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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Democrat Al Franken got good news Friday in his bid for the Senate, winning favorable rulings from a state elections board on rejected absentee ballots and the tally in one of his strongholds. The Canvassing Board overseeing the race recount recommended that county election boards sort and count wrongly rejected absentee ballots. The five-member panel also urged that a recount in one University of Minnesota area precinct be based on Election Night tapes from a ballot counting machine. The recount there, where results favor Franken, ended with 133 missing ballots that could be counted if...

1. If the election for United States Senator was held today, whom would you support Robert Menendez, the Democrat or Tom Kean, Jr., the Republican? Tom Kean, Jr. 46% Robert Menendez 41% Undecided 13% 800 likely voters, September 29th-October 1st. MOE +/- 3%.

WASHINGTON - At least one former congressional page is disputing another former page's claims that pages were warned five years ago to beware of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fort Pierce. Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office. Loraditch, the president of the Page Alumni Association, said the pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff." But another page, who asked not to be named told The Palm...

Rep. Thomas Reynolds, head of the House Republican election effort, said he told Speaker Dennis Hastert after learning a fellow GOP lawmaker sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy. Reynolds, R-N.Y., was told months ago about e-mails sent by Rep. Mark Foley and is now defending himself from Democratic accusations that he did too little. Foley, R-Fla., resigned Friday after ABC News questioned him about the e-mails to a former congressional page and about sexually suggestive instant messages to other pages. The boy who received the e-mails was 16 in summer 2005 when he worked in Congress as a page....

Maf54: You in your boxers, too? Teen: Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late. Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed. Another message: Maf54: What ya wearing? Teen: tshirt and shorts Maf54: Love to slip them off of you. And this one: Maf54: Do I make you a little horny? Teen: A little. Maf54: Cool. The language gets much more graphic, too graphic to be broadcast, and at one point the congressman appears to be describing Internet sex. Federal authorities say such messages could result in Foley's prosecution, under some of the same laws he...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., submitted a letter of resignation from Congress on Friday in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former male page, according to a congressional official. Foley, 52, had been considered a shoo-in for re-election until the e-mails surfaced in recent days. Campaign aides had previously acknowledged that the Republican congressman e-mailed the former Capitol page five times, but had said there was nothing inappropriate about the exchange. The page was 16 at the time of the e-mail correspondence. Foley's election opponent, Democrat Tim Mahoney, has called for an investigation.

Pawlenty, Hatch Tied in MN : In an election for Governor of Minnesota today, 9/28/06, Republican incumbent Tim Pawlenty and DFL challenger Mike Hatch tie, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KSTP-TV Minneapolis, KAAL-TV Rochester, and WDIO-TV Duluth. 40 days to the 11/7/06 election, it's Pawlenty 45%, Hatch 44%. Other candidates get 9% of the vote. Pawlenty leads by 16 points among men and trails by 12 points among women, a 28-point "gender gap." Republicans pick Pawlenty 15:1. Democrats pick Hatch 8:1. Independents prefer Hatch by 4 points. The most affluent voters pick Pawlenty by 14 points. The...

Republican Reynolds Faces Strong Challenge in NY26 Rematch:In an election in New York's 26th Congressional District today, 9/28/06, Republican incumbent Tom Reynolds and Democratic challenger Jack Davis are in a fierce fight, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WGRZ-TV Buffalo. 40 days to the 11/7/06 election, Reynolds gets 45%. Davis gets 43%. Green Party candidate Christine Murphy gets 8%. This contest is a rematch of the 2004 election, when Reynolds, who was first elected to Congress in 1998, defeated Davis 56% to 44%. Reynolds gets 62% of Republican votes. Davis gets 64% of Democrat votes. 31% of Republicans,...

If a successful steakhouse stopped selling beef and substituted stale vegan sandwiches as part of a strategy to increase its customer base, the restaurant wouldn't remain in business very long. Yet for some reason, the Republican Party has adopted precisely this strategy for governing. Instead of rewarding its loyal voters with the limited government they were promised, the Republican Party has decided to increase its voter base by offering the stale ideas of big government liberalism. This tactic is difficult to understand given that in modern midterm elections, voter turnout has hovered around 40 percent, meaning that winning is about...

