A New MSNBC/McClatchy Newspaper poll shows that "Democratic candidates have a strong chance to win all seven at-risk Republican Senate seats." A breakdown of the poll's numbers:
In RI, Sheldon Whitehouse (D) leads Lincoln Chafee (R) 42%-41%.
In PA, Bob Casey (D) leads Rick Santorum (R) 49%-40%.
In MO, Jim Talent (R) is tied with Claire McCaskill (D) 43%-43%.
In NJ, Bob Menendez (D) leads Tom Kean Jr (R) 44%-41%.
In WA, Maria Cantwell (D) leads Mike McGavick (R) 50%-40%.
In MD, Ben Cardin (D) leads Michael Steele (R) 47%-41%.
In VA, George Allen (R) is tied with Jim Webb (D) 43%-43%.
In OH, Sherrod Brown (D) leads Mike DeWine (R) 45%-43%.
And In TN, Harold Ford (D) leads Bob Corker (R) 43%-42%.
It also has some bad news for the administration: "Voters in all but one state rank Iraq as their top concern, above terrorism, despite Bush's campaign to link the unpopular war to the more broadly supported effort against terrorism."
The news gets worse and worse for House Republicans and Rep. Mark Foley. ABC News reports that Foley's "Internet messages also include repeated efforts to get the underage recipient to rendezvous with him at night: 'I would drive a few miles for a hot stud like you.'
On 60 Minutes yesterday, Bob Woodward said that the Bush administration has "failed to tell the truth" on Iraq.
General John Abizaid, commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East, agrees with Rep. Murtha: The US should get out of Iraq as soon as is practical. Woodward reports that Abizaid held up his fingers to Murtha and said, "[Our positions] are about a quarter of an inch apart, said, 'We're that far apart."
Jonathan Chait's LA Times op-ed piece: George Allen is "a genuine man who obviously has not a prejudiced bone in his body. And yet he has suffered from a series of coincidences, one after another, that have given skeptics the unfortunate misimpression that he is a racist."
President Bush's calendar is filled with campaign events this month. But "for Republicans, he's like an ATM machine," said Stuart Rothenberg, publisher of a non-partisan political report. "Otherwise, they want to stay away from him."
Bush recently made a campaign stop in Rep. John Doolittle's California district, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 48% to 30%. Though the Jack Abramoff scandal has largely faded from the political radar, "Democrats are finding that in a handful of districts like Doolittle's, their opponents' ties to Abramoff are helping them raise money and close poll numbers, forcing expensive countermeasures like the Bush visit."
San Franscisco Chronicle: Changing demographics in Rep. Richard Pombo's California district could threaten his reelection in November.
Newsday headline today: "For Dems, New York is the State of Opportunity." "Democrats and nonpartisan political analysts say as many as five of the nine GOP seats could be in play in November."
Montana Billings Gazette: A new Gazette State poll shows John Tester leading Sen. Conrad Burns by seven points.