| Author | Message | ||
     Foj Citizen Username: Foger Post Number: 1718 Registered: 9-2004 |
It is well-known to political analysts and strategists that Democrats may make significant gains in the House and Senate in the November elections. And now a leading analyst of state legislatures says that this apparent pro-Democratic trend almost certainly will percolate down to the thousands of contests this year for state legislative seats. “All of the indicators are that this is more of a challenging year for Republicans than Democrats,” Tim Storey, a senior fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), told CQPolitics.com Wednesday. “The Democrats have the wind at their backs right now for control of states.” Storey said that one factor working in the Democrats’ favor is the historic trend of the opposition party netting state legislative seats in midterm elections. In the past sixty years, the party controlling the White House has suffered a net loss in state legislative seats in nearly every midterm election. The only exception was in 2002, when Republicans made seat gains in the balloting that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks. http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20060824/pl_cq_politics/democraticbreezebeingfeltinfi ghtforstatelegislatures | ||
| Foj Citizen Username: Foger Post Number: 1796 Registered: 9-2004 |
This poll shows the DEM Granholm coming from 5 down to 2 up, over the last month. A poll published Sunday shows the race for Michigan governor is about even. In the poll of 803 likely voters by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, 46 percent of voters said they'd back Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm if the election were held today, while 44 percent would back Republican challenger Dick DeVos and 10 percent were undecided. ............... http://www.forbes.com/infoimaging/feeds/ap/2006/09/03/ap2990791.html | ||
| notehead Supporter Username: Notehead Post Number: 3796 Registered: 5-2001  |
So Foj, given the amount of attention you pay to such things, do you wanna go on record with a prediction as to whether Dems will take the House, Senate, or both? | ||
| Foj Citizen Username: Foger Post Number: 1797 Registered: 9-2004 |
........my own feelings go back and forth. It seems that if the republicans can be counted on to shoot themselves in the foot a few more times before Nov. , then the DEMS will pickup 16-20 seats in the House, and 4-5 in the Senate. If more repubs shoot themselves in the foot than normal, then it could be DEMs by 30 in the House. 60 days to go | ||
| Bob K Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 12569 Registered: 5-2001 |
My favorite was yesterday I was watching a piece on Fox News about the governors race in Florida, which is still in the primary stage, with some question as to who the actual candidates will be. Carl (?) Cameron ended the piece with a mention of the "very close" races in Ohio and Pennsylvania as other bell weather states. Duh, Carl, the polls have the Dems up in both those races with double digit leads.  | ||
| notehead Supporter Username: Notehead Post Number: 3806 Registered: 5-2001 |
Foj, I don't think we can discount the threat of larger and sneakier efforts at vote manipulation and fraud from the right wing, in spite of the closer scrutiny that many elections will have, but nobody pays more attention to this than you do. What does your gut tell you about that aspect of the upcoming elections? Have some areas made improvements in their voting machines and procedures, and will it be enough to significantly reduce the likelihood of hanky-panky? | ||
| Foj Citizen Username: Foger Post Number: 1798 Registered: 9-2004 |
You cant hack all of the voting machines, all the time. Improvements are: Past Law suits, they have let certain election officials know they can be met with a suit if they screw up, we had a number of dry runs, starting with Hacketts race last year in Ohio, and more recently the special election to replace Randy Duke in CA-50. Repukes are going out of thier way to set up suppression for Nov. If they had omnipotent control of the voting machines, why bother. Nearly half of the states have a VVPB law, most of them have an Audit law too. Currently Blackwell in Ohio is being sued, this suit stopped the destruction of the 2004 ballots after the 22 month period alotted by law passed. ............... A lot of folks will vote DEM & overwhelm any problems. | ||
| Foj Citizen Username: Foger Post Number: 1800 Registered: 9-2004 |
Voter-registration rules tossed Ohio penalties go too far, federal judge decides Saturday, September 02, 2006 M . R . Kropko ASSOCIATED PRESS CLEVELAND — A federal judge threw out new state rules governing voter-registration drives yesterday, saying they appear to violate the First Amendment and hurt efforts to sign up new voters. U.S. District Judge Kathleen O’Malley issued an order from the bench halting enforcement of the registration rules. She said she planned to issue a detailed written order next week. A coalition of voter-advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers sued the state, asking O’Malley to throw out the regulations. They said the rules were intimidating and impaired their registration drives, particularly in lowincome and minority areas, because they include criminal penalties. The state said the rules were needed to deter voter fraud more: http://www.dispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/09/02/20060902-A1-02.html |
