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."
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) cast his first vote as an independent Tuesday and what did he have to say about it?
"I'm really looking forward to voting for some great
judges today," he told a local paper.
Crist is running for the Senate but, because he changed his voter registration from Republican to independent, he can't vote in any of the state's big primaries such as the gubernatorial race or the Senate campaign.
He is allowed to vote for judicial and school board races, according to the Tampa Tribune.
"Being an independent is very liberating and refreshing,'' Crist told the paper.
Crist will find out his Democratic competition after Tuesday's vote. Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) is leading self-funding billionaire Jeff Greene in the polls and is expected to garner the Democratic nomination. Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio is the likely Republican nominee.
In its first foray into the Colorado Senate race, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is accusing Republican Ken Buck of supporting a repeal of the 17th Amendment.
"For nearly 100 years now, we the people have picked our senators," the ad's narrator says. "But Ken Buck proposed a radically different idea. Buck said he wanted to rewrite the Constitution to let state legislators pick our senators instead of voters."
Buck is "too extreme for Colorado" the ad concludes.
Last year, Buck did tell a group of voters he thought the 17th Amendment has had "a horrendous effect" on federal government spending and expressed some support for its repeal.
But the candidate has since backtracked on that statement. Buck now says he does not support repealing the 17th Amendment. Campaign spokesman Owen Loftus said that was a position he clarified just one day after his original statement.
"The DSCC and Bennet want to talk about anything other than the Obama-Bennet record that helped push over 90,000 Coloradans to the unemployment lines and brought the nation's home sales to their lowest point in 15 years,” Buck campaign manager John Swartout said in a statement Tuesday.
The Democratic line of attack is one they will continue against Buck through the fall. According to one strategist, the national party plans to be "aggressive in defining Buck as the extremist he is."
Turns out there's a reason Sen. John McCain has only one public event on his schedule before his election night party.
Keeping with tradition, the Arizona Republican will be heading to the movies — most likely to watch Leonardo DiCaprio.
"There's always dead time at the polls while people are at work," McCain told KMLE radio in Phoenix on Tuesday morning. "The best way to pass that time is to go to the movies, so that's what we're going to do today."
McCain told the host that he and his wife Cindy are probably going to see "Inception," the mind-bending thriller that has garnered early Oscar buzz this summer.
As for what the senator isn't going to see, count the travel chick-flick "Eat Pray Love," and the aging action-star redux "The Expendables" on that list.
"I heard 'The Expendables' is no treat," said the lawmaker, who turns 74 years old next week. "Old Sylvester Stallone — he's getting a little long in the tooth. [laughs] Of course I know it's wrong for me to say that ..."
The tradition of going to the movies on Election Day is part of his superstitious personality, McCain said, a part of him that not many people know about. "I'm so superstitious that it drives everybody I know crazy ... If I see a penny on the ground with the head up, I'll pick it up. If it's tails up, I pass it by." — Elise Viebeck contributed to this item, which was cross-posted from ITK.
Wisconsin Senate candidate Ron Johnson (R) appears with his family, not "professional actors," in his latest TV ad. The 30-second spot features his son and two daughters laboring through some boilerplate lines about how great their dad is. "OK, that's enough," Johnson interrupts to say. "Obviously, I'm not a professional politician."
But he's aspiring to be one — and these types of ads have been effective in the Midwest this cycle. During the primary in Michigan, Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Snyder ran ads featuring his daughter talking about much of a "nerd" he was, which fit with his "one tough nerd" campaign slogan. Snyder, like Johnson, was also making his first foray into politics after success in the business world.
Johnson's ad is airing statewide on cable and broadcast TV starting Tuesday, according to a campaign spokeswoman.
On the morning of his toughest political contest to date, Florida Senate hopeful Kendrick Meek (D) was in his home state of Florida. But his car was tooling around D.C.
Meek's personal vehicle, a sporty Dodge Caravan minivan, was spotted about 8:15 a.m. Tuesday moving forward along Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., toward Capitol Hill.
The car's owner hopes to move forward Tuesday, as well, straight into a spot in Florida's three-way Senate race, where he'll face Republican Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running as an Independent. According to one late poll, Meek held a 7-point lead against billionaire Jeff Greene going into Tuesday's Democratic primary.
No word on who was behind the wheel of the dark blue van, but as one Meek staffer joked, "Hopefully it wasn't his daughter — she doesn't get her permit until next year!"
It certainly wasn't the congressman, who has seven Election Day events in the Miami area, according to his campaign.
The Arizona Democratic Senate primary has been mostly an afterthought as the race between Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and J.D. Hayworth (R) drew national attention. But there are some interesting candidates vying to claim McCain's long-held seat.
Former Tucson City Councilman Rodney Glassman is only 32, but he's considered the frontrunner for the nod. He's raised more than $650,000, and kicked in $500,000 of his own money. On Aug. 4, he had about $578,000 cash on hand.
Former state lawmaker Cathy Eden is considered a contender by some observers but she raised less than $100,000 during the primary. Eden, 60, has worked as a top bureaucrat in the state health department and has touted her experience during the campaign.
Meanwhile, former investigative reporter John Dougherty is promising to start digging up dirt in Washington, if he gets elected. According to his website biography, "John's 1989 story in the Dayton Daily News triggered the Keating Five Senate Ethics Committee hearings that nearly ended Senator McCain’s career." But like Eden, Dougherty has been a weak fundraiser.
Attorney Randy Parraz rounds out the Democratic field.
As voters head to the polls, McCain has a light Election Day schedule. He and his wife, Cindy, plan to vote at their polling station in Madison Camelview Elementary School in Phoenix. He has no public events afterward until his election night party at the Phoenix Convention Center.
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