Democrats steadily gain in Senate races nationwide
Source: The Plum Line
Democrats steadily gain in Senate races nationwide
By Jamelle Bouie
While most political observers have been focused on the size of Mitt Romneys bounce from last weeks debate, something else has been happening at the state level Democratic Senate candidates have begun to break away from their Republican opponents. In Virginia, after a year-long period of stability, Democrat Tim Kaine has finally begun to break away from Republican George Allen. In the most recent Rasmussen poll, he wins 52 percent to Allens 47 percent, which matches his overall favorability with Virginia voters.
Likewise, in Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren has built a solid lead over Scott Brown, in a race that was tied for most of the year. On average, according to Real Clear Politics, she leads by 3.5 percentage points. The most recent poll gives her a five-point lead over Brown among registered voters, with a 50 percent favorability rating. Earlier polls showed Warren building her support with Obama voters, and that is ongoing shes a short step away from winning 90 percent of Democratic voters in Massachusetts.
The polling in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida is less recent, but it shows a similar trend Tammy Baldwin has built a 5-point lead over former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, Sherrod Brown has maintained his advantage over Josh Mandel in Ohio, and Bill Nelson is still leading Connie Mack in Florida. And, thanks to the huge missteps of Todd Akin, the unpopular Claire McCaskill has found a path to reelection. If theres a wild card, its in Arizona, where Democrat Richard Carmona has pulled within striking distance of Republican Jeff Flake. A GOP loss in Arizona would leave Democrats with a stronger position in the Senate than they currently hold.
It almost goes without saying that this is immensely significant for the next presidential administration. If President Obama wins reelection, a larger majority in the Senate and a smaller Republican majority in the House will give him a little more space to manuever, even if Senate Democrats still have to deal with procedural hurdles like the filibuster. Its not guaranteed, but Democrats will probably get a better deal in the upcoming fiscal negotiations if they cut into the GOPs advantage on the congressional level.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/democrats-steadily-gain-in-senate-races-nationwide/2012/10/08/f2a84ed6-1154-11e2-9a39-1f5a7f6fe945_blog.html#pagebreak
onehandle
(51,122 posts)I can't wait.
DallasNE
(7,403 posts)I am seeing just the opposite. There 4 Senate races have moved from leans Democratic to tossup. No races, however, have moved from tossup to leans Republican. According to them the down ticket damage is even greater than at the presidential level so it is a matter of who do you believe. That said, Obama's favorability edge over Romney is going up. Go figure.
bucolic_frolic
(43,287 posts)Unless they lose to a super majority. Then they will get the message.
Otherwise they will do what they always do.
So it all depends on Democrats turning up the juice, Obama
bringing home the bacon.
Well, we're in better shape than I thought we'd be, so let's go for it!
We have to beat Fundamentalist enthusiasm.
So call your local Democratic County Headquarters and volunteer for a couple
evenings of phone banking. We need turnout!
William769
(55,147 posts)brooklynite
(94,728 posts)...we pick up Massachusetts and Maine (Nevada is an outside chance); the Republicans pick up Montana and Nebraska.
If it is going to be a wash, then Harry Reid needs to pick it up and say..." any filibustering will be done by the book." Any senator who wants to filibuster must take the floor and talk for 55 out of 60 min until the filibuster is broken or the senator gives up...like the senators did in the earlier days of the Congress. Period, no exceptions.....lets see McConnell stand there and talk his smack for 20 hours straight....
underthematrix
(5,811 posts)in this state, it's about vaginomics not economics. I'm going for Shelly Berkley and 17 dollar man Koepnick, as well as every other Dem down ticket.
gasser85
(40 posts)I feel positive that President Obama will be reelected and that Dems will control the Senate and might pick up a seat or two. Just a question...is flipping the house a reasonable possibility? What say you?
Norbert
(6,041 posts)It's getting so desperate for the Mandel campaign that in a recent "story" Breitbart is aledging that Browns wife, who was an editor of the Plain Dealer until 2011 somehow influenced the Plain Dealers editorial board to endorse her husband. Sad.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)I don't think so!!