Democrats can rejoice over several things in the news lately. In fact, I don't think the Democrats have had so much to celebrate since the election last November.The first, and probably the biggest story, is the decision by Michele Bachmann to retire from the House of Representatives after this term. She left a video for her followers saying she would not run for re-election in 2014. She said it was not because she didn't think she could win, but only that she thought 8 years was enough time to serve in the House. If you believe that, I have some ocean-front property here in Amarillo that'll I'll sell you real cheap.
The truth is that it was getting more unlikely by the minute that she could be re-elected in 2014. She only won by a single percentage point (in a district that gave Romney 56.5% of their votes) in 2012. And that was before all of the investigations began surrounding her ill-fated presidential bid. She is currently being investigated by the FBI, the Federal election Commission, and the Office of Congressional Ethics. She could see that her 15 minutes of fame was over, and decided to get out while she could still get a job lobbying for some right-wing organization.
The question is how this will affect the House race in her district. Will it give the Democrat (who nearly beat her in 2012) a better chance, or will it insure that a Republican can be elected there. We'll just have to wait and see.
The second bit of good news comes out of Alaska. Joe Miller has tossed his hat in the ring for the 2014 senate race there. He is hoping to unseat Senator Mark Begich, the Democratic incumbent. You may remember that Miller is the teabagger who beat Senator Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary in 2010 -- only to lose to her in the general election when she won with only write-in votes.
The chances are good that Miller can again win the Republican primary, since that state party is controlled by teabaggers, but it is highly unlikely he can win the general election. A survey by Public Policy Polling shows him trailing Begich by a 58% to 30% margin. This was a seat the Republicans might have won with a good candidate, but I don't see Miller winning. He's just not well liked outside the teabagger element of the GOP in that state.
The final bit of good news comes from the commonwealth of Kentucky, where Democrats have been trying to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for ages. If a new poll is to be believed, they may have their best chance in 2014. A Public Policy Polling survey of 556 Kentucky voters (done on May 23rd and 24th -- with a 4.2 point margin of error) shows McConnell tied with Secretary of State Alison L. Grimes. Each of those possible candidates has 45%, with 10% saying they are not sure.
Back in December, he had a 7 point lead over Grimes. That lead was down to 4 points in April, and is now dead even. And this is with McConnell running some early ads in the state, while Grimes hasn't even officially announced her candidacy. With a little financial backing from the national party, Grimes could make this a very interesting race. It's still very early, but this could be the Democrats best chance of unseating McConnell yet.
