A Night At The Congressional Races
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:
Bachmann Doubles Down On Obama = Anti-America
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has dug in further on her position that Barack Obama is against America. Bachmann appeared today on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, and had this to say: "And so, he [Chris Matthews] was using the word "Anti-American" and I told Chris, what I question are Barack Obama's views. Because Barack Obama's views are against America." And here's what she said on the Mike Gallagher show: "What are Barack Obama's policies? Are they for America, or will they be against traditional American ideals and values?"
House GOP List Sees Double-Digit Losses
U.S. News has obtained the NRCC's internal "Death List" of seats they consider to be probably lost to the Democrats. Ten seats are listed as "likely gone," another nine are tagged as "leaning Democratic," and another 22 are "pure toss-up." It's unknown whether this list was drafted before or after the party cut off support for Michele Bachmann.
Hayes: I Never Denied My Inflammatory Remarks About Liberals
In a debate with Democratic opponent Larry Kissell, Rep. Robin Hayes issued a denial of reports that he had lied about saying liberals hates "Real Americans." Available at the 5:50 mark of this video: "One more time, I did not deny what I said. But the context in which it was presented to us, Larry, is that I hated liberals. That is absolutely false." Hayes' campaign initially denied the reported quotes of what he said, and he then apologized when audio of it surfaced.
GOP Lobby Shop Doing Fundraiser For Dem Senator-In-Waiting
Republican lobbying firm BGR Holding will be doing a fundraiser for Mark Warner, who is the odds-on favorite to pick up a Senate seat for the Democrats in Virginia. Look upon this as a sign that lobbyists are preparing for very strong Democratic majorities next year, and are already courting the Senators who will make up that majority.
Dem Ad Hits "Travelin' Tom" McClintock
The DCCCC has this new ad against House candidate Tom McClintock, a champion of California conservatives who is now the GOP nominee in the open seat of GOP Rep. John Doolittle. The issue here is that he doesn't actually live in the district:
Dems see a real weakness in McClintock's candidacy. Not only did he carpetbag into the district, he didn't even get any kind of residence there, either. As such, he won't be able to actually vote for himself on Election Day.
Poll: McConnell Ahead By Seven
A new Rasmussen poll of Kentucky gives Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell a 50%-43% lead over Democratic businessman Bruce Lunsford. Other recent polls have shown a tighter race than this, and McConnell has been busy launching attack ads against Lunsford in order to fend off the challenge.
Dem Ad: McConnell Created Jobs -- In Other Countries
The DSCC has this new attack ad in Kentucky against Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, with the Dems aiming high in their effort to decapitate the Senate Republican leadership. This ad goes after McConnell for supporting tax cuts for companies that ship jobs overseas:
"Mitch McConnell: He created jobs, all right," the announcer says. "Just not here."
GOP Senate Candidate Insults Teenager
Senate candidate Jim Risch (R-ID), who is a safe bet to win this open seat, sure is a class act. Appearing at a high school a week ago, Risch accused a student of being a Democrat for asking a question about the concept of a tax shift. He then invited more questions: "They're not stupid questions like this one over here." (Via Swing State Project)















Michele is auditioning.
October 22, 2008 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
for what? sorry to be dense...
October 22, 2008 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
She'll be the new Coulter.
October 22, 2008 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
She may very well lose and I hope she does, but she won't be "punished." She'll get a six figure gig at Fox or somewhere.
October 22, 2008 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
To be Sarah Palin's running mate in 2012.
October 23, 2008 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm enjoying a REALLY good case of schadenfreude right now. Watching the Republican party self-destruct.
Pass the popcorn! This is gonna be fun!
October 22, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Hey Teach- I thought there were no stupid questions?"
That little ratfucker Risch needs to go dooowwwnn!
October 22, 2008 6:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.
October 22, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy, they picked the wrong year in which to demonize Democrats.
October 22, 2008 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kenji, your choice of avatar is piling on and just plain mean. :-)
October 23, 2008 9:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
A Reep in Idaho once again, when presented with an opportunity to be a nice guy and an upstanding, respectable candidate, especially since he is running virtually unopposed and has nothing to fear from honest questions even if the answers cost him a point or two, instead chose to be an asshole. Why? Because that's the easiest thing for him to do. Assholedness sits just beneath the surface with these cReeps, and all it takes is a scratch to bring it out.
Real character there, Mr. Risch.
October 22, 2008 6:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anybody seen this yet?
"Alamo(New Mexico) chairwoman writes letter stating Obama is a Muslim socialist"
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_10783845
This loon refuses to back down from her remarks.
October 22, 2008 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Someone needs to take that shovel away from Bachmann. Seriously.
http://thepajamapundit.com/
October 22, 2008 6:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
the NRCC took away her shovel already.
she's just digging with her own two hands.
October 22, 2008 7:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Outstanding! Glad to see that the NRCC recognizes a lost cause when they see one. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.
October 22, 2008 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
God, you people are so dumb. She didn't say Obama is anti-American. What she said was Obama is against America. Don't you even understand the difference?
October 22, 2008 6:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL...and besides, even if you get the words exactly right you're still gonna be wrong because in her mind she spelled it differently than you do when she said it.
October 22, 2008 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yogi Berra: I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said
October 22, 2008 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Next up: Hayes denies having denied his denial.
October 22, 2008 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
He saw that fork in the road and he took it.
October 22, 2008 7:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
..and he fell on it.
October 22, 2008 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
McConnell's still in it.
October 22, 2008 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't know if this got any run on the site yet:
http://crookedtimber.org/2008/10/22/pulling-the-plug
Make sure to click through to CT's earlier comment:
http://crookedtimber.org/2008/10/10/a-bit-of-horserace-commentary
McCain's budget just shrunk significantly down the stretch as that RNC money goes to save Mitchy and Norm and other Senators and Congressmen in need of a lifeline.
John
October 22, 2008 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
THREAD Corruption!!
Hey, I saw Obama speak at a press conference today on his transistion team on CNN around 1pm
It was excellent!!
I can't find video of that conference...does anyone else know where I might find it.
Obama addressed foreign policy and the magnitude of problems that the next President would inherit.
I can't find that here on TPM or anywhere else. It was a solid substantive address.
All I can find is talk about Palins 'wardrobe dollars'
What Obama said was WAAAAY more important.
Anyone know how I can get video of his talk today on foreign policy and the transistion challenges of our next President?
October 22, 2008 9:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Via Kos, the NRCC cancels their ad buys for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO 4th):
http://coloradoindependent.com/12414/breaking-news-nrcc-pulls-out-of-4th-cd
The NRCC has struggled to fundraise this year at the same pace as the DCCC which at times has had a 4-1 cash advantage over its Republican counterpart. With so little money and a number of important House seats to fight for, Straayer said there have been signs the NRCC has been struggling but that it was still surprising to see the party pull out of the 4th CD.
You know... if there's a Democratic Hall Of Fame out there, we're going to need to get Howard Dean into it for his 50 State philosophy. The CO 4th District hasn't been Dem since 1972 when Wayne Aspinall lost in the primaries in his bid for a 13th term. Aspinall actually was a big pro development, anti-environmentalist... not exactly a progressive. So taking this district will be massive. Musgrave has won tight races, which has kept her high on the list of seats the DNC and DCCC have targetted.
That pool of money at the RNC keep shrinking as the Big Boyz of the Party need to suck on that teet in desperate attempts to survive.
John
October 22, 2008 9:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is very big news here. In case people here didn't know, Musgrave is cut from pretty much the same cloth as Michelle Bachmann and other wacko rightwing nutjobs. Musgrave's big thing though is gay marriage, which totally drives her nuts, for some weird reason.
She's been weak for as long as she's been running, but has been salvaged by the NRCC every time, as this district includes Fort Collins (moderately Democratic) and pretty much all of eastern Colorado (very Republican). Markey is easily the best candidate the Dems have fielded against her, and every poll that has come out (and there haven't been many) have showed her in a clear, significant lead. The NRCC must really be discouraged for them to pull the plug on Musgrave in this district that has so many Republicans registered here.
