Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. I’m still tied up with a conference for work so I won’t be around very much today. Have fun and be good without me.
Lost yesterday among the Souder scandal and the Blumenthal mess was chicken queen Sue Lowden’s newest scandal. She really does believe in barter.
Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R-NV) is now under fire for a possible campaign finance violation, with one of her Republican primary opponents calling foul over her use of a luxury R.V. given to the campaign by a supporter.
A week and a half ago, Lowden claimed that the RV had been donated: “Why would anyone want to demean the fact that someone donated an RV to me? It’s unfortunate that no one donated an RV to them.”
The Lowden campaign now says, however, that the the R.V. was officially leased to Lowden by casino owner Carl Giuduci and his wife Elsie Giuduci, who have each made in-kind contributions to Lowden for the vehicle’s use that are listed as being under the legal limit of $2,400 per-person. As the Las Vegas Review Journal notes: “According to a redacted lease agreement released by the campaign that did not provide any dollar figures, Lowden must return the vehicle after she is done using it during her bid for public office.”
I’m sure Harry Reid is hoping the gaffe-tastic Sue Lowden is his opponent in November. The primary in Nevada is on June 8.
Conventional wisdom is still on the side of a Republican wave year but the suprisingly strong showing by Mark Critz in PA-12 (a district won by McCain in 2008) has some questioning the conventional wisdom:
Is this really 1994? Here’s another lesson we learned from last night: A good campaign can overcome a tough political environment. In the only contest pitting a Democrat against a Republican, Mark Critz (D) defeated Tim Burns (R) in the special congressional election to replace the late Rep. Jack Murtha (D) in Pennsylvania. As we’ve pointed out, this isn’t a good sign for the GOP in its quest to take back the House in November. Why? Because this was a race that Republicans — in this kind of political environment — should have been able to win. Yes, Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district. And, yes, the Dem turnout in the competitive Sestak-vs.-Specter primary helped Critz (though the statewide Dem turnout wasn’t overly impressive). But this was the only congressional district in the country that John Kerry won in ’04 but Obama lost in ’08, meaning that it was ripe for the picking. Remember, back in 1994, Republicans were the ones winning House special elections. But can this be ’94 all over again if the Democrats are the ones winning these things — four straight this cycle (PA-12, NY-23, CA-10, NY-20) and seven since 2008 (IL-14, MS-1, LA-6). By the way, there was a ton of finger-pointing among House Republicans after they lost the NY-23 special late last year; it could be worse internally after last night.
Also, what happened to Rasmussen? They stopped polling most of these races at the end of April.