New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will stump for former Philadelphia Eagle Jon Runyan (R) at an Ocean County barbecue in September.
It's the kind of move Republicans had been hoping for from the popular governor. Christie beat former Gov. Jon Corzine (D) 56 to 39 percent in 2009 in Rep. John Adler's (D) district. Runyan is vying to unseat the freshman Democrat in November.
A recent poll showed Christie with a 51 percent approval rating — higher than President Obama in Democrat-leaning New Jersey. Christie gets a 75 to 13 percent thumbs up from Republicans and a 61 to 29 percent approval/disapproval from independents, according to the recent Quinnipiac University poll.
But his approval rating could drop before the Sept. 5 event with Runyan. Christie acknowledged Wednesday that a clerical error blew the state's chance at winning $400 million in federal money for schools.
Republicans still hold a three-point generic ballot edge over Democrats, according to the latest tracking numbers from Gallup.
The latest numbers show 47 percent of registered voters saying they would vote for the Republican candidate in 2010 to 44 percent who say they would vote for the Democratic candidate.
That's a drop from Gallup's tracking numbers last week, when the GOP held a seven-point lead, but Gallup notes that Republicans have held the advantage on the generic ballot question for each of the past four weeks — the first time that has happened this year.
Gallup's Jeff Jones writes: "The consistent Republican advantages are also notable from a historical perspective. In Gallup's 60-year history of asking the generic ballot question, it is rare for the Republicans to be ahead among all registered voters. In fact, last week's seven-point lead is the largest Gallup has measured for the Republican Party at any point in a midterm election year."
The congressional campaign of businessman Francisco Canseco (R) is touting new internal numbers it says have him leading Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas).
According to a poll for the campaign done by the firm On Message, Inc., Canseco leads 43 percent to 37 percent. The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.
Canseco is on the National Republican Congressional Committee's list of "Young Guns," but Democrats have hammered him in recent weeks over hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax liens on several of his properties.
Despite Republicans viewing the seat as a potential pick-up opportunity in the fall, Rodriguez is in a strong financial position ahead of November. The incumbent had more than $700,000 cash on had at the end of the second quarter.
After a summer that saw him outspent by millions, Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) leads self-funder Jeff Greene (D) by double digits in two new polls ahead of Tuesday's Democratic Senate primary.
Still, the final numbers out ahead of Election Day underscore the volatility that has characterized the state's Democratic Primary.
According to new numbers from Public Policy, Meek holds a commanding 24-point lead. The congressman leads Greene 51 percent to 27 percent, with 13 percent undecided.
But the final Quinnipiac poll gives Meek just a 10-point edge. In that poll he leads Greene 39 percent to 29 percent, with 28 percent unsure.
In the Public Policy poll, African-American voters make up 25 percent of the sample, helping Meek to a more solid lead. He earns 70 percent support among African-Americans, but also leads by 10 points with white voters: 47-37.
Still, pollster Tom Jensen warns that should Meek defeat Greene on Tuesday, his real problem with Democrats is just beginning. More Democratic voters have a favorable opinion of Gov. Charlie Crist (I), who is waging an independent Senate bid, than Meek.
Crist's approval among Democrats in the state is at 57 percent, while Meek's stands at 50 percent.
A new poll in Washington state shows Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) trailing Republican Dino Rossi, which might explain the tone of her first TV ad of the general election.
A SurveyUSA/KING-5 TV poll conducted Aug. 18-19 shows Rossi ahead of Murray 52 percent to 45 percent. And notably, Rossi leads among independents 59 to 35 percent.
The last SurveyUSA poll released earlier this month had Murray up 41 percent to 33 percent.
Meanwhile, Murray's new TV ad notes that "corporate lobbyists" held a D.C. fundraiser for Rossi, and "now Dino supports keeping tax loopholes for corporations that send our jobs over sees," the announcers say in the 30-second spot that was released Sunday. "Dino puts his lobbyist contributors ahead of our jobs, and that won't get us back to work."
