DSCC

Week in Review

Zach Ragbourn

Here are some of the highlights in the U.S. Senate races for the week of May 12.

Alaska: Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich shared his first-hand experience with global warming in a column for the Huffington Post.

Colorado: It must still be 2008, because Republican Bob Schaffer has put his foot in his mouth once again. This time, it was a campaign ad about his “Colorado life,” proudly featuring a famous Alaska landmark.

Colorado: Meanwhile, Democrat Mark Udall has hit the airwaves with a new campaign ad, outlining the challenges we face when it comes to fixing the country’s energy policies.

Iowa: Senator Tom Harkin has posted a web video talking about the passage of the Farm Bill that’s so important to Iowans. Harkin is also asking people to sign a petition urging George Bush to back down from his veto threat.

Maine: A poll released today shows Democrat Tom Allen closing in on Susan Collins. Allen has gained six points in the last month, as more and more Mainers have heard his message, and have learned about Susan Collins’ pro-Bush positions and her failure to live up to her responsibilities in the Senate.

Nebraska: Rancher and teacher Scott Kleeb was chosen by Nebraska Democrats to challenge serial job-hopper Mike Johanns for the Senate seat being vacated by Chuck Hagel. Kleeb’s impressive grassroots organization and his message of change will give Nebraska voters a real choice this November.

New Mexico: Democrat Tom Udall has launched a brand-new website. Also, polls released this week show Udall with a commanding lead over both his potential Republican rivals.

Oklahoma: Amy Rubin brings us the latest videos from the Road To Victory. Check out the footage from her trip to Oklahoma.

Texas: Recent polls have shown Republican John Cornyn to be vulnerable this year, especially if the right Democrat steps forward to challenge him. A news broadcast from a Dallas-Fort Worth television station shows why Rick Noriega just might be the kind of candidate who can defeat Cornyn.

Susan Collins’ Failures On Iraq Contractor Oversight

Zach Ragbourn

For years, Maine Republican Susan Collins was in a unique position to make sure that contractors in Iraq would be held accountable for waste and fraud. But as chair of the committee overseeing the contracts, Collins fell down on the job.

WGME TV has some good coverage of the issue, with Democrat Tom Allen connecting the dots between waste and fraud, and the mismanagement of the war that has led to escalating violence in Iraq.

Tom Allen has consistently opposed the Bush administration’s Iraq policies, and has called for greater accountability for those who led us into war, and those who continue to defraud taxpayers and jeopardize American lives. Click here to watch a video of Tom Allen explaining his Iraq war positions.

For more on the Maine race, check out our race profile page, or visit Tom Allen’s website.

Begich Leading The Way On Global Warming Solutions

Zach Ragbourn

What does it take to convince a global warming skeptic that we’re facing a real challenge, and that it’s time to take action? Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich answers that question in a blog entry on the Huffington Post:

I pulled out a photo of me as a child by the Portage Glacier with three of my siblings, and the ice was just ten feet from me. Then I went out to the same location with my then three-year-old son, Jacob, and took a photo of Jacob. I literally couldn't see the ice. What happened to me in that moment was truly life-changing.

The evidence was right there in those two pictures. I went back to Anchorage and I started to act.

Begich, who is challenging Republican Ted Stevens in this year’s U.S. Senate race, has committed Anchorage to supporting groups working on climate change issues, and has brought many energy-efficient solutions to his city. Working with other mayors in Southcentral Alaska, Begich is helping Alaska find new and better conservation, development, and energy policies. Almost overnight, Begich has become a state and regional leader on one of the most important issues facing Alaska and the United States.

Click here to read the full column.

For more on the Alaska race, check out our race profile page, or visit Mark Begich’s website.

New Web Ad In Colorado Race

Zach Ragbourn

The DSCC has released a new web ad highlighting some of Colorado Republican Bob Schaffer's problems, beyond his recent struggle with basic geography.

Poll Alert: Begich Leads Stevens by 5 in Alaska

Matthew Miller

A new poll conducted by Research 2000 shows that Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich leads Republican Senator Ted Stevens in Alaska by 5 points, 48% to 43%. Begich has a favorable rating of 52% in the poll, with only 25% viewing him unfavorably. Stevens’ favorability, on the other hand, is only 38%, with a full 58% viewing him unfavorably, including 24% who view him very unfavorably. Begich leads by a commanding 20 points among independents, 56% to 36%.

Begich announced his candidacy for the Senate just last month. The poll of 600 likely voters was conducted May 12 through May 14. You can view the full poll here.

Spotlight: Carl Levin

Zach Ragbourn

From his time as general counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Commission to his tenure on the Senate Armed Services committee, Democrat Carl Levin has been making a difference for Michigan and the United States for his entire adult life.

Since 1979, Carl Levin has represented the people of Michigan in the United States Senate, where he has fought for Michigan jobs and the Michigan economy; for affordable and accessible health care; for the Great Lakes and a clean, safe environment; for high quality education; and for Social Security and prescription drug coverage, agriculture programs, and the roads and infrastructure that benefit so many Michigan citizens and businesses.

In 2006, Time Magazine selected the 10 U.S. Senators who they called the “best” – those who had made the most difference in the Senate. Calling Levin “the bird-dogger,” here’s how Time describes Michigan’s senior senator:

No one would accuse Carl Levin of looking like Hollywood's version of a U.S. Senator. He's pudgy, balding and occasionally rumpled, and he constantly wears his glasses at the very tip of his nose. Still, the Michigan Democrat has gained respect from both parties for his attention to detail and deep knowledge of policy, especially in his role as a vigilant monitor of businesses and federal agencies. In 2002, a subcommittee he led hauled in Enron's board of directors to question them about the company's shady accounting practices; in hearings a year later, he was one of the chief challengers of large accounting firms that had created illegal tax shelters. Congress passed laws in the wake of both scandals in an effort to prevent the abuses from happening again.

