By mid-December, more than $17.5 million had been spent on TV ads in just four Senate contests: in North Carolina ($8.3 million), Kentucky ($3.5 million), Arkansas ($3.4 million) and Louisiana ($2.3 million), according to a recent piece by Roll Call’s Kyle Trygstad.
The numbers are interesting and…
Reporters can be lazy. I know this is a shock for many of you, but I think some of the media coverage of Republican Senate primaries has been somewhat shallow.
The short story is that not all primaries are created equal.
Senators vary in vulnerability, challengers vary…
The two parties aren’t exactly on the best of terms these days, but that didn’t stop Republicans and Democrats from exchanging gifts over the past year — even if they didn’t intend to.
Instead of fruitcake, each party gave the other a sparkling set of potentially potent political…
Stories about Republican primaries are all the rage, and we’re still nearly three months from the first actual election. But in all of the analysis of vulnerable senators, voting scorecards and outside groups, it’s important to remember the calendar and how primary results could affect subsequent races.
It’s…
Most handicappers have believed for months that Republicans have a good chance to pick up a Montana Senate seat next year. But once again, Democrats have a plan that just may help them hold that seat. It’s a plan that worked in the past, but will it work once…
The fight for the Senate turned around completely from mid-October to early December. While the government shutdown looked like a significant nail in the GOP’s coffin, the re-opening of the government allowed Americans to turn their attention to the launch of Obamacare.
The failure of that launch overshadowed…
ALABAMA -- Jeff Sessions (R), elected 1996 (52%), 2002 (59%) and 2008 (63%). April 4 filing deadline, June 3 primary, July 15 runoff.
The last Democratic Senate nominee to win over 40 percent of the vote in Alabama was Roger Bedford in 1996 (45.5 percent). Sessions’ Sept. 30…
KENTUCKY -- Mitch McConnell (R), elected 1984 (50%), 1990 (52%), 1996 (55%), 2002 (65%), 2008 (53%). January 28 filing deadline, May 20 primary.
Senate Minority Leader McConnell clearly has a fight on his hands if he is to win a sixth term. His role in ending the government…
NORTH CAROLINA -- Kay Hagan (D), elected 2008 (53%). February 28 filing deadline, May 6 primary, July 15 runoff.
Given the GOP’s recent victories in the state, Hagan had to expect a serious challenge. In 2012, Mitt Romney carried the state Republican Pat McCrory won the governorship. In…
When we think of political battlegrounds, states like Ohio and Florida come to mind. But every so often, a small state becomes a partisan political battleground.
This cycle, that’s Arkansas — about as unlikely a state as you might imagine.
While Democrats see Arkansas as a place…
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