Friday’s political round-up

October 27, 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:

* Last week, the Republican establishment denied rumors that it was giving up on Sen. Mike DeWine’s (R) campaign in Ohio, but this week, the rumors were confirmed. The RNC announced yesterday that it will not run any TV ads in Ohio on DeWine’s behalf during the final week of his reelection campaign.

* Though several recent polls have shown Sen. Bob Menendez (D) will all of the momentum in New Jersey’s closely-watched Senate race, a new poll from the New York Times shows the race almost tied, with Menendez leading state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R), 40% to 39%.

* In Tennessee, the Senate race is close, but the gubernatorial race is not. The latest Mason-Dixon poll shows incumbent Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) leading state Senator Jim Bryson (R), 62% to 27%.

* For months, it appeared that former Rep. Chris Bell (D) was trailing badly in Texas’ wild four-way gubernatorial contest, running fourth in several statewide polls. A new Rasmussen poll, however, shows Bell moving up and incumbent Gov. Rick Perry (R) dropping. At this point, Perry still leads with 36% support, Bell is second with 25%, followed by Carole Keeton Strayhorn at 22%, and Kinky Friedman fourth with 12% support.

* And in Iowa’s very competitive gubernatorial race, several recent polls show Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver (D) opening up a lead over Rep. Jim Nussle (R), results which are bolstered by a new Rasmussen poll that shows Culver ahead, 47% to 44%. When leaners are added into the mix, Culver leads 49% to 45%. Just a few weeks ago, Rasmussen showed the two tied at 42%.

I read an article about Kinky Friedman in the UK’s Independent (of all places) & he actually sounded like a good choice…

  • Speaking of Ohio, I was obscenely pleased to learn the Daily Show is going out there next week (“Because Florida creeps us out”). I wonder if Jon Stewart will don bunny ears and a diaper.

    I hope things go well for Dems in Ohio and not just because I’d really like to move to Columbus. It should give the GOP a preview of 2008 and hopefully cause Ken “Rove’s Revenge” Blackwell to crawl back under his rock and stay there.

  • #4 – Ouch, that hurts, Art K…

    Hey I live in Kucinich country! Anybody Congressman from your state ever get the Gandhi Peace Award?

    RNC may not run ads, but the DeWine campaign will go full tilt and personal. The ads will backfire here in Cleveland, but may still be effective in Cincinnati…

  • Josh Marshall today has a bunch of features on races where the Democrats are getting rolled–Duckworth in IL, Reynolds in NY, every one in which stem cell research or immigration is an issue. As usual, they’re not fighting back–they’re letting lies and distortions go unchallenged.

    Add in stories from the NYT about the Zombie Army rallying around the gay marriage issue (with Bush again taking the mantle of First Bigot), discouraged African-American voters (frankly, who can blame them?), and a new low in the Bushies’ politicization of government, and I’ve got that “oh shit, we’re gonna blow it” feeling for the first time in a few weeks.

    Could one or more of you good people please explain to me that I’m wrong, and it’s all going to be okay? I don’t think I can take another November 2004.

  • #2 – TAIO You’re welcome in Columbus any time. Franklin County needs all the Blue voters they can get.

  • I just posted this comment on the Mean Jean Schmidt thread, but realized the thread was over 24 hours old, so am reposting here:

    Don’t forget that in the Schmidt/Hackett vote last year that Hackett won many of the counties, and the last to report put Schmidt on top. And that vote count was suspect because there were “problems”. I don’t remember all of the details, but I do hope Wulsin will surge ahead (by more than 5%) so that this race won’t get “Diebolded”.

    Hannah, who got to meet her Dem US Senator Ron Wyden at a Dem rally yesterday! Nice man, very easy to talk to, and very interested in what I talked to him about…

  • The poll in the TX governor race is fascinating. In Alaska, there’s a three way race with a relatively strong independent candidate who can barely crack 5%. (Alaska did elect a third-party governor in 1990, though he was a Republican flying a flag of convenience.)

  • dajafi, i wish i could say something cheerful, but the best i can do is “you are not alone.” we got sandbagged on the expectations game, and now anything short of taking the house AND the senate AND picking up statehouses will be seen as Dem incompetence. yet the polling i an seeing shows us slipping in Senate races to where a net of 4 looks likely, short of the 6 needed, and the House totals also are slipping, back to where we would end up in the low 220s – too close for comfort. and we still have not proven we can match the Rethug “end game,” which could be worth a point or two. maybe i’m just getting pessimistic in my advancing age, but i have a bad feeling about this.

  • zeitgeist, I’ll be satisfied if we end up +4 in the Senate (that would mean Menendez and Cardin survived) and with any kind of majority in the House. That at least would provide some check on the monsters, and likely ensure no major harm to the country over the next two years.

    I think it could be worse than that: maybe +2 in the Senate, and no majority at all in the House. At that point, I’d need to go back to thinking about how New York could secede…

  • Unfortunately, Kinky Friedman is revealing himself as Jesse Ventura with hair, and putting out some really nasty thoughts floating in his Id, but the morons supporting him would rather be idiots than winners.

  • In Jersey, the latest poll (Ras on 10/25) has the candidates in a dead heat at 45%, and that’s a 4 point gain for Kean the Ras poll on 10/11. So that’s now the two latest polls showing them virtually tied.

    Could this be at all related to Menendez’s yea on the Torture vote? Could he have lost some of his base?

  • More likely it is related to a $5 million infusion of RNC/RSCC cash into advertising that started about a week ago.

  • #14 – Little Kean (running against Menendez) came shooting out of the box for a NJ Anti-Gay Marriage amendment hours after the NJ Supreme Court (4 Republican Judges of 7) made their ruling. We have homophobes here too.

    #13 & #5 – At least Kinky, like Ventura, is amusing and he is going to pay more attention to the poor and middle class than any of his opponents. How can you not love a guy who had a hit song in “They don’t make Jews like Jesus anymore”? Are there any better candidares in the race?

    #6 – What makes me nervous about Ohio is your Secretary of State/ Gubernatorial candidate who is working to restrict (read ‘fix) the voter list. Also the strong (STRONG!) Rove-Bush leanings of the senior management at Diebold ~ the folks who make your computerized voting machines.

    Just so’s y’all know. I’m a Jew from Jersey

  • Yes, there certainly is a better candidate in the Texas Governor’s race, a much better candidate, Chris Bell. Even non-partisan media there gave the four-way debate to Bell on style, substance and intellect. A real Democrat actually has a chance to win in Texas and there is a good chance for gains in the Texas Legislature. This would be one of the best ways to stick it to the cesspool from which BushCo came. If you really want to know about Texas read The Texas Observer magazine and on-line.

  • Chet Culver stands for abortion, gay marriage, gambling, human cloning, illegal immigration, and seizing private property through eminent domain.

    Those aren’t Iowa values.
    Those aren’t family values.
    Those aren’t Christian values.
    And they certainly aren’t MY values.

    On top of that, Chet Culver is
    just plain stupid !

    I’m voting for Jim Nussle.

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