Mitch McConnell's Senate Seat Now In Jeopardy

Sam Stein has an interesting piece at the Huffington Post about Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's re-election concerns:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/23/mitch-mcconnells-senate-s_n_108642.html

New Senate Polls (+ a couple previously reported here)

New polls reported at politics1.com.

ALASKA (Rasmussen): US Senator Ted Stevens (R) - 46%, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) - 44%.
IOWA (Rasmussen): US Senator Tom Harkin (D) - 53%, businessman Chris Reed (R) - 37%.
KANSAS (Rasmussen): US Senator Pat Roberts (R) - 48%, former Congressman Jim Slattery (D) - 39%.
KENTUCKY (SurveyUSA): US Senator Mitch McConnell (R) - 50%, businessman Bruce Lunsford (D) - 46%.
MICHIGAN (Rasmussen): US Senator Carl Levin (D) - 55%, State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk (R) - 35%.
MINNESOTA (Rasmussen): US Senator Norm Coleman (R) - 48%, humorist Al Franken (D) - 45%.
NORTH CAROLINA (Rasmussen): US Senator Elizabeth Dole - 53%, State Senator Kay Hagan (D) - 39%.
OKLAHOMA (Rasmussen): US Senator Jim Inhofe - 53%, State Senator Andrew Rice (D) - 31%.
OREGON (Rasmussen): US Senator Gordon Smith (R) - 47%, State House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D) - 38%.
VIRGINIA (Rasmussen): Former Governor Mark Warner (D) - 60%, former Governor Jim Gilmore (R) - 33%.

GOP Writes Off Two Key Senate Seats

GOP Writes Off Two Key Senate Seats

By Eric Kleefeld - June 13, 2008, 11:42AM

Wow, this one really spells trouble for the GOP this fall -- the guy in charge of the party's Senate races just basically wrote off the Republicans' chances in two of their five open seats.

At yesterday's Christian Science Monitor forum -- the same venue where he upgraded the GOP's goal to a potential three-seat loss -- NRSC chairman John Ensign was asked point-blank if the party was giving up on the open seats they currently hold in Virginia and New Mexico, where the Democratic nominees are way ahead of the Republicans in current polling.

Ensign said bluntly: "You don't waste money on races that don't need it or you can't win."

New polls show dead heat in Kentucky and Begich ahead in Alaska

Kentucky Senate Race a Statistical Tie

A new SurveyUSA poll in Kentucky shows Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a statistical dead heat with U.S. Senate rival Bruce Lunsford (D), 50% to 46%.

Interesting finding is that the most important issue for McConnell voters is the economy; for Lunsford, it is the environment and by a large margin.

Poll: Begich has edge on Stevens

By R. A. Dillon

Published Monday, June 9, 2008 in Fairbanks Daily Newsminer

WASHINGTON — A recent poll shows Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich leading incumbent Ted Stevens in the U.S. Senate race.

The survey found 51 percent of those responding would vote for Begich in November’s general election, compared to 44 percent who said they would back Stevens.

The poll indicates Begich is gaining name recognition across the state, but Stevens, who’s served in the Senate since 1968, also remains popular.

Some 58 percent of responders said they felt very or somewhat positive toward Begich, while only 16 percent had a negative opinion of the 45-year-old Democratic mayor. Eleven percent of those responding didn’t know of Begich.

For Stevens, the numbers were a little closer — 49 percent had a positive opinion, while 40 percent had a negative opinion. All of the survey’s 269 responders knew Stevens was the state’s senior senator.

Stevens’ bid to win a seventh full term in the Senate has been overshadowed by an ongoing corruption investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. Stevens has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

High name recognition may partially explain why the poll shows Stevens beating challenger Dave Cuddy by 15 percentage points in the Republican primary. More than 42 percent of poll participants said they had no idea who Cuddy was.

The poll did not ask about the Democratic primary, in which Begich faces Ray Metcalfe, founder of the Moderate Republican Party, and Frank Vondersaar. It also did not contain questions about the other seven long-shot candidates who hope to serve as Alaska’s next senator.

Half of those responding to the survey had no party affiliation or were registered Independents. Registered Republicans made up 27 percent of respondents; Democrats made up 22 percent.

The poll was conducted between May 6 and May 10 by Anchorage firm Hellenthal and Associates. It has a 6 percent margin of error.