Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Land lags, Cassidy and Gardner run strong

This ad from a political action group called IACE is about as unvarnished as they come. If it's a indicative of things to come the fall elections are going to be especially nasty. It's difficult to gauge the effectiveness of any one ad but something is driving the Colorado senate race into a real shootout. At the beginning of the year the race was not supposed to be competitive and Mark Udall was predicted to coast to a win. Tea Party leaning Cory Gardner cleared the Republican primary field while winning endorsements from his competitors all the while fighting with Tea Party Express. Without a bruising primary Gardner is very competitive. He trails by only 3 points in a poll conducted way back in mid April, the latest public poll.

Guess who was the biggest contributor to Louisiana's Mary Landrieu in her last election? BP. Yep the drilling giant gave nearly $17,000 to Landrieu’s campaign committee during the 2008 election cycle. One doubts if Landrieu will put the bite on BP this cycle but money is the least of her worries. She trails Congressman Bill Cassidy by 6 points in the latest poll released on 6/9.
Looking to Michigan former Secretary of State Mary Lynn Land after a good start has faltered in her attempt to succeed retiring Karl Levin. She is down by 9 but Congressman Gary Peters, her Democratic opponent, is demanding 5 debates. There is an issue that came to light only today that might redound her favor. Peters has collected $8,500 from the National Treasury Employees Union over his career. This union represents the employees of the IRS. It may take someone more savvy than Land to capitalize on it but properly done it could become an expensive albatross.

No comments: