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Poll: Senate GOP Leader McConnell Trailing Democratic Opponent
The Senate Republicans are expected to have a rough time of it this year, but even this is big news: A new Rasmussen poll puts Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) behind his Democratic challenger, businessman Bruce Lunsford:
Lunsford (D) 49%
McConnell (R) 44%Sample size: 500 likely voters.
Margin of error: ±4.5%
Party leaders are often considered safe bets for re-election, but McConnell's ties to President Bush obviously haven't helped his own prospects even in this red state. And with the DSCC out-raising their GOP counterparts, expect the Dems to make a play for this seat and others all over the map.
Late Update: McConnell's campaign quickly released an internal poll showing him ahead, at 50% support to Lunsford's 39%.
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Gotta love it!
May 27, 2008 8:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I bet Sen. McConnell pissed his pants when he heard about that. I wonder what the internals for the RNC look like?
May 27, 2008 9:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
How strong is Lunsford? Anyone know anything about this race?
May 27, 2008 9:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lunsford is a DINO. He has given money to McConnell in the past. The only thing Lunsford will be good for is the 60 vote threshold. That is it. Another Chuck Schumer specialty(since Lunsford will likely spend a ton of his own money). Lunsford is a creep. Just look up the history of Lunsford's nursing home company.
May 27, 2008 9:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
I guess the best I can say right now is that he's OUR crook. Perhaps there is redemption in his future based on his potential voting record. How does he feel about getting our troops back from Iraq? Other issues?
May 27, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
If he's as much of a DINO as you say, then how would he help with the 60-vote threshold? Why would he stick to the party lines once he's in?? It sounds like his real constituency is conservatives, and that he's only running as a Dem to get his foot in the door. It might even be in his best interests to switch to the Republican party if he wins.
May 27, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Imagine that! There is a God!
May 27, 2008 9:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Awesome! 60 plus here we come! Can the dems get 65? After the elections in november we all should send a thank you card to the king.
May 27, 2008 9:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
60 don't mean jack if they are cut from Lieberman cloth which seems to be the case according to Dr. Jawn.
Why can't we get REAL Democrats to run?
May 27, 2008 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with you; however, from what I can tell all the dems running are NOT like traitor joe. He is one of a kind.
May 27, 2008 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lunsford is a DINO and a crook. He settled a ginormous penalty with the feds over fraud in his nursing home company. He's Chuck Schumer's hand picked candidate because he can self-finance using the money he stole from his stockholders when his nursing home company went toes up.
May 27, 2008 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
this is some of the best news I've heard yet.
Man I would love to get rid of Mitch McConnell.
This is awesome.
May 27, 2008 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I compiled this:
--------------------
U.S. SENATE
The Democrats, even with their six-seat gain in 2006, have just 51 votes to run the Senate; that means the GOP would need a modest gain of two seats to reclaim a majority. But it appears more likely that the Republicans — defending 23 of the 35 seats up for election — will lose rather than gain seats. They have five "open" seats of retiring members (to none for the Democrats), and have more vulnerable incumbents than the Democrats do.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Hampshire
May 23 Rasmussen
Shaheen (D) 50%, Sununu (R) 43%
Incumbent: John E. Sununu (R)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Mexico
May 17 Rasmussen
Udall (D) 57%, Wilson (R) 36%
Udall (D) 53%, Pearce (R) 37%
May 15 SurveyUSA
Udall (D) 60%, Pearce (R) 36%
Udall (D) 61%, Wilson (R) 35%
Incumbent: Pete V. Domenici (R), (open seat, retiring)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colorado
May 21 Rasmussen
Udall (D) 47%, Schaffer (R) 41%
Incumbent: Wayne Allard (R) (open seat, retiring)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virginia
May 12 Rasmussen
Warner (D) 55%, Gilmore (R) 37%
Incumbent: John W. Warner (R) (open seat, retiring)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alaska
May 17 Rasmussen
Begich (D) 47%, Stevens (R) 45%
Incumbent: Ted Stevens (R)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kentucky
May 27 Rasmussen
Lunsford (D) 49%, McConnell (R) 44%
Incumbent: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R)
May 27, 2008 9:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Couple more to add to the list of seats in trouble for republicans:
North Carolina
Oregon
Maine
Minnesota
Mississippi
Texas
I am pretty sure that the latest polls from all these states show the incumbent below 50% and in very tight races this far out from november, which is generally the death knell for an incumbent. That's 12 seats all total and then dems are at 61, I don't count traitor joe.
May 27, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah the sound of the vault doors closing on the GOP, with the timelock set to 8 years....
May 27, 2008 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for sharing this wonderful trip with us: Buh-Bye!
