Why Both the Dems and the GOP Now Think Voters Prefer Female Candidates

April 24, 2013 | The Atlantic

by Molly Ball -In the two-year cycle of the political calendar, it is candidate-recruitment season—the time when Washington operatives fan out across the country to size up the political horseflesh.
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House Democrats face uphill slog in 2014

November 25, 2012 | Politico

by Alex Isenstadt -Nancy Pelosi decided to take one more crack at winning back the House, but a big obstacle stands between the Democratic leader and the speaker's gavel in 2014: the six-year itch.
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Survey finds strong support for clean energy among Latino voters

August 1, 2012 | Greenwire

by Jennifer Yachnin, E&E reporter -Latino voters are strong advocates of developing renewable energy sources, according to a nationwide survey published today by the Sierra Club and National Council of La Raza.
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Pot initiative could be boon to Obama in Colorado

June 28, 2012 | CBS News

by Scott Conroy - DENVER - In a sparsely developed industrial lot on the outskirts of town stands a nondescript single-story edifice.

A small sign in front of the building announces it, unremarkably, as the "Denver Dispensary," but the strong herbal odor emanating from the premises gives away the facility's function in this city's flourishing medical marijuana distribution system.
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Ohio's come-from-behind shocker

June 15, 2012 | Campaigns & Elections

by Andrew Myers & Kati Bumgardner - Case Study: How an underdog with a limited budget moved 34 points in just seven weeks.

Less than a week before this year's Ohio Democratic primary, a local political analyst on WOSU-TV in Columbus laid out the conventional wisdom in the race for the state's newly-drawn 3rd Congressional District:
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State Senate balance of power rides on tight races

May 31, 2012 | Wisconsin State Journal

by Dee J. Hall - Here's one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on: The recall elections in four state Senate districts next week could come down to the wire.

At stake is control of the Senate, which has 16 Democrats and 16 Republicans and one vacancy. If Democrats win any of the four races, they take control of the Senate and with it, the power to impede Gov. Scott Walker's legislative agenda.
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Congressional Dems fight for Obama mantle

March 21, 2012 | Politico

by Alex Isenstadt - While some Democrats are loath to be linked to President Barack Obama in the 2012 cycle, others are doing just the opposite – they're fighting over who is the president's most faithful disciple.
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Mormon voters recalled Pearce over 'character,' not immigration

November 11, 2011 | Politico

The recall of Arizona State Senate President Russell Pearce, a Republican who crafted the state's immigration law, SB 1070, was one of the biggest headlines out of Election Day Tuesday night.
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Seven Out of 10 Renters Say Owning a Home Is a Top Priority

July 6, 2011 | Marketwatch

Most Americans still believe that owning a home is a solid financial decision, and a majority of renters aspire to home ownership as a long-term goal. According to the 2011 National Housing Pulse Survey released today by the National Association of Realtors®, 72 percent of renters surveyed said owning a home is a top priority for their future, up from 63 percent in 2010.
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PPP sells to left, polls down middle

March 31, 2011 | Politico

by Molly Ball- Would Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) be better off as an independent? How would television personality Drew Carey fare as a Republican challenger to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)? Is Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine really the candidate Democrats want for Senate in Virginia?

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D.C.'s leading export: Total partisan war

March 31, 2011 | Politico

Camped-out protesters, an incendiary judicial battle, wall-to-wall attack ads: the scorched-earth politics that resulted from Gov. Scott Walker's recent effort to limit collective bargaining rights have made it seem as if Washington had come to Wisconsin.

It's not an isolated incident.
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Aristotle Political "Dream Team" Awards Announced at American Association of Political Consultants Luncheon in D.C.

