So, should we call this the post-smackdown version of the Wrap??
Tonight will also mark the debut of a slightly different look for the Wrap, in an effort to make it more readable. All the polls will be presented together with toplines, and then a blanket analysis will follow. The news of the day will still be done in the bullet format to which you, dear reader, have no grown accustomed. This should make it easier for the "bottom line" poll fans to get their numbers fast.
IN THE POLLS....
FL-Gov: Bill McCollum (R) 46, Alex Sink (D) 35 (Rasmussen)
WI-Gov: Scott Walker (R) 48, Tom Barrett (D) 38 (Rasmussen)
WI-Gov: Mark Neumann (R) 42, Tom Barrett (D) 38 (Rasmussen)
NC-Sen: Sen. Richard Burr (R) 47, Elaine Marshall (D) 37 (Rasmussen)
NC-Sen: Sen. Richard Burr (R) 50, Cal Cunningham (D) 34 (Rasmussen)
GA-04 (D): Rep. Hank Johnson 47, Vernon Jones 19, Connie Stokes 12 (Lake-D)
NH-02 (R): Charlie Bass 42, Jennifer Horn 19 (CrossTarget-R)
ANALYSIS: We head into the weekend with a Ras-a-palooza, and it is, to say the least, a predictable one. Republicans, everywhere, are triumphant. Richard Burr's numbers should make eyes pop for a couple of reasons. For one thing, the margins are a bit more generous than other pollsters. For another, they have Burr at an audacious favorability spread of 56/32, which is way wider than anyone else has had in the Tar Heel State. Florida is a new get for Rasmussen, which suggests that Crist-Rubio numbers are presumably on the way, along with general elex numbers with Democrat Kendrick Meek. Lastly, we can add a couple of partisan polls to the mix (longtime Wrap readers will scoff at my delineating between Ras polls and partisan polls). No surprises, really, in either one.
IN OTHER NEWS....
- AR-Sen: It is now veering very close to being official--apparently GOP Congressman John Boozman is teasing a major announcement on February 6th in Little Rock. This would be the much-rumored announcement that he will run for the Senate this year, challenging Blanche Lincoln. One potentially delicious development that was touched on in the Wrap yesterday--leading Senate candidate (to this point) Gilbert Baker is staying in. Better still: it looks like he might get a little teabaggy on Boozman, with Baker campaign talkers referencing Boozman's Washingtonian background.
- OH-Sen: Several days back, the Wrap referenced the somewhat surprising news that wealthy Republican car dealer Tom Ganley had outraised both insider GOP frontrunner Rob Portman and Democrat Lee Fisher in the fourth quarter. An important caveat: it looks like almost all of that impressive haul (about $ 1.5 million) came out of his own pocket.
- CA-Sen: Here is another campaign fundraising tidbit, and one that is bound to draw chuckles among Democrats. No doubt, as the campaign heats up, Republican Senate aspirant Carly Fiorina will be doubting her outsider businesswoman credentials as she tries to win the GOP nomination to take on third-term Senator Barbara Boxer. One complication, however: Fiorina's old employers, Hewlett Packard, have not contributed to her campaign. They have, however, maxed out to another Californian...Barbara Boxer.
- AZ-Sen: Interesting catch by Crisitunity over at SSP--an interview with CQ had the unique hint that Rodney Glassman, the thirty-something Tucson city councilman that is running for the U.S. Senate, is a potential self-funder. Local Dems are pretty confident can compete resource-for-resource with either John McCain or J.D. Hayworth. Closer to home, Glassman actually made an appearance of sorts here at DK, as he was the featured guest this morning in Blog Workers Industrial Union's semi-regular "20 Questions" series with candidates.
- CA-19: This primary should be entertaining! With Richard Pombo's entrance into the open-seat House race in California's Central Valley, some folks openly wondered if the outgoing Congressman, George Radanovich, might rethink his quick endorsement of state Senator Jeff Denham. Wonder no more: Radanovich took a jab at Pombo, saying that he would have been better off running "in his own district". This was a pretty solid shot at Pombo, who served in the kinda-sorta adjacent 11th district for a dozen years. Of course, one wonders if Radanovich feels the same about Long Beach-area native Dan Lungren and Ventura County native Tom McClintock, both of whom are Republican members of Congress representing...um...Northern California.
- THE MONEY CHASE: It is high time to clear out the notebook on fundraising boasts in advance of Sunday's FEC deadline. A solid quarter for Ann McLane Kuster in NH-02, who raised $ 207K in the fourth quarter, and has logged a total of better than a half-million dollars. Meanwhile, out west, Dr. Ami Bera (who is challenging the aforementioned Dan Lungren in CA-03) had a third consecutive eye-popper with $ 240K for the quarter and nearly three quarters of a million dollars on hand heading into 2010. Roxanne Conlin (the leading Democrat for Chuck Grassley's IA-Sen seat) only had two months to raise cash, but managed to notch just over $ 600K in that time. Meanwhile, two Democrats in the Keystone State are putting their numbers out there. In PA-03, Kathy Dahlkemper hit around $ 200K for the quarter, but had more than a million on the year. Her cash-on-hand is a pretty formidable $ 683K. Meanwhile, down the road in PA-04, Jason Altmire raised over $ 300K for the final quarter of the year. More impressively, he is sitting on just a shade over a million dollars on hand as he heads into the home stretch.