The local Arizona press is buzzing about new polls showing McCain with a very fragile lead in his home state. A new poll out today will also supposedly show a tied race. The Arizona Capital Times reports on an internal Republican poll and one anonymous GOP operative (described as "distraught") says "If I were to place a bet today, I'd say McCain loses" Arizona. Polling also shows that McCain is underperforming Bush in several key Congressional districts - in his home state!
Also, the WSJ says Stevens should resign and McClatchy tries to qualify just how big the "Palin drag" is on the GOP ticket.
The Arizona Capitol Times has news of an internal Republican poll showing McCain only leading Obama by three points in Arizona:
More disturbingly for Republicans, at least one internal Republican poll conducted toward the end of the week showed McCain clinging to a tiny 3-point lead. McCain is tied in Maricopa County, usually seen as a death knell for any statewide Republican candidate, but he makes up the difference with a strong performance in the northern part of the state.
and:
"This is shaping up to be the worst landslide for a Republican since (former Arizona Senator Barry) Goldwater. I realize the irony in that," said one distraught Arizona Republican operative who asked for anonymity to speak frankly. "If I were to place a bet today, I'd say McCain loses" his home state.
And it keeps getting better:
Still, other Republican strategists with ties to Arizona said, on condition that their names not be used, that there was reason for concern.
Internal Democratic polls in individual congressional districts in Arizona show McCain dramatically underperforming President Bush's 2004 numbers.
In AZ-05, a recent poll shows McCain and Obama tied at 43%, a district where Bush won 54%-45%. Another poll in AZ-03 shows McCain up by 2 points where Bush won by 17. This is his home state, folks!! Dawnt also mentioned the Capitol Times story in a diary posted late yesterday that fell down the list pretty quickly but it has lots of other good information about McCain's woes in Arizona.
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This comes on the heels of two polls released yesterday that also had Obama barely trailing McCain in Arizona. Another poll, to be released today, will supposedly also show a toss-up in McCain's home state. The East Valley Tribune (AZ) reports, Polls show Obama, McCain in dead heat in Arizona:
A poll conducted by Arizona State University/KAET-TV 8 and set for release today will also project the race as a tossup. "It's dead even in Arizona, which is consistent with the other two polls," ASU/KAET research director Bruce Merrill said Monday.
Pollster no longer lists Arizona as a "strong McCain" state. I'm most excited about this news because of the impact it will have on Democrats in Arizona. I'm hoping this news will energize Arizonans who may have felt their vote wouldn't matter, that McCain would win Arizona anyway, and will encourage them to go to the polls and elect Bob Lord in AZ-03 and defeat Prop. 102. Kos has a donation goal for Bob Lord as well.
(East Valley Tribune)
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David Lightman at McClatchy looks atJust how big a drag is Palin on the McCain campaign?, and finds the drag is rather large. My nomination for quote of the day:
"Nice lady, no experience. It's so sad. She's a gigantic drag," said Chris DePino, a Republican consultant based in New Haven, Conn.
and:
"It reinforced the notion that John McCain cared little about people like me," said former Maine state Rep. Sherry Huber, a Republican who backed McCain in the primary but now supports Obama. "She clearly does not share the values I and other moderate Republicans do."
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Speaking of Palin, Gary Kamiya has a great piece at Salon that details the Republican shipwreck:
The modern conservative movement is dying in front of our eyes, and its death throes aren't pretty. As John McCain heads for likely defeat, the GOP is eating itself. Right-wing politicians and pundits who never criticized Bush in eight years are suddenly jumping ship like rats, while bitter-end loyalists angrily accuse them of being "pathetically opportunistic." After months of veering from one tactic to the next, McCain has finally settled on one message for his campaign, but it's absurd: claiming that the party whose signature is tax cuts for the rich is really on the side of Joe the Plumber.
Another great quote of the morning from Kamiya:
It takes a deep obliviousness to reality for an ardent Bush supporter to be sounding the alarm about the "nanny state" at the same time that his beloved president and party are solicitously spoon-feeding their wailing Wall Street brat out of a $700 billion jar of Gerber's.
Read the whole piece, it's fantastic. I feel smarter after having read it.
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Someone delivered a severed deer head to an Obama office in Colorado Springs. What is it with these people and dead animals?
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If you want to barf before breakfast, have a look at William McGurn's column in the Wall Street Journal entitled Palin shows how to transcend culture wars. Yes, you read that right. McGurn thinks Palin can transcend the culture wars because she has a child with down syndrome. He also thinks one of the "lasting images" of campaign 2008 will be "Piper licking her hand and trying to slick down [Trig's] hair." It's funny... I wish Mr. McGurn could tell me a little bit about what conservatives have accomplished for special needs children over the last 8 years?
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The WSJ editorial board thinks Ted Stevens should resign and let Lt. Governor Sean Parnell run as a write-in candidate. They also have some not-so-nice words for Senator Stevens:
One would be hard put to identify anyone other than the senior Senator from Alaska -- perhaps Tom DeLay -- who did more to drive the Republican Party into the political wilderness waiting for it at the far end of that nowhere bridge.
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The Suncoast News (FL) reports that Joe Biden got a "big crowd" at his rally yesterday in New Port Richey:
Biden made the first appearance by a Democratic candidate on the national ticket to the West Pasco area in recent decades. Only GOP candidates had held rallies at Sims Park in the past – President Bush in 2004 and Vice President Dan Quayle in 1992.
The St. Petersburg Times estimated the crowd at 3,200. Pretty impressive that Biden can attract crowds of this size deep in Republican territory.
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Oh, goody! ABC News reports that Joe the Plumber is going to be campaigning for McCain in Ohio today. I was literally laughing out loud reading some of the comments on this story:
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Former Republican Senator from Maryland, Charles McC. Mathias Jr., endorses Obama in today's Washington Post:
My decision is based on the long-range needs of our country and which of these two candidates I feel is better suited to recharge America's economic health, restore its prestige abroad and inspire anew all people who cherish freedom and equality. For me, that person is Barack Obama.
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So what's on your mind this morning? The Asian markets did better today after their bloodbath yesterday and a N. Korean soldier defected across the DMZ! That's a pretty big deal because it hardly ever happens.
*all emphasis in this diary is mine.