May 27, 2008 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
May 27, 2008 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
This just made my day.
May 27, 2008 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'll believe it when I see it, but in any event it couldn't happen to a nicer, more deserving guy could it?
May 27, 2008 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
He will get what he deserves. I just hope that that idiot John Boehner gets what he deserves too. It's a very bad year to be a Bush/McCain enabling Republican. After losing 30 House seats in 2006, it's likely the Republicans will lose another twenty more this year. The antipathy toward Republicans runs deeper than D.C. politicians comprehend. I predict John McCain will be lucky to garner 200 Electoral votes and that Obama will win the popular vote by a double-digit margin. I don't think the presidential election will be close at all. It's going to be a landslide rejection of everything that is Republican. Why? Because it's what they deserve, and because the American people want their version of "politics" to become extinct.
May 27, 2008 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's not like Bush single handedly trashed the country without a bunch of rich, fawning syncophants. (I think it might be hairspray poisoning) But we have to remember, the government wasn't bought and sold in 2000; it happened long before. We have to get the repugs out, and hold the democrats responsible for restoring democracy over the corporatism we have had for decades.
May 27, 2008 11:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
HILL-AIR-EEE-US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 27, 2008 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
What goes around comes around?
May 27, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Halle-freakin-luyah!
May 27, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
And another one bites the dust
May 27, 2008 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
We need to get control of our own "leadership". Reid and Pelosi (and Hoyer) have to be replaced. We must have strong, resolute leadership in both houses capable of bringing the Dinos (like Schumer and Feinstein) and the Blue Dogs to heel. And we need a large enough majority to tell Lieberman to go fuck himself. Then maybe we can get some actual work done around here.
May 27, 2008 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Calvin is correct. Lunsford has a record of supporting Republican candidates and in my view is not that much better than Mitch. The only thing going for him is tha he'd add to the Democratic majority. However, I'd be very surprised if this lead holds up.
May 27, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
If he's as much of a DINO as you say, then how would he help with the 60-vote threshold? Why would he stick to the party lines once he's in?? It sounds like his real constituency is conservatives, and that he's only running as a Dem to get his foot in the door. It might even be in his best interests to switch to the Republican party if he wins.
May 27, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ignore me. I'm just a little baby. I meant this post to go upstream.
May 27, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I voted for Lunsford's opponent in the primary (Fischer); but some of his official positions are very much oriented toward Democratic positions. Whether he'll actually KEEP those positions is another question.
Getting Mitch out would be a blessing to Mitch, too, I believe.
BTW, Mitch has had TV ads up since early in the year even though he had no real competition in the primary. The ads are good but only with uninformed voters. One thing for sure: we can expect a really nasty ad campaign by both.
May 27, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
McConnell is a shitstain. I can't wait to email him with my congrats!
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
May 27, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
But this really shows something about the Republican Party these days, like for instances that it is divided; the Republican (corporate party minus the conservative voters) Certainly Bush was a divider, and not a uniter, because he divided his own party.
Bush spent too much, lied and was grossly unethical, liberally breaking ANY laws he didn't like - and nobody can call that behavior conservative - of couse Mitch was right there with Bush 100%, acting as if Bush were his only constituency, Mitch didn't need no stinking voters. Perhaps Bush has him squared away in some lobbyiest job???
May 27, 2008 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Also noted should be how Elizabeth Dole is hard for her seat too.
Republicans are going to get slaughtered, so in the aftermath, they'll try to blame this massive downfall on "groupthink" but it's not groupthink, rather it was the threat of retaliation from the Bush Administration, laced with bribery, which the GOP fully accepted. It was organized, mobster behavior that the Republican Party as a whole completely refused to stand up against, and the GOP was certainly happy to indulged themselves too.
May 27, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait until the war crimes indictments come out post Jan 2009 (post pardon). The GOP will not rise again. Plus, I suspect Bob Barr is going to cause a LOT of trouble for Sen McCain.
May 27, 2008 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can't think of many politicians I like less than Mitch McConnell. Great news! Couldn't happen to a nicer slimebag.
May 27, 2008 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
McConnell is the one Republican that must go even if the others slip by. This man has done more to hurt this country than can ever be measured. McConnell is the closet thing to walking, talking evil that we will ever see in our life time. Vote for a pig, dog, or goat but not for McConnell.
May 27, 2008 2:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Mitch, looks like your the one that's "dead meat". And it couldn't happen to a more deserving person.
May 28, 2008 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, if Mitch loses, he takes his wife, head of the Dept. Of Labor, with him back to WW II Germany?
Or is he from somewhere else?
May 28, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink