Senate 2008 Guru: Following the Races

Keeping a close eye on developments in the 2008 U.S. Senate races

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Wednesday Rundown

  • Swing State Project introduces a cool new feature: Sortable Congressional Filing Deadlines & Primary Dates Calendar

  • Mississippi: Despite last-minute clues to the contrary, Thad Cochran announced that he will run for re-election to the Senate in 2008.

  • Kentucky: Democratic Dr. Michael Cassaro officially entered the 2008 Senate race. And state Attorney General Greg Stumbo said a decision would come by mid-December as to whether his Senate exploratory effort would become a full-fledged campaign. The article included that state Auditor Crit Luallen is "not close to deciding whether to enter the Senate race."

  • Nebraska: Scott Kleeb is getting closer to a decision.

  • South Dakota: Republican Joel "Einstein" Dykstra gives us a good laugh.

  • Virginia: Republican Jim Gilmore gives us another good laugh.

  • Alaska: WaPo offers the latest recap of Alaska's public corruption scandals, co-starring Ted Stevens.

  • South Carolina: Lindsey Graham's newest primary opponent, Republican National Committee member Buddy Witherspoon, has a live website and a checkered past. Meanwhile, something is bizarrely wrong with this article from The Hill. The sixth paragraph begins:

    Recent polls show Graham is popular among the entire electorate, including Democrats...
    However, the eleventh paragraph reads:

    A June InsiderAdvantage poll showed his disapproval rating higher among Republicans (46 percent) than Democrats (30 percent), while his approval among both was in the low 30s. The poll was conducted soon after Graham took ownership of the immigration bill — a severely unpopular position in the state, according to the poll.
    The article means no other poll results whatsoever. So how does Aaron Blake, who wrote the article, figure that "recent polls show Graham is popular" with anybody? Sloppy. Very sloppy. I'll remind Aaron Blake that this recent poll says:

    More than 45 percent of likely Republican voters surveyed said they would consider voting for someone else in the 2008 GOP primary. Only 41 percent of GOP voters said they would be more likely to vote for Graham again.
    And there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to back this up. While unseating Graham is indeed a very uphill task, one thing is for sure; polls do not show that "Graham is popular among the entire electorate."

  • From the "You Must Be Kidding Me" file. Somewhere, Bill Maher's head is exploding.

  • 4 Comments:

    Blogger Stephen Spiker said...

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    1:54 PM, November 14, 2007  
    Blogger nkpolitics said...

    Will Graham run on the South Carolina for Graham party if he loses the GOP nomination

    2:45 PM, November 14, 2007  
    Blogger Michael Westmoreland-White, Ph.D. said...

    I hope Stumbo decides not to run and Crit Luallen does run. Before he decided to run for Lt. Gov., I was in favor of Stumbo running against McConnell. However, by running for Lt. Gov., he made his indictment of Gov. Fletcher look not like upholding the law, but like a partisan witch-hunt for his personal gain. Now, he just looks desperate for a political office.

    Charlie Owen would be a good choice, but he's been around a long time. Crit Luallen brings a fresh face, but with statewide name recognition and popularity. By contrast, Andrew Horne is virtually unknown outside of Louisville (and the rest of the Commonwealth is suspicious of "liberal Louisville") and I have never heard of this Cassaro guy.

    Ordinarly, I am fine with primaries, but considering McConnell's huge warchest ($9 mil with $7 mil onhand!), I think KY Dems need to decide on a strong candidate QUICKLY and begin raising money and going after McConnell!

    http://levellers.wordpress.com

    3:33 PM, November 14, 2007  
    Blogger Woody said...

    Stumbo needs to change his target to Repub Hal Rogers in KY-05. As it happens, Stumbo used to represent a piece of the district in the Kentucky House. He has roots in this district and he is said to remain popular there.

    Chuck Schumer of the DSCC needs to meet with Chris van Hollen of the DCCC to work out a fair way to give genuine support to Stumbo in a House race, and not leave him twisting in the wind.

    Solid challenges to incumbent House Repubs in KY could help the Senate race by tying up Repub money and troops, so it would be win-win-Luallen.

    7:24 PM, November 14, 2007  

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