Senator Levin officially filed for re-election this week. For more on the Michigan Senate race, check out our race profile page, or visit Carl Levin’s website.

McConnell Still Doesn’t Get It

Zach Ragbourn

Even after his party was soundly defeated in three consecutive special elections, Roadblock Republican leader Mitch McConnell (KY) still doesn’t understand that Americans are tired of the Bush-Cheney “do-nothing” approach to solving the country’s problems. No matter what issue comes up in the Senate, McConnell’s first instinct is always to obstruct. During his tenure as Minority Leader, he raised the specter of a filibuster more often in a half-session than any other Minority Leader ever did in a full session. As Majority Leader Harry Reid said, McConnell seems to be trying to “break Hank Aaron’s record on filibusters.”

On the day after Mississippi Democrat Travis Childers defeated a Republican in a House district that had gone overwhelmingly for Bush, McConnell returned to his obstructionist antics, oblivious to the fact that voters had, yet again, rejected his way of doing business.

Yesterday on the Senate floor, McConnell threw a monkey wrench into the works and seriously jeopardized an attempt to provide better education benefits to returning veterans. In a surprise move, he tried to insert a watered-down version of a the veterans’ benefits measure into an unrelated bill. His move could also sabotage that unrelated bill… which deals with union rights for police officers and firefighters.

Apparently, McConnell thought it was two-for-one day on Republican obstructionism.

According to the Politico:

McConnell says he simply wants a vote on the GOP version so that Republicans can have a vote on expanding veterans benefits. But Democrats, led by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), have been in delicate negotiations trying to pass a major G.I. bill, according to today's Politico story by David Rogers. It's not clear at this point if McConnell's move will spoil the effort by Webb to attach his GI bill to the Iraq funding legislation next week.

Webb said that as late as last night, he was negotiating with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on a breakthrough on the G.I. bill, so today's maneuver amounted to a sneak attack on the Senate floor.

"This was an irresponsible act done in bad faith," Webb said. "They have wrongly politicized issues of veterans' law."

Click here to read the whole story.

McConnell faces re-election this year, and his approval rating in Kentucky has plummeted below the crucial 50% mark.

For more on the Kentucky Senate race, check out our race profile page.

Democrat Kleeb to Face Johanns in Nebraska

Zach Ragbourn

Yesterday, Nebraska Democrats nominated rancher and teacher Scott Kleeb as the party’s candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Chuck Hagel. Kleeb will face Mike Johanns, who quit his job in the Bush administration to run for Senate, after he’d already quit his job as Nebraska’s governor to go work for Bush.

The Associated Press reports this morning:

Kleeb said Tuesday the victory showed a willingness among Nebraskans to recommit to the future and a new brand of politics.

"Politics at its best gets people involved for their own reason, not only for their candidate, but for their families and their future," he said.

For more on the Nebraska Senate race, check out our race profile page, or visit Scott Kleeb’s website.

North Carolina Shaping Up To Be Another Trouble Spot For GOP

Zach Ragbourn

Fresh off her primary victory last week, state Senator Kay Hagan (D) is already presenting a serious challenge to Republican Liddy Dole. A poll released this weekend shows Hagan running neck-and-neck with Dole, despite (or perhaps, because of) the fact that Dole is incredibly well-known in the state.

And in case you missed it, the Times News featured a quick introduction to Kay Hagan’s campaign to replace Liddy Dole.

North Carolina families are crying out for change, and that is what Kay Hagan said she would fight for when elected to the United States Senate at Friday's Democratic Three Governors Dinner at Occasions on Front Street in Burlington.

Hagan said she would fight for the true interests of North Carolinians, unlike the Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole.

"Simply put, let me tell you, Elizabeth Dole was just ranked the 93rd least effective senator in Washington," Hagan said to the laughing crowd of local Democrats as she proudly stated that she was recently ranked as one of the 10 most effective state senators in North Carolina. "And Elizabeth Dole votes with President Bush 92 percent of the time. I will guarantee you are not representing the interests if you are voting straight-party like that with Bush all the time. That is not what North Carolinians want."

Click here to read the full article.

For more on the North Carolina Senate race, check out our race profile page, or visit Kay Hagan’s website.

Roadtripping

Amy Rubin

Other than the panic-stricken evening I spent driving through a hail storm/tornado on the plains of Kansas this was one of the best Road to Victory trips yet. The people I met along the way from Oklahoma to New Mexico were hands down some of the nicest, most welcoming people I've ever met... well except for maybe one guy .

One of my favorite stop-overs was in Custard County Oklahoma where the green farm lands appear to be infinite in their reach down the one-lane highway. As someone who's only real encounter with cows and green pastures has been the New Jersey petting zoo, I decided to stop at one of the many cattle ranches I was passing by. I appeared on their doorstep with no warning and within minutes I was being driven around the ranch and schooled on the proper way to herd cattle and penny-pinch on fuel costs when filling up an enormous tractor tank.

From Oklahoma to Kansas to Texas to New Mexico people were not only happy to talk to me, but eager to tell me how much fuel costs are drastically effecting every aspect of their lives. And beyond that, most everyone was quick to link this to the Republicans in power who take enormous amounts of money from the oil and gas industry.

Whether they were Democrats, Independents or Republicans I heard the same thing over and over: people want their government to represent them, not big oil. Watch the road trip video above and listen for yourself as voters all across the Oklahoma panhandle talk about the kind of change they want to see.