Monday’s political round-up

September 25, 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:

* It’s safe to say that Republicans best, if not only, chance of picking up a Senate seat this year is in New Jersey. The latest Monmouth University/Gannett poll shows state Sen. [tag]Tom Kean[/tag], Jr. (R) leading incumbent Sen. [tag]Bob Menendez[/tag] (D), 44% to 38%.

* In Maryland, a new Baltimore Sun poll shows Rep. [tag]Ben Cardin[/tag] (D) with a comfortable-but-not-insurmountable lead over Lt. Gov. [tag]Michael Steele[/tag] (R), 51% to 40%, in the state’s U.S. Senate race. Concerns that African-American voters would abandon Cardin to support Steele, who is black, appear unfounded. As the Sun noted, “Cardin’s support stretches across the state, according to the poll, and he dominates in Maryland’s most solidly African-American communities: Baltimore and Prince George’s County.”

* Speaking of Maryland, the same Baltimore Sun poll found that Baltimore Mayor [tag]Martin O’Malley[/tag] (D) continues to lead incumbent Gov. [tag]Robert Ehrlich[/tag] (R), 50% to 44%, in the state’s gubernatorial race.

* In Montana’s closely-watched Senate race, a new Rasmussen poll shows scandal-plagued Sen. [tag]Conrad Burns[/tag] (R) trailing Democratic challenger [tag]Jon Tester[/tag], 43% to 50%. The margin is about the same as it was a month ago.

* Florida’s gubernatorial race is getting more competitive, at least according to a new poll from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The newspaper’s latest poll shows state Attorney General [tag]Charlie Crist[/tag] (R) leading Rep. [tag]Jim Davis[/tag] (D), 49% to 43%. Davis, however, remains widely unknown, leading the pollster to note that he has “a lot more room to grow for people to view him favorably.”

* Dems continue to enjoy solid leads in both of Ohio’s major statewide races, according to a new poll from the Columbus Dispatch. In the Senate race, Rep. [tag]Sherrod Brown[/tag] (D) now leads incumbent Sen. [tag]Mike DeWine[/tag] (R) by five, 47% to 42%. The gubernatorial race is less competitive — Rep. [tag]Ted Strickland[/tag] (D) is head of Ohio Secretary of State [tag]Ken Blackwell[/tag], 52% to 33%.

“Concerns that African-American voters would abandon Cardin to support Steele, who is black, appear unfounded.”

I never can understand such “concerns.” Actually they piss me off more that a wee bit. It suggests that African-Americans are too small-minded to see beyond colour and will vote for someone who represents ideas that are anethema to them because of the colour of a candidate’s skin. Is there an opposite concern that Caucasians will vote for Cardin because he isn’t black? If not, I would suggest the “concerned” folks inspect themselves for deeply held biases. Or they can be quiet.

Also, is this “concern” supported by any actual study? According to the “concerned” folks you’d expect voting to split along race, not party line when voters are given the choice. In the case of the infamous Obama/Keyes fiasco in Illinois you’d expect an even split or every African-American being too confused to vote because there were two black candidates in that race.

I doubt this is the case.

  • Largely unknown and still polling at 43% – that is not bad and it is also terribly revealing for Crist.

  • Oh, come on, you can’t possibly – not as a hopeful Dem, at least – even begin to think of pushing aside Ohio’s best hope for finally toppling the corruption and near-evil that Blackwell has instilled in our once-great political state in Ted Strickland.

    He’s not the perfect candidate, I suppose, but who is? It’s not like any of us expect Ted to show up and win on a ballot above the rank of governor, so let a strong, confident leader (with enough religious background to pull some of the faithful away from the GOP) do his thing, please.

    As someone who’s probably working for Peirce, I won’t say you’re wrong in what you posted, especially because I really like Peirce as a potential candidate someday, but come on now. This is going to be a golden year for Dems in Ohio, let’s act like it and strongly back the people we’ve put up to take down the Republican’ts.

  • “I really like Peirce as a potential candidate someday.”

    It really annoys me that if the best candidate happens to be non-Dem or Rep, he just gets dismissed completely. How the fuck are we ever gonna fix this country if we keep vote for the pre-determined winners (who always seem to be career politicians working the system in their favor).

    I don’t know about you, but I have enough of a backbone to vote for the best-qualified guy, not the best-funded guy.

  • Hubby thinks he might actually vote for Crist if it weren’t for the fact that he’s a Repugnant.

    For myself, he’s a smarmy, self-aggrandizing, megalomaniacal (sp?) closet case, not worthy of serious consideration.

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