March 11, 2011 | Yahoo! News

Washington — The winners of the second annual “Dream Team” of Politics were announced Thursday during the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) annual conference in Washington. Presented before a crowd of the nation’s leading political and public affairs professionals, the Aristotle awards recognized political operatives in national and state campaigns across 13 categories, including campaign manager, fundraising, press secretary, voter contact, GOTV and mobile campaigning.
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Polling in Political Campaigns

December 28, 2010 | C-SPAN

American University | Campaign Management Institute — Andrew Myers talked about the tools of polling in political campaigns and ways that polling adds to message and strategy building. In his remarks Mr. Myers explained polling terms and the similarities and differences between Democrats and Republican polling practices. He responded to questions from audience members. This program was part of American University’s Campaign Management Institute two-week training program on working in and running a political campaign.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/CampaignSur

Pollsters Raise Alarm: Inaccurate Polls May Be Impacting Campaigns

November 8, 2010 | The Huffington Post

Washington — A remarkable bi-partisan group of campaign pollsters released an open letter this afternoon that assailed the "sometimes uncritical media coverage" of the "proliferation" of public pre-election polls that fail to disclose basic information about how they are conducted and that "have the capacity to shape media and donor reactions to election contests."
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Americans believe that buying home makes sense

November 1, 2010 | MercuryNews.com

By Rose Meily, for Silicon Valley Community Newspapers - Even with ongoing challenges in the economy and housing market, nearly eight out of 10 respondents still believe buying a home is a good financial decision, according to the 2010 National Housing Pulse Survey, released by the National Association of Realtors.

The survey reveals job security concerns to be the highest in eight years of sampling, with 70 percent of Americans saying job layoffs and unemployment are a big problem in their area; eight in 10 cite these issues as a barrier to homeownership.
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Grim Dems await huge House losses

October 31, 2010 | Politico

by Alex Isenstadt - The last TV ads have been cut. The final polls have been conducted. The end-of-campaign expenditures are being made.

Now, for Democratic consultants and campaign officials who have plotted and strategized for months to preserve the embattled House majority, there's nothing left to do but sit and wait for the expected horrors of Election Day to unfold.
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Support for Homeownership Falls Six Percent

October 15, 2010 | UPI.com

Steve Cook Real Estate Economy Watch - The number of Americans who believe buying a home is a good financial decision has fallen every year since 2007 and reached a low of 77 percent this year, according to an annual survey released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors.

Support for buying a home as a good financial decision has fallen a total six percent in three years, from 83 to 77 percent. However, those who feel strongly that buying a home is a good financial decision has fallen twice as quickly, from 80 percent to 68 percent this year.
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Is Pot Legalization the Gay Marriage of 2012?

October 6, 2010 | The Atlantic Wire

By Max Fisher - Every election cycle has a social "wedge" issue that divides the electorate into two camps, driving turnout among both liberals and conservatives motivated by what they feel is their moral duty to vote. In past elections, that issue has been gay marriage. State-level ballot initiatives galvanized activists and interest groups on both sides of the issue, increasing voter participation. Now the Wall Street Journal's Peter Wallsten says the next big wedge issue could be, believe it or not, marijuana legalization.
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Democrats Look to Cultivate Pot Vote in 2012

October 6, 2010 | The Wall Street Journal

By Peter Wallsten - Democratic strategists are studying a California marijuana-legalization initiative to see if similar ballot measures could energize young, liberal voters in swing states for the 2012 presidential election.

Some pollsters and party officials say Democratic candidates in California are benefiting from a surge in enthusiasm among young voters eager to back Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana in certain quantities and permit local governments to regulate and tax it.
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Democrats fret over weak Midwest bids

September 23, 2010 | Politico

By Alex Isenstadt - Democrats are increasingly concerned about the weakness of their statewide tickets across the heartland — and its potential effect on House candidates.

