It's been frustrating watching the GOP pummel O2B candidate Al Franken with little response the past few months. There's an old-school view among consultants that you raise money until Labor Day, then you truly launch your campaign. However, we've seen in race after race that defining your opponent early can pay huge dividends. It worked for Jon Tester, as Conrad Burns was softened up in late 2005. And clearly, it's worked for Norm Coleman in Minnesota as Republicans have drug Franken through the mud all summer.

Well, it looks like things are finally changing. Franken's first latest ad looks good, and does a phenomenal job of explaining his "tax problem". And I love the "stay tuned for more" line, as the campaign clearly sets out to build its Norm Coleman narrative.

Franken would be one of our strongest progressive champions in the Senate. Winning this seat would be one of our biggest upgrades in the Senate this year. It's an important race.

On the web:
Al Franken for Senate
Orange to Blue ActBlue page

For his re-election campaign in Massachusetts, Senator Kerry has been traveling across the state in a series of "Kerry on your Corner" appearances.  Today, he visited New Bedford, and I was truly struck by the dilapidated state of the neighborhood he toured.  The video was captured by SouthCoastToday.com

It starts off with Senator Kerry giving a speech, but then it intermingles Kerry's walking tour with his descriptions of the toll foreclosures cause to neighborhoods and cities, with devastating effect.  Come below the fold to view it.

GA-Sen: As we reported last night, Jim Martin defeated Vernon Jones handily in the runoff election to determine the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Georgia.

Martin won quite handily, by roughly 20 points, swamping Jones even in several counties which Jones had won in the initial primary.

Martin will now take on incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss in the general (Chambliss, you may remember, won a narrow 53-46 victory over Democrat Max Cleland in 2002, after running one of the most controversial ads in recent memory).

OR-Sen: SurveyUSA has a new poll out on the Oregon race, which shows a double-digit lead for Republican Sen. Gordon Smith over his Democratic challenger, Jeff Merkley:

Swing State Project's James L. notices a couple of potential liabilities with the SUSA poll:

A few things seem a bit funky here, most notably Gordon Smith's improbably high 53-29 performance among voters aged 18-34.

The partisan breakdown of the sample, at 37R-41D-22I, is also perhaps a bit suspect. SUSA's partisan sample of Oregon has fluctuated in recent months, from 32R-44D in April to 32R-48D in May to 41R-42D in June. Where lies the truth? CNN's 2004 exit poll pegged turnout as 34R-32D-34I, but surely the landscape is now tinted with a bluer hue four years later. In fact, according to the latest voter registration numbers from the OR SoS, Dems have a 43%-33% voter registration advantage over the GOP as of June. That's a significant advantage that you don't see reflected in SUSA's model.

It is rather difficult to believe that Smith has such a substantial advantage among young voters.

Merkley has had a highly successful few months both in polling and fundraising, so this particular poll (which still has Smith under 50% despite questions about its validity) shouldn't be cause for too much concern.

MS-Sen: The DSCC has taken to the airwaves in Mississippi, assailing incumbent Roger Wicker (R)'s votes on Medicare:

LA-Sen: The campaign of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu has a new humorous website up hitting their opponent, John Kennedy, also known as the supreme king of flip-floppers.

CO-Sen: TPM on the recent mini-scandal regarding the Facebook page of Bob Schaffer's son Justin Schaffer (highlights of which included a picture of the Egyptian pyramids with the caption "Slavery Got Shit Done"):

Now, as you remember, back in April, unprompted, Schaffer touted the guest worker program in the Mariana Islands as a great model and one we should emulate here on the mainland -- notwithstanding the fact that the situation in the Marianas became notorious all over the world for sweat shop conditions, forced abortions, abusive workplace practices, sexual slavery and a whole bunch of other modern day workplace management best practices. He not only carried their water on Capitol Hill. He also went on one of Abramoff's junkets to the Islands to investigate claims of abuses (which he concluded didn't exist) and also parasail.

But here's the key thing. Back when we were looking into this in April, there was one thing that didn't quite compute. Unlike a lot of other Abramoff pals who stood up for the sex slavers on Capitol Hill, Schaffer didn't seem to have gotten much money out of Abramoff. In fact, virtually none.

