Having written about House and Senate races for the past 30 years, I’ve seen plenty of press releases, polling memos and campaign strategy emails. But rarely have I received anything as silly as a July 9 press release from New Hampshire Republican Senate hopeful Scott P. Brown’s campaign, which presented the challenger’s alleged “Path To […]
In the heat of the campaign, it can be easy to disqualify or dismiss candidates based on unsettling, or sometimes unseemly, revelations. But all you have to do is look at the current lineup of senators to realize that imperfect people win elections. Connecticut is a great place to start. In 2010, The New York […]
The bottom line looks about the same in the fight for control of the Senate in November — but some of the pieces of the puzzle have moved around dramatically over the past few months. Republicans need a 6-seat gain to take over the Senate next year. Three Democratic-held Senate seats continue to be headed […]
We are moving the Minnesota Senate race from Safe Democrat to Democrat Favored, but readers should not make too much of the changed rating. The change reflects the broad national environment and Minnesota’s generally competitive nature. A national anti-President Barack Obama wave certainly could threaten incumbent Democratic Sen. Al Franken, and Franken’s 2008 victory — […]
Last week’s news that the U.S. economy gained 288,000 jobs in June seems to confirm the upbeat economic assessments coming from many of the nation’s economists and Wall Street analysts. The question is whether the data and increased optimism one might hear on CNBC will have an effect on the American electorate and alter the […]
Roll Call’s fearless Editor-in-Chief Christina Bellantoni recently recapped the 53rd Annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game and described some of the bipartisan friendships that started to form on the field. At the end of the post, she pointed to a common reason given to explain the increased polarization in the nation’s capital: “[W]hen you ask […]
One of the times Jeff Larson offered to help the Republican Party, he ended up with a $130,000 credit card bill for Sarah Palin’s wardrobe. This year, Larson will be writing the checks for the Republican effort to retake the majority in the Senate. Larson, who has been chosen to be the executive director of […]
Giving up a run for office in the middle of a cycle may seem like admitting defeat, but for at least a couple of candidates this year, switching races may end up being the best political decision of their lives. Republican Ken Buck was a Senate loser. The Weld County district attorney lost the Colorado […]