The worries are focused on a slate of underperforming gubernatorial and Senate candidates across the Midwest who, when combined with a depressed party base, could cause serious problems for House incumbents and challengers in states from Ohio to the Dakotas.
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Loyalties shift in vote-rich suburbs

September 22, 2010 | The Washington Post

By Philip Rucker, in Commerce City, CO. - Everything about Reunion is meant to be perfect. The houses in this middle-class, master-planned neighborhood 20 miles outside Denver evoke the front-porch intimacy of a small town. Large faux farm silos adorn the grand landscaped entrance. The fishing pond shimmers. The small sign on Reunion Parkway boasts, "Happily ever after starts here."
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In Idaho, GOP Incumbent Loses Shoo-In Status

August 20, 2010 | The Wall Street Journal

By Jim Carlton, IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter shouldn't have many worries about re-election, being a Republican in a staunchly conservative state as the GOP is on the march nationally.

But thanks in part to anti-incumbent sentiment, Democratic challenger Keith Allred has been steadily chipping away at Mr. Otter's wide lead in the polls. The former Harvard professor has raised more money than the governor and has drawn some GOP defectors to his side.
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Democrats pin 2010 hopes on President Obama

February 16, 2010 | Politico

By James Hohmann & Marin Cogan — President Barack Obama’s trip to Las Vegas later this week to campaign for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shows how congressional Democrats will live and die on the president’s popularity as the midterm elections approach.
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Govs. enter stormy election season

February 3, 2010 | Politico

By Alex Isenstadt — Tuesday’s too-close-to-call Democratic primary election between Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and state Comptroller Dan Hynes has set the stage for what promises to be a nasty and brutish election year for governors across the nation.
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Sour swing voters desert Democrats

January 21, 2010 | Politico

ByAlex Isenstadt and Jonathan Martin - BOSTON — It’s voters like Deborah Donahue that keep Democratic candidates and consultants up at night.

She’s from the suburbs, belongs to a union and is not registered with either political party.
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Can The GOP Finally Use Pelosi?

December 22, 2009 | National Journal Hotline on Call

by Reid Wilson - As she sports some of the highest unfavorable ratings in the country, GOPers will make House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's face a ubiquitous presence in attack ads against her fellow House Dems, much as Dems focused on Pres. Bush in their attacks in '06 and '08.
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Dems expected to lose seats in West in 2010

November 28, 2009 | The Arizona Republic

by Erin Kelly - WASHINGTON - After making historic gains in the interior West in the past three elections, Democrats are bracing for expected losses in the region in 2010.
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Dems alarmed as independents bolt

November 18, 2009 | Politico

by Alex Isenstadt - Mounting evidence that independent voters have soured on the Democrats is prompting a debate among party officials about what rhetorical and substantive changes are needed to halt the damage.
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Anatomy Of An Attack: Does Using Pelosi Actually Work?

November 16, 2009 | National Journal On Call

by Reid Wilson - For House GOPers, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a familiar punching bag. But after another loss in an election in which Pelosi was an issue, some Dems are wondering just what the GOP is thinking.
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Dems Lose Footing In The Mountain West

Amid a Fierce Backlash, Western Democrats Risk Being Forced to Give Back Some of Their Recent Gains.
September 19, 2009 | National Journal

by Ronald Brownstein - When the elected officials attending a summit of Mountain state Democrats gathered onstage for a group photo last month, they had to crowd elbow to elbow to make room for everyone. If Project New West, the Democratic research and polling firm that organized the gathering, had taken a similar class picture a few years ago, there would have been a lot more room to spread out.
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Democratic leaders gather in Denver to strategize ways to lasso voters in vital battleground

How the West could be won
August 13, 2009 | The Denver Post

By Jessica Fender - Hundreds of Democratic leaders from across the region and country descend on Denver today to learn strategies for swaying voters in what many say is the nation's newest battleground: the West.

The summit, organized by private consulting and research firm Project New West, brings with it big names such as actor Robert Redford, energy mogul T. Boone Pickens and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
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Polling on 'card-check' has its pitfalls

May 7, 2009 | The Hill

By Reid WilsonIt is the subject of multimillion-dollar pressure campaigns in Washington, but few Americans actually have solid feelings about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), pollsters say.

