State News Shot

NY: Poll shows Democrat AG Primary is Tight

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:48 Written by rslcpol Monday, 13 September 2010 12:07

From TimesUnion:

In the race for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, with 25 percent and Kathleen Rice at 23 percent are similarly tight. Sean Coffey is at 13 percent, Richard Brodsky 7 percent and Eric Dinallo has 4 percent. Twenty-nine percent remain undecided.

Schneiderman’s camp claimed this as proof of the effect of a surge in endorsements in recent weeks. Coffey supporters said voters shouldn’t put much stock in polls.

The data, released Saturday, were collected in two polls conducted Tuesday through Thursday in calls to 1,225 likely primary voters. Greenberg said voters were asked a series of questions and must have voted in a recent primary.

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State Legislature Races – “most significant Democratic disaster”

Last Updated on Monday, 13 September 2010 11:00 Written by rslcpol Monday, 13 September 2010 11:00

From the Washington Post:

We’re headed for a major pendulum swing. Since World War II, the party of the president has lost an average 24 House seats and three to four Senate seats in midterm elections. Count on a doubling of those numbers in 2010. The most significant Democratic disasters will likely come at the state level. On the eve of redistricting, Republicans will gain perhaps eight governorships, 400 to 500 state legislators and eight to 14 new state legislative chambers.

It’s a “check-and-balance” moment. Obama will have to adapt to divided government — something Americans have ordered up for 36 of the past 60 years. The good news for Obama is that presidents often fight what is in their best political interests. Assuming decent economic growth before 2012, a rambunctious Republican Congress will give the president an institutional devil figure to blame and run against for reelection. The pendulum swings both ways, increasingly quickly.

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The GOP’s Resurgence in Ohio

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:48 Written by rslcpol Monday, 13 September 2010 10:50

RSLC Political Director, Ben Cannatti, co-authors another piece in the series “RSLC State Race Spotlight” on Townhall.com:

Ohio, the GOP’s most pivotal swing state in 2004, is proving once again to be fertile ground for Republicans in 2010. Despite the attention the current administration is lavishing on Ohio – President Obama has visited the state nearly a dozen times since taking office – Buckeye State Democrats are losing ground, and time is running out.

Just last week, the Columbus Dispatch reported that “Republican candidates have grabbed double-digit leads in the races for governor (John Kasich) and the U.S. Senate (Rob Portman), and the swelling red tide could lead to a GOP sweep of statewide offices,” according to a poll conducted by the paper. The Dispatch also noted that supporters of Republican statewide candidates are nearly three times as enthused as their Democratic counterparts. This situation led the Dispatch’s Darrel Rowland to surmise that “[i]f Ohioans’ sentiments favoring Republicans extend to legislative and congressional races, that could mean the GOP will retake control of the Ohio House.”

Unwinding the Democrats’ current 53-46 majority in the Ohio House chamber has been a long-standing goal of the Ohio Republican Party and earlier this summer, the Republican State Leadership Committee included the Ohio House in its inaugural REDMAP Report as one of four legislative chambers it predicted as definite GOP pickups in November. With all 99 seats up for election and the significant enthusiasm gap reported in the recent polls confirming the GOP’s early confidence, the party looks to be in an excellent position to net the four seats needed to reclaim the majority.

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Parties Target Statehouses that could determine congressional districts

Last Updated on Monday, 13 September 2010 09:33 Written by rslcpol Monday, 13 September 2010 09:33

From the LA Times:

With the majority party in control, an artful jiggle of a line here or the shift of a few precincts there can mean the difference between a Republican-leaning district and one likely to elect a Democrat; multiplied dozens of times, that can determine who runs the U.S. House.

“Whoever has the pen in hand has the opportunity,” said Thomas M. Reynolds, a former congressman and vice chairman of the Republican State Leadership Committee, or RSLC, which plans to spend more than $40 million to influence redistricting.

New campaign finance laws prevent the parties from accepting big-dollar contributions. So instead, they are leaning heavily on outside groups, directed by some of the parties’ top strategists and funded by wealthy donors, labor unions and corporations.

“It is a gift that will keep on giving,” Ed Gillespie, head of the RSLC, told a Washington gathering of potential donors. He suggested that $1 spent today on drawing a safe congressional seat would save many times the cost of winning a competitive race later. “This is one of the best investments you can make.

