Until Joe Miller's upset victory over Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), nobody took the Democratic nominee for the Alaska Senate seat, Sitka mayor Scott McAdams, seriously. With Miller's win and Murkowski's re-entry in the race as a write-in candidate, all of a sudden Democrats smelled a chance and began donating to McAdams' campaign. Between his June entry into the race and August he had raised $17,000. In September he raised $650,000. That is a lot of money for Alaska although Murkowski has more and Miller is expected to get a lot of help from the NRSC.
Attorney Jeff Landry beat former Louisiana House Speaker Hunt Downer in the runoff yesterday for the Republican nomination in LA-03. Landry beat Downer in the first round, but failed to get 50%, forcing a runoff. The Democrat is Attorney Ravi Sangisetty. This is the seat left open when Charlie Melancon decided to challenge David Vitter for the Senate. The district has a PVI of R+12, making Landry the odds-on favorite. In fact, it is amazing the Democrats could find anyone willing to even try. This was the final primary of 2010. At this point all the candidates for the Senate and House have been determined. The complete Senate list is here. The full House list is here.
A closer analysis of Thursday's Gallup poll of Republicans regarding the 2012 GOP presidential nomination reveals a striking class division. Overall, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney leads former Alaska governor Sarah Palin 19% to 16%. However, among Republicans with postgraduate degrees, Romney leads Palin 3 to 1. Among Republicans with a bachelor's degree he leads over 2 to 1. But among those Republicans without a college degree, they run about even. It has been clear for a long time--and apparently continues to be true--that much of Palin's support comes from poorly educated voters who resent various elites running their lives. Romney's supporters come from those elites. A Romney vs. Palin primary would be out-and-out class warfare.
| State | Democrat | D-pct | Republican | R-pct | I | I-pct | Start | End | Pollster |
| Colorado | Michael Bennet* | 42% | Ken Buck | 50% | Sep 26 | Sep 28 | Marist Coll. | ||
| Pennsylvania | Joe Sestak | 42% | Pat Toomey | 51% | Sep 26 | Sep 28 | Marist Coll. | ||
| South Carolina | Alvin Greene | 23% | Jim DeMint* | 56% | Sep 30 | Sep 30 | Crantford Associates | ||
| Wisconsin | Russ Feingold* | 45% | Ron Johnson | 52% | Sep 26 | Sep 28 | Marist Coll. |
| Cong. Distr. | Democrat | D-pct | Republican | R-pct | I | I-pct | Start | End | Pollster |
| WA-08 | Suzan DelBene | 45% | Dave Reichert* | 52% | Sep 27 | Sep 29 | SurveyUSA |