Four Senate Races That Will Come Down To The Wire
Comments (1)
(Glyn Lowe/Creative Commons).
Virginia: The most expensive race in the nation
Candidates:
Democrat Tim Kaine
Republican George Allen
It has been neck-and-neck between Kaine and Allen for more than a year now and a Rasmussen poll reported that the race is starting to lean Democrat, but there is always that margin of error.
The most important issue for Virginians, much like the rest of the country, is the economy.
Allen, who was governor of Virginia from 1994-1998 and senator from 2000-2006, favors a flat tax; supports government spending cuts; and is an enthusiastic supporter and signer of the Cut-Cap-and-Balance Pledge. The Pledge opposes any action to raise the borrowing limit unless it is accompanied by significant spending cuts and caps, as well as passing a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution.
"Reducing the tax to a flat, simple, fair competitive 20 percent...500,000 jobs would be created a year," Allen said.
On the other hand, Kaine supports stimulus spending; targeted budget cuts instead of across the board cuts in government spending; and progressive taxation. Kaine also wants to let Bush-era tax cuts expire but raise the limit to those making $500,000 or more.
While debating on how to help the economy and bring jobs back to Virginia, more than $14 million has been spent on senate advertisements in the Commonwealth, according to a Wesleyan report, 37 percent of which have come from outside interest groups.
Though pro-Barack Obama ads continue to greatly outnumber pro-Mitt Romney ads, Wesleyan reported Republican ads slightly dominate in only two markets: Norfolk, Va., and Columbus, Ohio, and Romney's advantage in those markets is teetering.
Indiana: The "whoops" moment
Candidates:
Democrat Joe Donnelly
Republican Richard Mourdock
Republicans need to win three tossup races to take control of the Senate if Romney wins, according to a Rothenberg Political Report. Democrats are working hard to pick up GOP-held seats in Nevada, which remains competitive.
So when tea party-backed Republican candidate Mourdock said, "Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen," Republican party members could only cross their fingers and play damage control as Mourdock's solid lead in Indiana took a nosedive, making Indiana a tossup race.
On Oct. 25, Yahoo Signal's prediction model showed Mourdock's chance of victory plummeted 50 points in 36 hours.
Mourdock defended his comment: "For those who want to kind of twist the comments and use them for partisan, political gain, I think that's what's wrong with Washington these days," he said. "I spoke from my heart, I spoke with my principle, I spoke from my faith. And if others want to somehow turn those words and use them against me, again, that's what's wrong with Washington today."
Donnelly, who also opposes abortion except in rape and other cases, said that Mourdock's comment was "insulting to women, to rape victims and to their families."
Donnelly is a current member of the U.S. House of Representatives District 2 and was first elected in 2006. Mourdock is the current Indiana state treasurer and was also elected in 2006.
Reports claim that Mourdock's comment opened the door for Donnelly and made the race for Senate in a usual GOP-leaning state extremely close. Mourdock leads Donnelly by five percentage points (47 to 42 percent) in a recent Rasmussen poll, though Donnelly is still holding his own in the increasingly Republican tilting Indiana battleground.
Nevada: Dirty ads and high stakes
Candidates:
Democratic Congresswoman Shelly Berkley
Republican incumbent Sen. Dean Heller
Nevada voters have been subjected to a viscious back-and-forth match between Heller and Berkley.
The state has a significant Mormon population and Heller, a fellow Mormon, is working hard to secure some 7 percent of residents.
Nevada also has a significantly increasing Hispanic population, about 14 percent, and Berkley, a DREAM Act supporter, has launched statewide ads in Spanish attacking Heller for threatening to deport undocumented immigrants.
Berkley is also currently being investigated for a potential ethical breach for her efforts to save Nevada's only kidney transplant program, as her husband is a kidney specialist whose business profits directly from the program.
With a significant percentage of independent voters in Nevada, both candidates are launching unflattering, dirty advertisements to try and win over the undecided.
Heller called Berkley "the most corrupt" person he has ever met; Berkley accused Heller of wanting to rob seniors of health care and deport immigrant's children.
Among the barrage of attacks, Rasmussen reported that Heller leads Berkley with 5 percent, but Berkley has made this race one of the tightest in the country and is not backing down.
Montana: The race for the real "Montanan"
Candidates:
Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester
Republican Denny Rehberg
Montana has been dubbed one of the three contests that would decide which party controls the Senate, according to The Washington Post.
Candidates Tester and Rehberg are more worried about securing the title of the most tried and true Montanan. Tester has knocked Rehberg for not being "a real farmer," and Rehberg has accused Tester of not watching out for Montana's coal and oil industries because of his affiliation with conservation groups.
Montana has been called a "last stand for Republicans" but it's a wonder if the state has even noticed, with issues such as wolf hunting, highway construction and estate tax - hotly debated by the two Montanans.
Tester reminded Rehberg that he is a real farmer who continues to work on his family farm, located on Montana land that has been in his family for more than a century, and Rehberg called Tester a hypocrite and aligned Tester with Obama, saying that "Tester has voted with Obama 95 percent of the time," in the Montana Senate debate.
Tester, a self-proclaimed independent Democrat, said he often disagrees with Obama but did back him in passing the Recovery Act because it saved Montana from "the cusp of a financial meltdown." Tester also said that he has bucked Obama by supporting the Keystone pipeline and refusing to support the DREAM Act.
Rehberg capitalized on Montana's historic distrust of anything "big" in terms of government by highlighting Tester's support of Obamacare and stimulus spending.
Tester countered, saying that Rehberg supported the Shiloh Road construction project in the City of Billings, which was paid for by stimulus money. Tester also defended his support of the president's Recovery Act, saying it "gave $500 million for small businesses in Montana to help people stay in work."
Although Montana usually leans Republican at the presidential level, Tester touts his "true Montanan" persona to gain voters' trust, and said during the debate, "We need to insert a little Montana common sense in there before we move forward, sometimes I buck the conservation groups in that, and well should."
The Senate has been reportedly up for grabs since the beginning of the cycle, with Democrats holding a 53-47 majority. There are only seven tossup states in this Senate race, and these could be the deciding four in the GOP's hard-fought battle to win the Senate.
Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage on the 2012 election here.
Reach Staff Reporter Brianna Sacks here.
