WI-08

A Day At The Congressional Races

Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:

Chambliss Spokesperson: "Bomb Obama" Remarks By Supporters "Inappropriate"
Michelle Grasso, the campaign spokesperson for Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), gave Election Central this statement late on Friday in response to reports that a Chambliss supporter yelled "Bomb Obama" at a local Senate debate: "Last night was definitely a rowdy crowd and lots of inappropriate things were said by some people in attendance, Senator Chambliss believes that we must focus on the issues - our economy is hurting and we must focus our energy on helping our citizens who are loosing their jobs, savings, and homes."

DSCC Ad Has Stevens Saying He Might "Serve A Little Time In Jail"
A new DSCC TV ad features the audio of FBI tapes from Sen. Ted Stevens' (R-AK) corruption trial. Stevens says in a worst case scenario he "might have to serve a little time in jail."

"The worst that can happen to us is we run up a bunch of legal fees, and might lose," Stevens is heard saying. "We might have to pay a fine, we might have to serve a little time in jail."

Read more »

Polls: Dems Could Sweep House Rematches

A new round of SurveyUSA polls, commissioned by Roll Call, suggests that Democrats are poised to sweep those House races this year that are competitive rematches from 2006.

Some of these races are Democratic gains from 2006, in which candidates defeated Republican incumbents or picked up open seats. Some of them were Republican retentions that year, where the incumbents fended off challengers who are trying again this year. In all seven of these case, the Democrats are winning:

IL-10: Democrat Dan Seals, who lost a race to GOP Rep. Mark Kirk, may be successful in riding Barack Obama's local coattails. The numbers: Seals 52%, Kirk 44%.

IN-09: Rep. Baron Hill (D) has faced GOPer Mike Sodrel in every race since 2002. Hill narrowly won in 2002, then Sodrel won in 2004, then Hill came back and defeated Sodrel in 2006. The numbers now: Hill 53%, Sodrel 38%.

NH-01: Freshman Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D) defeated Republican incumbent Jeb Bradley in a huge upset in 2006, and Bradley never really stopped running. The numbers in this poll: Shea-Porter 50%, Bradley 41%.

NY-29: Democrat Eric Massa, a Navy veteran and former military aide to Wes Clark, narrowly lost to Rep. Randy Kuhl (R) in 2006. The current numbers from SurveyUSA: Massa 51%, Kuhl 44%.

NC-08: Democrat Larry Kissell lost after a recount in 2006 to Rep. Robin Hayes. The new poll: Kissell 49%, Hayes 41%.

PA-04: Freshman Rep. Jason Altmire (D) defeated GOP Rep. Melissa Hart in an upset in 2006, and Hart is trying for a comeback. The new poll: Altmire 54%, Hart 42%.

WI-08: Democratic physician and businessman Steven Kagen picked up this seat for the Democrats in an open-seat race against then-state House Speaker John Gard, in a 51%-49% race. Gard soon started running again. The new poll: Kagen 54%, Gard 43%.

If these numbers hold up through Election Day, it's going to be a long night for the House Republicans.


A Night At The Congressional Races

Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races: The Democrats are aggressively exploiting the political opportunities presented by the economic crisis -- while the Republicans are running in the other direction as they watch their numbers fall.

Mitch McConnell Turning Down Debates
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (KY), who has found himself in some uncomfortably close polls against Dem businessman Bruce Lunsford, is refusing to debate. The campaign has rejected an invitation from the League of Women Voters and has not responded to one from Kentucky Educational Television, saying only that they'll hold a debate with the Paducah Sun in late October.

Dems Launch Ads About Social Security Privatization And Wall St.
The DCCC has a whole new wave of ads running in Pennsylvania and Indiana about Social Security -- and specifically, what would be happening if Social SEcurity were tied to the stock market in the middle of the banking crisis. Here's one of them in Pennsylvania:

"Barletta wanted to follow Bush right into this mess," the announcer says. "And with the markets in free-fall, where would our safety net be now?"

Read more »

Bogus China-Cuba Oil Myth Finds Its Way Into GOPer's Campaign Ad

This just keeps getting better and better. We now have a Republican candidate for Congress putting the tall tale of Cuba being ready to drill for oil off of America's shores into a campaign ad.

