WY-AL: Primary Results Thread

by: James L.

Tue Aug 19, 2008 at 9:07 PM EDT

RESULTS: Associated Press (by county)

11:59PM (David): The AP calls it for Lummis, after she led all night. With 98% in, she has a solid eight-point lead.
11:21PM: Lummis now has a 4500 vote lead with only 13% outstanding.
11:14PM: 75% in, and Lummis is up by 3600 even. Lummis-Trauner, he we come.
11:09PM: 70% unloaded, and Lummis is up by 3100 again.
11:02PM: 66% in, and the gap has closed slightly to 2900 votes. SSP Labs tells us that Gordon would have to run 22% better in the remaining precincts to win. A very tall order.
10:58PM: 62% cleared, and the gap has closed -- slightly -- to 46-38, but Gordon still trails by 3400. Not looking good for the Sierra Club Republican.
10:49PM: Lummis is still up by over 3100 votes with 54% in.
10:42PM: It's now 47-37, but Lummis has opened up a 3100 vote lead over El Gordo with 46% on the table.
10:36PM: With 35% reporting, our quickie back of the envelope analysis from scientists working at SSP Labs™ reveals that Gordon needs to run about 13% better in the two-candidate vote in order to pull out a win.
10:26PM: It's now Lummis by 1600 with 30% in.
10:15PM: The trickle becomes a surge -- with 26% in, Lummis is up by 1200 votes (45-38).
10:02PM: 12% in, and Lummis is up by nearly 1000.
9:58PM: With 9% reporting, Lummis has a 47-34 lead over Gordon. The margin: 700 votes.
9:48PM: 2% of precincts are now reporting, and Lummis (SSP's preferred choice) has a 400-vote lead.
9:34PM ET: Lummis has the (very) early lead over Gordon: 89 to 31 votes.

WA-Gov, WA-08, WY-AL: Primary Predictions Thread

by: James L.

Tue Aug 19, 2008 at 1:44 PM EDT

It's primary day in Washington and Wyoming! By the end of the night, we'll be able to gather some unique data from the hotly-contested gubernatorial and 8th CD races in Washington, as candidates from all parties will square off against each other on the same ballot, and the top two finishers will square off in the general election.

In Wyoming, state Treasurer Cynthia Lummis and rancher Mark Gordon will face off with several other candidates in a hotly-contested primary for the GOP nomination to succeed retiring wingnut Rep. Babs Cubin.

Now's your chance to reach for Olympic SSP glory. Who will win these races, and by how much?

WA-08, WY-AL: Pre-Primary Round-up

by: James L.

Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 3:46 AM EDT

All figures are in thousands.

Mark Gordon's numbers should be taken with a heavy grain of salt, as he actually only "raised" $20K in July; the additional $405K came from a personal contribution (not a loan) to his campaign. In fact, of the $1.15 million in receipts that Gordon's campaign has raised this cycle, under $100K actually came from individuals or PACs, so his performance isn't as impressive as meets the eye.

As for Darcy Burner... I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Wow.

August Election Preview: Races Worth Watching, Part II

by: Crisitunity

Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 5:36 PM EDT

August 19

WA-03, WA-08: Washington has switched back to a Top 2 primary system, in which candidates of all parties run against each other, and the top two finishers advance to the general election, regardless of party. In the past, the numbers from the all-party primary gave a good indication of the comparative strength of the major party candidates, drawing on a much larger sample than any poll. So all eyes will be on WA-08, where netroots heroine Darcy Burner will be up against Dave Reichert. (There is also at least one other Democrat in the race, Jim Vaughn, running well to Burner's right. He has no money and isn't expected to be a factor.)

Netroots goat Brian Baird also faces some intramural competition in WA-03 from peace activist Cheryl Crist. Baird should be reelected without any trouble, although Crist can't be entirely disregarded, having made some waves at the 3rd District nominating convention (losing to Baird 59 to 24) and holding $8K CoH. The question will be whether those waves amount to more than a ripple in the broader population, or if there's some discontent outside the activist base in this D+0 district.

WY-AL: Democrat Gary Trauner has been running for this R+19 seat for years now, losing by a small margin in 2006 to Barbara Cubin. Ding dong, she's gone, but the question is who the GOP candidate to succeed her will be. A Research 2000 poll from May showed Trauner narrowly beating former Secretary of State Cynthia Lummis. Although she's the best known Republican candidate, she's not a sure thing; rancher Mark Gordon has more cash and released an internal poll showing him beating Lummis. (Trauner vs. Gordon wasn't polled.)

