Quick Hits, 2006 Election Edition

A bevy of election news:

• An internal poll shows Harold Ford Jr. up by 6 points over Bob Corker in the US Senate race in Tennessee. Ford has been hammering Corker over the crumbling of the Chattanooga 911 system while he was mayor, and Corker's hiring of illegal immigrants at a construction site he owned.

•Democrat Donna Edwards condeded in her primary race against Albert Wynn in Maryland, a race which was riddled with irregularities by e-voting machines. It was important that she was vocal in these two weeks, as it contributed to the shaken confidence from electoral officials in implementing these systems which obviously show potential hacking and vote-changing in theory, and terrible problems in practice. Of course, Al Wynn doesn't care about these errors; to him, a win is a win.

• Casey up 10 on Santorum in Pennsylvania, and I've yet to see one poll where Senator Man-on-Dog breaks 40%. Adding to his troubles is the fact that, for now at least, the Green Party candidate will not be on the ballot, owing to a lack of valid signatures. And who bankrolled the Greens' efforts to get on the ballot in Pennsylvania? Santorum's Republican Party. They couldn't even get that right.

• In Montana, Jon Tester got feisty in the latest of his many debates with Conrad Burns:

When it came to the USA Patriot Act, Burns called it a useful tool, saying it lets law enforcement fight terrorism with the same tactics used against organized crime. He said that people "need to be able to go to the movies or football games without worrying about being blown up. I don't think Mr. Tester understands the enemy," he said.

Burns said he also supported programs monitoring international telephone calls against those suspected of terrorism.

"He wants to weaken the Patriot Act," he said of Tester.

Tester sought to clarify:

"I don't want to weaken the Patriot Act, I want to repeal it. What it does, it takes away your freedom ... and when you take away our freedoms, the terrorists have won," Tester said.

He came back to the subject near the end of the debate, when Burns tried to link him to New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is, Burns said, pro-gun-control.

"With things like the Patriot Act," Tester said, "We'd damn well better keep our guns."

Day-um. A Senator willing to tell it like it is about the Patriot Act. Montana is, I believe, one of the states who passed a resolution against the Patriot Act, and its libertarian, independent credentials are unquestioned. That's a very strong, clear statement by Jon Tester that is about doing what's RIGHT instead of what's politically expedient. Reading things like this make me more optimistic that our best candidates will not listen to the dreaded DC consultants and run their races their way.

• Steele Democrat: the Republican candidate for Senate in Maryland is running screaming away from his party, isn't he?

No, Maryland voters, the printer did not make an error. Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele's new campaign signs seem to identify him as a Democrat.

A "Steele Democrat," they read.

The bright blue placards and bumper stickers made their debut yesterday in Baltimore during an event announcing a new coalition of Democrats supporting the lieutenant governor's U.S. Senate bid. Steele, of course, is the Republican nominee for Senate and a former chairman of the state Republican Party.

Seems like a guy down 11 points to the Democrat might need a little support from his own base of Republicans.

• Chris Bowers has a great post up about the invisible Republican challenges across the country in the Senate (really, only New Jersey is in play as a possible Republican pickup, and that state historically comes back to the Dems in the end). What he doesn't mention is that there's a Senate race in NEBRASKA with an incumbent Democrat, and it's completely off the radar screen. And Robert Byrd's 206 and they couldn't scrape up a decent challenger in West Virginia. Liddy Dole should honestly be drummed right out of the party for her sorry performance on the NRSC this cycle.