Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) leads former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) in a rematch of the 2006 contest, a new Rasmussen poll (500 LVs, 2/23, MoE +/- 4.5%) finds. General Election Matchup O'Malley 49 Ehrlich 43 Und 5 Fifty-three percent of Marylanders approve of O'Malley's job performance, while 42 disapprove. President Obama has a 59 percent approval rating in [...]

The bad news for Democrats in the latest Daily Kos-commissioned Research 2000 poll from Delaware: Rep. Mike Castle (R) is still comfortably ahead in the open-seat Senate race. But to the extent that there's good news, it's this: former Lt. Gov. John Carney (D) appears likely to pick up Castle's House seat. Oddly, New Castle County [...]

Some quick notes on 2010: The Boston Herald reports Democratic Rep. Bill Delahunt "blew nearly $560,000 in campaign cash last year - much of it on lavish meals and a family-friendly payroll that includes his ex-wife, son-in-law and daughter - stoking speculation the Quincy Democrat is emptying his war chest and won't seek [...]

One-in-five South Dakota voters remain undecided in the race for governor, which is open with Gov. Mike Rounds (R) term-limited, according to a new Rasmussen poll. Running strongest among three potential Republican nominees is Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who leads the only major Democratic candidate running, State Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem, by 9 points. Heidepriem [...]

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr's (R) lead on his potential Democratic opponents has grown since last month, according to a new Rasmussen poll. He now leads Secretary of State Elaine Marshall by 16 points and former state Sen. Cal Cunningham by 22 points. Burr 50 (+3 vs. last poll, Jan. 20) Marshall 34 (-3) Und 12 Burr leads Marshall [...]

In our new Week in Midterms feature at Politics Nation, we noted the ad war that has been launched this week in the Kentucky Senate race. An ad for Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R) had challenged Rand Paul (R) on national defense, saying he "opposes the war in Iraq" and "doubts whether Afghanistan is [...]

In the wake of some politically fatal press, New York Gov. David Paterson (D) will announce this morning that he will not seek the governorship this year, the New York Post reports. The announcement comes less than a week after he announced he would be running. The New York Times reported this morning that those close [...]

That's the assessment of Seattle Times columnist Joni Balter, who spoke to Rossi this week about taking on Patty Murray. Balter writes: Three months ago, voters would have chortled at the far-fetched idea that two-time gubernatorial candidate and former state Sen. Dino Rossi could run against Sen. Patty Murray this fall and have a [...]

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According to the newly released 2009 Senate rankings by National Journal, 5 Democrats tied for the title of "most liberal" with score of 94 (which represents a composite of votes on key economic, social and foreign-policy issues last year) while Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe wins the distinction of being the "most conservative" member of the [...]

It does not appear as if Gov. Deval Patrick (D) can blame a bad economy for his political struggles. A new Suffolk University/7News poll (500 RVs, 2/21-24, MoE +/- 4.4%) finds the first-term Bay State leader struggling in his re-election bid, with an astounding 68 percent of voters saying he's a "weak leader" rather than [...]

A new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll finds embattled Gov. Jim Gibbons down just 7 points to frontrunner Brian Sandoval in the GOP primary -- a much smaller margin than it's been in months past. Sandoval 37 (-2 vs. last month) Gibbons 30 (+7) Montandon 7 University of Nevada, Reno political science professor Eric Herzik expressed surprise "at that much [...]