Friday’s political round-up

August 11, 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 the first post-primary poll in Connecticut, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) enjoys a narrow lead over Ned Lamont (D). A Rasmussen poll, which My Left Nutmeg obtained, shows Lieberman with 46% support, followed by Lamont with 41%, and Republican Alan Schlesinger trailing badly with 6%.

* Montana’s closely-watched Senate race is all tied up, according to a new Rasmussen poll. Embattled incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns (R) has closed the gap against Jon Tester (D), and both now enjoy 47% support. A month ago, Tester had a seven-point lead.

* In Oregon, State Sen. Ben Westlund, running on a progessive platform, ended his third-party gubernatorial campaign yesterday, giving a boost to incumbent Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) in his race against Republican Ron Saxton.

* In Tom DeLay’s Texas district, two candidates have announced their write-in candidacies: Houston City Council member Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R) and Sugarland Mayor David Wallace (R).

* The good news in Hawaii is that Dems are almost certainly going to keep the U.S. Senate seat currently filled by Daniel Akaka. The bad news is, we’re not sure which Dem. A new Rasmussen poll shows Akaka with a narrow lead over his primary opponent, Rep. Ed Case, 47% to 45%. Both, however, enjoy comfortable leads over Republican rival Jerry Coffee. The Dem primary is September 23.

* Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) still leads State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka (R) in the latest Rasmussen poll, but not by as much as last month. In the newly released poll, Blagojevich is ahead, 45% to 37%. Last month, the gap was 11 points, but by and large, the pollster noted, “Blagojevich’s lukewarm numbers have remained largely unchanged since July’s survey.” The incumbent benefits from Topinka’s relatively weak support.

Re Burns/Testor:
We were recently in western Montana. The only place I noticed any signs for that race was in or near a small town (pop 1800) and they were both for Testor. One was in town and one was at a farm/ranch. For whatever that’s worth. Seemed like prime R territory to me, though.

Re Westlund (I-OR): yes, his withdrawal makes it easier for Kulongoski to get re-elected. I’m not super pleased with Kulongoski but our state house has not helped at all. The Rep speaker has shut down any kind of bi-partisan or Dem efforts.

I went to our local Dem meeting last night; the Dem that is running for my district in the state House is awesome. It will be difficult for him to win, this being an R district, but if people (ie the R voters) can see him for who he is (reasonable, willing to work in a bi-partisan manner to get things done to help people), he may yet prevail. I’m going to do my best to help. (Our current R rep is to the right of just about everyone. Yikes.)

  • Sen. Joe Lieberman (I)

    That’s Sen. Joe Lieberman (L) — his party is “Lieberman for Connecticut”.

    Odd that Lieberman enjoys a narrow lead over Lamont when the voters just decided otherwise.

    This survey included Republican voters. What you have now is (more) proof that Republicans like him better than Democrats do.

  • What a sight of seeing Joe Lieberman (with a “I” next to his name) lead Lamont right out of the gates!!!

    “In the first post-primary poll in Connecticut, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) enjoys a narrow lead over Ned Lamont (D). A Rasmussen poll, which My Left Nutmeg obtained, shows Lieberman with 46% support, followed by Lamont with 41%, and Republican Alan Schlesinger trailing badly with 6%”.

    Good Luck all you Lamont supporters as it already looks like you have your work cut out for you for the November election! Ned’s message is already falling a bit flat amongst the entire Connecticut electorate, even after all the Dems who originally supported Joe stood with Ned after his Primary win and… Man, that Democratic campaign machine you all spoke favorably about is really humming now!!! Maybe Ned should bring in Michael Moore to stand next him during his next speech and have Soros throw him a party in Greenwich to help him gain more support among independents and moderates. Perhaps Dodd, Hillary, etc. should reevaluate their decision to support Ned and switch their endorsement back to Joe before you lose him forever.

    Man, I can’t wait ’til November! Mark my words, this primary defeat will go down as one of the Dems most brilliant political blunders of all time! You had a Senate seat LOCKED up, and now you’re going to have to fight for it. And upon his re-election, you better hope and pray Joe’s actions follow his “independent democratic” values (those words that so many of you mocked) and don’t become even more conservative over the next 3 months.

  • Hey Eddie — Get it straight, not all voters decided otherwise, just 40% of the Connecticuts Dems decided otherwise…You guys forgot that a vast majority of the state’s electorate didn’t have their say!
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    Odd that Lieberman enjoys a narrow lead over Lamont when the voters just decided otherwise.

  • I suspect Lieberman will slide, as he well deserves to. After all, two months before the primary he had a huge lead. One week before the primary he was essentially tied.

    Now he’s tied again. When the indepedents and republicans of Connecticut start to look at Lamont, they’ll go for him.

  • You must be kidding! Republicans vote for Lamont after he’s been endorsed and stood with the left fringes of the left?? Please tell me you are a Democratic campaign strategist.
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    When the indepedents and republicans of Connecticut start to look at Lamont, they’ll go for him.

  • Hey, JRS Jr. – being such a “patriot” as you are, why don’t you hop on the next airplane for Tel Aviv and volunteer? I hear the IDF is hard-up for sandbags, and your head ought to fill the bill for one perfectly.

  • I’m not kidding JRS. The rich folk in Connecticut aren’t like the yahoos in Texas who vote Republican’t. In Connecticut, they actually have a moment of thought now and then, and some of them will realize that Iraq is destroying our military and indebting us to Communist China. Soon as we get out, we can start to rebuild our Army and Marine Corps, and stop mortgaging our children’s futures to the Godless Chinese.

    I’m comfortable with my prediction. Joe’s going to slide. He’s going to know it’s happening. And it’s going to give him an ulcer.

    If he would just stop with the Republican’t meme that any discussion about withdrawl from Iraq is terrorist-loving treason, I’d be happy to forgive him. But he won’t stop insulting 57% of Americans (more in Connecticut) so, nope, he needs to crash and burn.

  • Lance — Neither am I, I’m probably what you classify as on of them “rich folk.” I live in Darien, CT in the heart of Fairfield County, two towns away from Greenwich.

    Sorry to say, your view is not how my neighbors, friends, relatives, etc. think — most of who are moderate Dems, independents and GOP members, the key segment to the general election. As much as the lefties don’t like to hear it, Joe is very well liked and appreciated by a vast majority of the moderates (including this moderate).

    Furthermore, two of my hard right GOP buddies are throwing their support to Joe just to make sure Lamont doesn’t win. So just like many of the left of the left cast a vote “against Joe”, they’ll be just as many GOPer’s voting “against Lamont.”

    So now that Dems are pointing out that Joe is attracting Republican votes, ultimately confirming their views that “Joe was too conservative” and not worthy of their vote in the Primary, they ulimately have energized a GOP base which may in fact be the tipping point that elects Joe Lieberman to the Senate for a fourth term as an independent.

  • JRS Jr., you overlook the obvious. As Joe courts more Republicans he alienates more Democrats and Independents. His support will slide and he’ll have no structure or money to help revitalize it.

    Lamont is hardly a fringe lefty no matter who occupies the space around him; maybe you should read more and comment less. Keep your Mehlman dictated talking points to yourself.

    Man, I can’t wait ’til November! Mark my words, this primary defeat will go down as one of the Dems most brilliant political blunders of all time! -JRS Jr.

    Only a fascist would refer to the will of the voters as a “political blunder.” Guess we should just give up elections altogether since you seem to know what’s best.

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