Welcome to part four of FDL  midterm election night liveblog (link to part one, part two and part three). For the most recent list of FDL top 108 House races to watch tonight go here. Polls are now closed in all states except Hawaii and Alaska. The Democrat loses in the House so far have [...]

Welcome to part one of FDL  midterm election night liveblog. For the most recent list of FDL top 108 House races to watch tonight go here You can also find my list of the twelve House races in early closing states that should give you a sense of how the night will go look here. [...]

The Hill is out with another set of House polls of likely voters from Penn Schoen Berland. This time, it is a poll of open seats, and, again, it is generally very bad news for Democrats. The Hill Penn Schoen Berland (10/2-7) Tennessee 8 D: Roy Herron, 37% R: Stephen Fincher, 47% Washington 3 D: [...]

Often overlooked in politics is how determinative macro-indicators can be to the general direction of an election. Factors such as the state of the economy, unemployment, favorability of the party and the popularity of the president are obvious influencers to the outcomes of elections, but while good candidates, clever messaging, and strong campaigns can’t reverse [...]

Republican Mark Kirk now holds a narrow four-point lead over Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in the Illinois Senate race, according the latest PPP poll of likely voters. PPP (PDF) (9/23-26) Mark Kirk (R) 40 Alexi Giannoulias (D) 36 LeAlan Jones (G) 8 Mike Labno (L) 3 Undecided 13 Almost all polling of this race for the [...]

In the Illinois Senate race, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Mark Kirk are dead even according to a recent Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll of likely voters. Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV (8/28-29) Alexi Giannoulias (D) 34 Mark Kirk (R ) 34 LeAlan Jones (G) 6 Mike Labno (L) 3 Undecided 22 Both Giannoulias and Kirk are fairly flawed candidates [...]

In addition to exaggerating his military record, Mark Kirk seemed to exaggerate his record as a teacher as well. But that may have been a premature statement. In fact, Kirk was simply never a teacher. A leader of the church in upstate New York where Representative Mark S. Kirk of Illinois claims he worked as [...]

Mark Kirk thought he had the perfect resume for the US Senate: military member, teacher, US Representative. Now we’re learning that the perfect resume stands to reason, since so much of it was invented. Kirk did serve in the military, but not in the engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan he claimed, not running the facilities [...]

Voters are giving some love to third-party candidates in the Illinois Senate race and North Carolina’s 8th District Congressional contest, a new PPP poll shows. Illinois Senate PPP (6/12-13) Alexi Giannoulias (D) 31 Mark Kirk (R) 30 LeAlan Jones (Green) 14 Undecided 24 NC-08 PPP (6/10-13) Larry Kissell (D) 40 Harold Johnson (R) 30 Wendell [...]

In what is sure to be some bad news for Democrats, a new PPP poll has Republican Mark Kirk in the lead for the Illinois Senate seat previously held by President Obama. Kirk leads his Democratic rival, Alexi Giannoulias, 37%-33% among registered voters, with 30% undecided. The one bright side for Democrats is that Kirk’s [...]