Issue #94

by Art Kelly

1. The Associated Press (AP) reports that more than 2,300 people are running for 471 House and Senate seats in the midterms--the highest number of candidates in at least 35 years.

“Frustration, particularly on the right, with President Barack Obama and his Democratic agenda appears to have contributed to the surge. The field is heavily Republican, with almost twice as many GOP candidates as Democrats, and several hundred independent and third-party challengers,” the AP stated.

2. 46% of voters say the Tea Party movement is good for the country, while 31% believe in is bad, 13% say neither, and 10% are not sure, according to a new Rasmussen poll.

70% of Republicans look on the Tea Party movement favorably, but 66% of Democrats see it unfavorably. Among independents, 45% have a positive view of the Tea Party with 28% having a negative opinion of it.

3. The Hill reports that Charlie Crist has complained that running for the Senate in Florida as an independent is “very lonely.”

Since he quit the Republican Party, Crist complains that persons he thought were his friends have dropped him.

“Crist has lost so many campaign staffers that his sister is now running his third-party effort,” The Hill found.

However, Crist has a lot of money--almost all of it raised when he was running for the GOP nomination--to keep him company. At the end of March, he had $7.6 million in the bank, compared to $3.9 million for Republican Marco Rubio and $3.7 million for Democrat Kendrick Meek.

4. The latest state races from Rasmussen Reports:

Kentucky Senate
Rand Paul (R) 49%
Jack Conway (D) 41%
Other candidates 4%
Undecided 6%

South Dakota House At Large
Representative Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D) 46%
Kristi Noem (R) 43%
Other candidates 3%
Undecided 8%

Rhode Island Governor
Lincoln Chafee (I) 35%
Frank Caprio (D) 32%
John Robitaille (R) 25%
Undecided 9%

New Hampshire Governor
Gov. John Lynch (D) 47%
John Stephen (R) 35%
Other candidates 4%
Undecided 14%

Washington Senate
Sen. Patty Murray (D) 48%
Dino Rossi (R) 47%
Other candidates 2%
Undecided 4%

Alabama Senate
Sen. Richard Shelby (R) 58%
William Barnes (D) 31%
Other candidates 3%
Undecided 8%

New Mexico Governor
Diane Denish (D) 43%
Susana Martinez (R) 42%
Other candidates 3%
Undecided 12%

Wisconsin Governor
Scott Walker (R) 48%
Tom Barrett (D) 41%
Other candidates 3%
Undecided 8%

Wisconsin Senate
Sen. Russ Feingold (D) 46%
Ron Johnson (R) 44%
Other candidates 3%
Undecided 6%

In these nine races, Democrats lead in five, Republicans in three, and an independent in one.