John Avlon : “The cycle of over-reach and backlash is in over-drive these days — with significant implications for the 2012 presidential election. In pivotal swing-states where voters narrowly elected Republican governors in 2010 — like Florida and Ohio (with 47 electoral votes between them) — evidence of buyer’s remorse is piling up fast.”
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Popularity Plummets for New GOP Governors
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) “lent his 2010 Senate campaign slightly more than $2.5 million, of some $8 million spent. He was forced to reclassify most of that as a contribution, however, by a federal law that requires repayment of candidate loans within 20 days of the election,” the Connecticut Mirror reports. Said his campaign chairman: “Quite honestly, there were efforts to raise money during that [20-day] period but it wasn’t enough to pay the loan off.”
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Blumenthal Joins Ranks of Self-Funded Candidates
Failed U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell (R) is blaming computer software for “inadvertent errors” in fundraising reports she filed in 2009 and early 2010, the Wilmington News Journal reports.
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O’Donnell Blames Software for Bad Finance Reports
A new study from political scientists Seth Masket and Steve Greene finds that Democrats “paid a substantial price for party unity in the 111th House of Representatives” and that the vote on health care reform was the most costly vote to the party — bigger than the economic stimulus package, the bank bailout or cap and trade. Their analysis found backers of the health care reform bill typically ran 6% to 8% behind their opponents and that 13 of them lost their seats because they voted ‘yes’ on health care.
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The Costliest Vote
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Ohio finds voters having buyer’s remorse over their new governor. In a rematch of last fall’s election, Ted Strickland (D) would crush Gov. John Kasich (R), 55% to 40%.
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Second Thoughts About Kasich