The main campaign headline (the ever-tightening polling picture in New Jersey) is further down the front page. Now here is the rest of the goings-on in Campaign 2009/2010 for this Thursday...
VA-Gov: New WaPo Poll Extends McDonnell's Lead To Nine
The joy of the polling data in New Jersey gets tempered a little bit by the news out of Virginia, where a new Washington Post poll shows that Republican Bob McDonnell has moved to a nine point lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds. In September, the WaPo poll had McDonnell leading by four. The poll was conducted from October 4-7.
CA-Gov: Democrats With Notable Leads In 2010 Gubernatorial Leads
While former Governor and current Attorney General has a sizeable primary lead, the numbers from the very well-respected Field Poll (PDF File) show that either of the two primary Democrats in the field would emerge victorious over the trio of leading Republicans. Brown, who sports a sizeable 47-27 primary lead over San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, has enormous leads over leading Republicans Tom Campbell (48-27), Meg Whitman (50-29), and Steve Poizner (50-25). Newsom also leads the GOP trio, but less comfortably (leads of between 5-9 points).
NC-Sen: Burr Still Unimpressive, But Still With A Double-Digit Lead
As they do every month, the crew over at PPP poll their home state of North Carolina. Their early October numbers for Republican Senate incumbent Richard Burr almost sound like a broken record: mediocre approval numbers (36/35), but solid re-election chances. He holds a double-digit lead over the entire prospective Democratic field, with Congressman Bobby Etheridge coming the closest at an eleven-point deficit (44-33). Etheridge is not in the race yet, however. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who is committed to a bid, comes out with almost identical (44-32) results, however.
THE MONEY CHASE: The Trickle Becoming A Steady Stream
Or perhaps a babbling brook. At any rate, the campaigns are now leaking out their financial numbers for the third quarter at a steady rate, with too many at this point to report individually. Worth noting: the guys at Swing State Project have an exceptional rundown. One highlight: Democrat Julie Hamos pulling in over a half-million for the quarter in IL-10 (although she can expect a major primary challenge from two-time nominee Dan Seals, an excellent fundraiser). Some causes for trepidation: Republican Kelly Ayotte outraising likely Democratic opponent Paul Hodes in the Senate race in New Hampshire (Ayotte beat him by about fifteen grand), and a major funder in a sleeper race--Steve Fincher, a Republican challenging John Tanner in TN-08, raised over three hundred thousand dollars in his bid to replace the longtime Dem incumbent. Tanner raised a fraction of that, but is sitting on over a million bucks in cash-on-hand.
NV-Sen: Headline of the Day
Finally, a bit of unintentional frivolity courtesy of the Reno News & Review: they wrote up a story about the entry of former GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden's entry into the US Senate race. Here's guessing that the Lowden team is going to take exception to this headline: "Yucca Dump Backer Runs for Senate". It does have the benefit of accuracy--Lowden did call for "opening a dialogue" on accepting the nuclear waste dump on Yucca Mountain after a trip to the site late last year. The speculation here, however, is this is probably NOT the issue by which Team Lowden wanted to define their candidate.
