Since Kossacks come from all over the country, nay, all over the world, many of us have our own favorite Republican scumbag candidate that we would like to see fall off the political cliff on November fourth. And of course we all collectively like to pile on when one of the lesser known wingnuts crashlands like Michelle Bachmann did last Friday on the Chris Matthews show.
So I got to thinking; who are the top ten endangered republican congress critters that I would like to see exit stage right two weeks from now? My picks after the fold.
- Mean Jean Schmidt in Ohio 02. Schmidt narrowly won a special election against Paul Hackett in 2005, just defeating him in this blood red district by about 3500 votes, 52 to 48%. In 2006 Schmidt's opponent was Doctor Victoria Wulsin. The margin was even closer, about 2600 votes, 51 to 49%. Wulsin is back for a rematch. Given the partisan makeup of the district, and the natural incument advantage, Wulsin is waging an uphill battle. But considering how close the race was in 2006, the seat is certainly winnable. The Cook report recently moved this race from likely Republlcan to lean Republican. The Schmidt campaign also recently issued a press release saying that an internal poll showed the incumbent with a 14 point lead. However, they did not release any actual data.
- Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado 04. Musgrave is running for her fourth term. She is a batshit crazy homophobe who thinks the biggest problem we face in this country is gay marriage. She had a strong challange in 2006 from Angie Paccione, who lost by just three points. This year Musgrave's Democratic opponent is Betsy Markey. Markey has run a solid campaign, and looks to be slightly ahead in recent polling. An article that ran the first of October gives a good run down, you can find it here.
- Robin Hayes in No. Carolina 08. This was a heartbreaker in 2006, Democrat Larry Kissell lost by just 330 votes. An internal poll taken a month ago had Kissell up by double digits. A Survey USA poll released October 6th confirmed that Kissell is in the drivers seat, leading at that time, 49 to 41%. But Hayes still has a lot of cash on hand, and will fight this to the finish. However, his most recent gaffe may be the macaca moment Kissell needed to seal the deal.
- Michelle Bachmann in Minnesota 06. And speaking of Macaca moments, We were all reintroduced last Friday to the wingnuttiest of the wingnutty. Bachman won in 2006 in what many considered a weak campaign by her Democratic opponent, Patty Wetterling. This year was shaping up to be more of the same against her current opponent, El Tinklenberg. Then Bachmann stepped in it, big time. In a matter of a few days a flood of donations (over 700K) have bouyed Tinklenberg. Additionally, the DCCC has decided to drop about a million or so into ad buys. Suddenly this race looks very likely to turn into a dog fight. A well balanced story from MinnPost.com regarding this race is here, All the polling on Pollster.com are internals. They show Bachmann in the low 40s, Tinklenberg trailing in the 30s.
- John Shadegg in Arizona 03. This race is an opportunity to take out one of the Republican leaders. Shadegg is a Red State favorite, and it would be sweet to log in on November 5 and see the weeping and moaning coming from those pizzwhizzles if Shadegg loses. His opponent is Bob Lord. Lord has raised a lot of money, and the DCCC is spending some as well. A Research 2000 poll earlier this month showed Shadegg up by 9, 48 to 39%. A DCCC internal taken at the same time showed the race to be a virtual tie. This is definitely one to watch on the 4th.
- Bill Sali in Idaho 01. This guy needs to go. He is an embarassment to Idaho, and it looks like Walt Minnick, his Democratic opponent is poised to knock him off. A Research 2000 poll for DK showed Minnick down 46 to 35% in mid-September, but a more recent poll from Roll Call (10/21) has Minnick up 41 to 45%. That is a remarkable shift in just over a month. Both of these polls were small sample sizes (400), so there is a lot of room for error here. Never the less, Minnick has to be feeling good about his chances right now.
- Chris Shays in Connecticut 04. The last Republican Congressman left in New England is on the bubble. The Dem in this race, Jim Himes, is closing. The latest democratic internal shows a dead heat, 45 to 45%. My Left Nutmeg has more on this nailbiter here.
- Tom McClintock in California 04. McClintock is not an incumbent. In fact he is even worse than the crook he replaced in CD 4, John Doolittle. For those of you not familiar with California, or who have missed numerous diaries about this race, McClintock is from Southern California, representing a conservative area north of Los Angeles in both the state assembley and state sentate. He has now termed out, and he has been rejected for state-wide offices so often, he has no place to go. So, he picked up his carpet bag and entered the race in CD 4, an area northeast of Sacramento. Our candidate, Charlie Brown, came very close to beating Doolittle in 2006. A Research 2000 poll taken about a month ago showed Brown leading 46 to 41%. Please, please, my fellow Califonians, elect Charlie Brown and put an end to Tom McClintock's political career.
- Don Young in Alaska at Large. The King of Pork is on the ropes. The bridge to nowhere. The Road in a middle of a swamp. You all know the stories, this man is corrupt and needs to be retired. His challanger is Ethan Berkowitz. Berkowitz, as the former Democratic inority leader Berkowitz has held a consistent lead in the polls since the primary, but this race has tightened quite a bit. The most recent internal Dem poll has Berkowitz up by 9, 51 to 42%. You can find more detail on the race at Politicker.com.
- I had several choices for the final spot, Washington 8 (Burner/Reichert), or Illinois
11 10 (Seals/Kirk) for instance. However, in a shameless attempt to solict comments, I'd like to hear from you. Which Republican would you like to see replaced by a Democrat?