CQ Politics ran an
elimination tournament
to allow readers to choose the person they wanted as Barack Obama's Veep.
The winner is Gen. Wesley Clark. On Sunday Clark questioned McCain's credentials as
commander-in-chief when he said:
"I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."
When the Republicans attacked him, he said it again.
He was trailing Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) before he made his comment and this may have
helped. Vice Presidents traditionally attack the other side and as a four-star
general with 34 years of military experience he is in a very strong position to
attack McCain. Clark was probably auditioning for the job, showing Obama that if
he is selected, he intends to go right for the jugular.
This is the proper way to run for Veep: you show the presidential nominee how you
will attack the other side. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) has been doing this, too.
Interviews with
16 Republican insiders and state chairmen
give the clear impression that they don't think John McCain is running a
very good campaign. He had a 4-month head start over Barack Obama, yet he
is lacking a clear message, has weak fundraising, and is lacking
an organization in many states.
Be careful what you wish for. You might get it. In 2004, the Republicans kept hootin' and hollerin'
for John Kerry's millionaire wife, Theresa Heinz Kerry, to release all of her tax records and other
financial data saying "What's she hiding?" Guess what? This time it is the Republicans who have the
rich wife. Cindy McCain inherited something like $100 million from her beer distributor father and
has spent freely, even racking up $500,000 in credit card charges one month. Of course, given the
precedent set in 2004, now it is the Democrats who are
hootin' and hollerin'
for Cindy to release all of her records. She doesn't want to, no doubt in part because she had some joint
business ventures with convicted felon Charles Keating in the 1980s and would prefer to keep these out of the
spotlight.
Polls in Louisiana and New York confirm what we all knew: Democrats do well in the North and
Republicans do well in the South.
State
Obama
McCain
Start
End
Pollster
Louisiana
36%
52%
Jun 26
Jun 28
Opinion Res.
New York
57%
37%
Jun 25
Jun 27
SurveyUSA
A more interesting poll is for the Louisiana Senate seat. The only Democratic seat the Republicans
might be able to pick off is that of Mary Landrieu (D-LA), but she is now leading her challenger,
John Kennedy, now a Republican but until recently a Democrat, by 6%.
State
Democrat
D-pct
Republican
R-pct
Start
End
Pollster
Louisiana
Mary Landrieu*
46%
John Kennedy
40%
Jun 26
Jun 28
Opinion Res.
Massachusetts
John Kerry*
63%
Jeff Beatty
25%
Jun 30
Jun 30
Rasmussen
In an open House seat being vacated by Ron Lewis (R) in KY-02, Democrat David Boswell is leading
Republican Brett Guthrie 47% to 44% according to SurveyUSA. This is an ominous development for the
Republicans as the district is R+13, even more Republican than MS-01, an R+10 district in which Travis Childers (D) recently
won by 8% to fill Roger Wicker's House seat. If heavily Republican districts are essentially tossups, what is
going to happen in the evenly split districts?
Speaking of evenly split House districts, here is another update on the The Great Saga of NY-13.
Remember, that's the one where the incumbent ran a red light while drunk and was discovered to have two
families and then the Republicans picked a rich businessman to replace him and his son tried to run against
him and then the rich businessman died of a heart attack. The filing date is July 10 and the GOP still
doesn't have a candidate. The Kings County (Brooklyn) Republican chairman has a suggestion,
retired investment banker Paul Atanasio. However, Atanasio has a couple of minor problems.
First, he is not a registered Republican. Second, he lives in Brooklyn while the vast majority of
the district is in Staten Island. Third, he needs to collect 1250 signatures before the filing date
and Staen Islanders are notorious for preferring an Islander as their congressman. Fourth, the other
Republican leaders in the area don't want Atanasio. Fifth, DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen has announced
he is going to put $2 million into this race for NYC councilman Mike McMahon (D), mostly to scare off
any potential Republicans. What a mess. McMahon has
a primary challenger, but with Van Hollen beind him, McMahon is in good shape.
More here.
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