Posted on 08/12/2002 11:45:26 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
One More Reason the Republicans will regain the majority in the Senate."
Wednesday, August 7:
...Because Erskine Bowles (aka Poster Boy for Corporate Irresponsibility) can't seem to keep the oh-so-unflattering details of that pesky $4.2 mil job at Forstmann Little off his resume and out of the papers. (That's $4.2 mil a year...)
You may recall, the State of Connecticut lost over ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS of its pension funds -- dollars that were unwisely (to be charitably delicate) invested by Forstmann Little during Poster Boy's tenure. The real losers? Connecticut retirees who had worked hard and played by the rules...
(Reckon some of them might move south JUST to thank Erskine in their own special way?)
The State of Connecticut has filed suit. But for some reason (a mystery!) Poster Boy is not named in the suit -- although all of the highly questionable investment decisions were made during his tenure.
Now, inquisitive minds want to know why...
Were political deals involved?
Bowles' spokesman ain't sayin'.
Source: www.newmassmedia.com
Tuesday, August 6:
Because according an American Viewpoint poll, Cornyn leads Kirk 46% to 35% among all voters and 50 to 35% among high propensity voters.
Source: Cornyn leads Kirk 46% to 35% among all voters and 50% to 35% among high propensity voters
Wanted to bump these comments! You are so right! Instead of Freepers going after other Freepers on here, we need to band together and go after the real enemy -- the DemocRATS!!!!
Is he from anywhere near NC, or is he just a carpetbagger like his pal Hillary?
You are correct that it is difficult to objectively assess most of these races, unless one lives in one of those states (which I do not). The most recent polling in these states are three months old (or older), before the opposition candidates were well known. Montana was clearly a lost opportunity for the GOP; had Marc Racicot run for this seat, he almost assuredly would have defeated Baucus (a January poll had Racicot with a 19-point lead in a hypothetical matchup). As it stands, a mid-April Democrat poll had Baucus with a 33-point advantage. I'd say this will be a very tough prospect for the GOP.
Likewise for GA and LA. Even just one year ago, both of these races were pretty high on the GOP watch-list; both Cleland and Landrieu had razor-thin victories in 1996, and appeared vulnerable. But it seems each has firmed up their support. Spring polling showed both Senators with well-over 20-point leads, but again, that was probably against little-known candidates at the time. I think Cleland will be very tough to beat, considerning his military service and disabilities. The strategy in LA seems to be to try and run enough alternative GOP candidates to keep Landrieu under 50%, and forced into a run-off election against the then-better-known Republican who finishes second.
I can't really comment on IL. Apparently Durbin's approval ratings have not been stellar, but I've seen no discussion of this race since May. At that point Durbin had a 20-point lead, but I would expect that to tighten up a bit. Enough to make it competitive? I'm skeptical.
Iowa would appear to be the best bet for a GOP upset. Harkin's approval ratings are not particularly strong, and Ganske had drawn within single digits in a late June independent poll.
Regarding the most recent polling I've come across in the other competitive races we've discussed:
Colorado: A mid-June Dem poll had Strickland up by 1%. An early July independent poll had Allard up by 9%. And a late July Dem poll had Allard up by 3%.
Minnesota: Two late June independent polls showed Wellstone with 3 and 4% point leads. A mid July poll showed Coleman with a 4-point lead, but it's not clear who sponsored this poll. Aside from that one, the only polls that have shown Coleman with a lead have been GOP sponsored polls.
Missouri: A late July media poll showed Talent with a 6-point lead, but the poll might be a bit suspicious because it adds up to 100%, with no undecideds. An early July independent poll showed Carnahan up by 8 points.
South Dakota: A mid-July GOP poll showed Thune with a 2-point lead. That confirms to me that this race is truly a tossup. As an item of interest, a May GOP poll found that Johnson gets a 10-point bump when it's made clear a vote for Johnson would help to keep Daschle on as majority leader.
Oregon: The last two polls I have information on (early to mid May) showed Smith up by 12 points in each.
A special thanks to Freeper "Coop" for supplementing my polling data!
Can you show me this mid June Dem poll with Strickland up by one percent? I've seen one mention of it in a Wash Times article, but nobody can show me this poll. It's not even on Strickland's website.
Let us just wait and see, and contribute to any races of particular interest. South Dakota is an ancestral home in my family, why on earth did they go out there when they landed in USA, when they could have gone anywhere?
In Georgia, Sen. Zell Miller (D) is scheduled to campaign for his Democratic colleague, Max Cleland, who is in a tight reelection race against Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R).
I had heard rumors that knowledgeable folks expected the GA race to tighten, but I had not seen or heard any "evidence" of such tightening. This would be the first public comment I've seen supporting a close race between Chambliss and Cleland.
Comments?
As for if the race is tight, that would be nice but it would also be news to me.
Cool. Nice catch. I guess Zell has to do what he has to do...
On this we disagree, friend. Zell Miller has been quite consistent in his support of the Dem party, but quite disgusted with its national "leadership." I like him a lot, and think his "Zig Zag" tag is undeserved.
I lived under his Governorship. He talks a good game. He generally talks a good game to ensure that conservatives and moderates keep thinking the left doesn't have total control over the Democrats. All IMO.
That was starting to look like a very big "IF," but maybe not. The only independent poll I've seen on this race was from July last year, showing Cleland up 46%-39%. Then there are two Dem and one unknown poll showing Cleland up 22-24 points. So I don't have a very good feel for this race at all.
On FR? NEVER!!!
:-p
I've been keeping a close eye out for new information on this race. I have yet to see anything since the two Dem polls you referenced. If someone is saying this race is tightening (as is bound to happen), I sure would like to see their numbers (assuming there are any, and that this isn't just an unfounded 'conventional wisdom' type of speculation).
Sorry, that's my mistake. I accidentally transposed the numbers. That should have read Allard up by one percent. I crosschecked my polling data with yours, and I don't have anything listed that you don't already have.
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