Tuesday’s political round-up

October 24, 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 Tennessee’s closely-watched Senate race a new Mason-Dixon poll shows Bob Corker (R) with a very narrow lead over Rep. Harold Ford (D), 45% to 43%. It’s a subtle shift in Corker’s direction — the last Mason-Dixon poll showed Ford ahead by one, 43% to 42%.

* Florida’s gubernatorial race, which appeared to be non-competitive quite recently, is suddenly neck-and-neck. A new Quinnipiac poll shows state Attorney General Charlie Crist (R), who led by double digits as recently as two weeks ago, ahead of Rep. Jim Davis (D) by just two points, 46% to 44%. Similarly, a yet-to-be-released Rasmussen poll will reportedly show Crist up 46% to 41%, a stunning drop in light of the 16-point lead Rasmussen showed for Crist less than a month ago.

* In Virginia, a new Mason-Dixon poll offers just a little good news for Sen. George Allen (R). While last month’s poll showed him tied with Dem challenger Jim Webb at 43% each, the new poll shows him ahead by four, 47% to 43%. If the election does come down to national issues, it’s not altogether clear how the race will shake out — asked which party they would like to see run the Senate, 45% of Virginians said Democrats, while 43% said Republicans.

* In Connecticut, Diane Farrell’s (D) race against Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) has been challenging enough, but it was complicated by Green Party candidate Richard Duffy, who has divided the left. Not wanting to be a Ralph Nader-like spoiler, Duffy dropped out yesterday. “We don’t have a chance of winning,” Duffy said, urging voters to unseat Shays.

* And in Missouri, Sen. Jim Talent (R) is running four separate campaign ads that attribute “unflattering quotes” about Democrat Claire McCaskill to the Kansas City Star. The newspaper, however, believes the quotes are misleading and has asked Talent to correct the commercials. “We are formally requesting that the Talent campaign pull all ads that cite The Kansas City Star as the source for material that is not properly attributed,” Editorial Page Editor Miriam Pepper said in an e-mail to the Talent campaign. “The ads imply that these are statements from editorials or reporters. They are not.” The Talent campaign indicated that they do not plan to change the ads.

“The ads imply that these are statements from editorials or reporters. They are not.”

What were they? Letters to the editor?? “Even the liberal Kansas City Star admits, ‘The Kansas City Star is a lefty rag and I’m cancelling my subscription!'”

  • Depressing news keeps coming from MO, VA and TN.

    OK, I’m calling the election: Repubs retain the Senate 51-49

  • Those are all within the MOE. And McKaskill is ahead. I’d say, if the election were today, we’re looking at 50-50 — Actually 50R-48D-2I. I got a feeling McKaskill will pull it out.

    As for the other two, Webb loves to be the anti-candidate and I’m worried about his ground game and GOTV efforts. He’ll have the Warner-Kaine team helping him I’d assume, but I worry that he can’t pull this one across the finish line. The black community seems iffy on Webb, and he’ll need all those votes to pull this off. I just don’t see how he does it unless he’s up 3-5 points in the final weekend.

    In Tennessee, the Ford ground game is legendary. They will pull in the votes on election day particularly in Memphis. The RNC has driven up Ford’s negatives in recent weeks — particularly with that slimy playboy/porn ad. They’ve driven Ford’s unfavorables to 36% in this new M-D poll, with Corker’s negatives at 27%. Ford and/or the DNC/DSCC need to have one more good shot (maybe two) at Corker and pound him hard in the next 10 days equalize those negative numbers. If it’s tied in two weeks, the Ford GOTV machine (“machine” used in a good way here!) will get him there.

    If Ford pulls it off, we’re 49-49D-2I, effectively 51-49, assuming we can keep Holy Joe on the reservation.

  • First of all, the KC Star is hardly a lefty rag (not sure if Grumpy was being sarcastic, so I thought I’d throw that out there).

    And the quotes in question came from political opponents — not the paper, not its editors, not McCaskill, and not any type of non-partisan organization that can actually be trusted.

    Of course, the fact that Talent has no intention of retracting the ads comes as a surprise to … well, probably no one.

  • If Ford can’t get it done in Tennessee, Obama’s future aspirations will have been dealt undeniable set-back.

    By the way, did anyboby read Bob Herbert column in yesterday’s NY Times? I, too, remain unconvinced by the Barack Obama boomlet. As of now, it’s “fool’s gold” to believe the MSM hype about Obama. When David Brooks talks up Obama, like he did recently, I run the other direction.

  • Props to Richard Duffy, the only Green candidate I’ve heard of with the integrity to put the greater good ahead of personal ambition. That alone should be worth a job somewhere in the new administration when the time comes.

  • Even the liberal Kansas City Star admits, ‘The Kansas City Star is a lefty rag and I’m cancelling my subscription!'”

    No, my hometown paper is not, nor has it ever been, a liberal “lefty rag.” At least not in my lifetime. Protecting what little is left of it’s editorial integrity (and there isn’t much) isn’t something I would have expected from them though in a political race. I fully expect them to hand their endorsement to Talent anyway.

  • Tennessee: “Harold, call me…” – who says not-so-subtle appeals to hillbilly racism don’t work? I hope the comments about the “legendary ground game” Ford has is real.

    Richard Duffy: wow, a Green with a brain, a conscience, and some political integrity. Who’d a thunkit about any of those morons?

  • If only Nader had done in 2000 what Duffy did today, the world would have been such a beter place and we’d all be happily going about our business rather than venting on politcal blogs.

  • Yes, I was being sarcastic. I was going to say “New York Times,” but I thought the KC Star would be more relevant. The point is, it’s illegitimate to attribute quotes to a publication as a whole when it really comes from one person whose words just happen to be printed there.

    See, if someone wrote a letter to the editor accusing the KC Star of being liberal, someone could use that letter as an admission by the paper itself.

    So maybe it wasn’t that funny, after all.

  • Richard Duffy just might force me to reconsider my opinion of the Greens as an extension of the GOP. That isn’t snark — I have come to believe that this is the true state of affairs for them. It isn’t enough to make me vote Green this year, but maybe it is enough that I will give their next local cadidate 60 seconds to convince me of their sincerity rather than just laughing at them and moving on.

  • Thank you Richard Duffy.

    I had never heard your name before reading that post and already I think you’re a swell guy.

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