A senior union leader will say Tuesday that several Republican candidates from Ohio, if elected, will equal "one ugly future" for America.
In a speech at the Ohio AFL-CIO convention in Columbus, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will lay into the state's GOP gubernatorial nominee, John Kasich; Senate candidate Rob Portman; and Tom Ganley, Rep. Betty Sutton's (D-Ohio) Republican opponent.
"Kasich, Portman and Ganley equal one ugly future for America! It's a bleak vision of a weak nation in decline," Trumka will say. "That's their true promise for America, hidden behind a wall of false populism and name-calling."
In prepared remarks, Trumka will take shots at Kasich's stint as a managing director with the now-defunct Lehman Brothers, as well as Portman's time as U.S. trade representative during the George W. Bush administration. The union leader will also blast Ganley for wanting to cut government programs while seeing a car dealership he owns benefit from the "Cash for Clunkers" program last year.
"Tom Ganley in Akron — running against our own Rep. Betty Sutton — promises to, and I quote, 'cut the Dickens' out of government programs," Trumka said. "That's the same Tom Ganley whose Mercedes dealership made millions off the Cash for Clunkers program, but when it comes to the rest of us, he's all 'You're on your own.' "
Trumka will also tell union members they can make the difference in electing Democrats and making sure Congress doesn't flip to Republican control.
"Because it's going to come down to us and we're going to make the difference — district by district, a few thousand votes, a few hundred votes. Those will be the margins — the difference we make," Trumka will say. "It’ll be you. It’s going to be your vote. Your members. Your worksite leafleting. Your neighborhood walks. Your commitment to Labor 2010. Your programs."
The labor movement will be key to Democrats this election, as they are expecting heavy losses when voters head to the polls in November.
This definitely isn't the best way for a gubernatorial candidate to end a press conference.
Maine Republican Paul LePage grew irate Monday after getting pressed by reporters on details about how his wife, Ann, had potentially "violated statutes by claiming property tax exemptions on homes in both Maine and Florida," according to the Bangor Daily News.
LePage is a Tea Party-backed candidate who was the surprise winner of the June gubernatorial primary.
The Republican, who faces state Sen. Libby Mitchell (D) and some independent candidates in November, eventually stormed out of the news conference. "I am running for governor, not my wife," he said.
A cameraman for WMTW-TV captured the entire exchange LePage had with reporters and then followed him on his way out the building. The station's website doesn't allow the video to be embedded, but the Maine Democratic Party uploaded the story to their YouTube site. It's gripping video.
The Democratic base is "unhappy," but the party won't repeat the mistakes that cost it control of the House in 1994, according to a top party strategist.
"We Democrats were asleep at the switch in 1994," strategist Harold Ickes said Thursday at a forum in Washington organized by the Democratic Governors Association. "We were complacent, we were smug, to put it bluntly, we were arrogant and I think out of touch, in many cases, with what was going on back in the district.
"That is not the case today," Ickes added. "We clearly have been on red alert for a long, long time."
Despite the party leadership being aware of the tough environment it faces, many in the grass roots seem ambivalent about the Democrats' fortunes in November.
"Our base is unhappy, it's pissed off, I think unrightfully so," said Ickes, who was President Clinton's deputy chief of staff and advised Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. "I think in some sense they're fair weather on this issue. Politics is a long-term, tough business, and it's fine to be there when the tides are running with you, but you got to be there when the tides are running against you."
Ickes made a plea to party activists.
"My exhortation to Democrats is the tides may be running against us, but you got to get out there and work. There are 55 days left, a lot of things can happen," he said.
The party also has to win over independent voters in order to be successful.
"We have got to be able to win enough independents to carry especially these marginal districts," Ickes said. "That goes for the governors, and it goes as well for the House and the Senate."
Bill Clinton is headlining a fundraiser for Georgia Senate candidate Mike Thurmond (D) Thursday in Atlanta.
Tickets to the evening event at the Sheraton range from $1,000 to $2,400. Thurmond advisers had previously told The Ballot Box that Clinton could be helpful in broadening the Democrat's appeal. He's currently trailing Sen. Johnny Isakson (R) in polls and money raised.
Thurmond's connections with Clinton go way back, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was a supporter of then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) 2008 presidential campaign, and worked with the Clinton White House in the 1990s on welfare reform.
The former president is also set for events in Cleveland and Columbus on Sept. 14 to help Gov. Ted Strickland (D).
And Clinton will be the headliner at a rally and fundraiser for Ohio Senate candidate Lee Fisher (D) in Cincinnati on Sunday, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
After he lost the gubernatorial runoff in June, South Carolina Rep. Gresham Barrett said he would support fellow Republican Nikki Haley for governor. He apparently meant what he said.
The four-term congressman is listed as one of the "special guests" at a Washington fundraiser for Haley set for Sept. 22. The rest of the South Carolina GOP delegation is also attending the event, according to an invite. But Barrett's inclusion is notable because he faced Haley in the hard-fought primary and subsequent runoff.
The event is being billed as a "rooftop reception" at the offices of Nelson Mullins, a law firm with a substantial presence in the Southeast. Tickets range from $1,000 to $3,500. Haley is also set to attend a low-dollar fundraiser at a Capitol Hill Mexican restaurant that will feature Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.).
Haley, the first female GOP gubernatorial nominee in the state's history, faces Democrat Vincent Sheheen in the race to succeed the term-limited Gov. Mark Sanford (R).
Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes (D) unleashed a hard-hitting attack ad Tuesday against former Rep. Nathan Deal (R) in the state's race for governor.
Barnes is seizing on the recent flap over Deal's tax returns, which the Republican released last week amid pressure from his opponent.
Deal resigned his House seat in March to focus on his campaign for governor, but the retirement also came after the Office of Congressional Ethics said he had improperly described income from his family's salvage business.
The 30-second spot from Barnes charges that "secrets are hidden in the details" of Deal's returns.
"That's why he resigned from Congress at midnight," the ad's narrator says. "Nathan Deal — too corrupt, even for Congress."
Deal narrowly won a runoff last month over Karen Handel for the right to take on Barnes. Deal received some prominent backing from two rumored Republican presidential hopefuls — former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Colorado Republican Dan Maes issued a defiant statement Friday, refusing to bow to pressure from his supporters to quit the governor's race.
"During this time of deliberation, I listened equally to those who wanted me in this race and those who did not, and after internalizing that advice, I'm proud to say I'm in it to win it," he said in a statement.
"To those who have withdrawn their support for my campaign, I am confident that the truth will be revealed."
He called for the party to unite behind him and singled out the supporters who stayed with him through the controversy. "Thank you for honoring this endeavor with your trust and your confidence," he said.
"And finally, to the citizens of this state, don’t believe everything you read," Maes added. "This campaign found success through hard work, palm-pressing, and shoe leather, and that's how I plan to engage voters over the next two months and claim victory on November 2nd."
Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck (R) had been the latest to add his voice to the chorus of Republicans calling for Maes to step aside. Buck's statement prompted a rebuke from Sen. Michael Bennet's (D-Colo.) campaign.
"If Dan Maes, who Ken agrees with and considers a friend, can't count on Buck to stand up for him, how can we trust Buck to stand up for us?" Trevor Kincaid, a spokesman for Bennet, said in a statement.
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