Election Roundup: The cross country race rundown.

by Andy Surabian
Political Director

Georgia
After weeks of smears on businessman David Perdue, Democrat candidate for Senate Michelle Nunn has seemingly taken the lead in the Georgia Senate race. 2 polls released in the last week have shown her with small leads over Perdue. A poll conducted by Survey USA shows her leading Perdue 48% to 45%, while another poll conducted by WRBL showed her leading 45% to 44%. Luckily, both polls are within the margin of error and Perdue is still given a 62% chance of victory in November by the Huffington Post.

As the polls have begun to tighten, both the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee have increased their investments in the race. Republicans announced that they would be spending an additional $1.45 million while Democrats increased their efforts in the state by $1 million.

Colorado
Republican candidate for Senate in Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner has continued his lead over Democrat incumbent Sen. Mark Udall according to several different polls in the past week. A recently released poll conducted by Quinnipiac shows the tea party backed Gardner leading by 6 points, 47-41, while a CNN poll showed him leading 50-44. The momentum is clearly with Gardner who according to Real Clear Politics has led 8 out of the last 9 polls of the race.

Further demonstrating Gardner’s momentum was the announcement last week from Denver Post that they were endorsing Gardner over Udall. In 2008 the Post had supported Udall in his election. The endorsement from the Denver Post followed Tea Party Express’ endorsement of Gardner 2 weeks ago.

Kentucky
Democrats have long planned on making Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell one of their top targets in 2014, however it now seems that they recognize the race is out of reach for them. After already spending millions of dollars on attack ads against the Kentucky Senator, the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee announced last week that they were pulling out of the state and would focus their resources elsewhere. This should come as no surprise as McConnell has led his Democrat opponent in 15 out of the last 18 polls of the race.

South Dakota
Tea Party Express made a major announcement at a tea party unity press conference last Wednesday in Rapid City, SD when we announced our endorsement of former Gov. Mike Rounds for U.S. Senate. Tea Party Express was joined at the event by the founder of TheTeaParty.Net Todd Cefaratti, former US Senate candidate Larry Rhoden and activists with the local tea party group, South Dakota Wingnuts.

The tea party endorsements of Rounds came on the heels of endorsements from conservative favorites, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee.

Read other articles from this week’s newsletter here:
Grassroots Update: The countdown is on, by Kay Rivoli
GOTV Cross Country Edition. by Donlyn Turnbull