Survey USA again; not surprisingly the bottom four were just defeated for re-election. the women of Maine an dthe men of North Dakota top the charts with Hillary Clinton a remarkably high number five.
MyDD looks at Democratic targets and defense:
Democratic Targets
1. Colorado: Wayne Allard, 44 approve - 43 disapprove
2. Texas: John Cornyn, 45 approve - 42 disapprove
3. Oklahoma: James Inhofe, 46 approve - 41 disapprove
4. New Hampshire: John Sununu, 47 approve - 44 disapprove
5. Minnesota: Norm Coleman, 48 approve - 43 disapprove
6. Kansas: Pat Roberts, 51 approve - 36 disapprove
7. North Carolina: Elizabeth Dole, 52 approve - 40 disapprove
8. Georgia: Saxby Chambliss, 52 approve - 36 disapprove
9. Tennessee: Lamar Alexander, 53 approve - 36 disapprove
10. Kentucky: Mitch McConnell, 54 approve 39 disapprove
11. Oregon: Gordon Smith, 54 approve - 37 disapprove
Republican Targets
1. New Jersey: Frank Lautenberg, 39 approve - 45 disapprove
2. Massachusetts: John Kerry, 48 approve - 50 disapprove
3. Illinois: Dick Durbin, 52 approve - 38 disapprove
4. Iowa: Tom Harkin, 53 approve - 40 disapprove
5. Michigan: Carl Levin, 54 approve - 36 disapprove
6. Louisiana: Mary Landrieu, 54 approve - 42 disapprove
Biggest opportunities I see here are Minnesota and New Hampshire. Coleman is a fluke - may you rest in peace Paul Wellstone - and New Hampshire is turning deep deep blue. On defense, Lautenberg is a place-holder and has already retired once; expected another ugly Jersey brawl. Kerry is up or out, probably out.
So look at Harkin on this list. Tom is always a polarizer, a Democrats the Republicans love to hate. But they need a candidate first.
Another Theocrats Hate Romney story:
Mitt Romney (R) begins the 2008 campaign season in fourth place among those seeking the GOP Presidential nomination, trailing Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Condoleezza Rice. While many Republican insiders believe the Massachusetts Governor could become an attractive candidate to the party’s social conservatives, a Rasmussen Reports survey finds that Romney’s faith may initially be more of a hindrance than a help.
Half (53%) of all Evangelical Christians say that they would not consider voting for a Mormon candidate.
Women Winning, Not In Iowa:
When the new elected officials take office, women's share of political offices in the U.S. will be:Governors 18% U.S. Senators 16% House Members 16.3 % (pending two undecided races) State Legislators 23%
The Dems' strong majority of women office-holders notwithstanding, the total figures are still less than impressive. The clear challenge for all national, state and local Democratic organizations is to recruit, train and support more women candidates.
In terms of statewide elective offices, women actually lost two seats nationwide (from 78 in '04 to 76 in '06).
One of those net losses is in Iowa where Sec of Ag went from a Democratic woman to a GOP man.
Some parliamentary systems have addresses the gender gap by using "women-only short lists" in which only female candidates are considered for certain seats. The parties are stronger in a parliamentary system and in an American political culture of wide-open primaries, it won't happen. What the Democratic Party does to achieve a gender-balanced end is electing men and women separately. State Central Committee, Male. National Delegate, Female. With some reconfiguration of districts, or a larger legislative body, this could be done nationally. Obviously, it would a gigantic change in the political culture.
Just pointing out that there are other ways to do things.
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