Here's the new ad from John Gard of Wisconsin, who narrowly lost an open House race in 2006 and is now seeking a rematch against freshman Dem Steve Kagen:

In fact, Cuba is not "poised to drill" off of the Florida coast. Exploration leases have been granted by the Cuban government to various other countries to look for oil in Cuba's waters -- though no drilling has actually begun or is about to begin soon.

We previously caught Gard's campaign distributing fliers that claimed drilling was already happening back in June.

Yet Another Republican Pushes China-Cuba Oil Myth

This just keeps getting more and more absurd. Now the tall tale about China drilling for oil off American shores has found its way into a House GOP candidate's campaign flyer.

And to make matters even more ridiculous, the candidate's staffers are giving us conflicting information about whether he even sent it out!

The flyer is the work of John Gard, a Wisconsin Republican who narrowly lost a Congressional race in 2006 and is now seeking a rematch against freshman Democrat Steve Kagen. It was handed out at a county fair on June 15, a few days after Dick Cheney was forced to admit that his story about China drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico was false.

And this gets even sillier still.

Read more »

WI-08: Dem Rep.-Elect's Son Caught With Pot Pipe

Here's under-the-rader story the blogosphere has missed: Congressman-Elect Steve Kagen, D-WI, officially has the first scandal of his political career: his son was caught at an airport screening with a marijuana pipe, but no actual marijuana. Oddly enough, Kagen is a doctor who ran on a platform of universal healthcare ... and easier access to drugs. We here at Election Central think this was obviously not what he intended.

WI-08: GOP Tries To Link Dem Kagen To Convicted Serial Killer And Child Rapist

Uglier and uglier. The Wisconsin GOP is struggling to link Dem Steve Kagen -- the doctor-turned-candidate who's running against GOPer John Gard in a tight race -- to a convicted serial killer and child rapist. How is this link being made? "Only very tortuously and dishonestly," says Joel McNally of the Madison Capital Times. Full story here.

WI-08: CQ: Hot Race In GOP District Now A Toss-Up

In 2004 President Bush got 55% of the vote in this district in northeastern Wisconsin, leading many to expect that GOP nominee John Gard, an experienced state lawmaker, wouldn't have too much trouble defeating neophyte candidate and allergist Steve Kagen. But now CQ Politics has changed its rating of the race, which has now become one of Wisconsin's hottest contests, from "Leans Republican" to "No Clear Favorite." More from CQ after the jump.

Read more »

WI-08: Kagen Ad Gives Gard Pinnochio Nose

Dem House candidate Steve Kagen has just uncorked a new ad blasting GOP rival John Gard as a "professional politician" — with a Pinnochio nose. His nose grows with each broken promise alleged by the Kagen campaign — and the effect of seeing a powerful state pol (Gard is Assembly Speaker) depicted as a little wooden boy is just a bit off-putting. "He voted with the insurance companies to make healthcare more expensive. Now he says the opposite," the narrator says. Nose grows.. "No wonder John Gard has been called one of the most corrupt politicians in Madison." Nose grows again. We've seen this character before." Recent polling has shown Kagen with a narrow lead in this potential pickup for Democrats. View the ad below.

WI-08: Dem Kagen's Ad: "I'm Too Conservative To Be A Republican"

This new TV ad from Dem nominee Steve Kagen — who's running against state Assembly Speaker John Gard in a narrowly Republican district — takes a novel approach to attacking the GOP for running up massive budget deficits. Looking directly into the camera, Kagen says: "I'm a Democrat because I'm too conservative to be a Republican, the way they spend money in Washington."


WI-08: Dems Optimistic About Pickup After Primary Results

The primary results in Wisconsin's eighth have some Dems suddenly optimistic about picking up the seat in this slightly-Republican-leaning district. On the GOP side, John Gard won the primary over Terri McCormick by 68%-32%. Local Dems tell Election Central that they think Gard's rocky tenure as Assembly Speaker has left him with uncomfortably high negatives, and they were pleasantly surprised by the margin of Steve Kagen's victory in the Dem primary -- he picked up an unexpectedly high 48% of the vote. "Kagen has all the resources in the world to drive [Gard's] negatives, and he will," said one Wisconsin Democratic staffer.

Poll Tracker

View more polls »
Advertise Liberally
Share
Close Social Web Email

"To" Email Address

Your Name

Your Email Address