The office of Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R) received an envelope full of dog excrement through its mail slot June 2. Both she and her opponent, Democrat Angie Paccione, have blamed an official with the Weld County Democrats. Paccione has condemned the act as "deplorable," and has denied that her campaign had anything to do with the delivery.
A poll conducted by Anchorage-based Ivan Moore Research for the Alaska Correctional Officers Association has ex-Wasila Mayor Sarah Palin at 44% among Republican voters, leading businessman John Binkley and incumbent Frank Murkowski, who garnered 27% and 18%, respectively.
Two years on, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) still cannot escape the pigs. With less then a week till the primary, his Republican opponent Oscar Lovelace is campaining with PIGS today to highlight Sanford’s less then stellar relationship with the state’s General Assembly. Passion, Integrity, Goodwill and Servant Leadership, Lee Bandy reports for The State, will be flying across the state with Lovelace.
The stunt is a ploy on a now infamous episode in South Carolina political history.
Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has come out tough on immigration in his new ads and on his website. But the Philadelphia Inquirer points out that the Spanish-language version of the site is much more conciliatory, not mentioning his opposition to amnesty or social services for border crossers. It also doesn’t remind potential voters, as the English one does, that Santorum supported the amendment to make English the national language. Santorum’s spokeswoman says the Spanish version just hasn’t been updated yet.
Democratic Attorney General Bill Ritter leads Representative Bob Beauprez 43% to 38%, according to a Rasmussen poll released yesterday. In an April Rasmussen survey, Ritter trailed 37% to 39%.
The good poll news caps a successful month for Ritter on the fundraising front. In May Ritter raised more than his two Republican opponents, Beauprez and Marc Holtzman, combined, garnering $201,066 to Beauprez’s $99, 528 and Holtzman’s $81,559.
In a 22-minute speech from the House floor, Tom Delay went out swinging. Delay defended his style of partisan politics, saying that the “self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first-principle” is responsible for “degrad[ing] our public debate,” The NY Times also picks up a quote by Delay claiming his continued pride in the “The K Street project and the K Street strategy.” In spite of his intentions to move to Virginia in order to facilitate the removal of his name from the ballot in Texas, a court battle is unfolding which could keep his name there in November.
The Tennessee state GOP has been sending a man dressed in a bear suit and a highway trooper hat to the public appearances of Governor Phil Bredesen (D).
“The bear is a friendly reminder that the governor needs to 'bear' more responsibility," Chris Devaney, executive director of the state Republican Party, told the Associated Press.
A Quinnipiac University poll from yesterday shows that among likely Democratic primary voters, Connecticut Senator Lieberman would win the Democratic primary against challenger Neil Lamont 55% to 40%.
In perhaps the least scintillating of Tuesday’s eight state primaries, New Jersey incumbent Senator Robert Menendez (D) and challenging state Senator Thomas Kean Jr. (R) coasted to their respective party nominations.
Menendez took 84% of the vote over relative unknown James Kelly while Kean Jr., the son of popular former Republican New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, took 76% over the more conservative John Ginty.
More than $1 billion dollars in collected taxes is set to go back to taxpayers under Oregon’s “kicker” law. The law states that any tax payments over 2% of what state officials projected go back to personal and corporate taxpayers as rebates. This year's rebate is the largest since the law was passed in 1979.
Montana Senator Conrad Burns has wasted no time in attempting to label his Democratic opponent, Jon Tester. For the past two days his campaign has issued statements saying that “Massachusetts does not deserve a third senator” and calling for the state Senate President to explain his stance on the issues of gay marriage and flag burning.
The Rocky Mountain News lets us know that GOP House candidate Rick O’Donnell, who describes himself as a “policy wonk,” starts his campaign stump speech with a snappy tagline:
“I’m running for Congress for a really simple reason. I don’t want America to become the France of the 21st Century.”
The Denver Post reported yesterday that Clear Peak Colorado, a Democratic political group in the state, has requested state government documents and communications records that they say could confirm rumors of tampering with would-be gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman’s application to be placed on the Republican primary ballot.
Montana state Senate President Jon Tester beat state Auditor John Morrison in the state’s Democratic Senate primary by wide margins yesterday. He goes on to challenge Republican Senator Conrad Burns, who beat state Senate Minority Leader Bob Keenan.
Former Republican Rep. Duke Cunningham’s guilty plea for taking bribes proved not enough to sway voters in California’s 50th Congressional District special election to vote Democrat. Republican Brian Bilbray defeated Democrat Francine Busby 49.5 to 45.3 percent, with 96 percent of precincts reporting, in the heavily Republican district.
Democrats had hoped that a win by Busby would be a harbinger of a national shift towards Democrat candidates. While Busby ran on the issue of Republican ethical problems in Washington, Bilbray campaigned on the issue of illegal immigration.
In the South Dakota Democratic gubernatorial primary, Jack Billion beat out Dennis Wiese to face popular Republican Governor Mike Rounds in November.
The Vatican elects a new pope as often as Iowa elects a new governor, so yesterday’s Democratic primary was a big deal for the Hawkeye state. Chet Culver, Iowa’s Secretary of State and a self-described progressive, narrowly beat out ex-Congressman and economic development director Mike Blouin 39% to 34%. State Rep. Ed Fallon, who campaigned on ethics and finance reform, won 26% of the vote. Engineer and Egyptian immigrant Sal Mohammed, who promised to “scientifically, objectively, and systematically” raise Iowans’ incomes, took in 1% of the vote.
