O!M!G!

I've been sending money to a Christian missionary?

Hand me the brown paper bag!

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by: Larry McD @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 16:33:50 PM UTC

He was a missionary?

Ugg, I'm not sure I want to send money to a guy who tried to convert people into a cult.

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by: ChadInFL @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 18:41:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Placing thorns around the district?!?

This entry was on his wikipedia page:

Andrew Rice was first elected to the State Senate in 2006. During the campaign his Republican opponent Joshua Jantz[2] distributed a flyer that called for thorns to be placed around the district and its voters and for their "salvation" and a desire for them to "elect righteous leaders."

Thorns placed around the district?  That's just bizarre.  I can understand Democrats playing up to the religious folk in the bible belt, but it sounds like he really believes that crap.

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by: ChadInFL @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 18:45:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Disregard - was his opponent

Guess it would help if I read the whole thing thoroughly before posting!  My mistake.

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by: ChadInFL @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 18:47:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Rice is a religious progressive

This is a new breed in Red states...

go read about Tim Kaine in Virginia

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

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by: blueokie08 @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 18:57:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ya, I read too much into it

Sorry, jumped to conclusions.  I'm not a big fan of missionaries, but Rce sounds like the right type of Dem for OK.  The fact that he devoted himself to drug addicted and AIDS patients in India also speaks well of him.

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by: ChadInFL @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 19:01:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No Brown Paper Bag Needed

I'm as secular as they get, and I'm glad to send money to Rice. First, he's got good values, and I don't care where they come from. Second, unlike Inhofe, he actually believes in the Constitution and the separation of church and state; as long as elected officials don't push their religion on me, I don't care what they believe in. I just care about how they vote.

Third, if his background as a missionary helps him get Inhofe out, that trade is a no-brainer.

We'll see if the ads start having an impact. If this race shows signs of being competitive, it would be very cheap for the DSCC to get involved.

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by: dsimon @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 19:39:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm spiritual but not religious

so effectively I count as secular, I guess.

I agree with you about values.  I don't care where they come from as long as they are good.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

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by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 21:49:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Fantastic ad

I really love the shot at the end of him with his kid.

I wonder how big a ad buy this is?

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by: Populista @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 16:46:24 PM UTC

Larry, no worries

Andrew is one of the most progressive Democrats running for congress this year, anywhere. Go read Jim Wallis's book.

This is a great ad for Oklahoma, trust me.

Populista, my contact in the campaign said it is a big ad buy. Rice has low name ID, so they are trying to tackle that.

Let's see what Inhofe does.

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by: blueokie08 @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 16:57:06 PM UTC

I gave $100 so can you

I gave $100 and will double that in September!  Oklahoma really needs someone like Rice as a Senator.  

The big question is what will Gov. Henry(D) do for Rice and what will Henry do after his term is up?

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by: ctamatt @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 17:35:12 PM UTC

DCCC, DSCC, NRSC, NRCC fundraising

http://www.politico.com/blogs/...

DCCC
Raised in June: 10 Mil
Cash on Hand: 54.7 Mil

NRCC
Raised in June: 6.1 Mil
Cash on Hand: 8.5 Mil

DSCC
Raised in June: 10.8 Mil
Cash on Hand: 46.2 Mil

NRSC
Raised in June: 6 Mil
Cash on Hand: 15.3 Mil

Talk about dominating COH advantages.  I love Rice's ad too.  

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by: JeremiahTheMessiah @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 18:01:19 PM UTC

That's amazing

The DSCC can literally pick 8 Senate races where they can make the most difference and drop nearly $6 million into each of them.  That could easily bring candidates like Merkley, Hagen, Musgrove, etc. into spending par with their republican incumbents.

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by: ChadInFL @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 18:58:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Rasmussen: Obama still doing well in GA

http://www.rasmussenreports.co...

McCain (R)- 48
Obama (D)- 39

Expect a GA Senate poll later today.  I'm looking forward to it.  I suspect Martin has closed some of the gap against Chambliss and Jones is still polling horribly.

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by: ChadInFL @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 18:54:48 PM UTC

Polls for GA Senate and AK Senate

Georgia:
Chambliss 59, Jones 29
Chambliss 51, Martin 40

That's a +30 advantage versus a +11 advantage.  How could Georgia Democrats, in their right minds, choose Jones?

Alaska:
Stevens 41, Begich 50

This is excellent news, but it's a +11 swing so I'm wondering if it's either an outlier or if the recent TV blitz is having an effect.  If Obama's numbers stay relatively the same, then it's more likely to be the latter.

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by: unertl @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 19:14:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Links to polls

Forgot to include them.

Alaska: http://www.rasmussenreports.co...
Georgia: http://www.rasmussenreports.co...

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by: unertl @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 19:15:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

WOW

That's a huge swing in our favor in Alaska.  Better than I expected from GA too.  And don't worry, Martin is likely to win the GA run-off.

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by: ChadInFL @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 19:21:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Those are great numbers

Martin shows room the grow, which is excellent, and with Obama registering half a million blacks in Georgia, this can only be good news.

With Large AA turnout for Obama, if Martin is able to get a decent minority of white voters, he can win this.

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by: Conniver @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 20:11:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Martin Looking Good

Those are slightly better poll numbers for Martin than I expected.  I wouldn't think he's all that well known either, so there should be room to grow.  This is definitely one to watch.  Keeping fingers crossed that Martin beats Jones in the runoff.

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by: sicembears @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 20:41:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

those numbers

are on par with Maine!!!  Plus huge Obama turn-out, and the DSCC huge spending advantage.

That adds another seat on top of the races the DSCC will be spending money.

Imagine VA, NM, CO, NH, MN, AK, NC, MS, OR, ME, KY, GA still with NE and KS and hopefully OK looking as races to watch.  (Sorry ID, I'm ready to be won over but let's see a poll from a credible pollster.)

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by: Andrew @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 21:02:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

and

they really could by this done, just plop $5 million into each of those 12 seats except for the seats that need no money, VA, NM, CO, and NH.  The other 10, here's $5 million lets make it happen.  God that is huge.

I wonder what seats the NRSC will try to defend, MS, NC, GA, KY, ME, MN me thinks and that's it.  

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by: Andrew @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 21:05:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I wouldn't say on par with Maine

but rather on par with Kansas.

However, I hate Chambliss way more than I hate Roberts.  Roberts hasn't pissed me off.  (Yet.)

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

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by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 21:47:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

We could get 8-9

That's what I said over the weekend:

Definitely NH, VA, CO, NM

Pretty likely OR, AK

Probably NC, ME

Maybe MN, MS

Not out of the realm of possibility that KS, KY, NE, OK get competitive.

The RSCC defends the bottom 8 races, leaving Smith and Stevens to fend for themselves along with Sununu and the open seat candidates.  

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by: Mimikatz @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 21:53:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Heh...

I would put MS and MN above NC and ME.

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by: Rtael @ Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 22:03:06 PM UTC

[ Parent ]