Pat Toomey vs. Arlen Specter

In 2004 Pat Toomey challenged Arlen Specter for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. With the help of Rick Santorum and President Bush, Arlen Specter won by just 2 points. Since being reelected in 2004 Arlen Specter has become very unpopular with Republicans for his stances. He did a poor job as judiciary chairman, allowing nominees to go without a committee vote for extended periods of time. However most recently he helped Obama pass his 787 Billion stimulus bill.

This and other actions have lead to a very negative opinion of Arlen Specter by Pennsylvania voters. In a Rasmussen poll released yesterday Pat Toomey lead Specter 51% to 31%. Specter's negatives 55% while Toomey's were only19%. These are pretty one sided polling results. If Toomey decides to run it sure looks like Obama will lose an ally, and one more RINO will no longer be in the U.S. Senate.

When it comes to liberal Republicans, a liberal Republican from a blue distrct is fine, but a liberal Republican who undermines his caucus like Specter has deserves to be primaried. I hope Pat Toomey is successful in 2010 and becomes part of an amazing Republican Senate class of 2010.

McDonnell Remains Unscathed from the Frederick Situation

One thing I was worried about during the Frederick situation was that McDonnell would see his high favorables decline and his low negatives increase. He currently leads all his possible opponents by double digits in the latest Rasmussen poll, and according to the poll, "Of all four gubernatorial candidates, McDonnell has seen the biggest increase in his voter favorables since the last survey." Things continue to look good for Bob McDonnell. Hopefully the RPV State Convention will continue to build his momentum and the Democrats will have a bruiser of a primary. No matter what inter party squabbles we may have, and if you read this blog you know I think they are important, we need to win the governors mansion this year. It will help turn this state and maybe even nation around politically, and will be key to help us in the upcoming redistricting process.

More Amazing Poll Numbers for McDonnell

Today Rasmussen released a new likely voters poll for the Virginia Gubernatorial race.  In the last Rasmussen poll on this race, Bob McDonnell lead Terry McAuliffe by 5%, was tied with Creigh Deeds, and was behind Brian Moran by 4%.

Now McDonnell leads all three candidates: Creigh Deeds by 9%, Terry McAuliffe by 7%, and Brian Moran by 3%.  Also McDonnell has the highest favorables, 50%, and the lowest negative, 18%, of either of the 4 candidates in the race.  

These are very good numbers for McDonnell, he is already leading, already has high favorables, and his opponents will probably have a bloody primary over the next few months.

The irony in this poll is who Rasmussen says is declining in the polls.

McDonnell’s and Moran’s numbers are largely unchanged from the earlier survey, while both Deeds’ and McAuliffe’s have deteriorated slightly.

Many believed Moran would be on the decline with the near win of Joe Murray, and the entrance of Terry McAuliffe into the race.

As the poll says though...

The race is likely to become clearer after the three men address the state Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner Saturday in Richmond.

The Top of Our Ticket Next Year

Bob McDonnell's speech at the Republican Advance this weekend.

Bob McDonnell for Governor
"Promises Made Promises Kept"



Bill Bolling's speech at the Republican Advance

Bill Bolling for Lieutenant Governor



And for everyone who says Virginia is going blue, the polls for the governors race look good right now. Bob McDonell has the highest approval rating of any candidate for governor next year according to Rassmussen. He also matches up very well with the potential Democrat nominees, and has the advantage of being able to focus on the general election while the Democrats will have a brutal primary.

Is it really inevitable?

WSLS and Jay Warren once again proved they were very balance journalists. For someone who was thinking that it is almost inevitable that Mark Warner will become sentaor, this stry realy made me smile.

Warner to Announce Decision on Senate Run Thursday

Jay Warren

WSLS NewsChannel 10

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Will he or won't he? Mark Warner can stop sweating it, as he will announce his decision about his future political career Thursday morning in an e-mail to supporters.

And, what a tough decision Mark Warner has! On the one hand he can run in 2008 to replace John Warner in the US Senate. On the other hand he can run in 2009 for another term as governor. Either option is viable because Warner left the governor’s mansion with some of the highest approval ratings in Virginia history.

And, that’s a rating that appears to have stuck with him. A recent poll by Rasmussen Research shows Warner’s favorability rating at 68%. The same poll has Warner beating the two most likely Republican senate challengers by 20 and 27 points.

Governor Tim Kaine, the Democrat who succeeded Warner, gave no hint on his friend’s decision other than to say, “Virginia will be lucky either way.”

WSLS Political Analyst Dr.Bob Denton says it is likely Warner will pick the Senate and calls him the favorite.

“He's one of the most popular politicians in the commonwealth of Virginia. He has some campaign experience now,” Denton said.

But not so fast. Do you remember the last guy we thought had a lock an election: Senator George Allen. At one point he was 30 points ahead in his 2006 re-election bid. He went on to lose to Democrat Jim Webb.

Allen was in Moneta Wednesday campaigning for a local Republican running for the House of Delegates. He said he won’t run for the Senate in ’08, but said, “I think Mark's going to run for the US Senate.”

Allen was brought down in part thanks to a campaign misstep that ended up on YouTube. The Internet has changed the game for politicians, meaning Warner shouldn't take anything for granted.

“He does have to campaign and campaign hard,” Dr. Denton said. “He has to earn the position. But, at the same time I would say it's as much his to lose and his to win.”