Tag Archives: John Carney

FDU Poll: Carney Leads By 17%, Flowers-Bonini Tied

Fairleigh Dickinson University released the rest of their poll on Delaware today. It showed that John Carney leads Glen Urquhart by 17% – 53% for Carney, 36% for Urquhart. It also showed a tie between Flowers (42%) and Bonini (41%). Wagner still leads Korn, but his lead has been cut from 15% to 10%.

Democrat John C. Carney Jr. leads Republican Glen Urquhart by 17 points in the race for Delaware’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to a PublicMind poll released this morning by Fairleigh Dickinson University.

The poll, which surveyed 797 likely voters statewide from Oct. 20-26, showed Carney leading 53-36, up a few ticks (51-36) from a similar poll released Oct. 5.

Yesterday Rob Tornoe talked about Christine O’Donnell’s “long shadow.” I’ve always wondered whether O’Donnell would help or hurt Urquhart, since they’re very similar ideologically. I think it’s fairly obvious that she’s hurting him. Urquhart hasn’t been able to make the case for his candidacy but he also can’t raise money. The last FEC report shows that Urquhart raised $63K (not too bad) but loaned himself another $110K. Carney raised $100K in the same period.

Now for the rest of the state ticket:

Well within the poll’s margin of error — 3.5 percent — is the state treasurer’s race, where Democrat Chip Flowers holds a sliver of a lead, with 42 percent to Republican state Sen. Colin Bonini’s 41 percent. The men were tid at 38 percent in the last FDU poll. The number of undecided voters dropped from 21 percent to 17 percent in that time.

The race for the state auditor’s office tightened a bit, with Republican Tom Wagner, the incumbent, holding a 10-point lead over Democratic challenger Richard Korn. Wagner’s lead was 15 points in the last poll. Korn leads in New Castle County, 43-38.

Democratic Attorney General Beau Biden, running without a Republican opponent, led independent Doug Campbell by 42 points, the same lead he had earlier in the month.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a Republican year in Delaware although they could double the number of statewide elected Republican officials.

The News Journal States The Obvious

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the News Journal endorsed Chris Coons for U.S. Senate.

We believe that choice should be a simple one, both for Delaware’s future and the country’s.

Republican Christine O’Donnell and other tea party candidates around the country are offering voters a simple wish list: Cut taxes and everything will be fine. Accept their interpretation of the Constitution and our problems will disappear.

Ms. O’Donnell offers no blueprint and acknowledges no hazards to her plan. She says nothing about paying for Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid.

She wants to honor veterans but is quiet about the military budget or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Just once, wouldn’t it be nice if someone endorsed Chris Coons without listing all the problems with Christine O’Donnell? At least they had some nice things to say about Chris Coons:

Her opponent, Chris Coons, knows it doesn’t work like that. He actually has executive experience. He has balanced budgets.

He has had to make unpopular, but necessary decisions. He knows what it is like to face hostile crowds and what it’s like to tell supporters that government spending has limits.

He also has a history of finding solutions to real problems, making bureaucracies more innovative and, most important, making those hard choices.

Yesterday the NJ also featured dueling op-ed by Glen Urquhart and John Carney regarding renewable energy. John Carney’s essay was a rah rah alternative energy, much of what we’ve seen before from Carney. Urquhart’s was a typical defense of the status quo (with even more deregulation!) and new stuff is too hard op-ed from a Republican candidate. Someone explain this to me:

Can your family afford $1,769 a year just to make some people billions for doing nothing but trading paper and good feelings?

Can America afford a net loss of 2.3 million jobs? Can small businesses afford to have their utility rates doubled? Do you want $7-a-gallon gas, like Europe has?

Do you want to make these sacrifices for no tangible gain?

If the answer to all of these questions is yes, career politician John Carney is your man. He is on the side of Jeffery Emmelt, Goldman Sachs and Al Gore, who stand to make hundreds of billions from cap and trade.

First, way to pull numbers out of your ass. Second, why is it bad for Al Gore to make money? Is money only for conservatives? As far as expensive gas goes, we’re all going to have that if nothing at all is done.

Glen Urquhart, Coalition Builder

In at least one of the debates with John Carney, Glen Urquhart claimed that he was a coalition builder. He’s been trying to distance himself from his comments: “Ask your liberal friends why they are Nazis.” Urquhart is running in a blue state and he can’t win by only appealing to the right – he has to win over independents and Democrats. That’s why his decision to do this is baffling:

This is something that is being pushed from the far right Jim DeMint. Many voters are listeners of NPR. Urquhart also tweeted this many times. He’s mad about NPR’s decision, so he wants to censor NPR.