So Paul Kiel and I had to consider the possibility that rather than being corrupt stooge willing to gloss over manifest outrages in exchange for a seat on the Abramoff gravy train, Schaffer may just have been ideologically pro-sweat shop and pro-slavery. And now Schaffer's son's endorsement of slavery on his Facebook page lends some new credence to this theory.

House Races

OH-15: A SUSA poll shows Democratic candidate Mary Jo Kilroy, who narrowly lost her 2006 race to incumbent Deborah Pryce, leading her current opponent, State Sen. Steve Stivers, by three points:

By Stivers' own words, this can't speak well of him or his candidacy:

Aug. 3--As he savored a cheeseburger with everything, state Sen. Steve Stivers was asked, "What is Mary Jo Kilroy's Achilles' heel?"

He didn't swallow the answer: "Have you ever met her?"

And then, "Voters want to vote for someone they like."

Huh. Nice guy.

They must really not like Steve Stivers, then, since he's the one losing.

MI-07, MI-13: Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick will be headed back to Congress after the toughest race of her career. Kilpatrick downed State Rep. Mary Waters and Sen. Martha Scott, winning with roughly 39% of the vote, to 36% for Waters and 25% for Scott.

"It was a close race and it came down to the wire, but there's only one winner," the Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman said, according to the Detroit Free Press. "I'll be your Congresswoman until I decide to retire."

During the campaign, Waters made an issue of the fact that Kilpatrick has stood by her son, embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whose tenure in office has been stained by personal scandal. Most recently, Kwame Kilpatrick was indicted with eight counts following the aftermath of a whistle-blower trial.

It will be interesting to see if there is another strong primary challenge in 2010, perhaps again from Mary Waters. Any incumbent who wins with 39% in a primary has to be considered somewhat vulnerable. However, it's unclear how big an issue Kwame Kilpatrick's legal and ethical problems will play two years from now.

Also in Michigan, Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer won his primary handily, thrashing 2006 nominee Sharon Renier, 66% to 34%. He'll face freshman Rep. Tim Walberg in the general election.

IL-11, TX-22: The DCCC is now running ads in Illinois' 11th District and Texas' 22nd District on behalf of Democrats Debbie Halvorson and Nick Lampson. SSP has the script of the Halvorson ad:

ANNCR: "The Middle Class is getting squeezed. Debbie Halvorson knows we're working harder and getting less, that's why she led the fight to lower prescription drug costs for Illinois seniors, and Halvorson helped give thousands of children and working families affordable health insurance. Now she wants to take our fight to Congress. She'll take on George Bush's Policies. And bring common sense back to our government. Debbie Halvorson, a fighter for us. The DCCC is responsible for the content of this advertisement."

The script of the Lampson ad has yet to be released. The ad buys are fairly inexpensive, around $100,000, but then, it's still early.

National: The infamous Freedom's Watch (check out the DCCC's The Real Freedom's Watch website)  has released a series of ads targeting the following Democrats around the country:

Rep. Nancy Boyda (KS-02)
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)
Rep. Nick Lampson (TX-22)
Rep. Chris Carney (PA-10)
Rep. Don Cazayoux (LA-06)
Mark Schauer (MI-07)
Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15)
Walt Minnick (ID-01)
Kay Barnes (MO-06)
Eric Massa (NY-29)
Martin Heinrich (NM-01)
John Boccieri (OH-16)

Most of these are on radio, except for the Lampson ad (cable TV) and the Boyda ad (broadcast TV). Here's an example of one of the ads:

"70 percent of Americans are in favor of exploring for offshore oil. But new Congressman Don Cazayoux has opposed efforts to increase domestic energy production 10 times. No wonder he’s endorsed by a liberal special interest group that favors high gas prices," an announcer at the start of the 60-second spot targeting Cazayoux.

"Two years ago the Democrats said they had a plan to lower gas prices. But nothing’s been done," the ad continues. "And Cazayoux? Instead of staying in Washington to fix the problem, he was the deciding vote to send the House on a five-week recess. In Washington, Cazayoux was beholden to Nancy Pelosi and the liberal DC special interests. But when he goes back home, he sings a different tune."

It's great to be back blogging with you all here at DailyKos!

