Sometimes, it’s difficult to tell the difference between a real news story and something from The Onion. Earlier reports that entertainer Clay Aiken was considering a run for the Democratic nomination in North Carolina’s 2nd District have been overtaken by new stories about the singer “putting together a team” and preparing to run — one […]
Republicans continue to expand the Senate map in their quest to win back the majority in 2014. With former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie in the race, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner can no longer take his re-election race for granted. But Virginia is still a long way from the most competitive contests in the […]
As speaker of the state House, Thom Tillis is one of the most powerful politicians in North Carolina. But you wouldn’t know it from the Republican’s first ad in the U.S. Senate race. “In the private sector, businesses are built on accountability,” Tillis says. “But accountability is a foreign language in Washington.” He goes on […]
By mid-December, more than $17.5 million had been spent on TV ads in just four Senate contests: in North Carolina ($8.3 million), Kentucky ($3.5 million), Arkansas ($3.4 million) and Louisiana ($2.3 million), according to a recent piece by Roll Call’s Kyle Trygstad. The numbers are interesting and newsworthy. But it’s important to understand the dirty […]
Reporters can be lazy. I know this is a shock for many of you, but I think some of the media coverage of Republican Senate primaries has been somewhat shallow. The short story is that not all primaries are created equal. Senators vary in vulnerability, challengers vary in credibility and outside groups vary in size, […]
The two parties aren’t exactly on the best of terms these days, but that didn’t stop Republicans and Democrats from exchanging gifts over the past year — even if they didn’t intend to. Instead of fruitcake, each party gave the other a sparkling set of potentially potent political opportunities. And regardless of whether it was […]
Stories about Republican primaries are all the rage, and we’re still nearly three months from the first actual election. But in all of the analysis of vulnerable senators, voting scorecards and outside groups, it’s important to remember the calendar and how primary results could affect subsequent races. It’s possible that a snowball effect could work […]
Most handicappers have believed for months that Republicans have a good chance to pick up a Montana Senate seat next year. But once again, Democrats have a plan that just may help them hold that seat. It’s a plan that worked in the past, but will it work once again? According to multiple media reports, […]