Week In Midterms: Parties Stress Unity
This week in midterms featured primaries in three competitive states, with one more state Republican Party possibly choosing its nominee tomorrow. Each contest caused the two parties headaches, as fellow party members beat up on each other and spent sizeable sums of money to win the nominations.
In Indiana, former Sen. Dan Coats came away the winner against a challenger with grassroots conservative support and a former congressman, giving the national GOP its preffered nominee. In Ohio, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher ended up with a 12-point Democratic primary win over Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, giving Dems the candidate they wanted.
In the aftermath, the parties have begun working to bring the split camps together. Brunner sent an email to Ohio Democrats to show she was standing behind Fisher's candidacy, despite some of the nasty accusations flung between them during the campaign. And she urged supporters to do the same.
Indiana Republicans went a step further, calling a press conference featuring all five candidates after Coats won the primary with just 40% of the vote. "We're going to reach out in the fall to Republicans, conservatives, Tea Party people, moderates, even Democrats that may have some remorse about voting for this president particularly in light of what this agenda has been so far," Coats said.
SENATE
NEW POLLS: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington.
CALIFORNIA: Sarah Palin caused somewhat of a storm among conservatives with her endorsement of Carly Fiorina, calling the former HP executive the "Commonsense Conservative." Tom Campbell currently leads the race in polling, while Chuck DeVore has received other notable conservative endorsements.
INDIANA: GOP Primary Election Results: Dan Coats 39% (216,720); Stutzman 29% (160,722); Hostettler 23% (124,037); Bates 4% (24,603); Behney 4% (22,954). Coats will now take on Ellsworth for this open seat, vacated by the retirement of Sen. Evan Bayh (D).
NORTH CAROLINA: Dem Primary Election Results: Marshall 36% (153,953); Cunningham 27% (115,590); Ken Lewis 17% (71,925); Marcus Williams 8% (35,752); Susan Harris 7% (29,657); Ann Worthy 4% (16,576). Because no one received 40%, Marshall and Cunningham are headed for a June 22 runoff. Marshall held a 5-point lead in a poll conducted the day after the primary. The winner will take on Sen. Richard Burr (R).
OHIO: Dem Primary Election Results: Fisher 56% (374,633); Brunner 44% (298,964). Fisher and former Rep. Rob Portman (R) will now face off in a competitive fight for this open seat, vacated by the retirement of Sen. George Voinovich (R).
PENNSYLVANIA: From the Department of No Surprise Here, Rep. Joe Sestak (D) released a TV ad tying Sen. Arlen Specter (D) to George W. Bush, who publicly backed Specter during his competitive 2004 GOP primary against Pat Toomey.
UTAH: Sen. Bob Bennett (R) is fighting for his political life tomorrow at the state party convention in Salt Lake City. 3,500 delegates from around the state will be on hand to select either a nominee (if that person receives 60% of the delegate vote) or the top two candidates taking part in the June 22 primary. Kyle wrote this morning about why Bennett is in trouble with conservatives and why the convention process puts him at a disadvantage.
GOVERNOR:
NEW POLLS: Arizona; Connecticut; Hawaii; Iowa; New Hampshire; Ohio; Pennsylvania.
CALIFORNIA: Steve Poizner continued attacking Meg Whitman in an early week debate. The Sacramento Bee writes about the impact of the Republican primary, potentially making it tough for the eventual nominee to appeal to the center. Here's yet another Whitman ad. An internal poll from Poizner showed the race down to 10 points.
FLORIDA: Rick Scott continues to blitz the airwaves with TV ads in the GOP primary. McCollum and Alex Sink deal with the oil spill.
MARYLAND: Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) is launching his first radio ad, talking about Bob Ehrlich's (R) "fantasy land." Ehrlich attacked O'Malley at the state GOP convention. The running mate of Ehrlich's primary challenger abandoned the ticket.
NEW YORK: The governor's race is just one of the problems plaguing the New York GOP. The RGA denies that it would invest up to $10 million on behalf of Democrat-turned-Republican Steve Levy. Still, Levy says he's confident he'll have their full support. Meanwhile, George Pataki allegedly said he doesn't think Rick Lazio can win, but that he'd unify the party. Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo is still coy about his plans.
OHIO: Ted Strickland immediately came out of the gate swinging against John Kasich post-primary with a new TV ad. He also emphasized Kasich's Wall Street ties in an interview.
TEXAS: Gov. Rick Perry (R) is anti-Washington, but turned up at the White House Correspondents Dinner. The New York Times looked at Bill White's (D) uphill effort in the race.
THE REST: Democratic candidate Peter Corroon has chosen a moderate Republican as his running mate in Utah. A third party group is targeting Republican candidates over taxes in new TV ads. Establishment Republican support is split in Wisconsin. Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio passed on the governor's race there. A new ad from Brian Sandoval in Nevada. Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) was released from the hospital after a heart procedure. The DGA is targeting Rhode Island hopeful Lincoln Chafee. The RGA targets Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, tying him to the retiring Gov. Bill Ritter.
HANDICAPPER WATCH
Cook Political Report:
* WI-07 from Likely D to Toss Up
Rothenberg Political Report:
* HI-01 to Toss Up
RCP PROJECTIONS
Senate: GOP +8
Governor: GOP +5
House Map
--Mike Memoli and Kyle Trygstad