August 26

AK-Sen: As recently as a few days ago, this race wasn't on anyone's mind. Then, things really took off: first, previously-unknown beardo Vic Vickers announced he'd be dropping $410,000 of his own money into the race. The following day, incumbent Ted Stevens was indicted for failing to report the value of free house renovations. The question, all of a sudden, was no longer whether Mark Begich could squeak by Stevens in the general, but whether Stevens would even survive the primary. Luckily for Uncle Ted, the anti-corruption vote is split a variety of different ways, including not just Vickers but ex-State Rep. Dave Cuddy, who challenged Stevens in the 1996 primary and can also self-finance. The Rasmussen poll from a few days ago didn't poll the primary matchup, but shows beating any of those three by double-digit margins.

AK-AL: It's unlikely that anything other than a Ted Stevens indictment could overshadow the battle for the at-large House seat in Alaska. Don Young, just as entrenched and corrupt as Stevens, faces a run through a primary gauntlet before even being able to think about the general. He's up against Sean Parnell, the Lieutenant Governor from the 'clean' camp of the Alaska Republicans led by Governor Sarah Palin. Parnell is also being propped up with big media buys from the Club for Growth, but he's suddenly pulled a disappearing act in the face of the mini-scandal surrounding the Governor. Another wrinkle in the race, though, is that State Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux is running too and pouring in a lot of her own money, (probably) unintentionally diluting the anti-Young vote. The most recent polling gives a four-point edge for Parnell, flipped from a three-point edge for Young in May.

So who's going up against Young/Parnell in the general? There's a primary to determine that, too. Former State House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz is favored, although Native activist Diane Benson, who mounted a surprisingly strong challenge to Young in 2006, is very much in the race.

FL-08: The Democratic primary to take on the underwhelming Ric Keller in this R+3 (and rapidly bluening) district has a crowded field. Businessman Charlie Stuart, who held Keller to a 53-46 result in 2006, is the likeliest winner. Lawyer Alan Grayson, who lost the 2006 primary to Stuart, is running to Stuart's left and has stirred some netroots attention lately with his aggressive advertising, but he may making his move too late. More attorneys (Quoc Ba Van and Mike Smith) round out the field.

Keller can't be considered entirely safe in his own primary, either: he's facing a challenge from local radio host and attorney Todd Long, mostly over his breaking his self-imposed term limits pledge (and probably also his backbench ineffectiveness).

FL-15: Coulda, woulda, shoulda. This R+4 seat, open with the retirement of Dave Weldon, is a prime pick-up target for the Democrats. Unfortunately, DCCC recruitment efforts failed, and the two contenders for the nomination, physician Steve Blythe and commercial pilot/AF reserve officer Paul Rancatore, are both sitting on very little cash (less than $10K each). The primary winner could conceivably move this race back onto the map with an outside cash infusion, but this mostly serves to underscore the main need for Dems in Florida: to elect Dems at the legislative and county levels outside of the major cities in order to build a bench and affect redistricting.

FL-16: Three different Republicans try to out-conservative each other for the right to take on Tim Mahoney, a freshman Blue Dog who lucked into this seat via the Mark Foley scandal and seems to have a somewhat tenuous hold on it despite its R+2 status. Palm Beach Gardens councilman Hal Valeche seems to be occupying the religious right corner, lawyer Tom Rooney (nephew of Steelers owner Dan Rooney) is the money conservative, and State Rep. Gayle Harrell tries to grab a little from each column. The big endorsements seem to be going for Rooney, although I don't know if they're the kind of endorsements you necessarily want (Tom Feeney, '06 substitute loser Joe Negron). Without any polling, though, it's up in the air, and any of the three would be at a disadvantage in the general against Mahoney's huge war chest.

August Election Preview: Races Worth Watching, Part I

by: Crisitunity

Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 2:45 PM EDT

August 5

GA-Sen (Runoff): When we last checked in, the primary for the Democratic nomination for the Georgia Senate race had gone to a runoff, with none of the five candidates clearing 50% in the July 15 primary. Bush-enabling DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones led the field with 41%; ex-State Rep. Jim Martin came in second with 34%. This makes it look like Jones has the edge, but Martin has a good shot at consolidating the anti-Jones votes that were dispersed among the four white candidates. A late June poll shows Martin with a much better shot at beating Saxby Chambliss in the general than Jones has.

