Obviously, the tragic events in Washington DC deserve our attention more than the smattering of data and political goings-on that lie beneath. But the news does not stop, and thus, neither does the daily wrap-up:
AL-GOV: PPP Poll Shows Possible Frontrunners Emerging
PPP polls the gubernatorial race in the state of Alabama, testing a variety of matchups (click the link for the full rundown). What appears to be emerging is the fact that former college administrator Bradley Byrne appears to be the strongest Republican candidate, while Congressman Artur Davis appears to be the strongest Democratic candidate. Between the two putative frontrunners, Byrne has a narrow lead of Davis, within the margin of error.
FL-SEN: Quinnipiac Looks At Possible Primary Showdowns
On the heels of what promised to be a competitive primary, Quinnipiac heads to the Sunshine State to poll next year’s potential Senate matchups. Club for Growth poster boy and conservative former FL House Speaker Marco Rubio is going to need all the muscle CfG can provide: he trails Governor Charlie Crist by thirty-one points in the GOP primary (54-23). Meanwhile, for the Dems, "undecided" is lapping the field, as 57% of voters lack a preference. Among those with a preference, South Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek has a narrow lead (18-12) over Jacksonville Congresswoman Corinne Brown.
HI-GOV: Major Candidate On Verge of Entering 2010 Race
According to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, a potential "Clash of the Titans" is emerging in the race to replace two-term Republican Linda Lingle as the state’s Governor. Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann is on the cusp of leaping into the Democratic primary, where he will face longtime Honolulu-based Congressman Neal Abercrombie (who, it must be said, has one of the best heads of hair in the Congress). Republican Lt. Governor Duke Aiona awaits the winner.
IL-14: Democratic Rookie Draws A Hastert As 2010 Opponent
Missed this one yesterday in all the Virginia hullabaloo. While freshman Democrat Bill Foster does not have to deal with Dennis Hastert next Fall, it is likely he will have to deal with the former GOP Speaker’s 31 year-old son, Ethan. Ethan Hastert is an attorney, who will likely parlay his familial connections into a fairly fat war chest and a fairly small set of primary challengers. Foster won easily in November over the man he vanquished in the March 2008 special election to replace Dennis Hastert (Jim Oberweis).
NC-11: We Have A Mumpower Sighting!!
Sadly, it does not appear as if he is going to seek a rematch with Heath Shuler, but we do have a bit of fun (courtesy of diarist Mahimahi1414 over at SSP) with one of our favorite candidates of the 2008 cycle: Asheville councilman Carl Mumpower. Apparently, he felt the need to compliment both security and fans at a recent Phish concert in Asheville for the event being relatively free of...and this is HIS characterization, not MINE..."the NO-NO word". In context, we are pretty sure he is talking about weed. But perhaps he was thinking about NoNo, the GOPosaur. Great T-Shirts still available!!! After all, Father's Day is coming up!!!
NJ-GOV: Post-Primary Poll Gives Christie A Ten-Point Edge
Quinnipiac goes out after the primaries last week in the Garden State and finds GOP nominee Chris Christie with a ten-point lead over Democratic Governor Jon Corzine (50-40). The trial heat is somewhat interesting (note that Quinnipiac indicates that they have changed their screen from registered voters to likely voters—the difference was only a point in Christie’s favor). What is REALLY interesting to me, though, is the fact that Christie is so "under the radar" that about half of the voters STILL do not have an opinion of him. That could be great news for Corzine, who will still have some space available with which to define his GOP opponent.
VA-GOV: Two Excellent Post-Mortems From Primary Day
In the wake of Creigh Deeds’ decisive win last night, we get a pretty decent postmortem from the blog The Electoral Map, as well as a final kick in the knees at the Washington Post from the fellas at PPP, who points out that for all their bluster about "no reliable polling", the two automated pollsters caught a Deeds surge. Indeed, they were calling the Deeds surge while the traditional media sources were still, in many corners, talking toss-up.