
Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), who was hoping to harness Tea Party anger in his Republican primary challenge against Sen. John McCain, has just earned himself the complete ire and contempt of one the Tea Party kings -- Glenn Beck himself. On his radio show today, Beck positively ripped Hayworth for his appearance in a 2007 informercial promoting a company's questionable seminars promoting "free money" in government grants.
"I believe we can announce on this program that J.D. Hayworth's campaign is over," Beck said, in a clip that has been distributed to the press by the McCain campaign. It should be noted that Beck is not even remotely a fan of McCain, either, but he now thoroughly rejects Hayworth as an infomercial pitchman who urged people to seek out money from the government. And to top it off, Beck and his radio show crew did mocking impersonations of Hayworth and various notable infomercial fly-by-nighters.
When contacted by TPMDC, the Hayworth campaign declined to comment. The TPM Poll Average gives McCain a lead in the Republican primary of 51.2%-37.1%. The primary will be held on August 24.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (21) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)In the final result of a trio of competitive Senate primaries tonight, the AP is reporting that Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher easily beat Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to win the Democratic nomination tonight.
The result pits Fisher against former Rep. Rob Portman (R) in a battle for the open seat vacated by Sen. George Voinovich (R). The TPM Poll Average of that matchup shows that race to be a dead heat, with Fisher leading by a margin of 40.5-39.2.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (16) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who's running for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. Senate race there, appears to have failed to correctly report her staffers' salaries, the Plain Dealer reported this week.
Instead of itemizing their salaries, Brunner lumped them altogether in a single payment to a payroll company. The payment in the first quarter of 2010 was $37,000.
But according to Federal Election Commission rules, any payment above $200 must be itemized.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (13) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The new Rasmussen poll in Ohio gives Republican candidate Rob Portman a small lead in the open Senate race for the seat of retiring GOP Sen. George Voinovich.
Portman, a former Congressman and Bush administration official, leads Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher by 43%-38%, and leads Dem Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner by 45%-38%. These numbers are not significantly changed from Rasmussen's poll last month.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (4) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The new Quinnipiac poll of Ohio shows the Democratic candidates leading in the gubernatorial race, plus the election for the open Senate seat of retiring Republican Sen. George Voinovich -- with the potential for a Democratic turnaround in the wake of the health care bill's passage.
In the Senate race, Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner were each tested against Republican Rob Portman, a former Congressman and former Bush administration official. Fisher leads Portman by 41%-37%, and Brunner has an edge of 38%-37%. In February, Portman led Fisher by 40%-37%, and led Brunner by 40%-35%. The margin of error is ±2.5%. The TPM Poll Average gives Portman an edge of 39.6%-38.6% over Fisher, and a 39.4%-38.1% edge over Brunner, with recent movement in the Democrats' direction.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (6) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)A new Quinnipiac poll in Ohio shows that in the run-up to the May 4 Democratic primary for Senate, the big leader in the race is..."undecided," with this race way up in the air.
Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher has 33% support, while Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has 26%. Another one percent answered "someone else," and 40% are undecided. Furthermore, among those respondents who did express a choice, only 31% said their minds are made up, and 65% could change their minds.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Rob Portman, a former Congressman and Bush administration official. The Dem primary poll does give Fisher a possible leg-up in this regard: 37% think he is the one more likely to win a general election, compared to only 18% who say the same about Brunner.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (2) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The new survey of Ohio by Public Policy Polling (D) gives Republican Senate candidate Rob Portman a narrow lead in the race for the open seat of retiring GOP Sen. George Voinovich. But more importantly, a lot will ultimately ride on President Obama's popularity or lack thereof in November -- and as of right now, Obama is not doing too well in Ohio.
The poll of registered voters finds that Portman, a former Congressman and ex-Bush administration official, leads Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher by 41%-36%, and has a statistically insignificant edge of 38%-37% over Dem Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, with a ±3.9% margin of error.
The TPM Poll Average currently gives Portman a lead of 40.8%-37.2% over Fisher, and a lead of 40.9%-37.9% over Brunner.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (10) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The new Quinnipiac poll in the Ohio Senate race gives Republican candidate Rob Portman a narrow lead in the race for this state's open Senate seat, which is currently held by retiring two-term Republican Sen. George Voinovich.
Portman leads Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher by 40%-37%, and leads Dem Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner by 40%-35%. This is essentially unchanged from this past November, when Portman led Fisher by 39%-36% and Brunner by 38%-34%. In the Democratic primary, Fisher leads Brunner by 29%-20%.
Yesterday's Quinnipiac numbers on the gubernatorial race showed Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland retaking the lead over Republican former Rep. John Kasich, leading Kasich by 44%-39% after the race was tied 40%-40% in November. At the same time, only 44% of Ohioans approved of President Obama's performance, with 52% disapproving -- and it could be that this disapproval of Democrats at the federal level is still keeping the Dem candidates down in the Senate race.
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