The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee went up Tuesday with its second TV ad attacking Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou (R). The committee's first ad criticized Djou for his "troubling record on jobs."
This one hits Djou on both jobs and his support for "cutting thousands of teachers." The 30-second spot is airing in the Honolulu media market, which covers the entire state. Djou faces Democrats Colleen Hanabusa and Ed Case in the special House election set for May 22.
Republicans bring a small lead into the final month of the contest for the late Rep. John Murtha's (D-Pa.) seat, according to a Public Policy Polling survey.
The Democratic-leaning pollster found businessman Tim Burns (R) leading former Murtha aide Mark Critz (D) 44-41, thanks to an electorate that is upset with the recently passed healthcare bill, President Obama and the Democratic leadership.
Obama's is approved by 33 percent of voters and disapproved by 57 percent. Slightly less (28 percent) approve of the healthcare bill, and less than a quarter (24 percent) approve of Gov. Ed Rendell (D).
Burns uses those advantages to build a 51-31 lead among independents and grab twice as much crossover support as Critz.
Though the district is heavily Democratic, it's clear that it's a different brand of Democrat than exists elsewhere. Less than half -- 43 percent -- of them approve of the healthcare bill, and just 50 percent approve of Obama.
A GOP poll obtained by The Fix on Tuesday also showed a statistical tie in the race, with Critz maintaining a 40-39 lead.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who has long ignored calls to pay his dues
to the House Democratic campaign committee, is doing an about face this
cycle.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)
has set the dues bar for the Financial Services subcommittee chairman at
$250,000 this cycle. But as of Jan. 21, Gutierrez hadn't contributed a
dime.
If Republican Tim Burns can win the special election to replace Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), we may be talking about it as a repudiation of the healthcare bill.
It turns out the bill is tremendously unpopular in the district. That is, according to a sneak peek of a poll that is set to be released tomorrow by Public Policy Polling (D):
Some Democrats may not be thrilled Mark Critz is emphasizing his
opposition to the health care bill as he seeks to replace John Murtha in
the House, but after polling the district it's hard to see that as
anything but necessary for survival. Only 28% of voters in the district
express support for it with 59% opposed. Even Democrats there support
it by just a 43/39 margin.
Obama's overall approval rating in
the district is 33%, with 57% of voters disapproving of him. It's hard
to imagine any Democrat winning an open seat this year where the
President is that unpopular but it's still a close race. We'll have the
full numbers out tomorrow.
The Republican candidate running to replace the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has a website called votemurthaout.com, even though Murtha died more than two months ago.
The only content on the site is GOP nominee Tim Burns's statement on Murtha's death. Some of the links don’t work, but the button for campaign contributions does.
It also links directly to Burns’s Twitter account, which updates regularly on the site. Ballot Box asked Burns's campaign why they didn't remove the site or have the link redirect people to his main campaign site: timburnsforcongress.com.
"The site has not been updated recently and has only remained live with Tim Burns’ statement about the unfortunate passing of Congressman Murtha and highlighting Mr. Murtha’s dedication to public service," Burns campaign spokesman Kent Gates said. "Therefore, there is no need for it to be re-directed to the main site which is focused on the current Special Election for the remainder of the term.”
Burns was running against Murtha before the longtime lawmaker died on Feb. 8. Now Burns is running against a former aide to the congressman in the May 18 special election.
Fears that two Democratic candidates running in Hawaii's special election would splinter the vote look to be coming true.
A new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll found Democratic candidates, former Rep. Ed Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, in a virtual tie -- 29 percent to 28 percent respectively.
The Republican candidate, Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou, isn't doing much better. He received 32 percent in the poll, which was conducted April 11-14.
The May 22nd election pits the three candidates against one another and is winner take-all. Perhaps even more troubling, the poll shows only 7 percent of voters are undecided -- giving the candidates few new supporters to win.
Former Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) is running for governor.
The Democrat in the special election to replace Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) won the fundraising battle in the first quarter, but both men came out with almost the same amount of money after the GOP candidate self-funded $150,000.
Federal Election Commission reports show former Murtha aide Mark Critz (D) raise $376,000 before March 31. He spent $46,000 and banked $330,000.
The GOP nominee, businessman Tim Burns, raised $226,000 and self-funded $150,000 to give him the same in total receipts. Burns spent $58,000 and, by virtue of being in the race before Murtha's death, had slightly more in the bank -- $387,000.
Freshman Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.) had a modest first quarter in terms of fundraising but still leads his GOP challenger in cash on hand. Teague raised $132,900 in the last three months and now has $927,300 banked for his match up with former Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.).
Pearce announced Wednesday the he raised $277,447 in the first quarter -- he has $708,000 cash on hand.
Pearce left his 2nd district seat to launch an unsuccessful Senate bid in 2008.
Former NFL star Jon Runyan (R) didn't put up the kind of first quarter numbers that are expected of a top-tier challenger. Runyan, a long-time Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman, raised $150,720 since he launched his campaign last month. But $100,000 of the haul was his own money.
Runyan now has $137,559 cash on hand, according to PolitickerNJ.com.
His campaign attributed the poor showing to Runyan's late entry into the race to unseat Rep. John Adler (D-N.J.).
"We've raised nearly another $30,000 in the last two weeks since the deadline for the first quarter, with a slew of events coming up," said Runyan spokesman Chris Russell. "We feel good."
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