Super Midterm Tuesday -- Sunday Edition
A quick roundup of last minute news and maneuverings in the 6/6 primaries.
-- AL GOV: Baxley v. Riley is looking inevitable to the press corps now.
-- CA 50: Francine Busby really stepped in it with her "papers" comment regarding Latino voters. BTW, apparently having someone trail a candidate with a video recorder isn't a waste of time after all.
-- CA GOV: L.A. Times' Z. Barabak has CA voters in a "sour mood"; he also hints at voter fatigue, noting Californians are preparing to "trudge to the polls -- again, for the ninth time in six years." BTW, don't stories like this make one wonder why any state or even the feds attempts to pass various forms of campaign finance reform? To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum's character in "Jurassic Park," Money always finds a way...
-- IA GOV: One of the odder traditions in IA is the Sunday-before-the-election Des Moines Register poll. We believe polling this close to an election is probably not something a news outlet ought to be doing. That said, it's one of the more accurate media polls in the country, so Culver's 8-point lead over Blouin in the Dem primary is impressive. Labor probably can close 3-5 points, but 8 is a tall order. Also, what does it say about Vilsack that 50% of Dem primary voters are looking for a "change" in the state's direction? BTW, according to this article, turnout for the Dem Primary might only equal the turnout for the '04 IA WH Dem caucuses. And who says a primary turns out more voters than a caucus?
-- MS 02: Chuck Espy's challenge to Bennie Thompson is being painted as generational.
-- MT SEN: Pretty simple closing theme for the two Dems (Morrison and Tester) hoping to take on the very vulnerable Conrad Burns: ethics and electability.
-- NJ 13: For two candidates who aren't that well-known yet, the Dem primary to replace Bob Menendez is a fairly nasty affair. This is one of the few CDs where machines matter, btw.
-- NM SEN: We're only highlighting this race because it's one of the nat'l GOP's "missed opportunities. While Bingaman's (D) not done anything to deserve targeting, just the fact that he's a Dem in a so-called "red" state should have made candidate recruiting a priority for the GOP. Judge for yourself whether the nat'l party is taking this race seriously.
-- SD GOV: The state's political guru, David Kranz, isn't fired up about the Dem primary even though GOP Gov. Mike Rounds isn't as popular as he used to be thanks to the state's controversial new abortion law. Speaking of abortion, Tom Daschle's once-and-future chief political aide, Steve Hildebrand, is trying to punish Dem state legislators who voted for the state's strict anti-abortion law.
-- Downballot: One of the quirkier things about Tuesday's primaries is the number of famous families on the ballot. There is a son of some ex-Sen. or ex-Gov. or ex-Cabinet Sec. on at least five state ballots. No one of these famous spawns is in a tougher race than George Wallace Jr. who is running for AL LG. Other famous names on the ballot include: Jerry Brown (CA AG), Chet Culver (IA GOV), Chuck Espy (MS 02), Gary King (NM AG), and John Morrison (MT SEN).