On Twitter, a lot of people were responding to Urquhart’s proposal negatively. I retweeted one of these responses (basically BOOOOO!) and got this tweet in response:

Yes, that’s Glen Urquhart attacking a Delaware voter and calling me an extremist because I don’t want to defund NPR. Thanks Glen! I guess we now know that Glen Urquhart is still this guy:

The funny thing is, I don’t really agree with NPR’s decision. I do think NPR has the right to hire and fire the people that they want but I think the handled this case very poorly. It’s been obvious for a long time that NPR has been uncomfortable with Juan Williams’s dual roles at Fox and NPR. Also, he did violate the ethics clause. In my opinion, NPR should’ve publicly reprimanded Williams and then gradually taper off his contract. I doubt anyone would have even noticed and Fox wouldn’t have a $2M NPR basher.

Truly, Glen Urquhart, you have earned your nickname Jerkhart (h/t skippertee).

Farleigh Dickinson Poll Results

Fairleigh Dickinson has released poll results for several Delaware races. The poll finds John Carney with a 15% lead, with Urquhart’s support in the mid-30s.

But according to the most recent poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind, Democrat and former Lt. Gov. John Carney is leading Republican Glen Urquhart by 51%-36% for the House seat soon to be vacated by Republican Mike Castle.

“Reputation and name brand matter,” said Peter Woolley, professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University and director of the poll, “and it matters a little more in Delaware than in most states,” he said. While Carney predictably leads comfortably in New Castle County (56-32), he runs even with Urquhart (43-43) in the more Republican counties of Kent and Sussex.

Urquhart is underperforming O’Donnell slightly, so he probably has room to grow his numbers. Carney is also underperforming Chris Coons. The hot Senate race has really overshadowed the U.S. House race in this cycle.

For Auditor of Accounts, Richard Korn has a lot of ground to make up, Wagner leads by 15% (but is under the magic 50% mark).

Likewise, one of five voters (20%) is undecided in the race for auditor of accounts where Republican incumbent Tom Wagner leads the Democrat Richard Korn by 46%-31%. Wagner leads downstate by a 2-to-1 margin, 55-24 and in New Castle County by 42-35.

The Treasurer’s race may turn out to be the most interesting race. The poll found Flowers and Bonini tied.

In the race for state treasurer, Democrat Chip Flowers and Republican Colin Bonini are neck and neck at 38%-38%, with 21% unsure. Flowers leads in New Castle by 41%-34%, while Bonini leads downstate by 44-33. “Don’t look for many of the undecided to break,” said Woolley. “Lots of these unsure voters will resolve their dilemma by not casting a vote in this particular race.”

The poll finds that Beau Biden is the most popular politician in the state, and is handily beating his challenger Doug Campbell by 40% (65/25). Biden’s favorable/unfavorable is 61/23. Jack Markell is also popular, with a 57% approval rating.

Volunteer Opportunity This Sunday

If you have been just dying to get out there to meet the Democratic candidates and do something to help get them elected, I have an opportunity for you.

The 9th District Democratic committee is sponsoring an event on Sunday, October 3rd starting at noon at 200 Cleaver Farm Rd.  There will be a small rally to give everyone a chance to see the Democratic candidates all the way up and down the ticket.  The following candidates are expected to speak (I promise they’ll keep it short and sweet):

  • Chris Coons
  • John Carney
  • Beau Biden
  • Chip Flowers
  • Richard Korn
  • Trinidad Navarro
  • Ciro Poppiti
  • Bruce Ennis
  • Quinn Johnson
  • Rebecca Walker
  • Bill Powers

At 1PM, we will do the work that will get these candidates elected.  We will be canvassing the Middletown area preparing to get out the vote. And we should have you home in time to watch the Eagles beat the Redskins.

This is an excellent opportunity to see the stars of the Delaware Democratic Party and give them a hand in making Delaware a better place.

For more information or to RSVP, call either 9th District Chair,  Stephanie Hansen at (302) 376-9033 or the 9th District Treasurer, Dave Woodside at (302) 834-4421.

Carney Leads Urquhart By 18 In New Poll

John Carney leads Glen Urquhart by 18% in a new poll released by the DCC. The poll was taken after Urquhart’s primary win and at least half of the poll was taken after the JCC debate. So far Urquhart is not getting any traction.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee today released a new Grove Insight poll that shows John Carney leading Republican challenger Glen Urquhart by 18 points.

In the initial head-to-head in the race for Delaware’s At-large congressional district, Carney leads Urquhart 50 to 32 percent. Conducted September 15-18, the poll surveyed 400 likely voters and has a 4.9 percent margin of error.

Also notice that John Carney is hitting the magic 50% in this poll. I think we all know that we can’t afford to take things for granted this year but so far the evidence is that Glen Urquhart is not catching on with the electorate.

PPP: Carney Leads Urquhart By 11

PPP just released new numbers for the U.S. House race showing John Carney up by 11%, 48-37.

Carney begins the general election with a 48-37 lead over Glen Urquhart. In contrast to most races across the country Carney has a more unified base, winning 75% of Democrats to Urquhart’s 66% of Republicans. Urquhart does have a 38-36 lead with independents but that’s not nearly as large as most GOP candidates across the country have and certainly not as large as he needs to win a strongly Democratic leaning state like Delaware.