Last week, Markos released the results of a new poll that show us running strong in Idaho's U.S. Senate race.  I blogged here about the new poll numbers last Friday.  But for those of you who haven't seen them, here they are:

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 7/28-30. Likely voters. MoE 4.5% (No trend lines)

 Risch (R) 42
 LaRocco (D) 32
 Rammell (I) 5
 Undecided 17

There's something happening here in Idaho.  I see it everywhere I travel, including at each of the 32 "Working for Idaho" jobs that I've taken where I'm working shoulder-to-shoulder with working Idaho families, and these numbers are telling the tale.

More over the flip.

Right this very moment, the 2008 Democratic nominee for Senate from Oklahoma, State Senator Andrew Rice, is liveblogging at Senate Guru.

Come join the discussion!

Rice is working hard to oust Senate anachronism Jim Inhofe, of the notorious 'global warming is a hoax' infamy.  So come by and ask him about how the campaign is going.

Interesting Mississippi-focused segment on NPR's Morning Edition today. Reporter Debbie Elliot takes a look at Mississippi politics, and the Musgrove-Wicker senate race particularly, from the historic Neshoba County Fair:

Longtime Republican Senate leader Trent Lott won re-election in landslides, but now that land is sliding. His once comfy seat in Mississippi is up for grabs. Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, appointed after Lott retired last year, faces former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in what pundits are calling the Deep South contest of the year.

And that has brought the candidates to the summer political tradition of the year — the Neshoba County Fair. It's a 10-day tent revival meeting in the red clay hills near Philadelphia in east Mississippi — except that the tents are two- and three-story cabins, 600 of them, lined up beyond the carnival rides and cow barns.

More below the fold, and cross-posted, as always, at The Thorn Papers. Y'all come by now.

We had a great diary earlier by Odinseye2k calledGA-Sen: It Looks Like Martin Is It!

Well he is it and Chuck Schumer just added Georgia to list of races we can win.

Schumer made this statement

"Georgians chose an impressive candidate today who has the experience and vision to change the direction of our nation. As a public servant under both a Democratic and a Republican Governor, Jim has a proven record of working across party lines, and he will be an effective and independent voice for Georgia families. This is a winnable race," Schumer's statement said.

I didn't get to see Norm Coleman's brilliant white teeth glistening in the morning light in Redwood Falls, MN.  I didn't get to watch Al Franken call out Norm for his close ties to President Bush and the corporations that fund his campaign.  I had to work ... ya know pay da billz and all that.  But everyone else was there.  The annual Farm Fest hosted the first MN-SEN forum.

This is solid Republican territory.  At least it used to be.  With fewer and fewer people self-identifying as Republicans in polling, this was the first test of how Al Franken's message would play.  This was also a test of how Norm Coleman's ability to cover his *** for 7 1/2 years of supporting President Bush and the corporations that fund him would go over.

Apparently, God hates blue dogs, or something.
Vernon Jones has conceded to Jim Martin.

Folks,

It appears that Jim Martin will be the Democratic candidate for this season as the Georgia candidate.  Jim is going to need a lot of help on this time around to deal with Saxby Chambliss.  I know this race hasn't been on a lot of people's radar, but we could use a lot of help, and I'll tell you why it's important after the fold:

The geniuses at the Steve Pearce campaign (for those of you who don't know Pearce, he is the guy who is going to lose the US Senate race in a landslide to Tom Udall, one of the greatest guys I have ever known, here in New Mexico) have a great gimmick on their website, an online poll asking us who we are voting for in the Presidential Race.  So far the results are like 200-5 for Obama, not the results they were looking for.  Go, do your duty...

Show Steve who we are voting for...Show Steve who we are voting for...

Not even corruption can keep these pals apart!

Stevens also said that Senator Daniel Inouye, the Democrat from Hawaii who Stevens refers to as his “brother,” was in Alaska with his wife, to join Stevens while he campaigns across the state (Inouye didn’t join Stevens at this rally). Inouye is scheduled to appear with Stevens in Anchorage at the Alaska Federation of Natives’ Leadership Roundtable Partnership for Affordable Energy at the Hotel Captain Cook Tuesday morning and at the dedication of the Opinsky Mail Center at 4141 Postmark Drive Tuesday afternoon.

Maybe Inouye can join Stevens for this?

Stevens said he would fly to Fairbanks today to join President Bush and meet U.S. troops at Eielson Air Force Base, and return to Anchorage this evening.

