The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Races I'm watching

Obviously I care most about the U.S. presidential race today, and I'm hoping for a clean win by the President. But a few other races have my interest:

  • The Illinois 8th Congressional District, in which Democrat Tammy Duckworth is challenging incumbent Tea Party Republican Joe Walsh. Duckworth is favored by 10 points as of this weekend.
  • The Illinois 10th Congressional District, with moderate Democrat Brad Schneider challenging moderate Repupblican Congressman Bob Dold, is polling at Dold +8 right now, but could break for Schneider. I grew up in that district, and for my entire life it's had a moderate Republican representative. In fact, if I recall correctly, Don Rumsfeld represented the district in the 1960s, before the senility took hold.
  • Indiana's U.S. Senate race between Tea Party Republican Richard Mourdock (of "babies conceived in rape are God's will" fame) against conservative Democrat Joe Donnelly. This should have been an easy win for Mourdock, but he has, shall I say, unpopular views on abortion. Nate Silver gives Donnelly a 69% chance of winning, which will result in a Democratic pickup.
  • Missouri's U.S. Senate race has Neandertal Congressman Todd Akin challenging Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill. Again, because of his extreme views, what should have been a GOP pickup is instead looking to be a Democratic re-election slam-dunk. McCaskill is polling 51-36 over Akin as of this weekend.
  • The U.S. Senate races in Ohio, Maine, and Nevada as well, where my guys are polling, respectively, 50-46 (Brown-D), 47-34 (King-I) and 46-48 (Berkley-D).
  • Referenda in Illinois (Illinois constitutional amendment, Chicago electricity supply pooling, and a U.S. constitutional amendment proposal), Colorado (cannabis legalization), Minnesota (gay marriage ban), and California (repealing the death penalty).
  • Finally, Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, where crazy person Michele Bachmann is leading her Democratic challenger by only a few points in the polls. One can dream, right?

Only 9 hours until polls close in the east...

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