More Election News

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• NRCC to Expand Ad Buys to 11 Districts
• VT: Racine Concedes to Shumlin
• CA: Brown, Whitman Aim New Ads at Independents
• NY-1: Contentious Primary May Dash GOP Hopes
• IL: Obama's Old Seat in Jeopardy
• NJ-3: Adler and Runyan Firing Away Already
• WI: Feingold Labels Himself the Underdog Against Newcomer
• RI: Robitaille Alleges "Deal" Offered by Democrat Caprio
• PA: Candidates Spar Over Medical Device Tax
• AK: Walker Close to Decision on Whether to Continue Campaign
• WA-3: Heck Critical of Stimulus, HC
• NH: Anticipated GOP Debate Fireworks Fizzle

For the day that launches the general election phase of campaign season, Tuesday wasn't ideal for Democrats - but it did leave them with some hope.
Headline after headline previewing November's elections predicted drubbings at the polls, and reactions to President Obama's proposed new stimulus were largely poor. But the majority party got a dose of decent news late Tuesday afternoon when Gallup's weekly tracking poll showed Democrats even with Republicans in the generic ballot test.

The parties have been trading small leads since March over which party voters would like to see control Congress next year, but the GOP has been on top for the last five weeks. Just last week, 51 percent of respondents said they'd prefer to see Republicans in power compared with 41 percent who picked Democrats. But in the results culled from 1,651 registered voters from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5, 46 percent stuck with the Democrats and 46 percent went with their opponents. The poll's margin of error is four percentage points.

Even though Gallup pollster Frank Newport pointed out that Republicans still maintain a significant enthusiasm gap over Democrats, Democratic operatives zipped around the new results to inboxes all over Washington. Some said privately that the Democratic headquarters breathed a collective sigh of relief given a spate of increasingly bad polls in recent weeks.

In fact, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee communications director Jenn Crider pointed out, "Last week, beltway insiders were shrieking about the Gallup poll's generic ballot being at -10 for Democrats. Today, the Gallup poll's generic ballot is tied. With eight weeks until Election Day, Republicans and beltway pundits may want to hold off on calling the race for the House before voters cast their ballots."

But Jennifer Duffy, Senate analyst for the Cook Political Report warned, "Take Gallup's report of an even generic ballot like their 10-point GOP lead last week - with a deep breath."

Still, with news of the poll in hand, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine will make a major address in Philadelphia today to once again push his party's message of choice in the midterms. Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell will join him at his remarks from the University of Pennsylvania.

In excerpts of the speech obtained late Tuesday, Kaine will mention four Senate candidates and what he considers to be their extreme views.

"Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle has said the United States should leave the United Nations and that we should shut down the Department of Education," Kaine intends to say in the speech.

He also plans to single out Colorado Republican Ken Buck and Alaska Republican Joe Miller on Social Security, as well as Kentucky Republican Rand Paul for his comments on civil rights.

Kaine will also mention a handful of policies the Democratic Congress has enacted during the Obama administration and argue that at every turn, Republicans have endeavored to stand in the way.