KS-02: Nancy Boyda, who won an upset victory in this R+7 district in 2006, has had to sit and wait while Jim Ryun, the former Representative that she beat, and Lynn Jenkins, the Kansas State Treasurer, beat the snot out of each other in the primary. (Ryun was one of the most conservative members of the House; Jenkins is considered a moderate, at least by Kansas standards.) Ryun and Jenkins have raised a fair amount of money, but have had to spend it on each other, and an internal poll from June gives Boyda a sizable edge over each one. Still, this is a Lean D race and Boyda is widely regarded as one of our most endangered incumbents.

MI-13: Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick is in a three-way fight with ex-State Rep. Mary Waters and State Sen. Martha Scott in the Democratic primary. She's a long-time incumbent, but scandal involving her son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, is dragging her down, and a poll this week shows her in the lead but only with 33% of the vote.

MO-Gov: Representative Kenny Hulshof and State Treasurer Sarah Steelman are vying for the Republican nomination to succeed Governor Matt Blunt, retiring at the ripe old age of 37 in the face of massive unpopularity. Polling gives the edge to Hulshof in the primary, but either one of them looks like a speed bump in the road for four-term Attorney General Jay Nixon, making this the Dems' likelist state house pick-up.

MO-09: Kenny Hulshof is leaving behind this open seat in his quest to become Governor, giving the Dems a good shot at picking up this R+7 seat (represented by conservative Dem Harold Volkmer before Hulshof). There are competitive primaries in both parties. On the GOP side, most of the action is between State Rep. Bob Onder and State Tourism Director Blaine Luetkemeyer. (Although the presence of ex-football star Brock Olivo keeps things lively.) Onder is backed by the Club for Growth, Luetkemeyer is backed by Missouri Right to Life, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch couldn't bring itself to endorse either of them.

On the Dem side, the leading contenders are State Rep. Judy Baker and former State House Speaker Steve Gaw. Marion County Commissioner Lyndon Bode and ex-State Sen. Ken Jacob are also viable candidates. Baker (from the university town of Columbia) seems about as liberal as is viable in this district, Gaw is a bit to her right (although he did come out strongly against retroactive immunity) while the others are pretty Blue Doggish. Baker, who was running before Hulshof dropped out, leads the money chase. In absence of any polls, though, the race on both sides is a big question mark.

August 7

TN-09: Representative Steve Cohen, who picked up Harold Ford's old Memphis-based seat in 2006, is being challenged by another one of the 2006 contenders, Nikki Tinker. Regrettably, this race has been defined by identity politics: race, gender, and religion, rather than ideology (which is important, as Cohen, the white guy, is quite progressive, while Tinker, the African-American woman, is running to his right). The district's 60% African-American composition gives an advantage to Tinker, but internal polling in May gave a huge edge to Cohen. At D+18, it's safe for the Dems in the general.

TN-01, TN-07: Two members of Tennessee's wingnut patrol face primary challenges from other wingnuts hoping to capitalize on discontent within the wingnut base. In TN-01, freshman Rep. David Davis (who won the last primary with 22% of the vote) faces a rematch with 2006 contender Johnson City mayor Phil Roe. And in TN-07, Marsha Blackburn is up against Shelby County Register of Deeds Tom Leatherwood, who released an internal poll showing him within striking distance. These races don't seem to be about much other than "my turn," and Dems aren't in a place to capitalize in these deep-red districts (R+14 and R+12), but they're worth keeping an eye on.

August 12

CO-02: In this safe Dem (D+8) district based in Boulder, there's a heated race to replace soon-to-be-Senator Mark Udall. State Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, Board of Education chairman and Internet entrepreneur Jared Polis, and Colorado Conservation Trust executive director Will Shafroth are all strong candidates. Conventional wisdom seems to mostly focus on Fitz-Gerald and the self-funding Polis, but Shafroth has picked up the major newspaper endorsements. Polis may be a smidge to the left of the other candidates (he's openly gay and a Responsible Plan endorser).

CO-05: Doug Lamborn is another freshman wingnut who ruffled a lot of feathers in his first election (to the extent that his predecessor, Joel Hefley, refused to endorse him). He faces off against two of his 2006 challengers, former Hefley aide Jeff Crank and ex-AF Maj. Gen. Bentley Rayburn. Crank and Rayburn originally entered into a gentlemen's agreement where one would drop out based on polling to avoid splitting the anti-Lamborn vote, but that agreement collapsed, leaving Crank and Rayburn attacking each other instead. It's probably all for naught anyway, as their joint internal poll gives a big edge to Lamborn. Whoever wins has a big edge against Dem Hal Bidlack in this R+16 district.