These numbers do represent a tightening since PPP’s last poll of the race in August which found Carney ahead 48-30. What’s important to note about those numbers is that Carney has remained steady. Urquhart is just increasing his support as he becomes better known and locks up more of the Republican base.

Carney has solid favorability numbers with 34% seeing him favorably and 24% unfavorably. Interestingly Urquhart has pulled even with Carney in name recognition and he’s seen positively by 30% of voters and negatively by 29%.

This is another race where we can’t afford to be complacent. Full poll results here.

Delaware PPP Poll Results

PPP has just released their poll results for Delaware. There are a lot of results, so I’m sure this will lead to a lot of blog posts. Here’s the headline numbers:

DE-Sen

Public Policy Polling (PDF) for Daily Kos. 8/7-8. Registered voters. MoE 4% (No trendlines)

If the candidates for US Senate this fall were Republican Mike Castle and Democrat Chris Coons, who would you vote for?

All Dem GOP Ind
Chris Coons (D) 35 55 12 23
Mike Castle (R) 48 30 75 50
Undecided 17 15 13 27

Chris Coons (D) 44 67 17 29
Christine O’Donnell (R) 37 16 67 40
Undecided 19 16 15 31

Favorable/Unfavorable/Not Sure

Coons 31/31/39
Dem 42/25
GOP 19/40
Ind 23/30

Castle 51/32/18
Dem 47/35
GOP 60/25
Ind 49/32

O’Donnell’s Favorable/Unfavorable/Not Sure %s: 23/34/44

The latest numbers are very similar to the Rasmussen numbers from the last two weeks. Castle has a solid lead, but remains under 50%. Coons is still largely unknown and has more room to grow.

DE-AL

Carney leads Rollins 48-31 and leads Urquhart 48-30. Carney leads either Rollins of Urquhart in every county.

Carney’s Favorable/unfavorable/Not Sure: 31/24/45
Rollins F/U/NS: 18/25/57
Urquhart F/U/NS: 15/20/65

None of the candidates have extremely high name recognition. Carney’s is the best, but it’s still below that of Chris Coons despite his stint as Lt. Governor.

Other favorable/unfavorable/not sure from the survey:
President Obama: 50/44/6
Senator Carper: 47/33/20
Senator Kaufman: 37/30/33
Governor Markell: 50/32/18

So the winner of the popularity contest is *drumroll* Mike Castle with +19% approval! Close behind is Governor Markell with +18, followed by Tom Carper with +14, Senator Kaufman with +7 and President Obama with +6.

John Carney Carves A Niche For Himself

John Carney may be the quiet candidate, but he’s quietly carving a niche for himself in the Delaware House race. He’s very strong in environmental issues but he’s been unique in pushing a cancer initiative for Delaware. So I wasn’t surprised when last week I got this press release from Carney’s campaign:

“Just weeks ago, I outlined my intentions as Delaware’s Congressman to seek the assistance of organizations, such as the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, to help identify federal resources to conduct a body burden study and identify the causes of cancer clusters in our state. The purpose of the study is to identify toxins that may have a link to environmental risks in our air, water, and soil which could lead to higher rates of cancer.

Based on the front page stories released by the News Journal this week, possible contaminants in Delaware’s drinking water is yet another reason why we need to do such a study. In light of the significant concerns raised, I believe we need a high level group of experts and community leaders to analyze the existing research and determine what gaps might exist. There currently doesn’t appear to be any one entity looking at all the relevant data. This group could provide a comprehensive analysis and recommend specific actions to help Delawareans avoid any environmental risks and create a level of public trust that their concerns are being addressed.

Carney is referring to the article that came out recently about issues with water quality in Delaware. I know for a fact that many people are scared and worried about their water quality. Have any other candidates discussed this issue or proposed any action?

Mike Castle – Nope
Chris Coons – Nope
Michele Rollins – Nothing
Glen Urquhart – No

So here’s a hot local issue that has a lot of people worried and upset and John Carney is the only politician discussing the problem? I couldn’t even find mention of it on Governor Markell’s website.

John Carney, The Forgotten Candidate

There was great excitement when John Carney filed for the Delaware At Large U.S. House seat. At that time, in February 2009, Mike Castle was still undecided about whether he would run for re-election, retire or run for the U.S. Senate. Carney made a bold gamble that paid off for him. He was a great recruit for the DCCC, a man with high name recognition from his race for governor and this immediately vaulted the race into national significance.

The DE-AL seat is probably one of the surest bets for a R to D turnover in the House this year. Is this why this race seems to be ignored? Even if you check on John Carney’s own website the “latest news” lists articles from June. So, what’s happening here? Is Carney unable to get the media to pay attention to him? Let us not forget that Carney will most likely be competing against self-funding millionaire Michele Rollins. We can’t afford to forget this race, or take it for granted.