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Alabama: Candidates Make Pitch for Attorney General

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:48 Written by rslcpol Friday, 10 September 2010 04:16

From al.com:

The Democrat and Republican candidates for state attorney general made their pitches to be the state’s chief attorney in separate speeches today before the Alabama Retired State Employees’ Association, stressing their differences and backgrounds.

”One issue that defines the difference between me and my opponent is Obamacare,” said Republican Luther Strange. He called the health care overhaul ”an intrusion on our private liberties, our ability to make our decisions for ourselves.”

Among other things, the law eventually will require most Americans to have health care coverage or face federal penalties.

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Democrat NY AG Candidate wants to be “Sherriff of Main Street”

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:48 Written by rslcpol Friday, 10 September 2010 01:53

From YahooNews:

New York state attorney general candidate Kathleen Rice said on Thursday she hoped to renew the office’s focus on “kitchen table” issues and broaden the job beyond the role of the so-called “Sheriff of Wall Street.”

Rice, in her second term as Nassau County District Attorney, is one of five Democrats seeking the nomination to succeed Andrew Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer as the state’s chief prosecutor after Spitzer turned the office into an aggressive enforcer of financial crimes.

The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face Dan Donovan, the lone Republican running in the heavily Democratic state, in the November 2 general election.

“I think it’s important for the office to be known as ‘the People’s Attorney,'” Rice, 45, told Reuters in an interview. “I think that only calling it the ‘Sheriff of Wall Street’ is doing it a disservice to Main Street and the issues of everyday families that they deal with sitting at their kitchen table.”

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Eight-term Iowa Democrat Attorney General in Danger of Losing

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:49 Written by rslcpol Friday, 10 September 2010 01:22

From the Iowa Independent:

Eight-term Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller is in danger of losing in November, at least according to political handicapper Louis Jacobson, who lists the race as a “toss up.”

As a part of his Attorneys General Race Ratings for Governing magazine, the race between Miller and former U.S. Rep. Steve King’s chief of staff Brenna Findley is considered too close to call. In addition to her aggressive campaigning and increased favorability toward Republican candidates nationwide, Findley may also capitalize on the Iowa egg recall that has caught national headlines recently. As The Iowa Independent reported last week, Findley pressured Miller to return a $10,000 campaign donation from the son of the embattled company owner, which Miller did.

Findley has posted huge fundraising numbers, showing nearly $165,000 cash on hand as of the last filing period in July. And she’s picked up major endorsements from the conservative community, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

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Heated Debate in Arizona AG Race

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:49 Written by rslcpol Friday, 10 September 2010 01:14

From azdailysun.com:

Rotellini said Mortgages Limited was engaged in securities fraud before the firm went bankrupt, which was not the purview of the Department of Financial Institutions.

Some of the debate focused on the state’s new immigration law, with the pair sparing over who was more interested in curtailing people coming across the border illegally.

Horne promised to make defending the law the absolute top priority if he is elected, above all else.

“People are really fed up with the federal government not doing its job,” he said. “They neglect it, and then they sue us to stop us from doing something about it.”

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WI: After running “low profile” campaign, Democrat AG Challenger wants to debate

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:49 Written by rslcpol Friday, 10 September 2010 01:11

From Coulee News:

Van Hollen’s campaign issued a statement saying “there certainly will be a debate but not because Scott Hassett is desperate.” It did not elaborate.

Hassett and Van Hollen will face each other in the November general election. Hassett has run a low-profile campaign so far, though. Campaign finance reports released on Tuesday show he’s trailing Van Hollen in campaign cash. Van Hollen had nearly $358,000 on hand as of Aug. 30. Hassett had about $127,000.

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VA AG on Fox News to talk Health Care Suit

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:49 Written by rslcpol Friday, 10 September 2010 12:55

From the Shad Plank:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has become a darling of FoxNews and he was on Greta Van Sustern this week to talk about the lawsuit against federal health care reform.

Cuccinelli makes the case that if the Virginia lawsuit manages to win the case and undo the mandate that people purchase health insurance coverage, then President Barack Obama’sentire reform dies. Cuccinelli’s case says that the mandate violates the commerce clause of the the U.S. Constitution.

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