It looks like national Republicans may be giving up on both GOP Senate candidate Mike McGavick and GOP Senator Conrad Burns. McClatchy Newspapers reports today that neither the NRSC nor the RNC have booked any ad time for McGavick. Meanwhile, today's Montana Missoulian says that the NRSC hasn't spent a cent on ads for Burns since August 7. Not surprisingly, the NRSC in both cases denied giving up on its candidates.
GOP Senate candidate Mike McGavick -- who's battling to replace incumbent Dem Marie Cantwell -- has just propsed mandatory drug testing for all welfare-receiving parents, according to today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
In a speech to the Pasco-Kennewick Rotary, the former Senate aide and Safeco Insurance CEO proposed a "three-strike" requirement that could lead to mandatory drug-abuse testing and treatment, reduction of direct cash benefits and, in some cases, loss of parental rights...McGavick's plan says that if recipients refuse treatment, cash benefits would be redirected from the parents to a third party. Continued refusal to accept treatment or repeated drug-test failures by the parents would result in removal of children from the home.
No word yet from Cantwell on McGavick's proposal.
GOP Senate candidate Mike McGavick is returning some $14,000 in campaign contributions from employees of VECO Corp., an Alaskan oil services firm which is stuck in the middle of a bribery probe. TPM muckraker's Justin Rood has the details, and wonders whether other candidates will follow.
When Republican candidate Mike McGavick pointed to a secret hold on legislation authored by Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) as “dysfunction in the Senate”, he was unwittingly criticizing a close ally. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) placed the hold on the bill, which would create a searchable database of federal grants and contracts. McGavick’s support of drilling in ANWR has earned him Stevens’ support throughout his campaign, and the GOP hopeful has attacked his opponent, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), for her frosty relationship with Stevens. Stevens’ office would not comment on McGavick’s remarks.
It looks as if Mike McGavick, the self-financed GOP challenger to Dem Senator Maria Cantwell, is going to be able to spend unlimited funds on his campaign -- even as Cantwell remains stuck fundraising at the Federal $2,000-per-contributor limit. And the Federal Election Commission may not be willing to do anything about it, despite Cantwell's hopes that the agency would step in.
Mark Wilson, Sen. Maria Cantwell's former rival and current campaign aide, said Tuesday to local Democrats, "What a tragedy it would be if in fact we capture the House but not have the ability to prosecute in the U.S. Senate."
David Postman asked the Cantwell campaign to elaborate. What would a Senate under Democratic control "prosecute"?
"There are times you chop people's heads off and there are times when you don't. I've done both. This is not a formulaic business. This isn't chemistry."
So says Henry "Eddie" Mahe Jr., the veteran GOP consultant who's a key adviser to GOP Senate candidate Mike McGavick, in an interview with David Postman. You'll no doubt be surprised to hear this, but Mahe has something of a reputation for what might euphemistically be called "negative campaigning." The word "negative" doesn't come near doing this guy justice. Read all about him here.
What's with Mike McGavick? Washington's GOP Senate candidate can't seem to give a straight answer about social security, gay civil rights, and now the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. More on a campaign stop Q&A from The Stranger's blog after the jump.
Via David Postman, political prognosticator Larry Sabato pegs the Washington Senate race between incumbent Maria Cantwell (D) and Mike McGavick (R) as a key indicator of how Dems and the GOP will fare during the midterms. Sabato's thoughts after the jump.
Senate candidate and former Safeco CEO Mike McGavick (R) is getting sued by a descendant of a Safeco founder for the $28 million he was paid by the company this year.
The claim? That a big chunk of that $28 million payout for McGavick -- who's targeting incumbent Dem Maria Cantwell -- after he resigned as Safeco's CEO was the result of a fraudulent transaction between McGavick and the Board of Directors, shafting the company's shareholders.
For some time now, the experts have been saying that junior Senator Maria Cantwell is one of the Senate's most vulnerable Dems in the midterms. But check out this surprise: Cantwell has opened up an 11-point lead on former Safeco CEO Mike McGavick (R), according to a Rasmussen poll released today.
Mike McGavick (R) wants to be a Washington Senator, but he doesn't want to talk about state issues. That is, not when the issue in question is political activist Tim Eyman's controversial attempt to repeal by initiative the state's recently passed gay civil rights bill.
In a recent interview, McGavick ducked a question about the gay rights bill by saying he didn't want in general to talk about "state issues." But according to a local magazine writer, he was more than happy to address "state issues" when the topic was energy policy.
In a comment to this post, Election Central reader RCinWA said the real problem for Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) in her re-election bid is her continued support for the Iraq War. Having won narrowly six years ago, and facing a formidable challenger in Mike McGavick (R), Cantwell needs every vote she can get.
This should help: anti-war Democrat Mark Wilson, who had been challenging Cantwell in the primary, endorsed the senator at a press conference yesterday and will be paid to campaign for her.
Sen. Maria Cantwell may be the most endangered Democrat in the Senate. She narrowly defeated Slade Gorton six years ago, and this year her challenger, former Safeco CEO and Gorton campaign manager Mike McGavick (R), has money and experience in state and D.C. politics. With McGavick beginning his 23-day "Open Mike" RV tour across Washington, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Joel Connelly wonders, Where's Cantwell?
"The Death Tax." Sounds a lot more ominous than "the estate tax," the repeal of which the House and Senate will vote on again this week. A key vote in the Senate will be that of Maria Cantwell (D), who voted against repealing the estate tax two weeks ago.
