On this Thursday evening, we depart from the recent trend of celebrating "damn, are we all getting old" birthdays by saluting something a bit more appropriate to a site like Daily Kos.
So, with that in mind, best birthday wishes to one William Jefferson Clinton. The Big Dog turns 64 today. Our 42nd president joins a quartet of birthday boys and girls from the political arena: former Vermont Governor Thomas Salmon (78), actor-turned-U.S. Senator Fred Dalton Thompson (68), former Second Lady of the United States Tipper Gore (62), and GOP talking head Mary Matalin (57).
Also, will some NFL team sign future Hall of Famer Morten Andersen? The venerable kicker turns 50 today, and there'd be something incredibly cool about a fifty-something dude in the league.
With the candles blown out and the confetti properly tossed, it is time for the Thursday edition of the Wrap...
THE U.S. SENATE
AZ-Sen: Hayworth trying to land haymakers as the final bell looms
Like the defeated heavyweight trying to lob bombs late in the 12th round, former Congressman and Senate aspirant J.D. Hayworth is swinging desperately in the closing days of the GOP primary with incumbent John McCain. His latest web ad hits McCain for...not being tough enough of a Dred Scott Republican. That's right, Hayworth is hanging his GOP political resurrection on birthright citizenship (side note--the bloviating jerk would do well to read Markos' piece from earlier today). This is a curious line of attack, though, since McCain did voice some concern about scary immigrant babies a few weeks ago. Hayworth also cleverly employed the alphabet in a new radio spot, saying that, for McCain, "A is for Amnesty, B is for Bailouts...and C is for Cap-and-Trade." Catchy!
CT-Sen: Former WWE star takes dead aim at McMahon on worker safety
The tragic (and untimely) passing of former WWE wrestler Lance Cade put the day job that made GOP Senate nominee Linda McMahon back on the front burner. But it was her fairly flippant response to his passing (McMahon dismissed it, saying she "might have met Lance once") that drew criticism from a former WWE combatant. Christopher Nowinski, a Harvard-educated athlete who worked for the franchise from 2002-2003 and then retired due to post-concussion symptoms, was infuriated by McMahon's dismissal of the passing of one her former employees, and went much further on the issue of what it was like working in McMahon's WWE:
Her quote in the paper was, "I might have met Lance once," which is just kicking dirt on the guy's grave. They have an environment where it's absolutely unsafe to work in that ring. They have no oversight into what actually happens in the ring, and they are encouraging steroid use.
* * * * *
I retired from concussions, and now this is my life. And only now, even understanding how other sports treats their workers, do I realize how bad it was there.
McMahon had, in an earlier interview, had largely pooh-poohed the idea of the WWE having any responsibility for Cade's death, although longtime wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer noted that "if this is similar to others, they usually end up being the same -- heart attacks with long-term drug use such as steroids, pain pills, narcotics, some kind of combination -- as a contributing factor."
MO-Sen: Clearly, Roy Blunt doesn't stand by crass 9/11 ad
This is usually a pretty transparent sign that someone is ashamed of their own handiwork. Less than a day after the campaign of GOP nominee Roy Blunt posted an incredibly tacky 9/11 themed video attacking Democratic nominee Robin Carnahan, his campaign pulled the ad. Blunt's ad, which bore at least some similarities to the effort put out by New York gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio this week, was yanked after the press started to ask about it. A Blunt spokesman conceded the awfulness of the ad, with the understated explanation that the ad "didn't reflect the right tone."
NH-Sen: Ugly, inaccurate GOP anti-government screeds (take 230)
This one is more than a little ugly. Jim Bender, a self-funder who has been largely an also-ran in the GOP Senate primary in the Granite State, has apparently been trying to shore up his anti-government bonafides. Bender's target is the FDA, which recently refused to endorse the breast cancer drug Avastin. Bender claimed that the FDA was basing their decision on cost effectiveness, blustering that "The FDA's job is to look at product safety and effectiveness and their decisions should not be impacted on cost of treatment." The problem? The panel's recommendation (which came on a 12-1 vote) was based not on cost effectiveness, but rather "recent studies finding that the drug did not extend patients' life spans and also increased the incidence of side effects and other complications."
PA-Sen: GOP zaps spoiler from race, Toomey leads in Sestak poll
Two items of note from the Keystone State today. The first (which also impacts the gubernatorial race between Republican Tom Corbett and Democrat Dan Onorato) is that the Republican Party has successfully driven the Libertarian candidates from the ballot via a challenge to the nominating petitions for the party's gubernatorial and Senate nominees. This means that Libertarian Senate candidate Douglas Jamison is out, which might have saved Patrick Toomey some support from moderate Republicans displeased with his ideological rigidity. In other PA-Sen news, the campaign of Democrat Joe Sestak made a curious move today. Someone in Team Sestak leaked internal polling to NBC. That happens a lot, of course, but it is a tad more rare when the poll shows you trailing. The poll showed Toomey up 43-42 with third party candidates included. Of course, those third party candidates are no longer included, which stretched Toomey's lead out to two points.
THE U.S. HOUSE
AR-02: Public poll declares GOP pickup likely in Little Rock seat
Longtime Democratic Rep. Vic Snyder is exceedingly likely to be replaced by a Republican, according to a new public poll released by Talk Business. Republican Tim Griffin holds a seventeen-point lead (52-35) over Democrat Joyce Elliott, according to the survey. Clearly, the wounds for Elliott after her primary against conservative former state house speaker Robbie Wills have not quite healed, as just under a third of Democrats in the district are leaning in Griffin's direction.
