Slate: Election Scorecard - Midterm Update Favors Demorcrats

[Coexist]

Slate has some interesting information about recent polls concerning where the country will be headed come November. There are some great graphics, charts and sidebars to this article, so head on over to get the full picture. After reading this, I still feel confident, but I would hate to see a momentum shift come October. We know they have a some dirty tricks up their sleeve - it is really important we stay far enough ahead in the polls to balance whatever feces they decide to fling next month. The fact that Santorum is beginning to "catch up" is a sobering thought.

Things still look good for us, however, we can't expect to coast in on the lead we have - this is just gearing up. We need to stay in full battle mode until this is over.

Election Scorecard:Where the midterm elections stand today.

THE SENATE:

Senate Race Summary for Sept. 21:
<snip>
In Maryland, a new automated poll from SurveyUSA shows Republican Michael Steele continuing to gain ground in his race with Democrat Ben Cardin. The latest poll shows Steele with a statistically insignificant one-point lead (48 percent to 47 percent). While we continue to rate Maryland as lean Democrat, this new poll shifts the momentum meter in Steele's favor.

For now, Pennsylvania and Maryland are the exceptions. Our national momentum meter continues to point to the Democrats.

THE HOUSE:

House Race Summary for Sept. 19:
So, the bottom line is that this new poll might be the start of a trend or just aberrant noise. For now, we're sticking with the more conservative estimate of our five-poll model that shows the average Democratic lead is closer among likely voters (six points) than among registered voters (nine points).

GOVERNORS:

Governors' Race Summary for Sept. 18:
Three new polls from Iowa shift our classification of the governor's race from lean Democrat to tossup. Our last five-poll average now shows Democrat Chet Culver leading Republican Jim Nussle by an average of less than two percentage points (42.6 percent to 41.2 percent). That thin average nearly matches the Des Moines Register poll released yesterday, which showed both candidates tied at 44 percent each.

[Demit]

1. Yes but will it matter?

With the nonaction of the Dems, the total absence of pushback on this transfer of previously unimaginable power to the stupidest and sickest-in-the-head president that the U.S. has ever known, will it really matter? Will we just be seeing the same shit, only collusion more out in the open?

I've never been so disgusted with my party, in light of what is becoming of my country. Bastards, all.

[Coexist]

2. What will it matter? Are you SERIOUS?!

Are you going to try to tell me that with the Democrats in control of committees, and able to schedule hearings and serious oversight, that they WON'T???

Give me a break. Please.

[Demit]

3. Look at what they're NOT doing right now.

This feeling I have might not last if the Dems eventually come out against this torture "compromise" cooked up by the Republicans, but yes, I am quite serious. Don't tell me to give you a break please. I am sick to my stomach at what my "leaders" are turning this country into. The Dems aren't making a peep. Not a sound. What I am telling you is that they disgust me. I don't know what you're basing your optimism on, but maybe you didn't see Nancy Pelosi on NewsHour last night PROMISING that the Dems would be working "bipartisan" with the Republicans toward a "new direction". She even held up a cute little sign. Be a Pollyanna if you like. I'll believe it when I see it, and what I'm seeing right now is el foldo on the part of the Democrats.

[Coexist]

4. When you have no power - sometimes you have to find a way

to politic. Life in D.C. is a series of trade-offs. Please remember to look at the big picture - remember that payback is a bitch - and Karma can be a beautiful thing. This should help:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/WilliamPitt/55

Oh Fa Chrissake...
Just a reminder
Posted by WilliamPitt in General Discussion
Mon Jul 10th 2006, 03:07 PM
that if the Democrat running for the House and/or Senate in your district is a piece of crap, you should vote for them because you aren't voting for *them.*

You're voting for a recapturing of the majority by the Democrats.

You're voting for the removal of people like Frist and Hastert from power.

You're voting for the recapturing of the Intelligence Committee, the Finance Committee, the Armed Services Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, the Government Oversight Committee, and a dozen other committees of unbelievably substantial power.

You're voting to give subpoena power to John Conyers, Henry Waxman and Barney Frank.

You're voting for the ability to stop judicial nominees...and remember that Justice Stevens is 86 years old and not much longer for the world. You're voting to make sure another Roberts/Alito clone isn't elevated to the highest bench.

Just a friendly reminder.

One last edit, perhaps a snooty one, but it needs saying.

Responsible voting has nothing whatsoever to do with making you feel good about yourself or burnishing your liberal credentials. If you vote because you want to respect yourself in the morning, you are not being responsible to the country. This is a "we" deal, and this is also politics, which is a dirty business requiring multiple, constant and ever-present compromises.

Vote for majority control, no matter which individual Democrat you cast a ballot for. That is the responsible thing to do.

[Demit]

5. Trade-offs? Big picture? They're going along with TORTURE.

I didn't say I wasn't going to vote Democratic this November. What the hell else is my option? So don't give me a little friendly lecture on voting, please. And if you think I find it persuasive that going along with torture and the suspension of habeas corpus and the establishment of secret tribunals is okay because it's just politics and an example of "life in D.C. is a series of trade-offs"—wow. Just wow. And then you minimize it further by characterizing it as just a little part of "the big picture".

I'd rather see my party standing up for human rights NOW. Judging by their actions—their INactions, their shameful silence—now, I see no probable "payback" or "karma" over the horizon. Not even a feeble little squeak of protest out of anybody for the degrading of the principles this country was founded on—and I fear it's a preview of what they'll do if and when they take back Congress. If this is politics, it looks like the politics of collusion to me.

[rpannier]

6. This poll was taken this week

IssuesPA/Pew Poll, showed Casey with a more comfortable lead. That poll, conducted by Princeton Survey Research, showed Casey leading by 52 percent to 31 percent