13. If the election for Governor was held today, and the choice was between Ed Rendell, the Democrat, Lynn Swann, the Republican, and Russ Diamond, the Independent, whom would you vote for? Ed Rendell 55% Lynn Swann 37% Russ Diamond 2% Undecided 6% 16. If the election for United States Senate were held today, and the choice was between Robert Casey, Jr., the Democrat,or Rick Santorum, the Republican, whom would you vote for? (Romanelli excluded.) Robert Casey, Jr. 50% Rick Santorum 40% Undecided 10%

19. If the election for United States Senate were held today and the candidates were Maria Cantwell, the Democrat or Mike McGavick, the Republican, whom would you vote for? Maria Cantwell 49% Mike McGavick 40% Undecided 11%

PHOENIX – Arizona voters have begun to make up their minds about who they want in the U.S. Senate. And it doesn't look good for Democratic challenger Jim Pederson. A poll released by Channel 8 and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University shows Republican incumbent Jon Kyl has held his lead over Pederson. At the same time the pool of undecided voters has shrunk. Kyl received 49 percent of 882 likely voters surveyed between September 21st to the 24th. Pederson received 38 percent and Libertarian Richard Mack got 2 percent. The poll has...

Democratic State Treasurer Robert Casey Jr. has regained his momentum in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race and now leads incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum 51 - 39 percent among likely voters, with 4 percent for Green party candidate Carl Romanelli and 5 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This compares to a 48 - 42 percent likely voter lead for Casey in an August 15 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University. Republicans back Sen. Santorum 77 - 17 percent, while Democrats back Casey 85 - 8 percent and independent voters back the Democrat...

THe Mason Dixon poll, conducted on behalf of Minnesota Public Radio and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, is similar to other independent polls released on the race last week. Both candidates are polling well among their core supporters but Klobuchar also has strong support from independent voters. St. Paul, Minn. — The poll interviewed 625 registered voters in Minnesota between September 18 and September 20. The poll found that a little more than half of those polled -- 52 percent -- support Democrat Amy Klobuchar. Thirty-seven percent support Republican Mark Kennedy. Independence Party member Robert Fitzgerald and Green Party member...

MINNEAPOLIS - Democrat Amy Klobuchar holds a commanding lead in the U.S. Senate race over Republican Mark Kennedy in a Humphrey Institute poll released Thursday night, the second poll released this week that gave Klobuchar a double-digit lead. But Klobuchar's lead of 52 percent to 36 percent for Kennedy was not quite as big as her 24 percentage point lead in a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll published Monday. Both polls were conducted before a flap surfaced Tuesday over her firing of a campaign spokeswoman who accessed an unreleased TV ad for Kennedy, a case that opened up a new avenue...

Heather Wilson (R) 51% Patricia Madrid (D) 46% Undecided 3% 503 Likely Voters, +/- 4.5% MOE

Musgrave (R) 46% Paccione (D) 42% Eidsness (RP) 8% Undecided 5% 424 Likely Voters, MOE +/- 4.9%

Democrat Take-Away in Ohio Governor: In an election for Governor of Ohio today, 9/21/2006, Democrat Ted Strickland defeats Republican Ken Blackwell, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for WCPO-TV Cincinnati, WKYC-TV Cleveland, and WYTV-TV Youngstown. Strickland, currently representing Ohio's 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, gets 56%. Blackwell, currently Ohio Secretary of State, gets 35%. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA tracking poll released 8/8/06, Strickland is down a statistically insignificant 1 point, Blackwell is unchanged. In sum: no movement. 24% of Republicans cross-over to vote for the Democrat Strickland; only 5% of Democrats cross-over and vote for...

Schmidt (R) 45% Wulsin (D) 42% Other 1% Undecided 12% Topline numbers based on 497 likely voters called between September 17th and 19th. Partisan breakdown: Republican 49% Democrat 31% Independent 18% In an election for US House of Representatives in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District today, 9/20/06, Republican Congresswoman Jean Schmidt leads Democrat Victoria Wulsin by 3 points, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WCPO-TV Cincinnati. 7 weeks to the 11/7/06 election, Schmidt gets 45%. Wulsin gets 42%. The 3-point edge is within the poll's 4.5% margin of sampling error, and is not statistically significant. Republicans support Schmidt 6:1....

Vote_Sen. If the election for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senator was being held today and the candidates were Bob Casey, Jr., the Democrat, and Rick Santorum, the Republican, and Carl Romanelli, the Green Party candidate would you vote for... 45% Bob Casey, Jr. 38% Rick Santorum 5% Carl Romanelli 12% Don't Know Vote_Gov. If the election for Pennsylvania governor was being held today and the candidates were Ed Rendell, the Democrat, Lynn Swann, the Republican, who would you vote for? 52% Ed Rendell 34% Lynn Swann 14% Don't Know RegPARTY. Are you currently registered as a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or...

MONTPELIER — A new poll shows Democrat Peter Welch has established a small lead in the race to succeed Rep. Bernard Sanders, one of a few dozen contests that could help to determine control of Congress next year. The poll found that if the election were held now, Welch would get the vote of 45 percent and Martha Rainville, the Republican nominee, would get 39 percent. The poll said other candidates would get 2 percent of the vote and 14 percent of respondents were undecided. WCAX-TV commissioned the poll from Research 2000 of Rockville, Md. A total of 400 likely...

