(via @BrianFaughnan) I don’t actually have an opinion on whether Porter should, or whether he can jump back in at this point: but the fact that he’s seriously considering trying for the Republican nomination again says volumes about how weak Senator Reid is right now. You’d think that a former boxer and (current) Senate Majority Leader wouldn’t have had such a glass jaw…
Crossposted to RedState.
If the last month should have done anything, it should have caused NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to at least re-evaluate his decision not to challenge current Governor David Paterson for the job. Since then, Paterson’s numbers have stayed awful: 19% from Marist, 28% from Quinnipac, 18% from Siena. The consensus is that Giuliani beats Paterson; Cuomo beats Paterson; and that Cuomo beats Giuliani. The situation for Paterson is in fact so bad that his own consituents would rather have their old governor back right now, and their old governor has a name for liking to choke prostitutes*.
And yet, Cuomo won’t run.
Governor David Paterson won’t get challenge from Andrew Cuomo
Primary fights are great for Democrats, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo asserts.
And no, he insisted again Sunday, he has no plans to challenge Gov. Paterson.
Either Cuomo really doesn’t want the job, or he’s quietly worried about any Democrat’s chances in 2010. Given the nature of the economy in general and New York’s in particular, there may be something to that last worry – and if so, it’s something to consider when trying to decide how doomed the Republican Party is in the Northeast.
Moe Lane
*Which is why he won’t be running again, rehabilitation dreams to the contrary. The editorial cartoons draw themselves.
Crossposted to RedState.
The White House decided to make personally certain that an unelected New York Senator with publicly-stated views on gun control and immigration contrary to the rest of her party was not challenged in the primary by a solidly-liberal Representative who is well respected in his caucus. This has caused a good deal of tension in the rest of the New York delegation:
Confusion, conflict mar Gillibrand’s run
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s effort to squelch plans by a New York congressman to run in next year’s Democratic primary against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand apparently succeeded.
In fact, the president’s call to Rep. Steve Israel asking him not to run may rank as a pivotal moment in Gillibrand’s effort to hang onto her seat.
But Obama’s phone call also has angered members of the state’s congressional delegation, who see it as heavy-handed intrusion reminiscent of Tammany Hall party machine politics.
The behind-the-scenes maneuvering has the makings of a political soap opera with some lawmakers feeling pressured to endorse early, some dissatisfied with Gillibrand’s views on key liberal issues, and some too upset to even break bread together.
To begin with, this isn’t ‘Tammany Hall Machine politics.’ Your standard Tammany Hall machine politician would have sneered at the way that the internal conflict between the state and federal power structures ended up in the local papers. As a practical hint: you don’t start this sort of thing by telling a politician not to run. You start by seducing his supporters away, then have them tell him not to run. Sure, it costs more – but it also avoids newspaper articles with headlines like ‘Confusion, conflict mar Gillibrand’s run.’
Continue reading The President roils the NY-SEN race.
Charles Lollar is the chairman of the Republican Party’s Charles County Central Committee in Maryland. Businessman, major in the Marine Reserve (served in Kosovo), involved in the Tea Party movement: he’s not yet declared for next year’s gubernatorial race, but his name keeps coming up in local discussions. There’s also now a Draft Charles Lollar site. Generally, this guy sounds like he’d be at least a candidate for consideration. Embarrassingly, while I live in Maryland myself I am not as checked out on local politics as I should be (an error that I’m in the middle of rectifying), so that’s about all I know on the subject. Local readers are welcome to fill in the gaps of my ignorance.
On this, at least.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
Somewhere in Nevada, a Republican has just decided to run for Senator. We do not know his or her name, but whoever it is, he or she worries Senator Harry Reid right now:
CARSON CITY — Nearly half of Nevadans have had enough of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as the powerful Democrat heads into his re-election campaign, a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll finds.
About a third of the state’s voters would re-elect Reid if the 2010 election were held today, according to the poll, but 45 percent say they would definitely vote to replace him. Seventeen percent would consider another candidate.
The findings are echoed by another poll question about Reid’s popularity that finds the four-term incumbent to be a polarizing figure in his home state.
Half of Nevada voters had an unfavorable view of Reid, while 38 percent had a favorable view and 11 percent a neutral opinion.
More via Chris Cillizza, who is actually going to some trouble to shoot down the most likely objections to this poll.
The article goes on to quote Reid’s campaign manager as saying “The only poll that really matters is on Election Day.” This common sentence in Politician translates to “we’re doomed, but we’re not going to give you the satisfaction of seeing us wince,” and is one of the reasons why there’ll probably be a serious challenger or challengers by this time next week. Getting below 50% favorable is a sign of alarm for a politician; having a 50% unfavorable rating is a harbinger of upcoming disaster. He can still win, but there won’t be a repeat of 2004’s easy win for him. Put another way, the Democrats don’t want to have to fight for that particular seat, but at this point they don’t have a choice…
Crossposted at RedState.
[UPDATE] Welcome, Riehl World View readers.
[Note: Google hasn’t caught up yet. Her official campaign website is here.]
It’s official:
Haley Officially Enters South Carolina Governor’s Race
State Rep. Nikki Haley is adding her name to the list of Republicans hoping to become governor of South Carolina in 2010. Haley, a staunch anti-tax advocate, confirmed Thursday that she will mount a run for the seat currently held by Republican Mark Sanford, who is prevented by term limits from running for a third term.
“For more than five years I’ve sat in the statehouse and watched – sometimes in disbelief – as our state government has spent with abandon and in the process wasted taxpayer dollar after taxpayer dollar,” Haley said in a release. “I know what good government can look like. I’m running for Governor so the people of this state will know what it feels like.”
Continue reading State Rep. Nikki Randhawa Haley announces for SC-Gov.
Worst possible news, in fact:
New York State voters disapprove 60 – 28 percent of the job Gov. David Paterson is doing, the lowest approval ever for a New York Governor, and say 63 – 22 percent that he does not deserve to be elected to a full four-year term, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
With numbers like that, it’d take a special miracle from God to convince the man to run for election next year; more to the point, even if Paterson refuses to admit to the inevitable the rest of the NY Democratic Party won’t be quite so stubborn. Hence, the use of the word ‘depressing.’ I much prefer to see the Other Side engage in rather vicious primary battles. Like the one that may be happening with Gillibrand: Continue reading Depressing Q-Poll about NY Gov Paterson.
