Saturday Open Thread [5.26.12]

5 Comments
US President Barack Obama receives a painting of Air Force One from the US Air Force class of 2012 during their graduation ceremony at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on May 23, 2012. By Jewel Samad /AFP/GettyImages.

Saturday’s Polling Report [5.26.12]

2 Comments
We got polls out of Georgia and Indiana!!! That never happens. Yesterday we saw the new NBC / Marist Polls in Virginia, Ohio and Florida. Aside from the top lines, we have other results from that poll that are interesting. In almost all issue areas, Obama leads. Social Issues like abortion, contraception and same sex marriage, Obama is viewed as the better candidate to handle them. Same thing for foreign policy and the economy. The only issue area where Romney leads is the "the national debt," which is ironic since Romney would add untold trillions to the debt with his massive tax cuts and continued wars on Afghanistan and Iran.

Attention WGMD: Two Things.

26 Comments
First, you act like blowhard Alex Pires is officially a candidate. He is not. While he angrily announced his intention to run, he has not filed any paperwork yet. So let's wait and see before assuming that Carper will be facing him in the fall. Second, since you do not refer to the Republican Party as the Republic Party, do not refer to the Democratic Party as the Democrat Party. The reason you shouldn't do it is because it is a very obvious tell that instead of being an independent, neutral and unbiased news organization, you are instead paid biased shills for Fox News and the conservative movement. So try better next time. Thanks again.

Three ICs and a Proxy

38 Comments
On Tuesday night I had the pleasure of seeing 3 of the 4 Democratic Insurance Commissioners and a representative of Paul Clark.  The setting was a caucus with 4 or 5 RDs represented and conducting various business, including the first step in sending delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Draft Statement from Senator Carper on his filing for reelection to the United States Senate Found on Train

3 Comments
Today, I formally filed for election to serve the banks (TC, see my notes throughout. "people" sounds better here) of Delaware in the United States Senate. When I take the train back home to Delaware almost every night, I laugh my ass off at the fact that I have (too much transparency... try "am humbled by") the opportunity the people of the First State have given me to serve them in our nation's capitol. Delaware is a place where the petty politics of division and negativity that we see all too often in Washington these days aren't welcome.

The Delaware House [2012]

15 Comments
And now onto the House. Since the last time we did this in March, some new candidates have filed. But before we go on, I should note something. In the chart below, I list every incumbent unless they have announced that they are not running for reelection. In a lot of cases, some incumbents have not yet filed, but they have some more time to do so, since the deadline is not until July 10. All 41 Representatives are up for election. So let's see what has developed in the House races since the last time we reviewed the playing field.

The Delaware Senate [2012]

10 Comments
It has been a couple of months since we have done this, so let's check in on the playing field of our General Assembly races this fall. First up is the Senate. The Senate has 21 members, 14 of them are Democrats and 7 are Republicans. The GOP would need to pickup 4 seats to gain of majority of 11. The big news since we last did this is that Liane Sorenson, the moderate Republican Senator who was redistricted into a very competitive race with Democratic Senator Dave Sokola in a new merged 8th Senate District in the Newark area, decided to retire rather than face Sokola. I must say, I found that surprising. I had listed that race as a toss up of course, but if I had to bet the race, I would have said that Sorenson had the edge. But maybe the demographics of the new 8th SD were too daunting.