Thelatest Rasmussen pollon the Arkansas Senate race shows Sen. Blanche Lincoln's (D) numbers dropping to their lowest point yet in her reelection bid against Rep. John Boozman (R).
Boozman leads 65 percent to 27 percent, according to the latest numbers. Four percent prefer another candidate and just 3 percent say they're undecided. A Rasmussen poll from last month had Boozman leading 60-35.
It's obviously a long way to November, but right now Arkansas continues to look like the easiest Senate pick-up on the calendar for Republicans this fall.
Boozman has maintained a large lead over Lincoln since the senator narrowly survived a primary challenge from state Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D), and Democrats in Arkansas have still not entirely coalesced around her reelection bid.
The poll found just 69 percent of Democrats backing Lincoln, while 89 percent of Republicans are supporting Boozman.
Former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) has opened up a nine-point lead on Rep. Joe Sestak (D) in Pennsylvania's Senate race and holds a commanding edge with independents.
New numbers from Public Policy Polling show Toomey ahead of Sestak 45 percent to 36 percent. Among independent voters, Toomey leads 50-23.
Pollster Tom Jensen points to President Obama's sinking popularity in the state as one of the primary reasons for Toomey's lead. The president's approval in Pennsylvania now stands at just 40 percent, while 55 percent of likely voters disapprove.
There are also more disaffected '08 Obama backers in Pennsylvania than there are nationally, according to PPP.
"Our national poll last week found only 7% of Obama voters are now unhappy with the job he's doing but in Pennsylvania the figure is 15%," writes Jensen. "Toomey has a 14 point lead with those disaffected Obama voters, showing the extent to which those voters moving away from Obama are moving away from the Democratic Party in general."
One issue that could move independents is the growing controversy over plans for an Islamic cultural center and mosque near New York's Ground Zero.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the project's biggest backers, endorsed Sestak in Philadelphia Tuesday, while Toomey led the morning by denouncing plans for the mosque.
A spokesman for the Toomey campaign called the project "provocative in the extreme."
Sestak, meanwhile, is trying to straddle the fence on the mosque question. A spokesman said Monday that the congressman "believes there is a constitutional right to religious freedom and separation of church and state that applies equally to all Americans."
But spokesman Jonathon Dworkin said Sestak "is not looking to say what’s best for New York as long as that right is respected — he is focused on Pennsylvania."
North Dakota state Rep. Rick Berg (R) has widened his lead over Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) in a new poll.
Berg is up 53 percent to 44 for the incumbent in a new Rasmussen Reports survey of 500 likely voters that was conducted Aug. 10-11. Last month, Berg was ahead by three points. Pomeroy holds the state's only House seat.
Republicans in North Dakota are confident of picking him off, in part, because Gov. John Hoeven (R) will be at the top of the ticket as he's running for Senate. The popular governor has been polling 40 points ahead of his Democratic opponent.
Mitt Romney continues to lead the pack of potential Republican challengers to President Obama in 2012, while more Democrats are starting to favor a new candidate.
Romney has the support of 21 percent of respondents in a newCNN/Opinion Research poll released Friday. Sarah Palin was the respondents' second favorite at 18 percent and Newt Gingrich was third with 15 percent. The survey of close to 500 Republicans was conducted Aug. 6-10, which means it doesn't reflect any possible fallout from Marianne Gingrich's interviewwith Esquire magazine.
Meanwhile, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee fell from being the pack leader in April with 24 percent to getting only 14 percent in the new poll.
On the Democratic side, there was a slight uptick in respondents preferring a "different candidate" to Obama in 2012. Back in March, 20 percent said they would like a new nominee, while now 23 percent favor a candidate change. The White House has recently been engaged in a public war of words with the"professional left," but even his liberal critics doubta candidate will step forward to launch a primary challenge to Obama.
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