Wednesday’s political round-up

July 13, 2005

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Rick Santorum continues to trail Bob Casey in advance of next year’s Senate campaign. A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Casey leading, 50% to 39%. Apparently, Santorum’s new book isn’t helping to boost his standing.

* Iowa Agriculture Secretary Patty Judge (D) is expected to announce her gubernatorial campaign this afternoon. (Though Judge has not officially explained what today’s event is for, her website included a press release late yesterday headlined “Patty Judge announces her campaign for governor.”) Judge is the sixth Dem to throw her hat into the ring, making it all-but certain that none of the candidates will reach the 35% of the vote required to avoid a nominating convention.

* With many Montana Dems believing that incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns (R) is vulnerable, the field of potential challengers continues to grow. The latest is state Rep. Paul Richards (D), who announced his campaign yesterday and promised that, if elected, he would stage a hunger strike in the Senate cafeteria until the United States stops the war in Iraq. Among the more likely candidates to win the Dem primary are state Auditor John Morrison, state Senate President Jon Tester, and businessman Clint Wilkes.

* Hinting at some intra-party strife in Nevada, Gov. Kenny Guinn (R) said yesterday that the state would struggle if voters backed a candidate like state Sen. Bob Beers (R) to succeed him. Beers, who announced his campaign last week, has vowed to slash taxes and the state budget.

* Every cycle, Dems target Florida Rep. Clay Shaw (R), and every year, the party comes up just short in this left-leaning district. For 2006, however, State Sen. Ron Klein (D) believes he’ll have the resources to finally take the seat back. Klein announced this week that he’s raised enough to have over $560,000 in cash-on-hand, giving him more money than any House challenger through the first two quarters on 2005. (I have a special interest in this race because it’s the district I grew up in.)

Rick Santorum continues to trail Bob Casey in advance of next year’s Senate campaign.

Polls aside, is Santorum’s seat considered vulnerable. Is Casey considered to be a likely winner? I surely hope so as Rick “Man-on-Dog” Santorum is among the worst of the worst in the Senate.

  • Is Casey considered to be a likely winner?

    Edo, I think most neutral observers would describe Casey as the favorite in this race. The Casey name in Pennsylvania is huge and Santorum has offended too many people on too many occasions.

    It will, however, be the biggest campaign in the country. The DNC has said beating Santorum is the party’s #1 goal in 2006, while the RNC has said defending Santorum is its #1 priority for the cycle.

  • Wow. Thanks for the response Carpetbagger. As a resident of Northern California, there’s not much I can do to help Casey in the traditional sense (can’t vote, canvass or donate money–have you seen the median house price in the San Francisco Bay Area), but I would be willing to do some phone/email work. If you hear of any calls out for things like that, please let me know. On that note, as I read your excellent blog daily (okay, not so much on the weekends), a post here is fine; otherwise email is fine too.

    thanks in advance!

  • CB, doesn’t it sort of turn your stomach when you have to write about how some Dem looks like they can win their election because they’ve raised so much money? Remember when Gov. Bush was hardly known on the political scene and yet the MSM was already talking about how he was the obvious frontrunner because of—you guessed it—all the money he could raise. What a sad commentary on politics in America. Until we finally get public funding of campaigns, expect to be writing those sad sentences over and over again.

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