Inouye has been in the Senate since 1962, Stevens since 1968. So, they've served together since McCain was 32 years old, or 40 years total. And time has forged a friendship impervious to criminal activity. It's heartwarming, really!

Or perhaps, Inouye sees a little of Stevens in himself -- a senator long past his prime who is less relevant, and more like a relic in the Senate. Perhaps he sees that despite Stevens' long service, he is under siege by primary opponents and a general election opponent who is slated to kick his ass this November, and fears he might face a tough primary or even general election contest himself in 2010.

Whatever the reason, Inouye is 83. Hopefully, that means retirement is in order and Hawaii gets a chance to elect someone who doesn't shill for indicted crooks from the party that has given us our nightmare Bush America.

Gordon Smith is now airing an ad attacking Jeff Merkley and the Oregon state legislature for the cost of renovating the capitol building here in Salem, Oregon. That's right folks, Gordon Smith, the man who voted for the Iraq War and Cheney's energy boondoggle of 2003 is attacking Jeff Merkley, claiming he's fiscally irresponsible.

Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley

NH-Sen: The New Hampshire Democratic Party has launched a new web site going after John Sununu and his pals for their history of sleaze.

Check out SununuDirtyTricks.org, the happy new companion to StopSununu.com.

Among their targets is Americans For Job Security, a shady third-party organization that served as a front for Sununu in his 2002 Senate race, when they spent over $1 million smearing his Democratic opponent, former New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen:

Americans for Job Security (AJS) is a shady front group that does John Sununu’s political dirty work. The group has long ties to John Sununu and his family, and they spent over $1 million delivering attacks against Gov. Shaheen in her 2002 race for U.S. Senate all so John Sununu could go to the Senate and vote with George Bush 90% of the time.

AJS is willing to break the law to do Sununu’s dirty work, so they’re refusing to disclose where they get their money. Sununu is funded by oil and gas companies, drug companies, and the insurance industry, but his attack dogs might be funded by illegal corporate donations or even money from overseas. Call Sununu at (202) 224-2841 and tell him to demand his buddies at AJS reveal who is funding their attacks.

Given the dirty tricks in the 2002 incarnation of the Sununu/Shaheen race (most notably the infamous phone-jamming scandal), Democrats everywhere should be most relieved at the New Hampshire party's vigilance.

KS-Sen: Jim Slattery has officially raised over $1 million this cycle, in less than five months of campaigning.

“This is an important financial milestone in my campaign for the US Senate,” Slattery said. “It demonstrates the viability of my candidacy and my ability to compete in the general election.”

Slattery has raised a total of $1,003,725 from 2,059 people including 1,441 Kansans in only 140 days.

His Republican opponent, incumbent Senator Pat Roberts, has quite a bit more than that, but this is to be expected:

Should Slattery win the Democratic primary on Tuesday, he will face incumbent Senator Pat Roberts. As of July 16th, Roberts had just under $3 million cash on hand.

“Pat Roberts has been in Washington for 40 years,” Slattery said. “As a result, all the special interests have contributed to his campaign, including over $300,000 from the oil and gas industry.”

Slattery continued, “I will not be able to match Roberts dollar for dollar, but all the money in the world won’t help Pat hide his abysmal voting record.

Slattery is the first serious Democratic Senate candidate in Kansas in dog's years, and has been surprisingly competitive so far in the bulk of polls on the race (most of which show him trailing the two-term incumbent Roberts by 10-12 points). He has a (very) outside shot at victory this fall if he can stay competitive in the money race, and he appears to be doing a decent job of that.

OK-Sen: TheTulsa World has a new poll from the University of Oklahoma on Oklahoma's Senate race, with December numbers listed in parentheses.

The trend lines, obviously, are favorable for Orange to Blue candidate Andrew Rice. Notably, this poll was taken prior to Rice's recent statewide ad buys, his first of the cycle.

Inhofe polling at 52% for the primary against an opponent with a limited statewide profile is not especially good news for him, even if Rice's support in this poll is basically the Democratic baseline

Wonky note from the poll: Rice's lead among Democrats is only 46-35 over Inhofe. Even in a state with a high percentage of conservative Democrats, that seems rather odd.