CO-06: There's a crowded field of Republicans trying to pick up where the retiring Tom Tancredo leaves off. Mike Coffman, the Colorado Secretary of State, seems to be slight front runner against businessman (and son of long-ago Senator Bill Armstrong) Wil Armstrong, according to Armstrong's internal polling. Armstrong, despite not having held office, boasts some key endorsements, including retiring Sen. Wayne Allard and Mitt Romney. Two state senators, Ted Harvey and Steve Ward, are also vying for the seat. Local activist Steve Collins will represent the Dems in the general in this R+10 district.

Look for the 8-19 primaries in Washington and Wyoming, and the 8-26 primaries in Alaska and Florida, in Part II.

GOOD Congressional challengers on FISA: The List

by: BruinKid

Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 9:16 AM EDT

First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill.  They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.

Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.

A Democratic bench...in Wyoming?!

by: Glenn Magus Harvey

Mon Jun 02, 2008 at 5:33 PM EDT

In order to build a bench in Wyoming, we're going to have to start helping Democrats (fundraising and otherwise) to build strong positive reputations in the state, even if they have no chance of winning.  I seriously doubt that Rothfuss can win against Enzi short of a scandal (and even with a scandal it'd be hard as heck), but I believe he's the kind of fresh new Democrat that the party could use.  Running for Senate as a scientist and policy wonk concerned about science policy--that's an admirable goal.  It's almost guaranteed to be insufficient to put him over the top, sure, but we've gotta start building a Democratic brand somewhere.

Trauner's strong chance at the House seat and Freudenthal's popular governorship are a good groundwork on which to start.

WY-AL: Poll Shows Tight Race

by: DavidNYC

Fri May 30, 2008 at 12:56 PM EDT

Gary Trauner (D): 44
Cynthia Lummis (R): 41
(MoE: ±4%)

The poll has a sample of 48R-24D-28I. Exit polls from 2004 showed turnouts at 53R-25D-22I. If this shift from R to I is accurate, that's a heartening sign, seeing as most independents these days lean Dem. Indeed, Trauner carries that group 58-32. He also fares far better among Dems (85-11) than Lummis does among Republicans (62-15).

These results are very similar to a Casper Star-Tribune poll from January, which had Trauner edging Lummis 41-40. Then as now, Trauner had more solid support from his own party than Lummis. However, the GOP hasn't decided on a nominee yet, and won't until late in the summer - August 19th, in fact. Lummis, a former Secretary of State, has to contend with rancher Mark Gordon, who has raised considerably more than she has - though the bulk of his haul actually consists of a $300K donation he made to his own campaign.

Markos didn't poll a Trauner-Gordon matchup, but he may want to the next time R2K is in the field: a Gordon internal poll from earlier this month showed him up 39-23 over Lummis. That poll, though, showed 30% undecideds, and I'm going to bet that surveying likely voters for a primary in the dog days of summer is a very inexact science.

Depending on how divisive this primary gets, GOP support may or may not coalesce around the eventual nominee. Right now, Lummis at least seems pretty untarnished, with a 49-29 favorability rating. Trauner's numbers are similar, 52-31, and he still has a little room for growth (17% have no opinion of him). He'll need to hope that Republican support for his opponent, whoever it may be, stays soft, and he'll also need to eke out some more votes from undecided independents. If Trauner can do that, lightning might just strike.

P.S. Bonus finding: McCain leads Obama 53-40. Kerry lost this state 69-29.

WY-AL: First Poll Shows Trauner in a Dead Heat

by: James L.

Sun Jan 27, 2008 at 2:14 PM EST

Gary Trauner (D): 41%
Cynthia Lummis (R): 40%
(MoE: ±4%)

Lummis, a popular former state treasurer, has 70% name recognition, while Trauner has 80%.  If Trauner can be this competitive against the GOP's top candidate, perhaps he stands a real chance of actually winning this thing.  The cross-over appeal is there:

Democrats favored Trauner over Lummis by a rate of 8-1. [...]

Lummis didn't receive the same support from her own party.

Twenty-three percent of Republicans said they would cross party lines to vote for Trauner. Another 23 percent of Republicans were undecided.

Perhaps prognosticators like Charlie Cook and Rothenberg might want to revisit their "safe GOP" ratings for this one.

WY-AL: Progressive Leadership from a Red State Democrat

by: Matt Stoller

Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 5:17 PM EST

The Republican establishment in Wyoming is in disarray, with a probable field of 5-7 candidates vying for the nomination (the primary is in August).  Possible Republican establishment choices include former state treasurer Cynthia Lummis and Cheney acolyte Tom Sansonetti, both of whom sought to fill the Senate position opened up when Craig Thomas died, and that John Barrasso now occupies.