WOW: Rasmussen: West Virginia Senate: Raese (R) Eases Ahead of Manchin (D). “Manchin, despite his popularity with voters in the state, faces an electorate that is even unhappier with the national Democratic agenda than voters in most other parts of the country.”
UPDATE: Connecticut Senate Race Moves to the Margin of Error. Democrat’s Lead Cut to 3 points in Q-Poll. “Mr. Blumenthal will feel a particular dismay at one Q-Poll finding: His favorable rating among likely Connecticut voters continues to erode, descending to 51%, down another 4 points in two weeks. His unfavorable rating is at 41%, a chilling change for the man who was long enjoyed being the state’s most popular politician.” Maybe Blumenthal’s lies about Vietnam service are starting to register. Or maybe it’s just contagion from the Obama Administration’s unpopularity.
Meanwhile, Moe Lane wonders who the DSCC will abandon to “firewall” Connecticut?
ANOTHER UPDATE: Don Surber: “Barack Obama is the Official Albatross of the 2010 American Election. . . . From Safe Democrat — no way Joe Manchin can lose — in July to biting nails 5 weeks away from an election that is looking redder by the hour.”
MORE: Connecticut reader Mike Latina says it’s not the Vietnam stuff:
The Vietnam stuff has faded into the background. The real surprise is that she’s beating him (in liberal CT!!) on the issues. She’s hammering him with one negative and one positive ad right now which have been very effective. The negative one calls the Cap n Trade bill “Dick Blumenthal’s Energy Tax” and says that residents’ electricity and gasoline bills will go up ($968/yr and $0.68/gallon, respectively.) The positive one uses stock footage of JFK from 1961 expounding on the virtues of tax cuts to grow the economy. It ends with an old story board that says something to the effect of: “good idea then, even better idea now” followed by, “I’m Linda McMahon and I approved this message.” Don’t know if she can pull it off, but it’s going to be very close. Made sure my son got his absentee ballot at school.
Stay tuned. But don’t get cocky!