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Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) gets all the attention for backing underdogs, but Mike Huckabee is getting in on the action too.
DeMint will get plenty of play tonight – good or bad – for endorsing Marlin Stutzman in today’s Indiana GOP Senate primary. But Huckabee has also endorsed the conservative state senator over the establishment favorite, former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.). And, in fact, Huckabee has endorsed many of the same candidates DeMint has thus far, albeit after DeMint set the standard.
DeMint backed Marco Rubio mid-June 2009, but Huckabee was also one of the first national political figures on board. He endorsed Rubio a week later.
DeMint endorsed Chuck DeVore in the California Senate race in November and Stutzman two weeks ago. Huckabee followed by endorsing both men last week.
Huckabee took to RedState.com last week to explain why he is backing the three candidates, two of which – DeVore and Stutzman – remain decided underdogs.
“We need three firm votes in the Senate AGAINST bailouts, Obamacare and the many tax increases that our coming our way to pay for both,” Huckabee wrote. “We need strong defenders of the 2nd amendment, life, traditional marriage and wait for it … REAL BORDER SECURITY!”
Big-time Senate candidates aren’t the only underdogs Huckabee is backing. He has also endorsed businessman Les Phillip in the race against Rep. Parker Griffith (R-Ala.). And in his home state, he’s backing restaurant owner Scott Wallace in a primary with former U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin, a top recruit of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).
Rep. Jerry Moran's (R-Kan.) latest ad in the Kansas GOP Senate primary couldn't be more emblematic of the environment members of Congress face.
While Moran has been in Congress for seven terms, the ad emphasizes that he comes home on the weekend rather than taking part in "lavish dinners with friendly lobbyists." It also notes that he didn't vote for any bailouts, stimuli or
Obama's healthcare plan.
The ad makes no mention of Moran's opponent, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.),
who is an appropriator.
About the only thing missing is Scott Brown's truck; Moran is driving a car along the dirt roads of Kansas.
Multiple polls now show that in the aftermath of Sestak's first paid media blitz, the congressman has come within single digits of the former Republican senator in their Democratic primary in two weeks.
A Quinnipiac poll today shows Specter leading 47-39, and polls from Rasmussen and Muhlenberg College also show him within single digits.
Quinnipiac's numbers are particularly noteworthy, given that they showed Specter leading 53-32 a month ago. Since then, however, Sestak has begun to unleash his $5 million war chest, and it appears to have paid some dividends.
But much is yet-to-be-determined. Nearly half of voters don't know Sestak well enough to rate his favorability, while Specter is almost universally known.
Look for this race to get dirty in the short time before the May 18 primary. Specter is known as a brawler, and he's got a fight on his hands.
Sen. David Vitter's (R-La.) lead on Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) has grown to 18 points, according to a new Southern Media Research and Opininon Research poll.
The pollster last surveyed the race in October, when Vitter led 48-36. The lead, since then, has grown to 49-31.
Melancon has room to grown; he is still unknown to 41 percent of voters, compared to just 10 percent for Vitter. Vitter's approval rating, though, is solid, at 54 percent positive and 36 percent negative.
The survey was conducted for Baton Rouge businessman Lane Grigsby, a Republican donor who has contributed to Vitter. Grigsby also paid for the last poll.
Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson's (R) Senate campaign has released a poll showing his primary with Rand Paul is a tie.
The Voter/Consumer Research poll shows each candidate at 40 percent, with 20 percent of voters undecided. Six hundred likely primary voters were surveyed on Wednesday and Thursday,
The poll does not include crosstabs detailing either candidates strengths, and it did not include any of the minor candidates, who took a combined 6 percent in a recent SurveyUSA poll.
Pollster Jan van Lohuizen points out that both Grayson and Paul have similar name recognition and favorability numbers. But the numbers are not provided.
That Grayson needs to release a poll showing him tied with Paul shows that Grayson's campaign feels the need to assure donors that the race is competitive. Paul has shown a wide lead in other recent polling, and Grayson's campaign is dealing today with Dr. James Dobson switching his endorsement, which he originally made last week, from Grayson to Paul.
The primary is May 18.
Update 12:15 p.m.: Paul campaign manager David Adams responds: "No one, at this point, expects anything but a big Rand Paul lead based on his support for balanced budgets, term limits, a pro-life and pro-family agenda and a strong national defense."
The North Carolina Democratic Party is targeting Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) with a new web video focusing on his connection to Goldman Sachs, which is emerging as the boogeyman of the cycle.
Recent polls have shown Burr is vulnerable and the state party is trying to soften him up before their Senate nominee emerges from the primary.
Burr was one of several GOP senators spotted by reporters leaving a meeting with lobbyists for financial firms while President Obama gave his recent speech on Wall Street regulation in New York City.
An official with the North Carolina Democrats said they will continue to press this line of attack.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D) doesn't need to sweat his primary on Tuesday, according to a new poll.
The Suffolk University poll shows Fisher with a nearly 30-point lead, 55-27, over Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
The two had polled within single digits of each other since the start of the race, but now two polls this week show Brunner fighting a a losing battle. Quinnipiac University had him up 41-24, and now Suffolk shows him in with a clear lock on the nomination.
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