State News Shot

Georgia GOP AG Debate had lots of Flash

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 11:43 Written by rslcpol Monday, 9 August 2010 12:40

From the Augusta Chronicle:

Republicans picking a nominee for attorney general got to see their choices duke it out Sunday night during a televised debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club.

Primary leader Sam Olens, the Cobb County Commission chairman and runner up Preston Smith, a state senator from Rome, clashed repeatedly before the cameras of Georgia Public Broadcasting.

They differed about which of the two was more conservative, had better experience and who was making the most personal attacks.

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Florida AG Poll – Race is Wide Open

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 11:43 Written by rslcpol Friday, 6 August 2010 12:05

From TampaBay.com:

The Republican primary for attorney general remains wide open with an overwhelming majority – 69 percent – of likely Republican voters undecided. Among decided Republican voters, the three Republican candidates are close, with 12 percent supporting Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, 10 percent supporting Pam Bondi and 9 percent supporting Holly Benson.

Similarities exist in the attorney general Democratic primary, with 62 percent undecided and candidates Sen. Dave Aronberg and Sen. Dan Gelber close, with 20 percent and 18 percent of likely Democratic voter support, respectively.

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Florida: Lt. Governor Throws Support behind Rubio

Last Updated on Friday, 6 August 2010 12:03 Written by rslcpol Friday, 6 August 2010 12:03

From SunshineNews:

Even though Gov. Charlie Crist hand-picked him to serve as his running mate in 2006, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp on Wednesday endorsed Crist’s chief opponent in the U.S. Senate race, former House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Rubio is running as a Republican, while Crist left the GOP back in April to continue his campaign as an independent. Kottkamp is running against former Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi and former Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Holly Benson in a close battle for the Republican nomination for attorney general.

“Today I announce my endorsement of Marco Rubio to be Florida’s next United States senator,” said Kottkamp.

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Democrat Attorney General gets a little help from his Friends

Last Updated on Friday, 6 August 2010 11:44 Written by rslcpol Friday, 6 August 2010 11:44

From The Columbus Dispatch:

After running a campaign with virtually no expenses — and getting criticized for it — Attorney General Richard Cordray yesterday reported thousands of dollars worth of help from the Ohio Democratic Party.

Cordray’s unorthodox fundraising practices — which include funneling money through state and local Democratic Party organizations and spending next to nothing on his campaign — drew an elections complaint from the Ohio Republican Party last month.

Republicans accused Cordray of trying to hide campaign expenses behind the facade of the Ohio Democratic Party, which Cordray denied.

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Forget Congress…. The Real show for ’10 is in the States

Last Updated on Friday, 6 August 2010 11:03 Written by rslcpol Friday, 6 August 2010 11:03

From Livingstondaily.com:

Reynolds and Gillespie told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor that they hope to raise $40 million to spend in targeted legislative races.

Reynolds said a surge in control in key states could give the GOP another 20 to 25 relatively safe seats in Congress for the rest of the decade.

Previous wave elections — the Democrats’ post-Watergate gains of 1974 and the Republican congressional takeover of 1994 — happened right after new congressional boundaries were drawn. This one is potentially unique because a wave, if it comes, would elect the architects of not only policy, but congressional boundaries for the coming decade.

“The states are very consequential in people’s lives in terms of our roads, our schools, our home values, our health care, our communities, our safety and our neighborhoods,” Gillespie said.

But the 2010 elections, he said, are “especially significant because of the impact that these chambers will have on redistricting.”

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AG Finds ‘inappropriate’ use of tax payer funded resources in Democrat Secretary of State Office

Last Updated on Thursday, 5 August 2010 01:21 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 5 August 2010 01:21

From courant.com:

The state attorney general said Thursday that he has found “inappropriate” political use of taxpayer-funded resources in the office of Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz — and has referred the matter to the state’s top prosecutor, Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane, to determine if criminal laws were broken.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal made those findings in an investigative report issued Thursday — saying also that it was “not proper” for his fellow Democrat, Bysiewicz, to include information on the “religion, race and ethnicity” of thousands of citizens in a controversial, taxpayer-funded “constituent database” assembled and maintained by her office.

