If you missed it - Public Policy Polling says Claire McCaskill is the 2nd least popular Senator up for election in 2010 (after Joe Lieberman). It may be a little early to get in campaign-mode, but this is an early indication that we may be hearing a lot more about challengers and attempts on her part to repair her image. By the sound of it, she has a lot of work to do over the next year or so.
Will she recognize that she has a problem? That's up to debate - yesterday she was telling KTTS that she 'understands' the voter's frustration. That doesn't sound likely if she's ranking so low on the popularity totem poll - if anything, it points towards a serious 'out of touch' problem that a lot of Democrats had this year. It's easy to prognosticate while you're two years out from election day, but we have a feeling she'll change once she gets that her job is in jeopardy.
As we look forward to 2012, there are still a few things from the 2010 elections that will be worth following. Most of the losing Democrats from 2010 are already dropping off the charts- some gracefully, others not so much. One of the least gracious losers was Robin Carnahan, who proved that her obsession with attacking others was more of a psychological problem and less of a campaign strategy.
Carnahan is still trailing campaign baggage - airing deceptively edited clips from Fox News earned her a lawsuit, which is still moving forward. Should Carnahan's donors expect to hear one more last fundraising plea to help her with her legal bills? We wonder if she'll get any help after her disappointing showing - political capital must be at an all time low.
Maybe Carnahan donors would go to McCaskill, if McCaskill was capable of giving them a reason.
Comments