IA-03: Zaun's past comes back to haunt him with two revelations
Granted, he still has a long way to go before he's as shady as FL-25 GOPer David Rivera, but a pair of stories out in the past day or so has cast a bit of a shadow over the campaign of GOP nominee Brad Zaun. Tom Witosky of the Des Moines Register reported today that Zaun was ordered to stay away from an ex-girlfriend in 2001 after she called local police complaining of harrassment. The police report doesn't paint a pretty picture of Zaun, who is alleged to have done some late-night drunk-dialing to his ex in the presence of the cop (no Mel Gibson, but pretty decent nevertheless). In another Zaun story, the IRS has released Zaun from a tax lien, after Zaun provided documentation that he had sold the business before the taxes were incurred. That story, however, renewed focus on Zaun's checkered financial past, which included a couple of foreclosures and some more recent wage garnishment.
OH-13: Ganley steps on President-as-Muslim landmine
This story does not paint a pretty picture of Republican car dealer Tom Ganley, whose lavish self-funding has made a race in this blue-leaning district in Northern Ohio. Ganley, in response to a question from Roll Call earlier in the day, refused to answer a question about whether or not he thought President Obama was a Muslim. In a decidedly weak backtrack, Ganley followed up late in the day with the statement that he blew off the question because it was irrelevant. Furthermore, in that weaselly dog whistle commentary for which the GOP has become so well-versed on this issue, Ganley said that "According to the White House, our President is a Christian, and I have no reason to believe otherwise."
OH-16: I-E ad against GOP challenger leads to a lawsuit
An early attempt by a Dem-friendly group to soften up a well-heeled challenger looks like it is headed to court. AFSCME, a prominent labor union, began running ads last week hitting Republican Jim Renacci (who is challenging Democratic freshman John Boccieri) on the issue of taxes. The crux of the dispute for Renacci, apparently, is a claim in the ad that Renacci has had tax issues of his own in the past.
THE GUBERNATORIAL RACES
CA-Gov: $100+ million bought Whitman...disinterest and disdain?
Calitics has what is, in my view, one of the most amazing stats of the 2010 campaign. The campaign of Democratic nominee Jerry Brown has offered internal polling data which reveals that Meg Whitman's incessant television advertising (which has been omnipresent since the winter) is quite clearly turning off the electorate. The majority of voters (58%) either stated that the ads made no difference to their view of Whitman, or that they held a lower opinion of Whitman in the wake of her ad blitz. Indeed, only 8% of voters felt better about Whitman since the deluge, while 27% felt worse about her. This might explain why most polls have Whitman trailing, even after she has dropped nine figures on the race.
CO-Gov: Maes LG selection met with catcalls from GOP base
Dan Maes went with some balance in his selection for Lt. Governor, selecting state legislator Tambor Williams. That move might well have backfired, according to a post today at ColoradoPols. My favorite McNugget of GOP angst was the GOP blogger who posted an email which stated, in part, that "Tambor Williams is the poster child for everything that caused voters to distrust the CO GOP in the first place." Of course, since the head of the Colorado GOP tried to shoot Maes' nomination out from under him earlier this week, maybe pleasing the party isn't high on his list.
NY-Gov: Paladino goes the poultry route as he seeks Lazio debate
Yesterday, you might recall that the Wrap put a spotlight on California Democrat Ray Lutz, who is seeking a debate with incumbent Duncan Hunter, and has commenced a hunger strike in order to raise awareness of Hunter's reluctance to debate. On the other side of the country, Republican challenger Carl Paladino is taking a more traditional approach: he has sent a chicken to shadow Lazio at his campaign stops. There is some novelty to Paladino's approach, however: his yen for debate, he argues, ends the second he takes the lead in the race, a position his internal polling suggests that he might already be in (recall, however, that a public poll by Siena yesterday had Lazio up by thirteen points).
RI-Gov: Did Lincoln Chafee learn nothing from Martha Coakley?
We will find out in a couple of months if the Schilling effect works in Rhode Island as it did in Massachusetts. You might recall that Martha Coakley took a (faintly ridiculous) hit for misidentifying Curt Schilling as a "Yankees Fan" during the special Senate campaign last winter. Chafee, meanwhile, is dinging Schilling for something a bit more substantive. Chafee is blasting a deal in which the state government, specifically the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, floated a $75 million loan to Schilling to start up his new venture, a video game company called 38 Studios LLC. Chafee cited the level of exposure this creates for local taxpayers, and deemed that such sweetheart deals were excessive and unnecessary for luring business to the state.
THE RAS-A-POLL-OOZA
Ras actually surprises me a little bit today (and, no, not just with this bit of awfulness).
I expected, when I saw the outline of Washington on the front page, to see Dino Rossi dominating the proceedings in the great Northwest. Shockingly, the House of Ras actually gives Democrat Patty Murray the post-primary lead. They also give Dems the lead in gubernatorial races in Rhode Island and Maryland.
MD-Gov: Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) 45%, Robert Ehrlich (R) 44%
NV-Gov: Brian Sandoval (R) 52%, Rory Reid (D) 36%
RI-Gov: Frank Caprio (D) 38%, Lincoln Chafee (I) 32%, John Robataille (I) 20%
RI-Gov: Frank Caprio (D) 40%, Lincoln Chafee (I) 33%, John Robataille (I) 17%
WA-Sen: Sen. Patty Murray (D) 48%, Dino Rossi (R) 44%