We noted last week that Rice had made a couple of high-profile hires in former DSCC and Clinton campaign staffers Phil Singer and Geri Prado. Roll Call also takes note, suggesting that this indicates the DSCC's particular interest in Rice's campaign.

Despite Rice’s underdog status, DSCC Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) has been high on the candidate’s potential. The hiring of Singer and Prado could signal that the committee is taking a special interest in this race as the fall approaches.

Meanwhile, Andrew Rice liveblogged today over at theSenate Guru's place today.

AK-Sen: In the latest indicator of Ted Stevens' sense of entitlement, he apparently wants home-field advantage in his federal trial.

Lawyers for indicted Sen. Ted Stevens requested Monday to move the Alaska senator’s criminal case to his home state, a request that could have significant ramifications on his long political career.

Facing the toughest reelection bid of his four-decade Senate career, Stevens hopes to be acquitted in time for Alaska voters to decide to send him back to Washington for a seventh full term. Stevens has nearly universal name recognition in Alaska, where he is known for steering billions of dollars back home.

Stevens's lawyers filed papers Monday to move the case to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, saying the "center of gravity" in the case lies within the senior Republican's home state.

The government opposes the motion and wants the case to stay in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Justice Department has until Aug. 11 to respond to the transfer motion, and a hearing is set for Aug. 19.

Stevens is opposed by Orange to Blue Democrat Mark Begich.

House Races:

TX-07: In the latest indicator of his considerable fundraising prowess, Democrat Michael Skelly brought in $30,000 from over 200 individual donors on Friday.

For a House race in a red district, that's quite a day's work.

Houston, TX – Successful wind energy businessman and Congressional  candidateMichael Skelly raised more than $30,000 on Friday from over 200 individuals, demonstrating strong grassroots support from Houstonians looking for change in Washington.  To put that number in perspective, in a single day, the   Skelly campaign had well over half the individual donors that the (John) Culberson campaign had during the entire second quarter of 2008.

“This campaign is about the people of Houston,” said Skelly.  “It’s about Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike, all looking to put partisanship aside to confront the challenges that are most important to all of us.  Our campaign has always been powered by the grassroots support of people seeking a new voice in Washington.”

It's going to be awfully hard for Skelly or any Democrat to win in TX-07, but he sure won't lack for money as he tries to pull off the upset.

MI-13 It's primary day in Michigan, and the big question revolves around the future of longtime Detroit Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, facing a two-headed primary challenge from state Sen. Martha Scott and state Rep. Mary Waters:

In the toughest race of her life, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) might make it across the finish line in Tuesday’s Democratic primary because she has split opposition.

The head of the Congressional Black Caucus has come under fire for staunchly supporting her son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D), who has been indicted on eight counts after a whistle-blower trial. The result was two primary challengers: state Sen. Martha Scott (D) and former state Rep. Mary Waters (D).

An EPIC-MRA poll of 400 likely voters published last week in the Detroit News predicted a close contest, with Kilpatrick leading Waters 33 percent to 29 percent, with Scott at 24 percent. Waters and Scott, to a lesser degree, have criticized Kilpatrick for supporting her son so vocally.

But despite what appears to be tight race from the poll, Kilpatrick campaign manager Bill McConico was confident about winning. “We’re going to get over 50 percent, period,” he said.

If the News poll is in fact accurate, it's anybody's game tonight.

NM-02: The GOP can't be thrilled with nominee Ed Tinsley, who is spending his hard-earned campaign cash on fundraising mailers...to his opponent, and other high-profile Democrats.

State Democratic Party spokeswoman Conchita Cruz said Monday that more than 100 of the Tinsley letters rolled into the party's office last week.

Several are addressed to prominent Democrats, including Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, Cruz said. She added that one of the letters was also sent directly to Harry Teague, Tinsley's opponent in the southern New Mexico congressional race.

"We won't be sending money back to Ed Tinsley," Cruz said with a laugh.

Good on the Tinsley campaign. I don't know what mailing lists they've got, but I sure am glad that they're spending their money...well, asking their opponent for money.

(H/T: NM FBIHOP)

AZ-03: John Shadegg is a crazy person.

House Republicans issued the boldest claim yet in their three-day energy protest, insinuating on Tuesday morning that their demonstration may in fact have already begun to lower gas prices.

“The market is responding to the fact that we are here talking,” said Republican Rep. John Shadegg.

