.”
Cain Takes a Hit
A new Gallup survey finds Herman Cain’s image among Republicans is starting to get worse amid claims that he sexually harassed several women in the 1990s.
Cain’s latest “Positive Intensity Score” — which is based on two weeks of polling — is currently 25, but it ranged from 29 just after the news broke to 20 in the days since.
26 Recall Elections Today
Joshua Spivak points out that in an otherwise less-than-memorable Election Day, there will be at least 26 recall elections across the country today, including two big state legislative recalls — the first time in history that two states will have a state-level recalls on the same day.
It’s not clear if the recalls today is a record — because no one has kept statistics — but it does point to the growing use of the recall.
Shining Light on Super PACs
Stephen Colbert tries to make the complex world of campaign finance and Super PACs a little more understandable and definitely more entertaining.
Campaign finance expert Rick Hasen says Colbert has “done more to educate the general public about the troublesome nature of super PACs than anyone else in the media or academia.”
Looking for a Populist
Jonathan Chait thinks Bill Daley ultimately failed as White House chief of staff — and was stripped of authority — because Americans “were not itching for Obama to make peace with corporate America. Americans are in an angry, populist mood — distrustful of government, but even more distrustful of business.”
First Read notes this is the message of the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll: “Heading into 2012, America is looking for a populist. According to the poll, a whopping 76% agree with the statement that the current economic structure of the country is out of balance and favors a small proportion of the rich over the rest of the country.”
Clinton Supports Third Term for Presidents
Bill Clinton told Morning Joe that presidents should be allowed to serve a third term — “though he quickly added that such a change shouldn’t be applied to him,” USA Today reports.
He added that a third term shouldn’t be consecutive — presidents should be required to take time off after serving eight years.
Said Clinton: “I believe that should be the rule. And I think as a practical matter, you couldn’t apply to anyone who has already served. But if going forward, I personally believe that should be the rule.”
Five Races to Watch Tonight
The 2012 presidential election is less than a year away, but voters across the country head to the polls today to decide thousands of local races.
First Read is watching five contests: 1) the referendum on the anti-collective-bargaining law in Ohio, where polls close at 7:30 pm ET; 2) the governor’s race in Kentucky, where all polls close at 7:00 pm ET; 3) the governor’s race in Mississippi, where polls close at 8:00 pm ET; 4) the “personhood”/abortion amendment in Mississippi; and 5) the battle of control for the state Senate in Virginia, where polls close at 7:00 pm ET.
David Nir provides a handy “pocket guide” to today’s elections.
Democrats Get Heitkamp for Senate in North Dakota
Heidi Heitkamp (D) will run for U.S. Senate in North Dakota for the seat being vacated next year by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), The Hill reports.
Democrats instantly called the race “the new toss-up” while releasing a poll showing that Heitkamp’s likely rival Rick Berg (R) leads a generic
Democrat by just four points, 44% to 40%.
CNN: “Democrats were quick to tout Heitkamp’s independent streak in the state that went for Sen. John McCain in 2008 and former President George W. Bush in 2004. While no Democrat has won the state in a presidential election since 1964, the party controlled the state’s entire congressional delegation until last year.”
Obama’s Weakness with the Middle
First Read: “If Obama is sitting pretty with his African-American base, the same can’t be said with the middle of the country. In our poll, 56% of independents, 57% of suburban residents, and 52% of folks from the Midwest disapprove of the president’s job. And in a hypothetical match-up against Romney, independents and suburban residents swing for Romney, while folks from the Midwest are split between Obama and Romney. So if Obama’s base could explain why he wins re-election, his struggles with the middle of the country could explain why he loses in 2012.”
The Inside Story of Killing Osama bin Laden
Just published: SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden by Chuck Pfarrer.
The Daily Beast notes the author “certainly had access” and was a SEAL Team Six assault-element commander in the 1980s.
Recession: Past or Present?
Bloomberg notes that President Obama routinely describes the recession as both a current condition and an historical event
The president “has toggled between the past and present in the more than 235 references to the economy he has made since Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives one year ago… Obama’s inconsistency could complicate his effort to convince voters the economy has improved and that he deserves a second term, said economists and polling experts. His task, they said, is to talk up the economy, without talking down to the voters who are struggling under it.”