October 23, 2008 12:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Cool. Getting rid of Musgrave will be a positive.
The more one thinks about the NRCC pulling back from some districts, the NRSC doing the same (think Schaffer in CO), and the RNC pulling their funds back from the McCain Campaign, the Big Boyz are really going to be sucking that money down hard and fast.
Libby is old school with ties deep into the party, and probably has (along with the Old Goat) raised funds for a lot of GOP candidates over the years. If she has any markers left, and doesn't feel like rolling over, she can tap the RNC and NRSC keg pretty heavily.
Sununu may be young and a first termer, but he's a legacy with a power broker old man who also has ties deep into the party. It looks bleek for him right now, but the party needs to make a show of support for him.
You've got Mitch suddenly in a bit of a fight, and you know the DNC and DSCC are funneling in the cash to make life tough on him. He's going to take a long pull.
You know the Repubs don't want to lose Saxby's seat in GA, and some of these early voting numbers have got to make them worried as all hell.
And the biggest of the big boyz is Father Ted. If he gets acquitted on Thu, and if his usual massive war chest is running low, he's going to call in all his markers in a desperate attempt to hang on.
Which really will tap things low. They're not going to have too many resources for the seats at risk held by members with less pull.
BTW, fellows... you might want to give a seperate story either in Election Central or The Muck to this:
http://www.darcyburner.com/news/releases/burner_campaign_files_fec_complaint_over_reichert_loan
I deserves something bigger than just the Morning Round Up. Reason:
Given the tough time getting donations for Republicans, and the difficulty for a lot of candidates to get loans given the financial mess (and in turn re-loan to their campaigns), it's highly likely that other GOP Candidates are working out sleezy media loans like this with friendly GOP firms.
This needs to see the light of day *nationally*, both to get other people to be on the watch for this in their local campaigns... and also to potentially catch the eye of people like Rachel or KO's staff where it might get some national media. Darcy alone might not get it, but if there are a few others of these bubbling up, you know it's the type of thing that Rach would eat up.
John
October 23, 2008 1:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bachmann has been a source of embarrassment to Minnesota for some time now. Her district is so conservative it didn't seem possible that she could lose her seat. I just hope she keeps talking to the media right up to election day. But the lady's going to need new shoes because hers are full of bullet holes.
October 22, 2008 11:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
that he had lied about saying liberals hates "Real Americans." Available at the 5:50 mark of this video: "One more time, I did not deny what I said. But the context in which it was presented to us, Larry, is that I hated liberals. That is absolutely false."
So, Larry, you don't hate people who hate real Americans? You like people who hate real Americans? Sounds like you pal around with people who hate real Americans. Terrorists hate real Americans, Larry - that means you pal around with terrorists, Larry.
Usually, it's important to reject the false premise. But sometimes, it works better to just make the fucker follow it right over a cliff.
October 23, 2008 9:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
TPM:
Your Poll Tracker results for the October 23rd SUSA IL-Pres poll can't possibly be correct. You have O - 49%, M - 44%. I think those number may reflect only the candidates' standings in the 11th Congressional District, not the whole state.
October 23, 2008 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Aspinall actually was a big pro development, anti-environmentalist... not exactly a progressive
Well, if you don't see any contradiction there, neither do I. But, look, the Dems are way ahead and looking good almost everywhere, can we drop the "progressive" now? I thought progress implied development, but I would be very glad for progress that didn't.
I'd be all confident down to my moose-hide moccasins if I hadn't lived through the last elections.
We vote early by mail here in Warshington, another thing to be grateful for.
October 23, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bachmann for VP! She's got the look, she's got the Sass,...what more do you need?
October 23, 2008 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
tosh, thanks for the link to the Darcy Burner website, and the heads-up about the illegal corporate loan to her Republican opponent, Dave Richert. But really, I doubt Richert even understands what is illegal about it.
Gosh, I hope she beats him!
October 23, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink