The American Spectator

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Political Hay

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Rhode Island: Senator Lincoln Chafee and former Democrat Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse are polling very close. But Chafee first has to fend off former Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey, who is challenging Chafee in the GOP primary. Chafee may be the first incumbent Senator to go down to a Club for Growth-backed primary challenger, as a recent Rhode Island College poll shows Laffey leading 51-37%! Given that Chafee has done nothing to make the GOP base in Rhode Island happy (his flip-flop on U.N. Ambassador John Bolton being the latest such incident), I'm betting that Laffey wins the primary today. For the general election, this state Leans Democrat.

Tennessee: Most of the polls that have shown Democratic Rep. Harold Ford with a lead come from Democratic firms. Otherwise, former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker appears to be in command. Leans Republican.

Virginia: It appears that the "Macaca" incident has cost Senator George Allen some support. Recent polls show the race tightening, with Democrat challenger Jim Webb taking a tiny lead in a Zogby poll. Yet the Macaca incident is the only news about the Senate race that most Virginians have heard up to now, so, it's not too surprising that Allen has slipped. Most Virginians have not yet gotten to know Webb, and Allen still has big dollars in the bank. Chances are that Allen's numbers will rebound, but until they do I will tentatively put this down as a Tossup.

Washington: Senator Maria Cantwell has led in every poll taken thus far. GOP candidate Mike McGavick recently revealed a 1993 DUI arrest, and his recollection was apparently at odds with the arrest report. He has also returned campaign contributions from executives of VECO Corporation, an oil company now under investigation by the FBI. Couldn't seem to get much better for Cantwell. Leans Democrat

We'll see where we are in a few weeks. Until then the GOP has a long way to go to prevent the loss of seats in the Senate.

topics:
Hillary Clinton, NATO, Oil