Races to watch: Alabama to New Mexico

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Races to watch: New York to Wyoming

Click on the image to enlarge. Print it out if you want to use it as a checklist.

Southern Comfort

First Read:

While everyone is trend-spotting demographics and geography through the Obama prism, don't forget to examine the state of the Republican Party through those same lenses. In the House, for instance, the grim picture for the GOP is on full display. According to one Cook Report estimate by House editor David Wasserman, the GOP -- in a worst-case scenario -- could have as few as 16 members left in the Northeast (versus 79 for the Dems). In the South, the GOP lead in House seats could be in single digits, 74-68. In the Midwest, 61-39 could be the House seat split. And finally, out West, powered by the Dem strength on the Pacific coast, the Dem lead could 66-32. Step back and look at those numbers: Nearly half of the House GOP caucus may be rooted in the South. Just as it wasn't healthy for the Democratic Party when it appeared rooted in just the Northeast and the Left coast, neither is it good for the GOP to be seen as simply a regional political party.

Compare and Contrast

The Hill: Barack Obama’s massive campaign operation has generated a spike in Democratic voter registration in battleground states and competitive House districts, prompting political experts to predict that Obama will bring a crowd of Democrats into office on his coattails.

Washington Post: Sen. John McCain's struggles in a number of reliably Republican regions of the country are further complicating the already tenuous reelection prospects of some congressional Republicans, according to strategists in both parties and independent analysts.

AZ-03: Curious Case of Credit Card

Republican Rep. John Shadegg's credit card was found at Arizona Democratic Party's headquarter. Bizarre. Shadegg emailed a response "saying that a "volunteer" accidentally dropped the card while paying for an Obama bumper sticker."

Arizona Democratic Party did some investigating and it turns out the "volunteer" in question is Shadegg's deputy campaign manager and there are no records of him buying Obama bumper stickers. The Arizona Democratic Party believes that the Shadegg campaign was spying on his opponent and trying to gain information on their confidential strategy.

Follow the details of this case here.

Bachmann Brouhaha

In a previous post I'd included Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) schocking rant. The rant helped her Democratic opponent raise almost half a million dollars in a single day and Bachmann's primary opponent has signaled that he will reenter the race as a write-in candidate.

Here's video clip of Katrina Vanden Heuvel responding to Bachmann.

Back to Square One

Remember the Mark Foley scandal? Well, the Democrat who replaced Foley, Tim Mahoney, is now engulfed in a scandal of his own. Watch this "devastating" ad.

House Races: WA-08 and NJ-07

Here are some great new ads from Washington and New Jersey.

First, an ad from Democrat Darcy Burner who is challenging incumbent Rep. Dave Reichert in Washington's 8th district.



(H/T: Open Left)

In New Jersey's 7th district, Linda Stender (D) and Leonard Lance (R) are running for the House seat left vacant by retiring Republican Mike Ferguson. Both candidates have run some very creative ads thus far.





(H/T: The Fix)

House Races: FL 13

Fans of the hit show The Office will love this Web video by Emily's List. The funny and creative video hits Buchanan on numerous allegations of improprieties by former employees and on shady business dealings.



The 2006 House race between Buchanan and Jennings was decided by a slim margin of less than 400 votes. The election results were controversial because the touch screen voting machines used in the district failed to register votes on 18,000 ballots. See the two-part video investigation below for a great recap of the controversies surrounding that election and the ones that have surfaced since then. I highly recommend watching these videos.

Buchanan Under Fire, Part 1


Buchanan Under Fire, Part 2

House Races: An Unusual Ad

Rep. Feeney (R-FL) is in for a tough reelection battle in Florida's 24th district. His Democratic opponent State Rep. Susan Kosmas has been hitting Feeney hard on his connections Abramoff. Polls show a very tight race. Now Feeney is airing this unusual ad where he apologizes for his ties to Abramoff. I think it is a brilliant move. Will the voters forgive him?