Arkansas Senate, Democratic primary Blanche Lincoln targets Democracy for America in a fundraising email:
Dear ,
A national group headquartered in Vermont recently sent an email announcing they were busing in people from out-of-state to campaign for Blanche's opponent. You can read their email below.
This is the same organization that called Blanche a "villain" because they don't agree with her common-sense approach to solving problems. She'll work with whomever it takes to get results for Arkansas.
This is a pretty elitist statement from Lincoln. I mean, I can be an elitist at times, but I don't think that lying to your supporters on a wide variety of issues is what most people would consider a "common sense" means of solving problems. That is a pretty low opinion of the commons from Lincoln.
Utah Senate, Republican primary: Utah Republican Senator Bob Bennett looks likely to lose re-nomination at the state Republican convention next month. In order to make it onto the primary ballot, Bennett needs at least 40% of the vote at the state convention, and to finish in 2nd place. However, two polls of convention delegates--who were chosen at precinct caucuses--show him in a distant third, and nowhere near 40%. Bennett is a pretty conservative guy, but apparently that isn't good enough for local Republican activists. They are upset at him for a variety of reasons, including voting for the Wall Street bailout in 2008.
Ohio Senate, Democratic primary: The DSCC has reserved airtime in Ohio on behalf of Lt. Governor Lee Fisher. This is a direct intervention on behalf of Fisher in the Democratic primary against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. If nothing else, this signals that Brunner definitely has a chance to win. It is also a bit of contorted logic from the DSCC, since their previous arguments favoring Fisher were based on his supposed superior fundraising skills. But if Fisher is so great, why does he need DSCC money to win the primary?
Florida Senate, Charlie Crist's party decision Charlie Crist has until Friday to formally announce if he is running as an independent or not. When he does make that announcement, he will also need to say which party he will caucus with if he wins the election. Right now, he is keeping mum on the later, saying "[y]ou're way ahead of me. One day at a time," when asked.
MA-09, progressive primary challenger to Stephan Lynch Rep. Stephan Lynch has received a primary challenger for voting against health care reform:
Stephen Lynch was the most conservative member of Massachusetts' congressional delegation until Scott Brown was elected. Lynch, an anti-Choice Democrat, has leaned in a conservative direction and now he can use Brown as an excuse, as he did when he became one of the only Democratic non-Blue Dogs to oppose the healthcare reform bill. If he thought no one was paying attention, he was in for a very rude awakening. Mac D'Alessandro, SEIU's New England political director decided to take him on.
MA-09 has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of Democrat +11. This makes Lynch, by a long way, the Democrat from the bluest district in the country to vote against the health care bill.
I wrote that Democrats from blue district that voted against the health care bill would find themselves in some political trouble, as the progressive establishment would be able to leverage a pro-health care bill base against them. This election will largely determine if I was correct or not, and determine whether blocking the bill from the left really was politically viable.
Wisconsin Senate, general election: Beer magnate and former Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce Dick Leinenkugel has announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination. With money and name recognition, Leinenkugel might be a difficult candidate for Russ Feingold in the general election. However, there is no polling to measure this right now.
MN-06, new anti-Bachmann website launched Check out the new website, Michelle Bachmann said WHAT?! Nice to have all of Bachmann's quotes in one place. There should also be plenty of new content to keep that website regularly updated.
UK elections Conservatives have regained the lead over Liberal Democrats in the UK polling average, as the LibDem boom has ebbed a bit. However, Labour still leads in the uniform swing projection. A hung parliament seems likely, but the Liberal Democrats are all over the map on who they would back to form a coalition government. One day, Clegg could never back Gordon Brown, the next day he doesn't rule it out. One day, he doesn't rule out joining with the Tories, but the next day other Liberal Democrat leaders call such a coalition "highly improbable."
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