House and Senate Race Roundup: Weekend Update

AK-Sen: The good news just keeps coming in Alaska. From Ivan Moore Research, who polled the race in June pre-Stevens indictment, and have now done so again:

Begich (D) 56 (51)
Stevens (R) 35 (43)

It's tough to see how Stevens can come back from that deficit, short of an acquittal. Even if he does get an acquittal, the poll indicates he was trailing prior to the indictment.

Will Stevens be the candidate for the Republicans? Will he survive his primary? It sure looks like it:

Stevens (R) 59 (70)
Cuddy (R) 19 (21)

Everything is coming up Begich these days.

NC-Sen: The DSCC is out with a new ad hitting Elizabeth Dole:

NC-Gov: In one of the hottest gubernatorial races in the country, Democrat and Lieutenant Governor Bev Perdue leads Republican (and mayor of Charlotte) Pat McCrory by a decent margin, according to PPP:

Perdue (D) 46 (42)
McCrory (R) 37 (41)

Good trend lines, obviously. This is a race between two very strong candidates (McCrory was one of the best GOP recruits at any level this cycle), so it's quite nice to see a poll like this one out.

IL-14: Apparently, dairy magnate and perennial candidate Jim Oberweis is the new Abraham Lincoln.

He said so himself:

Oberweis resists saying where his breaking point is. The mounting losses and the public sneers do hurt him, Trish Oberweis says, but he seems to view them less as signs than as additional obstacles on his path to inevitable political office. "There was a guy about 130 or 150 years ago who had several losses before he won," he says. "I can't quite remember his name, but he went on to become the president of the United States. His first name was Abraham. What was his last name again?"

Hmm. I suppose that makes some sense. Except that people, you know, actually liked Lincoln.

CT-04: Jim Himes' primary opponent, Lee Whitnum, on Afghanistan:

And on bloggers:

Ugh.

ID-01: New ads from Democrat Walt Minnick: