Saturday, July 10, 2010

The really big news from Ohio

The latest campaign finance reports show Democrat Lee Fisher is in big trouble in Ohio's nationally watched Senate race. As of June 30, the lieutenant governor had $1 million in the bank; Republican Rob Portman had almost $9 million. Polls still put the two in a virtual tie, but Portman -- in his first statewide run -- has the resources to raise his profile, while Fisher has to sweat every nickel.


Portman just spent the long holiday weekend campaigning in Northeast Ohio, a strategy that has worked well for other center-right Ohio Republicans: If he can hold down Democratic margins here and turn out fired-up Republicans in southwest Ohio -- where the former Cincinnati area congressman is very well known -- Portman could be in very good shape on Election Day. As for Fisher, the more time he has to spend raising money, the less time he has to campaign. And with Democrats forced to defend seats they once viewed as safe -- even blue-state veterans like California's Barbara Boxer and Wisconsin's Russ Feingold are struggling -- dialing for dollars is only going to get harder.

4 comments:

Baxter said...

How are things going in Nevada?

Jim G. said...

You mean this Nevada?

RCP Average 5/24 - 6/22 -- 43.7 41.3 Angle +2.4
Rasmussen Reports 6/22 - 6/22 500 LV 48 41 Angle +7
Las Vegas Review-Journal 6/1 - 6/3 625 LV 44 41 Angle +3
Mason-Dixon 5/24 - 5/26 625 LV 39 42 Reid +3

and this Obama?

The event at the university Friday morning was far more subdued as the president addressed a polite crowd of about 600 business leaders, teacher and students in a clean, well-lighted auditorium. He used the speech to defend what he called “those tough steps that we took” — steps that the administration knows are unpopular, like bailing out banks and auto companies — and to make the case that his policies are turning the economy around.

“The question is, No. 1, ‘Are we on the right track?’ The answer is yes,” Mr. Obama said.

He also called on Congress to add $5 billion to a fund that provides tax credits for clean energy investment. “My attitude, and Harry’s attitude, is if an American company wants to create jobs and grow, we should be there to help them do it,” Mr. Obama said. He said the tax credits would generate “nearly 40,000 jobs, and the $12 billion or more in private sector investment it would trigger could create up to 90,000 additional jobs.”

It was Mr. Obama’s second speech in two days on the economy, as he seeks to convince anxious Americans that despite 9.5 percent unemployment, his policies are indeed turning the economy around. White House officials have settled on a catchphrase for Mr. Obama’s message: they are casting the election as “a choice between the economic policies that led us into the mess or the policies that are leading us out of the mess.”

Baxter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Baxter said...

Yes - that Nevada - the one where Harry Reid will easily beat Sharron Angle, who exemplifies today's GOP and Tea Party. Just watch.