Bysiewicz’s inclusion in the database of information not essential to the operation of her office “gives the reasonable perception that the state database was developed as a useful tool for political campaign purposes,” Blumenthal said.

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Governor Paterson Threatens to Force Assembly Session

Last Updated on Thursday, 5 August 2010 01:15 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 5 August 2010 01:15

From New York Post:

Gov. Paterson this morning continued to threaten a political showdown with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as he vowed once again to force the Assembly back into session to consider a popular measure capping local property taxes right before the Nov. 2 elections.

“I think the public has the right to know right before the election” where Assembly members stand on the measure, Paterson said on WOR radio.

The Democrat-controlled Senate passed Paterson’s proposed property tax cap earlier this week as it finally approved a new state budget, but Silver (D-Manhattan,) under pressure from the powerful teachers unions, refused to allow the measure to come to a vote.

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Political Newcomer Leads Democrat Incumbent Secretary of State

Last Updated on Thursday, 5 August 2010 10:49 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 5 August 2010 10:49

From The Iowa Republican:

Political newcomer Matt Schultz leads incumbent Secretary of State Mike Mauro in TheIowaRepublican.com Battleground Poll. Schultz leads Mauro 33% to 30%, but the poll also shows that 35% of those surveyed have not made up their minds about the race.

Schultz told TheIowaRepublican.com, “These numbers are encouraging, but it won’t change what I’m doing. I have always campaigned as if I am 20 points behind, and I won’t stop working hard.”

Schultz’ surprising strength in the poll can be attributed to Mauro’s obscurity across the state. As a first term incumbent, Mauro hasn’t built the name ID that Attorney General Tom Miller and State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald have during their three decades in office. On top of that, Mauro has done very little since being elected in 2006 to introduce himself to voters outside of Polk County.

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MI: Looking for that edge

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 11:43 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 5 August 2010 08:49

Cross posted on REDistrictingMAjorityProject.com:

From the Detroit News

Earlier this month, Republican strategists committed to raising $40 million to sink into state legislative races around the country — including Michigan — in hopes of gaining majorities that will allow the GOP to redraw districts to their advantage.

Speaking at a roundtable for journalists earlier this month, Tom Reynolds, former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and a former U.S. representative from New York, said Michigan was a “perfect example” of a state the GOP would like to target.

The GOP holds control of the state Senate, but will also be looking to take some of the 24 seats in the House occupied by Democrats that are being vacated or held by incumbents. The Republicans would need 13 of those seats to gain a House majority; if the party was to also take the governorship, it would be assured control of the redistricting process for 2012.

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National: Losing more in blue states than red

Last Updated on Friday, 13 August 2010 10:48 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 5 August 2010 08:28

Cross posted on REDistrictingMAjorityProject.com:

From the Hill

If the party’s gubernatorial candidates were to emerge with wins in Texas, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan — all states where Republicans either lead or are tied in recent polls — and the GOP holds or wins control of legislative chambers in those same states, Republicans could monopolize the post-2010 redraw.

“If Republicans do really well on Election Day, they could swing a lot more seats that they would have control over,” said analyst Kimball Brace, who heads Election Data Services, a bipartisan firm that specializes in the census and redistricting. “A shift of 10 to 15 [state legislative] chambers is enough to swing [the process] dramatically toward the Republicans.”

Based on census data from earlier this year, Brace estimates a total of eight states will gain congressional seats this time around, with Texas projected to be the biggest gainer, with as many as four additional seats. Ohio is projected to lose two seats, while Pennsylvania and Michigan are expected to lose one. Florida is likely to gain one.

Strategists note that trends point to the loss of more congressional seats in blue states than in red ones.

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