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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Democrat Al Franken got good news Friday in his bid for the Senate, winning favorable rulings from a state elections board on rejected absentee ballots and the tally in one of his strongholds. The Canvassing Board overseeing the race recount recommended that county election boards sort and count wrongly rejected absentee ballots. The five-member panel also urged that a recount in one University of Minnesota area precinct be based on Election Night tapes from a ballot counting machine. The recount there, where results favor Franken, ended with 133 missing ballots that could be counted if...

1. If the election for United States Senator was held today, whom would you support Robert Menendez, the Democrat or Tom Kean, Jr., the Republican? Tom Kean, Jr. 46% Robert Menendez 41% Undecided 13% 800 likely voters, September 29th-October 1st. MOE +/- 3%.

WASHINGTON - At least one former congressional page is disputing another former page's claims that pages were warned five years ago to beware of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fort Pierce. Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office. Loraditch, the president of the Page Alumni Association, said the pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff." But another page, who asked not to be named told The Palm...

Rep. Thomas Reynolds, head of the House Republican election effort, said he told Speaker Dennis Hastert after learning a fellow GOP lawmaker sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy. Reynolds, R-N.Y., was told months ago about e-mails sent by Rep. Mark Foley and is now defending himself from Democratic accusations that he did too little. Foley, R-Fla., resigned Friday after ABC News questioned him about the e-mails to a former congressional page and about sexually suggestive instant messages to other pages. The boy who received the e-mails was 16 in summer 2005 when he worked in Congress as a page....

Maf54: You in your boxers, too? Teen: Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late. Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed. Another message: Maf54: What ya wearing? Teen: tshirt and shorts Maf54: Love to slip them off of you. And this one: Maf54: Do I make you a little horny? Teen: A little. Maf54: Cool. The language gets much more graphic, too graphic to be broadcast, and at one point the congressman appears to be describing Internet sex. Federal authorities say such messages could result in Foley's prosecution, under some of the same laws he...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., submitted a letter of resignation from Congress on Friday in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former male page, according to a congressional official. Foley, 52, had been considered a shoo-in for re-election until the e-mails surfaced in recent days. Campaign aides had previously acknowledged that the Republican congressman e-mailed the former Capitol page five times, but had said there was nothing inappropriate about the exchange. The page was 16 at the time of the e-mail correspondence. Foley's election opponent, Democrat Tim Mahoney, has called for an investigation.

Pawlenty, Hatch Tied in MN : In an election for Governor of Minnesota today, 9/28/06, Republican incumbent Tim Pawlenty and DFL challenger Mike Hatch tie, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KSTP-TV Minneapolis, KAAL-TV Rochester, and WDIO-TV Duluth. 40 days to the 11/7/06 election, it's Pawlenty 45%, Hatch 44%. Other candidates get 9% of the vote. Pawlenty leads by 16 points among men and trails by 12 points among women, a 28-point "gender gap." Republicans pick Pawlenty 15:1. Democrats pick Hatch 8:1. Independents prefer Hatch by 4 points. The most affluent voters pick Pawlenty by 14 points. The...

Republican Reynolds Faces Strong Challenge in NY26 Rematch:In an election in New York's 26th Congressional District today, 9/28/06, Republican incumbent Tom Reynolds and Democratic challenger Jack Davis are in a fierce fight, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WGRZ-TV Buffalo. 40 days to the 11/7/06 election, Reynolds gets 45%. Davis gets 43%. Green Party candidate Christine Murphy gets 8%. This contest is a rematch of the 2004 election, when Reynolds, who was first elected to Congress in 1998, defeated Davis 56% to 44%. Reynolds gets 62% of Republican votes. Davis gets 64% of Democrat votes. 31% of Republicans,...

If a successful steakhouse stopped selling beef and substituted stale vegan sandwiches as part of a strategy to increase its customer base, the restaurant wouldn't remain in business very long. Yet for some reason, the Republican Party has adopted precisely this strategy for governing. Instead of rewarding its loyal voters with the limited government they were promised, the Republican Party has decided to increase its voter base by offering the stale ideas of big government liberalism. This tactic is difficult to understand given that in modern midterm elections, voter turnout has hovered around 40 percent, meaning that winning is about...

