What a crazy day it has been in the Senate races. It is hard to decide which of the GOP candidates latest revelations are more horrifying. In Illinois, Mark Kirk is planning on policing the African-American polling stations in case of "jiggering". In West Virginia, John Raese wants to abolish the minimum wage. In Kentucky, Rand Paul wants to replace the income tax with a retail sales tax. In Colorado, more evidence is produced that shows Ken Buck as a misogynistic jerk.
Illinois:
Last week audio tape of a conversation Rep. Mark Kirk (R) had about sending poll monitors to "vulnerable" African-American polling stations.
In a private phone conversation that was secretly recorded, Mark Kirk, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Illinois, told state Republican leaders last week about his plan to send "voter integrity" squads to four predominately African American neighborhoods of Chicago "where the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat."
"These are lawyers and other people that will be deployed in key, vulnerable precincts, for example, South and West sides of Chicago, Rockford, Metro East, where the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat," he said in the audio posted on YouTube.
Audio of the conversation below:
It's clear Kirk is getting desperate. Early voting started on 10/10 (link to find early voting locations). A new poll out from Rasmussen of all places has Alexi Giannoulias in the lead:
Rasmussen Reports (10/11, likely voters, 10/4 results in parentheses):
Alexi Giannoulias (D): 44 (41)
Mark Kirk (R): 43 (45)
LeAlan Jones (G): 4 (4)
Other 7 (5)
Undecided: 2 (6)
(MoE: ±4.0%)
Alexi has an aggressive new ad out based on the MTP debate this weekend:
To help progressive Alexi Giannoulias win his race, you can volunteer with his campaign or OFA and/or donate via ActBlue.
West Virginia:
John Raese wants to abolish the minimum wage. Link to the video segment (it is about 3:22 into the video). Select quotes:
The minimum wage is something that FDR put in place a long time ago during the Great Depression," Raese told ABC News Top Line. "I don't think it worked then. It didn't solve any problems then and it hasn't solved any problems in 50 years."
More Raese: "The minimum wage is not something that you want to stay on as a permanent basis. For example, if you have a minimum wage job, you don't stay there 20 or 30 years. You don't put your children through college working on minimum wage. One of the best things I can say, when you get the government out of micromanaging the economy -- you don't want government to set price controls, you don't want government to set wage controls. It's an archaic system that frankly has not worked."
Asked if the federally mandated minimum wage should be abolished, Raese answered, "absolutely."
Polling showing Manchin back in the lead:
Public Policy Polling (10/9-10/10, likely voters, 9/18-19 in parentheses):
Joe Manchin (D): 48 (43)
John Raese (R): 45 (46)
Undecided: 7 (10)
(MoE: ±2.8%)
And I know that Manchin is way, way to the right of most posters here. However, he is a vast improvement over Raese. Quoting John Cole WV voter and owner of Balloon Juice:
Manchin is definitely running to the right in this election, and will be a pain in the ass on issues I care about, but Raese would be a disaster. I could understand this sentiment if there were any Democrats waiting in the wings to challenge Raese in 2012, but Ken Hechler is approaching 100, and if Manchin loses, we could be looking at a GOP senator in Byrd’s seat for a long, long time.
Manchin may not be covering himself with glory, but Raese would be a disaster. I know which way I am voting.
And you really need to understand the changes WV has been going through. When you think GOP, you think white and old. That also describes WV, which has one of the oldest populations in the country. Bush won here in 2000 and 2004. McCain took it in 2008. Shelly Capito won her seat in 2004 (I think), the first Republican Rep that I remember. WV is slowly becoming a red state (or already is) so you have to choose between a blue dog or a Republican. That simple.
To help Joe Manchin win his race, you can volunteer with his campaign or OFA and/or donate via ActBlue.
Colorado
The front page has been all over the horrors of Ken Buck and his handling of a rape case in 2005. Not to mention his draconian views on abortion. Truly horrifying.
Michael Bennet is taking Buck to task over his anti-woman views:
To help Michael Bennet win his race, you can volunteer with his campaign or OFA and/or donate via ActBlue.
Kentucky
Rand Paul has come out today with a new plan to replace the income tax with a retail sales tax:
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul of Kentucky says the federal tax code is a "disaster," and he wants to replace the income tax with a retail sales tax.
Paul said Tuesday that he would support changing the federal tax code to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service and the federal income tax
To help Jack Conway win his race, you can volunteer with his campaign or OFA and/or donate via ActBlue.