Here's your daily Orange to Blue race news.
Speaker Pelosi Project:
CA-41, CA-47: Mark Takano and Alan Lowenthal are going to get the Big Dog bounce as President Clinton returns to the state to endorse them, along with a few other Democrats, in a rally tomorrow at University of California Irvine. Let Mr. Clinton be your guide, and pitch in for Takano and Lowenthal.
FL-26: Embattle Republican Rep. David Rivera does his best Tricky Dick impersonation in an interview with Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe. He's not crook, and he's the victim of a big "partisan-motivated witch hunt." The last polling in the race was a week ago by Beneson Strategy Group for the DCCC. It gave Joe Garcia an 11 point lead. Let's get Joe over the finish line. Donate to his campaign here.
MN-06: Our friends over on the DKE page have news about new polling out of Minnesota, conducted for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune by "Pulse Opinion Research, unfortunately—the for-hire arm of Rasmussen Reports." They've got Michele Bachmann holding a six-point lead over Jim Graves, 51-45. The MoE on this one is three points. Graves' internal polling shows Bachmann leading by just two points. Graves is still pushing hard. You can help him beat Bachmann.
MN-08: The Star-Tribune also polled the 8th district, with more encouraging results. They give Democrat Rick Nolan a seven-point lead, 50-43, over GOP Rep. Chip Cravaack, meaning all might be right in MN-08 again, a district that had been Democratic for seven decades before Cravaack rode a tea party wave to D.C. However, the same poll has Obama and Romney essentially tied, so Graves would be seriously out-performing Obama. Let's get Rick Nolan there.
Upgrade the Senate:
You'll notice a change on our Upgrade the Senate page: We've consolidated the races to those that are really close, and have decided to focus on them by dropping Mazie Hirono and Martin Heinrich, who are both winning, big. We need to keep the focus on holding Ohio and Wisconsin, and regaining Massachusetts and Connecticut (no, Lieberman doesn't count as a Democrat).
CT-Sen: Linda McMahon's political schizophrenia continues. First, she's trying to convince voters she'll be just like President Obama, and then she has New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie come to the state to stump for her. Maybe she needed to shore up the tiny Republican base she has in Connecticut, after all her efforts to run away from her party. It's quite possible that Linda McMahon is as craven a politician as Mitt Romney. Click here to help Chris Murphy end her political career.
OH-Sen: It's all about Ohio in the polling today. Four new polls are out on this Senate race, all of them encouraging for Sherrod Brown:
- PPP: Sherrod Brown: 49 (49), Josh Mandel: 44 (42)
- Quinnipiac: Sherrod Brown: 51 (50), Josh Mandel: 42 (40)
- Rasmussen: Sherrod Brown: 49 (47), Josh Mandel: 44 (46)
- Suffolk: Sherrod Brown: 46, Josh Mandel: 39
None of those is a knockout for Brown. Let's keep Sherrod Brown in the Senate.
MA-Sen: Republican pollster Kimball Political Consulting has Elizabeth Warren leading Scott Brown, 48 to 45.5 percent. This is the first time Kimball has given the lead to Warren. Brown's favorables have plummeted in the month since Kimball polled last, from 58 percent approval to 49 and his unfavorable rating has gone from 34 percent a month ago to 41 now. His decision to go nasty and negative has certainly backfired on him. Please contribute to Elizabeth Warren's campaign here.
WI-Sen: Polling! What else?
- Rasmussen: Tommy Thompson: 48 (47), Tammy Baldwin: 46 (51)
- Feldman Group: (internal for Baldwin) Tammy Baldwin: 49 (48), Tommy Thompson: 44 (44)
Help out Tammy here.
Daily Kos for Marriage Equality:
Maine: It's deceptive ad time in the battle for equality. An ad featuring a Vermont inn-keeping couple who were sued under Vermont’s anti-discrimination laws when they refused to host a lesbian couple’s wedding reception. The couple appears in the ad to say that life will never be the same for Maine business owners if the law is passed. They say they cannot host any weddings because of their opposition to gay marriage, and it's all because of the gay marriage law in Vermont. Which it's not, because it's about the anti-discrimination law that was already on the books, the same as it is in Maine.
Maryland: This ad, in which the Maryland Marriage Alliance twists the words of Michelle Obama, who is pro-equality, is really disgusting. For the record, the first lady is both pro-family, and pro-equality, because yes, that is a thing. On another note, the measure has a nine-point lead in a WaPo poll released Friday. Because apparently a lot of Marylanders are pro-family and pro-equality.
Minnesota: SurveyUSA released a poll at the end of last week showing the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is in a dead heat, with 47 for banning it, 46 against. That's improvement from last month, when SUSA polled 50 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed.
Washington: And it's all about the polling here, too. In-state pollster Strategies 360 finds 43 percent saying they will definitely vote in favor with 12 percent leaning that way, and 37 percent against it, with 8 percent saying they are undecided. Those undecideds will probably go against, if historical patterns prevail. Meaning it's close.
And finally, for fun, look who we helped kick out of office in the Wisconsin recall.
Former Republican senator from Fond du Lac Randal Hopper is in jail this morning following a report of a fight late Sunday at his ex-wife’s home.
Hopper, 46, of Fond du Lac, is being held in the Fond du Lac County Jail on charges of drunken driving, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass, said Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Lt. Rick Olig.
Good job!