I Just Had to Share

From the DSCC press release:

With all eyes on Donald Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill this week, vulnerable Republican Senators and Senate candidates are going to have a difficult time hiding from the onslaught of Trump-related questions and from the candidate himself. Since the NRSC was already having a difficult cycle before Trump became their presumptive presidential nominee – struggling with recruitment and dealing with twenty-four seats up for reelection – and since “Senate Republicans are already very, very tired of Trump questions,” the DSCC is offering up some simple disguises to use to avoid the Trump-induced media storm.

We carefully labeled the masks so the NRSC could distribute them to Senators Pat Toomey, Kelly Ayotte, Rob Portman, Mark Kirk, Roy Blunt, Ron Johnson, John McCain, Richard Burr, Chuck Grassley and Congressmen Todd Young, Joe Heck, Ron DeSantis and David Jolly…

“We’re guessing the vulnerable Senators and Senate candidates could use a hand avoiding the Trump questions they’re clearly very tired of, especially as they try to dodge Trump as he takes Capitol Hill this week,” said Lauren Passalacqua, DSCC National Press Secretary. “But unfortunately for the NRSC and its candidates, these disguises won’t hide these candidates’ out-of-touch records or the fact that these Senators and Senate candidates have repeatedly pledged to support Trump. Maybe they should try a chicken suit?”

Senator Survivor

"Discovery Channel on Thursday announced that “Rival Survival,” featuring Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) as dueling colleagues turned desert-island teammates, is set to air Oct. 29.

Filmed over a week on Erdu in the Marshall Islands, the show will follow the senators as they try to work together (see America, it can be done!) 'as they attempt to spear fish, build shelter and find enough water to survive for one week.'"

Devotees will remember that I am not a huge fan of the reality show contestant/politician. However, I would tune into this mostly because it's only one episode and it's a trip at least one of them would have taken anyway; this is a trip Sen. Flake has taken twice before. No doubt this is a publicity stunt, but the Teddy Roosevelt enthusiast in me loves the idea of two disagreeing Senators putting partisan politics aside and bro-ing out in nature.

The show will air on October 29th.

Kansas Secretary of State Refuses to Remove Democrat From Ballot

Remember yesterday when I wrote that Democratic candidate Chad Taylor's withdrawal from the Kansas Senate race could lead to a possible upset in Pat Roberts' bid for re-election? Apparently Republicans were thinking the same thing.

Not only the did the national party dispatch top Republican strategist Chris LaCivita to take control of the campaign but Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach is trying to block Taylor from removing his name from the ballot. Taylor says he did everything he was supposed to do to legally withdraw his name, Kobach says he didn't. Sounds to me like yet another example of Republicans trying to change the rules to the game when they stop winning.

Six Senate Forecasts Combined, Plus Meet My Friend Pete!

If you're like me, when you hear the phrase "Senate forecast" your first reaction is "cloudy with a chance of boring." It's not that I don't care what's going on in elections across our country (hi, have we met?) or that I don't appreciate a good data nerd out. It's just that there's so much information out there, so many numbers flying around, that it's hard to parse it all out- especially when it's your job to figure out how we're going to win rather than what the actual likelihood of doing so is.

Luckily there are some people not like me, including my good friend Pete Solecki (to be clear Pete also cares about how we're going to win but that's another blog post.) Pete, in addition to being my bro back from the whoa back, is a data and digital strategist of the Democratic persuasion. He has helpfully compared, contrasted and finally combined six leading forecasts for the 2014 Senate elections. (That's what you're looking at above.) He maps it all out for you on his new website here. He's very smart that Pete Solecki. Look forward to more links to Pete's page from CampaignSick or why not follow him all on your own?

Kansas Could Have An Independent Senator. So That's Exciting.

If you're a Republican Senator, you'd think your Democratic opponent dropping out before the general election would be a good thing. Not so for Incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts who just survived a tea party primary challenge. Democrat Chad Taylor's surprising announcement that he was withdrawing from the Kansas' US Senate race paves the way for a potential galvanization of anti-Roberts sentiment behind Independent Greg Orman.

Fox News (I know.):

"A recent poll from Democrat-leaning Public Policy Polling showed Orman had a 43 percent to 33 percent lead over Roberts if the race was just between the two of them.

On the other hand, if all three candidates were in the race, 32 percent of voters picked Roberts, 25 percent picked Taylor and 23 percent picked Orman, according to a Public Policy Polling poll.

Orman had positioned himself as Roberts' most formidable opponent, and his fundraising was more robust than Taylor's...

Orman, the co-founder of a business capital and management services firm, ran for Roberts' seat in 2007 as a Democrat but dropped out early in 2008. He said he grew unhappy with both parties.

On Wednesday, Orman received the endorsement of Traditional Republicans for Common Sense, a group of former moderate GOP state legislators unhappy with the party's conservative leanings."

Huh. This just became a race to watch.

Michelle Nunn's Original Campaign Memo Winds Up Online

Guys, what, what, what, are we doing? Why did this wind up online? Check and double check that you have the correct email addresses when sending emails!! (That's what I'm assuming happened. If this was on purpose then...I can't even. No one cares about your level of access. Shut up.)

The memo itself isn't particularly earth shattering. It shares insights like, "a Democrat needs minority votes to win in Georgia" and "Jews have money." It also predicts that she will be seen as a carpet bagger since she grew up outside the state and spent her residence in Georgia in an affluent Atlanta suburb while most of the state is rural. My favorite part is that this model (even within the memo) is marked as "Confidential and Proprietary"

Really, Blue Labs? Groundbreaking stuff.

The real revelation (and in my opinion kind of a buried lede) is that the foundation that Nunn runs could be construed as kind of a shit show. According the National Review (I know)"The document also makes reference to a 2010 audit that concluded Points of Light’s accounting system was 'not adequate to account for federal funds.'"Points of Light also gave a $33,000 grant to Islamic Relief USA, which has uncomfortably close ties to Hamas. No wonder her policy on Israel was listed as "TBD."

To her credit, Nunn had a pretty good line on the flap at a recent campaign stop. “I always thought I wanted to run an open and transparent campaign but this has gone beyond what I anticipated or intended.”

Citizens United Amendment?

I realized I haven't posted about a very important Constitutional amendment being proposed by Tom Udall (NM), Michael Bennett (CO), Tom Harkin (IA), Dick Durbin (IL), Chuck Schumer (NY), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), and Jeff Merkely (OR), (all of whom were elected with the help of at least one of my amazing organizer friends, by the way) which would effectively overturn Citizens United.

The amendment as filed resolves that both Congress and individual states shall have the power to regulate both the amount of contributions made directly to candidates for elected office and “the amount of expenditures that may be made by, in support of, or in opposition to such candidates.”

Bernie Sanders was on the Colbert Report talking about the same thing.

Could it be? Meaningful campaign finance reform? Be still my little organizing heart.

"All Faggots Must Die"

I try not to get too much into the political/legislative side of stuff on here, but this just made my stomach turn.

The above quote was posted from an IP address in Saxby Chambliss' US SENATE OFFICE in Georgia as comment on a blog about the DADT Cloture Vote (Don't even get me started on that one.)

Gross.

Just in case you needed a reason to go to work tomorrow.