“I think the market realizes that this kind of pressure may in fact lead to a change in policy.”

These people are United States Congressmen?

At least our boys in blue can keep their sense of humor about the pure unadulterated stupidity emanating from across the aisle:

"Britney Spears might buy that, but I don’t think Paris Hilton would," said one House Democratic leadership aide. "The GOP energy policy has led to higher gas and oil prices and Republicans just keep voting for more of the same."

Please, help out Orange to Blue candidate Bob Lord in his quest to give the good people of Arizona's Third District a serious-minded representative.

On the web:
Orange to Blue ActBlue Page

Poor Dick "Dick" Wadhams. Every where he goes, he ends up with racist louts. Whether it's George "Macaca" Allen, or his new boss's idiot kid. The latest bad news for Colorado Republican and Senate candidate Bob Schaffer is said idiot kid's inability to keep his disgusting political and social beliefs under wraps.

Opponents of Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer have found political fodder in his 19-year-old son's Facebook page, which shows a picture of Barack Obama over the caption "High five.... who's gay" and another picture that reads "Slavery gets sh-- done."

Schaffer said he was prepared to talk about his campaign, not his children, but he did say that he and his wife had set out "firm punishment" for their son, Justin, over the issue.

Justin Schaffer attends the University of Dayton, and the page was apparently widely accessible to students there.

Justin Schaffer issued a written apology late Monday:

"The offensive materials directly contradict the values that my parents taught me and are forbidden in my parents' home. My Facebook page is my sole responsibility . . ."

"It is clear that my actions were juvenile, disrespectful, and a mistake on my part," the statement said.

Schaffer's idiot kid's sense of humor definitely runs to the juvenile and freeper variety, as displayed on the mirror site that captured the page before Wadhams and crew had a chance to get it scrubbed. But is that kind of humor really in contradiction to the kinds of values taught in the Schaffer family home?

Don't forget that the biggest of Schaffer's political scandals is his Abramoff-funded jaunt to the Mariana Islands:

Just before boarding a plane to the Mariana Islands in 1999, then-Congressman Bob Schaffer announced he was embarking on a fact-finding mission to get to the bottom of repeated allegations of labor abuse in the American protectorate.

"I plan to walk right into those factories and living quarters to see for myself what conditions exist," Schaffer said in a news release in August of that year....

He left believing that allegations of widespread abuse were largely unfounded — blaming them on Big Labor's efforts to shut down a booming textile industry allowed to use the "Made in USA" label but dependent on tens of thousands of imported workers....

At heart of the issue is the islands' massive textile industry, which is exempted from the U.S. minimum wage as well as most American immigration laws. The Northern Marianas economy is built on thousands of workers from China, the Philippines and Bangladesh, some of whom pay labor recruiters as much as $7,000 to land a job on U.S. soil.

A class-action lawsuit filed the year Schaffer toured the islands alleged that many of those workers lived in slum conditions, housed seven to a room in barracks surrounded by barbed wire designed to keep the workers in. Workers in some factories labored 12 hours a day, seven days a week, the suit alleged — without pay if they fell behind set quotas.

A U.S. Interior Department investigation found that pregnant workers were forced to get illegal abortions or lose their jobs. Some were recruited for factories but forced into the sex trade instead....

"There were some examples of problems that we found, and we raised those with the equivalent of the attorney general," Schaffer said of his visit. But in many others, "the workers were smiling; they were happy."

Modern day slavery, getting shit done in the Mariana Islands with "smiling, happy" slaves. One has to wonder how far from the family tree did Justin really fall in his political attitudes?

But we've got to get back to Dick "Dick" Wadhams, the message setter for the Schaffer campaign, most recently in political hot water for this:

Talking last week about a missed vote by Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall, Dick Wadhams, one of the GOP's most storied campaign operatives, ratcheted up the nastiness of an already sharp race when he told a reporter, "We're going to shove a bunch of 30-second ads up his ass [disambiguated by Pols] on this issue."

Asked Monday whether the statement was accurate, Wadhams said, "I stand by the comment," then promptly repeated the remark for another reporter...

I'll let Colorado Pols have the last word:

Just a lovely portrait being painted here, isn't it? To be fair, it should be noted that these two narratives seem distinct from one another, with Schaffer's foul-mouthed bigoted kid and the foul-mouthed "inerant political hitman" fronting Bob Schaffer's campaign not having any real connection other than...

