Wednesday’s political round-up

November 23, 2005

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:

* Political conditions in Maryland seem to be improving all the time. A new Rasmussen poll shows Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) trailing both of his most likely Dem opponents in next year’s open Senate race. Rep. Ben Cardin (D) leads Steele 49% to 41%, expanding on the five-point lead Cardin enjoyed a month ago. Steele leads former Rep. Kweisi Mfume by one point, 45% to 44%, but Steele’s lead was seven points a month ago.

* Speaking of Maryland, Rasmussen also found good news for the Dem gubernatorial candidates. Republican Gov. Bob Ehrlich is seeking re-election, but a year out he trails both of his most likely Dem challengers. Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley leads Ehrlich 46% to 40%, while Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan is ahead 48% to 39%.

* Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) is still below the 50% threshold looking ahead to her re-election campaign, but she also still enjoys a sizable lead over her most likely challenger. A new poll from Strategic Vision, a Republican polling firm, shows Granholm leading businessman Dick DeVos (R), 44% to 33%.

* In related news, the same Strategic Vision poll shows Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) ahead of her most likely GOP challengers by sizable margins. Stabenow leads Mark Bouchard 45% to 31% and Keith Butler 48% to 29%.

* According to what Steve Clemons heard this week, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) “‘unofficially'” conveyed his interest in running for the presidency in 2008. Dodd expressed interest in running in 2004, but passed in deference to his Connecticut colleague, Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Republican strategists will be in something of a bind going into these various races next year. They’ve always been able to count on their patented ‘fear and smear’ tactics in the past, but the recent New Jersey elections show clearly that the public isn’t buying that stuff any more. I’ll bet they’ll be scratching their heads and desparately asking each other, “What the heck do we do now?”

My predication: More of the same old attack garbage. It is, after all, the only thing they know.

  • I don’t see why you’re calling Ben Cardin’s poll results a sign of things “improving” in Maryland. Cardin is a vicious reactionary whose main claim to fame is his long-term effort to destroy employer-sponsored health insurance by legalizing the practice of “payrolling” workers — i.e., a type of fake outsourcing; putting on-site regular employees onto the payroll of a “temp” firm or staffing firm with employee-paid benefits, if any, so they no longer will be covered by employers’ pension plans, health plans or receive any other benefits, and making it nearly impossible to enforce discrimination laws and other employment laws. Putting Cardin in the Senate is the same as electing any right-wing Republican

  • Overall this is very encouraging, but, ugh, Granholm is terrible. Couldn’t we look for someone to knock her off in the primary?

    My mother has already warned me that, when I get home for Thanksgiving tomorrow, she will kick me out of the house if I mention Granholm within my father’s hearing.

  • Granholm isn’t so bad. The state’s f’ed up, but she got it that way. The idea that the Republicans think we’re going to vote for the Religious Right Amway capo is laughable, though. Maybe he spend his way to the governorship. Granholm’s approval rate has no right being as high as it is, considering the state of the state.

    Candidates from West Michigan don’t seem to do great in statewide elections as a group, either. I can’t think of one who has, although Congressman Fred Upton (my congressman, who I hugely dislike ever since hearing him on NPR pissing on about Janet Jackson’s boob) might be formidable candidate, if they could get him to run and if he could win a primary.

    • Comments are closed.