That's because the legislation — also known as "card-check" — is notoriously difficult to adequately present to poll respondents. Pollsters say the issue, more so than most others, is overlysensitive to the way they word their questions.
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The Big Rock Candy Mountain of Data

January 16, 2009 | Pollster.com

By Mark Blumenthal - Yesterday, I attended a press briefing on the 2008 elections by four organizations affiliated with the Democratic party. More important, they drew back the curtain a bit on what Catalist CEO Laura Quinn described as the "brand new, big rock candy mountain of data" that these organizations collected during the just concluded campaign.
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Keys to Obama Victory, Part XVII

Janaury 15, 2009

By Ron Brownstein - In the language of entertainment awards, these folks were the best supporting actors. If you read this blog regularly, you've heard of Catalist, the data warehousing company, the National Committee for an Effective Congress, a longtime Democratic targeting firm, Project New West, which works in the West, and the Analyst Institute, which conducted randomized control trials for these groups. They're the spine of the party, working on the back end, segregating data, segregating demographic groups and providing statistically valid data to election planners. In 2004, Republicans' targeting accuracy contributed to President Bush's victory.
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Obama Swept Away Nevada

Coattails helped other Democrats
November 6, 2008 | Las Vegas Review Journal

By Molly Ball - Barack Obama won Nevada on Tuesday because he crushed his opponent in the state's urban counties and didn't get killed in the rural areas of the state.

The Democrat who will be America's next president dramatically increased Hispanic and black turnout. He beat Republican John McCain among those groups by 4-to-1 and nearly 20-to-1 margins, respectively, enough to offset a loss among the white majority of the state's electorate, according to news organizations' exit polls of the state.
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Economic Crisis Threatens College Students

October 21, 2008 | Talk Radio News Service

Low SAT scores are not the only thing keeping students from attending college. While there is no shortage of federal education loans, the economic crises has prevented many families from receiving private loans for tuition.

“This summer I found out that [George Washington University] was going to give me $46, 000 in student loans in grants. I only needed $7,000 more to attend the university and I knew I would have to take that out in a private loan,” said sophomore Ash McDaniel during an National Education Association teleconference on college affordability.
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Western Democrats On The Rise

October 15, 2008 | Real Clear Politics

By Reid Wilson - Forget the traditionally conservative dress of business Washington. Put away the three-piece suits and Brooks Brothers ties. Instead, break in a new pair of cowboy boots, put on a bolo tie and a Stetson hat. As America's Intermountain West grows at rates much higher than the rest of the country, more gun-toting, cattle-rustling social and fiscal libertarians will head east of the Rockies to join Congress.
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Convention states may buck trends in 2008 race

Colorado could be part of Western swing while Minnesota inches to GOP
September 12, 2008 | Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch

By Russ Britt - It's not just convention fever; the two states that hosted this year's national gatherings for Democrats and Republicans could actually buck tradition in the 2008 presidential race. It may not show up in November's election results, but a sea change is in the works for the two states that have traditionally voted against the parties they hosted for their quadrennial gatherings in recent weeks. Colorado may be the first to shift, going from red to blue, and could potentially be part of a larger movement among Western states. Polls have shown that Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden lead in presidential polling over Republican Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin by a 49% to 46% margin, according to a recent survey from Rasmussen Reports.
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Capturing the Southwest Latino vote

September 4, 2008 | El Seminario

By Cristina Frésquez - Among DNC events held at the Colorado Convention Center, the Western Majority Project presented a briefing which featured New México Gov. Bill Richardson and explored the ways in which the Latino vote is the key to long term viability in the Southwest region. The conference also discussed recent polling research and mobilization efforts to turn out the Latino vote.
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'Pocketbook concerns' top priority for Hispanic voters

August 28, 2008 | Rocky Mountain News

Nancy Mitchell - The largest Hispanic voter research project that Democratic pollster Andrew Myers has ever heard of included 17 focus groups and nearly 1,800 separate interviews in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona.