13. If the election for Governor was held today, and the choice was between Ed Rendell, the Democrat, Lynn Swann, the Republican, and Russ Diamond, the Independent, whom would you vote for? Ed Rendell 55% Lynn Swann 37% Russ Diamond 2% Undecided 6% 16. If the election for United States Senate were held today, and the choice was between Robert Casey, Jr., the Democrat,or Rick Santorum, the Republican, whom would you vote for? (Romanelli excluded.) Robert Casey, Jr. 50% Rick Santorum 40% Undecided 10%

19. If the election for United States Senate were held today and the candidates were Maria Cantwell, the Democrat or Mike McGavick, the Republican, whom would you vote for? Maria Cantwell 49% Mike McGavick 40% Undecided 11%

PHOENIX – Arizona voters have begun to make up their minds about who they want in the U.S. Senate. And it doesn't look good for Democratic challenger Jim Pederson. A poll released by Channel 8 and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University shows Republican incumbent Jon Kyl has held his lead over Pederson. At the same time the pool of undecided voters has shrunk. Kyl received 49 percent of 882 likely voters surveyed between September 21st to the 24th. Pederson received 38 percent and Libertarian Richard Mack got 2 percent. The poll has...

Democratic State Treasurer Robert Casey Jr. has regained his momentum in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race and now leads incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum 51 - 39 percent among likely voters, with 4 percent for Green party candidate Carl Romanelli and 5 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This compares to a 48 - 42 percent likely voter lead for Casey in an August 15 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University. Republicans back Sen. Santorum 77 - 17 percent, while Democrats back Casey 85 - 8 percent and independent voters back the Democrat...

THe Mason Dixon poll, conducted on behalf of Minnesota Public Radio and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, is similar to other independent polls released on the race last week. Both candidates are polling well among their core supporters but Klobuchar also has strong support from independent voters. St. Paul, Minn. — The poll interviewed 625 registered voters in Minnesota between September 18 and September 20. The poll found that a little more than half of those polled -- 52 percent -- support Democrat Amy Klobuchar. Thirty-seven percent support Republican Mark Kennedy. Independence Party member Robert Fitzgerald and Green Party member...

MINNEAPOLIS - Democrat Amy Klobuchar holds a commanding lead in the U.S. Senate race over Republican Mark Kennedy in a Humphrey Institute poll released Thursday night, the second poll released this week that gave Klobuchar a double-digit lead. But Klobuchar's lead of 52 percent to 36 percent for Kennedy was not quite as big as her 24 percentage point lead in a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll published Monday. Both polls were conducted before a flap surfaced Tuesday over her firing of a campaign spokeswoman who accessed an unreleased TV ad for Kennedy, a case that opened up a new avenue...

Heather Wilson (R) 51% Patricia Madrid (D) 46% Undecided 3% 503 Likely Voters, +/- 4.5% MOE

Musgrave (R) 46% Paccione (D) 42% Eidsness (RP) 8% Undecided 5% 424 Likely Voters, MOE +/- 4.9%

Democrat Take-Away in Ohio Governor: In an election for Governor of Ohio today, 9/21/2006, Democrat Ted Strickland defeats Republican Ken Blackwell, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for WCPO-TV Cincinnati, WKYC-TV Cleveland, and WYTV-TV Youngstown. Strickland, currently representing Ohio's 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, gets 56%. Blackwell, currently Ohio Secretary of State, gets 35%. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA tracking poll released 8/8/06, Strickland is down a statistically insignificant 1 point, Blackwell is unchanged. In sum: no movement. 24% of Republicans cross-over to vote for the Democrat Strickland; only 5% of Democrats cross-over and vote for...

Schmidt (R) 45% Wulsin (D) 42% Other 1% Undecided 12% Topline numbers based on 497 likely voters called between September 17th and 19th. Partisan breakdown: Republican 49% Democrat 31% Independent 18% In an election for US House of Representatives in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District today, 9/20/06, Republican Congresswoman Jean Schmidt leads Democrat Victoria Wulsin by 3 points, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WCPO-TV Cincinnati. 7 weeks to the 11/7/06 election, Schmidt gets 45%. Wulsin gets 42%. The 3-point edge is within the poll's 4.5% margin of sampling error, and is not statistically significant. Republicans support Schmidt 6:1....

Vote_Sen. If the election for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senator was being held today and the candidates were Bob Casey, Jr., the Democrat, and Rick Santorum, the Republican, and Carl Romanelli, the Green Party candidate would you vote for... 45% Bob Casey, Jr. 38% Rick Santorum 5% Carl Romanelli 12% Don't Know Vote_Gov. If the election for Pennsylvania governor was being held today and the candidates were Ed Rendell, the Democrat, Lynn Swann, the Republican, who would you vote for? 52% Ed Rendell 34% Lynn Swann 14% Don't Know RegPARTY. Are you currently registered as a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or...