Daily Political Wire 9-27-2010

George Wenschhof

71% of Republican voters consider themselves conservative - not a huge surprise in the latest Gallup poll out today. 18% considered themselves very conservative. In 2000, the number who called themselves conservative was 62% and in 2006, it was 67%.

---

Democrats in close elections in bell weather states - while gloom and doom abounds for the Democratic party as the mid term elections near, in Kentucky, Jack Conway is within 2 points of Republican Rand Paul (49-47%) for the Senate seat to be vacated by Republican Jim Bunning.

In Ohio, Democratic Governor Ted Strickland is within 4 points of Republican challenger John Kasich 49-45%. The Fix has more on these races here.

---

Democrats leading In key California races - former Democratic Governor Jerry Brown is leading Republican Meg Whitman 49-45% in the race for Governor. This lead, in spite of Whitman spending 120 million of her own money to date.

Incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer is leading Republican Carly Fiorina 51-43%. Reuters.com has more on the poll conducted by the LA Times and the University of Southern California here.

---

Maryland candidates for governor receive dueling endorsements - Incumbent Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley received the endorsement from AFCME, the 30,000 member American Federation of State, county and Municipal Employees and former republican governor Robert Ehrlich received the endorsement of the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).

Both unions gave the same endorsements in the 2006 election when these two candidates faced each other. The Baltimore Sun has more here.

---

Latest Polling shows Democrats hold on to control of Congress - In the Senate, the split today would be 51 Democratic and 49 Republican. The Democrats have 2 "weak" and 2 "barely" rated races and the Republicans have 4 "weak" and 4 "barely" rated races.

In the 435 member House, where 218 are needed for the majority, Democrats have 222, Republicans 186 and there are 27 ties.

Electoral-vote.com has more here.

Every Monday until the election, we will publish an update. Stay Tuned...

---

Analysis of census data shows changes in House seats for 2012 election - early examination shows Texas gaining as many as 4 House seats and Florida gaining 2 seats. New York is projected to lose 2 seats as is Ohio.

The announcement will come in December and will be in effect for the 2012 House elections. Redistricting will take plave after the December announcement. Politico.com has more here.

---

To receive "Daily Email Updates" from Air-it-Out with George Wenschhof, click on "Subscribe to this feed" below or use the sign up box located in the upper right hand margin.