Oh, wait a minute.

That's right.  It is primary election day in Kansas today so if you are living in the Sunflower State, please don't forget to go to the polls.  

And even if you aren't living in Kansas, you can check out Jim Slattery's new ad that went up today called "Priorities."

Today, Georgia Democrats go to the polls to select the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, for the race against incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss. Today's runoff election, which pits former state legislator Jim Martin against DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, is a rare instance of a primary in which either candidate could win, but only one candidate stands any kind of chance of making the general election even slightly competitive.

That candidate is Jim Martin.

The public polling for the general election, such as it is, has indicated that Jones would be a disastrous candidate  in the general election, while Martin is competitive in polling right now. Jones' polling is so weak, in fact, and his personal history so controversial, that Swing State Project goes so far as to call him a "walking train wreck" of a general-election candidate.

Vernon Jones is, by all accounts, highly intelligent, extremely charismatic and a top-notch campaigner. He is also a candidate with a history of accusations of violence against women (and one of rape), and a candidate whose greatest political legacy is having endorsed and voted twice for President Bush.

Hardly the political judgment one would seek in a Democratic candidate for federal office.

As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution put it:

He is a man of large talents and large flaws, but those flaws of temperament, character and judgment are so large as to disqualify him from consideration for higher office.

Meanwhile, here is the Journal-Constitution's recent endorsement of Jim Martin:

As a Vietnam veteran with a long and admirable career in public service and the law, Martin has the background and credentials to represent Georgia well. As a state legislator, Martin was known as a workhorse, someone who knew the issues and who could work with colleagues to get things done. That same combination of wisdom, hard work and collegiality served Martin well as head of the state Department of Human Services under Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes and then Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.

I had the opportunity to speak with Jim Martin yesterday, and found him to be exceptionally thoughtful, genuine and frank. He noted the recent difficulties that Democrats have had running statewide in Georgia, but stressed that Georgia had been a competitive state until recently, even at the presidential level (Bill Clinton won the state in 1992, and lost narrowly in 1996). He noted that part of the reason for the strong Republican trend in Georgia over the last decade has been the striking Republican success at registering new voters, especially as the state's population expanded rapidly over the past 15 years. The presidential campaign of Barack Obama is intent not only on campaigning in Georgia this fall but on registering half a million new Democratic voters. If they can actually succeed in so doing, this will be a tremendous boon not only to Obama's campaign, but to the U.S. Senate nominee, whoever he may be.

He understands the challenges he would face (should he win today) against an entrenched incumbent like Saxby Chambliss, one who, as Tondee's Tavern noted, has already reserved a stunning $5.2 million of advertising time for the fall elections. He also understands that as one of the chief enablers of the disastrous Bush economy, Chambliss has been personally responsible for the squeeze on working Georgians. In fact, Martin is about as sharp a contrast to Saxby Chambliss as one could hope for from a Democratic nominee; he opposes telecom immunity, for example, along with the 2005 bankruptcy bill. You can guess how the senior Senator from Georgia voted on these.

So what will happen tonight? It's difficult to say, given how low turnout is expected to be. The Journal-Constitution pegs turnout at 10% or less:

Turnout is expected to be razor-thin for Tuesday's runoff in which DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones and Jim Martin face off to see which candidate will run against Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Libertarian Allen Buckley in November.

Only 18 percent of the state's registered voters bothered to go to the polls for the July 15 primary that saw the five-man Democratic field in the Senate race trimmed to just Jones and Martin. Come Tuesday, the primary's low turnout could be cut in half, or even less, in the largely under-the-radar race.

Jones led the first round of the primary with 41% of the vote, but Martin (who finished with 34%), received the endorsements of his two closest rivals, Dale Cardwell and Rand Knight). We'll have the results when they're in tonight.

Since Gordon Smith is running as a Republican in a Democratic state, he needs to make his election year veer to the center.  This year is no different. it is especially true since Oregon will likely support Sen. Obama for president and George W is quite unpopular here.

The surface theme is his ability to work across the aisle and to sometimes oppose his own president.

I found the advertisement interesting in a lot of ways. First Smith is the head of McCain's election committee here in Oregon.