Rand Paul's last celebrated Paulite moneybomb brought in about $260,000. The campaign of Democrat Jack Conway aimed to beat that number in their own effort yesterday. They did so, and comfortably so: over $300,000 was raised yesterday, and the money continues to pour in.
Here at Daily Kos, almost 1,300 of you responded and gave nearly $50,000 to Conway and the rest of our Orange to Blue roster this cycle. For a year in which excitement has been hard to generate, this was a moment of big optimism.
There are more reasons to feel motivated to fight --
Rather than capitulate, Obama has decided to oppose the extension of tax cuts for the richest Americans. Its a much needed populist position for progressives who wanted Democrats to be Democrats in the run-up to this election.
Gallup's outlier generic congressional ballot poll (the one with the GOP +10) has been supplanted by a new one showing a 46-46 tie. Democrats still face a challenging environment, but heading into this contest tied (or slightly behind) gives us room to improve. Being down 10 would be disastrous.
Individual state-by-state races show that we remain competitive in challenging territory. The DCCC's poll dump yesterday was designed, in large part, to show that the sky hadn't fallen. Yes, we'll suffer big losses, but if the GOP isn't running away with, say, AL-02 against a freshman Democrat in a district that McCain won 63-36, then perhaps Speaker John Boehner isn't a done deal yet.
Back to Kentucky, we still have a real race:
Ophthalmologist Rand Paul (R) and state Attorney General Jack Conway (D) are in a statistical tie in the Kentucky Senate race, according to a new survey conducted by a Democratic pollster.
Paul takes 48 percent to 45 percent for Conway in the poll, which was conducted for the Kentucky Leadership Council by John Anzalone.
The poll shows voters are concerned about Paul's public statements, including one in which he appeared to dismiss the state's problems with drugs. Neaely six in ten voters (59 percent) agreed that Paul "says things that bother and concern me."
PPP will be going into the field in Kentucky in the next couple of days, and we'll have fresh numbers for you early next week. Needless to say, we can win this.
And here's the bottom line -- despite what's happening in Alaska and Delaware, there's an uneasy truce (more like a cold war) between the old GOP establishment and the teabagging crowd. The establishment hates that the teabaggers have already cost them easy victories in Nevada, Kentucky, and Alaska, but they appreciate the activist energy, which they hope proves a net plus.
But if the GOP comes up short, and fails to take either chamber of Congress, it will be considered a crushing defeat for the bad guys. And then, that cold, simmering war will become an active one -- with the GOP elders noting (rightly) that their candidates would've done away with Harry Reid and other Democrats, and the teabaggers arguing that Republicans failed because they weren't conservative enough.
That's a show that none of us should want to miss, and should provide plenty of motivation to GOTV this fall. Things are tough, but the game ain't over yet. In fact, we've got plenty of time to fight and fight hard.
As always, giving to our Orange to Blue candidates is a great place to start. And then see what you can do for your local Democrats. This year, without exception, there's a competitive race reasonably close to you.