Wednesday, July 04, 2007

2007 Races: July Edition

Kentucky Governor-

With the primaries over and the nominees settled, it is hard to hear much political news related to this race coming out of the Bluegrass State. Things are probably in a bit of a summer lull and will not truly pick up again until around Labor Day.

I do not believe there have been any polls within the past month, so the most recent ones still show the Democrat, former Lt. Governor Steve Beshear leading incumbent GOP Governor Ernie Fletcher.

By the end of the summer, we will probably know more about if this is truly a competitive race, or one that might start heavily favoring a Democrat pickup.

July rating: Leans Democrat

Louisiana Governor-

The faces and names are still the same for the most part in the Bayou and just about everyone thinks that Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal is going to wind up taking over from Democrat Kathleen Blanco and becoming the next Governor. That might be everyone except for Republican Governor Dave Treen, who for some strange reason said he thinks that Jindal might not be able to win and could get in the race himself.

July rating: Likely Republican


Missisippi Governor-

Does anyone have any tidbits on this race? It is of course still expected to be Republican incumbent Haley Barbour facing off against Democrat attorney John Arthur Eaves Jr., in a race that is expected to go easily to the Republican for four more years.

July rating: Safe Republican

Presidential Power Rankings # 27

July 4, 2007

Democrats:

1. Hillary Clinton (1)
2. Barack Obama (2)
3. John Edwards (3)
4. Bill Richardson (5)
5. Al Gore (4)
6. Joe Biden (6)
7. Chris Dodd (7)
8. Dennis Kucinich (8)
9. Mike Gravel (9)
10. Wesley Clark (10)

The one change this week comes on the news that Al Gore III has been arrested on DUI and drug charges and considering this is his third offense with the law, he could potentially be looking at a pretty serious legal situation. I think that might make it even more unlikely that Al Gore would now mount a late campaign for President. Thus, Bill Richardson, who despite performing pretty poorly in debates on appearances on such shows as Meet the Press, moves up to number 4. It is worth noting, that in places like New Hampshire, Richardson is close on the heels of John Edwards and has raised almost as much money as the 2004 Vice Presidential nominee.


1. Mitt Romney (1)
2. Fred Thompson (2)
3. Rudy Giuliani (3)
4. John McCain (4)
5. Mike Huckabee (5)
6. Newt Gingrich (6)
7. Sam Brownback (7)
8. Tommy Thompson (8)
9. Duncan Hunter (9)
10. Tom Tancredo (10)

No changes, this week, although the McCain campaign death watch is now officially on. Rudy Giuliani won the second Quarter GOP fundraising prize and I suspect that before the summer is up, he will move up from the three spot to either two or one, as he, Fred Thompson, and Romney will probably play some musical chairs to an extent. For now though, polls out this week confirm that Romney is still leading, and by a decent margin in most of them, in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Until that changes, I find it hard to make a case to drop him out of the number one spot, despite my obvious personal biases.

Happy Fourth of July!