All that work, and the result is this: The top concerns of Hispanics look pretty much like the top concerns of everyone else.
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Democrats: ‘Power of the Ballot Box’

August 28, 2008 | Congressional Quarterly

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson warned Tuesday that in order to win crucial states in the Mountain West, Barack Obama needs to dedicate himself to winning support from Hispanic voters.
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DNC: New Mexico Governor Says ‘New West’ Will Decide Election

August 27, 2008 | Nuestra Voice

Barack Obama will have to win over a large number of Latino voters, especially in crucial states such as Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, to clinch the presidency in November, said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
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Richardson: Latino vote crucial

August 27, 2008 | Media News Group

by Tamerlin Drummond - DENVER — Barack Obama will have to win over large numbers of Latino voters, especially in crucial states such as Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico to clinch the presidency in November.

"These are the three states that will decide this election outcome," New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said Tuesday at a forum focusing on Latino voters sponsored by the Western Majority Project. "And it will be because of Latinos."
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Obama camp considers Nevada a battleground state

August 26, 2008 | Las Vegas Review Journal

By Molly Ball - Democrats hope to win Nevada in November, but they don't expect to run away with it.Colorado, site of this week's Democratic convention, and Nevada "are both going to be very, very close races," said David Plouffe, campaign manager for the man who will be crowned the party's nominee on Thursday, Barack Obama. "I don't see either (campaign) opening up a big lead there."
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Way Out West

August 26, 2008 | Las Vegas Review Journal

By Molly Ball - Setting this week's convention in Denver was part of a push by Democrats to target the West. Nevada's early caucus on Jan. 19 was part of the same effort.

In a briefing by the Western Majority Project, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar made a case that the region's growth and its attitudes are making it fertile ground for Democratic gains.
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Report Shows Fewer Nevada Schools Need Improvement

August 7, 2007 | KOLOTV.com

Brendan Riley - The latest report card on Nevada's 630 public elementary and secondary schools and programs shows a decrease from last year's total of schools that got low marks, the state Department of Education said Thursday.

The designations are based on criteria imposed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act passed in 2001 and by 2003 state laws designed to bring the schools into line with the federal requirements.
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STATE SENATE: Partisan influence wielded

Review-Journal

By Molly Ball - Democrats' takeover of the state Senate in Tuesday's election didn't start in the Las Vegas and Henderson districts where their candidates ousted Republican incumbents.

The triumph had its roots in Washington, D.C., where national Democrats are playing an unprecedented role in trying to topple the GOP at the statehouse level. With money, advice and laserlike focus, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a Washington-based partisan organization, helped spearhead a ruthless and ultimately effective effort to "flip" the control of the Nevada Senate from 11-10 in favor of the Republicans to a Democratic majority.
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Democrats: 'Power of the Ballot Box'

December 18, 2006 | The New York Times

By Rachel Kapochunas – Democrats, as they did at the congressional level, made significant gains in this year's state legislative elections.

Republicans — as they have in explaining their failure to hold their majorities in either chamber of Congress — have sought to minimize the Democrats’ state legislative advances by attributing them to the “six-year itch.” This was the sixth year of President Bush’s tenure, and second-term midterm elections over the years have typically resulted in losses for the party holding the White House.
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Democrats focus on Hagel-Bruning

Don Walton - A poll last week suggests Chuck Hagel is at considerable risk in a primary tussle with Jon Bruning. But results of the survey also showed Nebraskans edging toward Hagel's position on the war in Iraq.

Don Walton: Maybe Hagel just being Nebraskan What to make of it?

Last week’s release of month-old Democratic poll figures focusing on a possible 2008 Republican Senate scrap seemed a bit odd, but here’s what it showed.
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