Consider a contribution to red state Democrats Jim Martin of Georgia, Jim Slattery of Kansas, and Ronnie Musgrove of Mississippi on the Expand the Map! ActBlue page. These are exactly the type of races where we can truly expand the map!
The Senate GOP declares, "Let Big Oil drill anywhere it wants or we will block every piece of legislation out there."
Minnesota: New Rasmussen Reports poll: Good news for Al Franken as the latest RR poll sees a statistical dead heat, Republican Norm Coleman 44, Al Franken 43. When leaners are included, it's Franken 49, Coleman 46, suggesting that a majority of undecideds lean Franken. Meanwhile, though Minnesotans are pre-occupied by issues like the economy, Iraq, and gas prices, Norm Coleman is obsessed with "juicy porn." Good to see Coleman's priorities are in the right order. Oh, quick question. Is Norm Coleman laying the groundwork to duck upcoming debates? In other news, the Minnesota Senate candidates are taking questions on YouTube (see right). Anyone want to ask Smilin' Norm Coleman questions about ApartmentGate or his allegiance to George W. Bush or his gorgeous smile?
Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore has barely begun his campaign for the Senate, but it's almost impossible to find anyone in statewide Republican circles - outside of his closest allies - who thinks he can actually win. ...
Gilmore has become the laughingstock of this year's crop of GOP Senate recruits.
Oklahoma: Oklahoma State University's student newspaper, The Daily O'Collegian, ran an editorial declaring the desire to oust Jim Inhofe. It seems that Oklahoma's student population is squarely behind Andrew Rice.
Kansas: Is Republican Pat Roberts declaring his support for Democrat Barack Obama for President? He must be. You see, his latest 2008 Senate race misleading attack ad is very relevant to the Presidential race:
Roberts' new ad is his fifth of the campaign - the Senator has been on television for more than a month. This spot, titled "Attendance," is running on broadcast and cable television in the Topeka and Wichita media markets. ...
"Sen. Pat Roberts never stops working for Kansas," the new, 30-second ad's voice-over begins. "And his opponent Jim Slattery? In his last year in Congress, he skipped almost half the votes in Congress ... Pat Roberts never stops working for Congress. Jim Slattery doesn't even show up."
What Bush-cover-up-artist Pat Roberts doesn't say in his misleading attack ad against former Congressman Jim Slattery is that, in Slattery's final year in Congress, he was in out of Washington D.C. and in Kansas much of the time running for Governor (which is precisely why the ad focuses only on Slattery's final year in Congress instead of the entirety of his twelve-year Congressional tenure - to mislead voters). This is, of course, relevant to the 2008 Presidential race because the presumptive Republican nominee, John W. McCain, has missed an overwhelming 63% of his votes during the current Congress, the biggest voter skipper by a huge margin. So, I wonder when we can expect Roberts' formal endorsement of Obama for President. Meanwhile, Slattery has released his third campaign ad - unlike Roberts, Slattery's ad doesn't mislead voters - highlighting the hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions that Roberts has taken from Big Oil while voting for huge tax breaks for Big Oil:
It would be generous to call GOP nominee Steve Sauerberg a long shot against Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D) in Illinois. But you wouldn't know it by the rhetoric coming from the Republican's campaign.
"New Polling Shows Sauerberg within Striking Distance of Durbin," blared a July 15 release. The campaign points to a July 12 poll by Southern Outreach showing Durbin ahead of Sauerberg 52 percent to 35 percent.
And I thought Al Franken was the only comedian running for Senate.
Illinois & Arizona: NPR looks at who might succeed Barack Obama and John W. McCain, once one ascends to the White House. Since Governor Janet Napolitano would be required by law to pick a Republican (a member of the Party of the current Senator), and since she may be taking a long look at a 2010 Senate race herself, I haven't the first idea who she might pick in the unlikely event that John W. McCain wins the Presidency. However, the more I consider the situation and read about the topic, the more willing I am to put my money on Jesse Jackson Jr. succeeding Barack Obama.
