Friday’s political round-up

September 15, 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 Missouri’s closely-watched Senate race, the near-constant back and forth has swung once again, this time towards the challenger. In a new Rasmussen poll, state Auditor [tag]Claire McCaskill[/tag] (D) has now taken the lead over Sen. [tag]Jim Talent[/tag] (R), 45% to 42%. A month ago, Talent led, 46% to 44%.

* Michigan Gov. [tag]Jennifer Granholm[/tag] (D) now has her biggest lead to date in her re-election campaign. In a new EPIC-MRA poll, the incumbent now leads Amway heir [tag]Dick DeVos[/tag] (R), 50% to 42%. As recently as June, EPIC/MRA showed DeVos leading Granholm, 48% percent to 40%.

* Speaking of Michigan, the once-close Senate race is looking less and less competitive all the time. The same EPIC-MRA poll shows Sen. [tag]Debbie Stabenow[/tag] (D) leading Republican challenger [tag]Mike Bouchard[/tag], 53% to 34%.

* In Nevada, it appears [tag]Jack Carter[/tag] (D) has not been able to break through against Sen. [tag]John Ensign[/tag] (R). A new Research 2000 poll shows the incumbent ahead, 56% to 35%.

* The race to replace Gov. [tag]Bill Owens[/tag] (R) in Colorado was expected to be one of the closer gubernatorial races in the country — except it’s not shaping up that way. A Rocky Mountain News/CBS 4 poll shows Democrat [tag]Bill Ritter[/tag] with a “remarkable” 17-point lead over Republican Congressman [tag]Bob Beauprez[/tag], 50% to 33%. Pollster Lori Weigel said a wave of anti-Iraq war and anti-Washington sentiment is making things difficult for Beauprez.

* And I’d be remiss if I neglected to mention that Rep. [tag]Bob Ney[/tag] (R-Ohio) will reportedly plead guilty to federal criminal charges related to his dealings with the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ney, who maintained his innocence for months, has also apparently entered an in-patient rehabilitation center for treatment of alcoholism.

Good News: “Pollster Lori Weigel said a wave of anti-Iraq war and anti-Washington sentiment is making things difficult for Beauprez.”

Now, if we can only spread the “good news” all around for November.

  • I’m glad to hear the good news on McCaskill’s latest poll. As a resident, and engaged Democrat from Southwest Missouri, I can tell you that Democrats are charged up in this area of the state.

  • Considering the horrible race being run by Granholm’s campaign, and the awful ads Stabenow is producing, I am happy and rather surprised to hear these races are not closer. Now, if we can just get rid of Knollenburg (MI-9) (my rep) and Rogers (MI-8), I’d feel like I was winning the lottery.

  • This is great news for Michigan (my ‘family’ home) and Colorado (where I live now).

    However, we should be careful about the Beauprez vs Ritter polls because 1) Beauprez has made a couple of missteps recently, 2) Beauprez is somewhat better known statewide than Ritter, and 3) Colorado is still a predominantly Republican state.

    I think that the Colorado race will tighten near the end.

  • Michelle, I would say the Granholm campaign and the MDP have really stepped it up in the last few weeks with all of the ads hitting DeVos on shipping MI jobs to China,

    http://www.michigandems.com/

    Another week with Governor Granholm increasing her lead is truly a good sign although this will be a hard fought race.

    I also just read that DeVos isn’t speaking at the NAACP conference in Lansing this weekend, avoiding the issue of affirmative action yet again. That seems to be a favored strategy of his, avoid any difficult issues, decisions, or affilaitions. However, Governor Granholm will be speaking
    at the conference and hopefully increasing her support with the voters.

  • Brad:

    I guess I was thinking about Granholm’s ground game. I agree that the MDP and Granholm have really stepped up recently, and it is clearly showing in the poll results.

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