Monday’s political round-up

August 28, 2006

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:

* In Pennsylvania’s Senate race, Rasmussen was the only poll showing [tag]Bob Casey[/tag] (D) still enjoying a double-digit lead over Sen. [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag] (R), but not anymore. A new Rasmussen poll shows Casey’s lead shrinking from 11 points to eight, 48% to 40%. GOP ally and Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli is third with 5%.

* Speaking of Pennsylvania, Gov. [tag]Ed Rendell[/tag]’s (D) lead over former football player [tag]Lynn Swann[/tag] (R) continues to grow at a steady pace. A new Rasmussen poll shows Rendell adding two points to his earlier margin and is now ahead by 12, 50% to 38%.

* Speaking of increasingly uncompetitive gubernatorial races, Rep. [tag]Ted Strickland[/tag] (D) now his biggest lead to date over Ohio Secretary of State [tag]Ken Blackwell[/tag] (R) in the race to replace Rep. [tag]Bob Taft[/tag] (R). Strickland was up by 11 in July’s Rasmussen poll, but is now ahead by 25 points, 57% to 32%.

* And speaking of Ohio, shows Rep. [tag]Sherrod Brown[/tag] (D) has taken the lead over Sen. [tag]Mike DeWine[/tag] (R) in the latest Rasmussen poll, 45% to 42%.

* In Massachusetts, a new Boston Globe poll shows what is, in effect, a three-way tie for the Dems’ gubernatorial nomination. With just three weeks to go before the primary, [tag]Deval Patrick[/tag] is leading with 31%, followed by [tag]Christopher Gabrieli[/tag] at 30%, and [tag]Thomas Reilly[/tag] at 27%. (via Taegan Goddard)

* And in 2008 news, Sen. [tag]Joseph Biden[/tag] (D) believes he has a real shot at being competitive in the South because of his northern state’s characteristics. On Fox News yesterday, Biden said, “You don’t know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state.”

Here’s hoping that Ohio gubernatorial race remains outside the margin of where Blackwell can steal it for himself. I’d say 25 points qualifies.

  • Are there seriously enough people in Pennsylvania who think Santorum is worthy of re-election to actually make that happen? Or stupid enough that they can vote for the Green candidate like it was anything but a vote for continued Republic atrocities?

    Note: Until the right wing remembers how to pronounce ‘Democratic Party’, I’m going to return the favor by using ‘Republic Party’ and see how they like it.

  • Delaware is a border state? What does it border on, Maryland? Does that count? Is he high or stupid or crazy? Who campaigns for POTUS by saying “I can do well in the south ’cause my state was pro-slavery?” One more geographic question, since when has Delaware been in the Northeast?

    Why must every national politician be such a stupid tool?

  • My state was a slave state.

    If this is the kind of inane verbage that is required to carry the south I would respectfully request the Senator focus on other geographical regions.

    You know, areas where voters are won over by health care reform or privacy rights and not wink, wink, nudge, nudge racism.

  • “Delaware is a border state? What does it border on, Maryland?” – MNP

    Maryland was a border state and slavery was practiced mainly in the counties of Calvert and St. Mary’s (East and south of D.C.). You remember the stories of Lincoln suspending the right to Habeas Corpus? That was so he could lock up members of the Maryland legislature who would have voted for sucession. Not really a great idea to have your Nation’s capital inside of enemy territory 😉

    As for Delaware, it wasn’t much of a slave state by the time of the Civil War, with only 1800 slaves to a population of 90,000. It certainly is above the Mason-Dixon line, which follows its border with Maryland and then along the Maryland/Pennsylvania border.

  • Joe Biden – a bigger legend in his own mind than Lieberman is in his. This corporate tool was the guy behind every corporate-friendly/people-unfriendly piece of legislation that’s come up since the Republicans got in the White House – there’s a reason why every corproation has their “so sue us” headquarters in Delaware. And Biden knows the sound of “his master’s voice.”

    The man is delusional. The only thing I could think of that is almost as bad as President Biden would be if the winnter in 2008 makes him Secretary of State.

  • When the dust settles here in Ohio, I think Blackwell’s going to look like he’s been beaten with the jawbone of an ass. Profusely, maliciously, and remorselessly beaten. Look for a possible 3-to-1 trouncing by Strickland. There are a lot of Reublicans here in NE Ohio who won’t put his bumper-stickers on their cars. Free, mailed-to-longtime-donating-GOP-members-only, bumper stickers. The party is trying to line up properties to put campaign yard-signs in—and they’re not having the luck they’ve had in past years.

    Brown’s lead may open up significantly in the coming weeks, due in part to a d’Whine TV ad in which the little twit uses the help-me-keep-my-job facial expression while saying, “Together, we can solve all our problems.”

    Dumber. Than. A. Warped. Doorpost. Moron….

  • “Hey, check out Virginia. Webb pulled in front of Allen for the first time, albeit by a tiny amount well within the margin of error.” – Nonplussed

    Thank you. Now I’m going to be to dizzy with amazement all day to drive home!

    Be nice if I actually saw something from Jim Webb with him speaking (an Ad maybe?) but this is nice news along with Brown passing DeWine.

    Oh, how the wingnut pundits will have to spin this weekend. You should have heard Tony Blankley whining that a Democractic victory is all about impeachment. Nice he noticed 😉 It was so laughable listening to him say we can have impeachment hearings because Boy George II is a “Wartime President”. So all Presidents have to do is start wars to avoid impeachment, but its his starting the war that makes us want to impeach him. Not going to buy that Kool Aid Blankley.

  • In the PA Senate race, the most surprising thing is that Romanelli still gets 5% even though he has been bought an paid for by Santorum. Here is a letter to the editor of the Centre Daily Times which might shed some light on what these 5% are thinking.

    Democrats deny Greens’ rights

    Bob Casey should call off his dogs and try something different, such as respecting the rights of the people rather than his privilege to power.

    The campaign being waged by the Casey campaign to remove the Green Party candidate from the ballot is nothing more than a big political thug beating up a little political party. But the casualty is not only the Greens; the voters at large are forcefully being denied choices in what are supposed to be clean elections.

    Pennsylvania has a unique incumbent-protection act in which minor parties are permitted to nominate candidates in a meaningless ritual.

    After that happens, we all face the real dance where we are required to ask for permission from more than 67,000 people via signatures — more than 33 times as many as the Democrats need — to be on the November ballot.

    But even that unfair hurdle is not enough. After the petition effort, anyone can act to disqualify the candidates, and the Democrats have decided to do that.

    Apparently the principle of free and equal elections for all is meaningless when weighed against the lust for power and the legal minutia used to protect it. Never mind the part of the Constitution that states: “Elections shall be free and equal.” That carries no more weight with Casey than all those illegal instant pay-raise checks he endorsed as state treasurer.

    Tom Martin

    Julian

    (Julian is a small town outside of State College, PA) The big guy v. little guy theme may be resonating with enough voters to explain Romenelli residual support.

    It is also worth noting that, although the Centre Daily Times does not say so, Mr. Martin himself tried to get on the ballot this year as the Libertarian candidate for Senate. He failed to get enough signatures.
    A link to Mr. Martin’s blog is here and here is another interesting link.

  • Strickland by 25 over Blackwell, eh?

    If there has ever been a race in which I wanted to see the Democratic candidate run up the score, it’s this one. Just wait until the Strickland campaign starts running commercials showing people standing in line in the rain on Nov. 2, 2004.

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