Latest Senate 2012 Political developments
Sep 12, 2011
The latest developments:
Massachusetts: Consumer activist and former White House official Elizabeth Warren (D) circulates in the state on a listening tour. Recent polling shows Brown ahead of all Democrats but vulnerable. In the meantime, Rep. Michael Capuano (D) did the expected and announced he would not run for the Senate.
Virginia: Rep. Bobby Scott (D) also did the expected and decided not to challenge former Gov. Kaine (D) for the Democratic nomination.
Wisconsin: Rep. Tammy Baldwin has jumped into the Senate contest for Sen. Herb Kohl’s (D) seat. It is not clear if other Democrats will run. Former Rep. Mark Neumann (R) has also announced, and is likely to be the tea party champion against former governor Tommy Thompson (R). State Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R) also is running.
Hawaii: Rep. Mazie Hirono's (D) is twice blessed: Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D) and ex-Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann (D) will both skip the Senate contest. It is now an easier Hirono vs. former Rep. Ed Case (D) contest.
Connecticut: 2012 CT Senate nominee Linda McMahon (R) is now expected to run again and face former Rep. Shays (R) in a primary. There are three Democrats running for the seat.
Click here for complete Senate election analysis.
Council's 2010 Elections Contest is Now Open!
Oct 19, 2010
Polls today show Republicans poised to make major gains in the House and Senate elections, perhaps capturing one or both chambers. Republicans claim that their polls show more and more vulnerable House Democrats while Democrats assert that their base is coming home and a number of Senate and House elections are looking better.
Will the Republicans sweep the Senate and House of Representatives as predicted by some political pundits? Will public disenchantment with incumbents in general instead cause upsets for both parties?
Here’s your chance to make your best guess – and win some money and notoriety while you do it.
This year, we want you to predict who will win the House and Senate as well as a number of the hottest, most-contested, most-watched congressional and gubernatorial races across the country.
So, here’s your chance to cast your best guess as to what will happen on Nov. 2 (and, win $100). Enter now!
Send this contest to your friends, colleagues and fellow political pundits (even though we know you probably don’t want the added competition). This year’s races are too interesting and too contested to sit on the sidelines.
Two Senate candidates in deep trouble
Nov 16, 2009
Two incumbents (one Senate and one Governor) are in serious trouble in the 2010 Senate contests.
In Florida, the hard right conservatives who recently managed to throw an upstate New York Republican seat to the Democrats by supporting a third party candidate are at it again. The popular Governor now running for Senate, Charlie Crist (R-FL), is opposed by Club for Growth and other conservative activists who think he is too moderate. Crist’s Republican opponent, Marco Rubio (R-FL), the former House speaker, has begun closing the gap in the polls although not in fundraising. Rubio is also winning Republican straw polls.
In Connecticut, incumbent Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) is either running virtually even or behind any of five Republican opponents, including 11 points behind former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT).Ralph Nader, who managed to screw up the Al Gore for President campaign in 2000, is thinking of running for Senate in Connecticut as an independent (beware of any potential candidate who talks of all the people urging him to run). Dodd’s main hope is that the Republicans destroy each other in a primary.
How many other incumbents will be in trouble next year, or will improved economic conditions and an enacted health care bill create a rising tide for many of these incumbents.,
Politico: 10 Senate seats most likely to flip
Nov 10, 2009
By: Alex Isenstadt
November 10, 2009 04:53 AM EST
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=DB33EEA1-18FE-70B2-A8328A7DB0C0427D
After struggling for two consecutive cycles on the Senate battlefield, Republicans seem poised to make a comeback in 2010. With 37 seats up for grabs — and Democrats defending 19 of them — the GOP is flexing its muscles in Democratic-leaning states like Delaware, Connecticut and Illinois. Recruiting coups by National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn of Texas are one big reason Republicans feel a new sense of confidence. Democrats, meanwhile, are taking on an increasingly defensive crouch as the party in power, which must defend President Barack Obama’s ambitious — and expensive — agenda.
Without further ado, here is POLITICO’s list of the 10 best pickup opportunities among next year’s Senate contests.
The November 3 election results
Nov 04, 2009
Pundits and the politicians will draw numerous lessons from yesterday’s election results. Some of these lessons may even be accurate.
Off-year elections results are primarily determined by local and state concerns. This is certainly the case in the races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia and the special election for the U.S. House of Representatives contest in upstate New York.
Yet there is little doubt that the national economic uncertainties and Obama’s difficult challenges on health care, global warming, Afghanistan and the economic stimulus package adversely affected the Democratic candidates.
Obama’s popularity remains fairly high despite these difficulties.
One thing is for sure: national security issues, whether nuclear weapons reductions, the war in Iraq or the possibility of sending additional troops to Afghanistan, played no role in yesterday’s results. Zero. Zippo. Nada.