Thanks to your help, Team America endorsed candidate Randy Graf beat out establishment candidate Steve Huffman in Arizona's 8th congressional district 43% to 37%. Graf is as strong a candidate you can find, while Huffman is an amnesty supporter. Graf won even though the National Republican Congressional Committee pumped in hundreds of thousands of dollars into Huffman's campaign -- something unheard of in an open primary. If that wasn't bad enough, the ads portrayed pro-amnesty Huffman as tough on border security! Arizona voters were not fooled, and selected a candidate who will secure our borders and enforce our laws. We...

In the hotly contested Ohio Senate race, U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic challenger, is on the up side of a 45 - 44 percent matchup with Republican incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine among likely voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Another 11 percent of voters are undecided. Women back Rep. Brown 48 - 40 percent, while men back Sen. DeWine 49 - 41 percent. DeWine gets 43 percent of independent voters to Brown's 40 percent, a statistical tie. Among these independents voters, 17 percent are undecided, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate race in New Jersey, which a Republican hasn't won in 34 years, remains virtually tied with less than two months before Election Day, a poll released Wednesday shows. Among likely voters, including those leaning toward a candidate, Republican challenger Tom Kean Jr. holds a 48-45 percent edge over Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, the Quinnipiac University poll showed. Six percent remain undecided. This survey of 688 likely voters has an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Among the 1,233 registered voters surveyed, Menendez has a 41-38 percent edge. This survey has an error margin...

  Connecticut US Senate If the general election for US Senate were being held today between Ralph Ferrucci, of the Green party, Timothy Knibbs, of the Concerned Citizens party, Ned Lamont, the Democrat, Joe Lieberman, of the Connecticut for Lieberman party, and Alan Schlesinger, the Republican, for whom would you vote? (names rotated) 9/19/06 Lamont Lieberman Others Undecided Likely voters 45% 47% 3% 5% Republicans (26%) 15% 66% 8% 11% Democrats (39%) 62% 36% 0% 2% Unaffiliated (35%) 47% 45% 3% 5% 8/21/06 42% 44% 3% 11% Based on 600 completed telephone interviews among a random sample of likely...

Still on Rasmussen Premium Kyl (R-incumbent) 50% Pederson (D) 39%

Here Are The Results of SurveyUSA Election Poll #10280Geography Surveyed: Arizona Data Collected: 09/16/2006 - 09/18/2006 Release Date: 09/19/2006 1:50 PM ET Sponsor: KPNX-TV Phoenix Democrat Napolitano Well Positioned for Re-Election as AZ Governor: In an election for Governor of Arizona today, 9/19/06, incumbent Democrat Janet Napolitano defeats Republican challenger Len Munsil, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KPNX-TV Phoenix. Today, 7 weeks to the 11/7/06 election, Napolitano leads by 16 points, 56% to 40%. Napolitano is up by 27 points among women and by 5 points among men. 91% of Democrats and 70% of Independents support Napolitano....

Democrat Lucas On Top again in Seesaw KY4 Race: In an election today, 9/19/2006, in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District, Democrat Ken Lucas leads Republican incumbent Geoff Davis, 48% to 44%, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WCPO-TV Cincinnati. Since an identical SurveyUSA poll released 8/10/06, Lucas, who represented the 4th District from 1999 through 2004, has gained 4 points. Davis, who lost to Lucas in 2002 but was elected in 2004 after Lucas retired, has lost 2 points. Lucas led by 9 points in July, trailed by 2 in August, and now leads by 4. The election is...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A new Brown University poll shows Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee and Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse neck-and-neck two months before an election that could help decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. If the election were held Tuesday, 40 percent of voters said they would select Whitehouse, compared to 39 percent for Chafee. That lead is negligible because the poll, conducted between Sept. 16-18, questioned 578 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

 Results of SurveyUSA Election Poll #10313   Hayworth Leads by 12 in AZ5: In an election in Arizona's 5th Congressional District today, 9/18/05, incumbent Republican J.D. Hayworth tops Democrat Harry Mitchell, 52% to 40%, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KPNX-TV Phoenix. 7 weeks to the 11/7/06 election, Hayworth gets 52% of the vote. Mitchell gets 40%. Libertarian Warren Severin gets 4%. Hayworth gets 83% of Republican votes. Mitchell gets 84% of Democrat votes. Mitchell carries Independents 5:3, but this is not enough to overcome Hayworth's advantage in this heavily Republican district. Mitchell runs strongest among seniors,...

SOUTH BEND -- Democrat Joe Donnelly appears to be increasing his lead over incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Chocola in what is still a tight 2nd District congressional race. A weekend Tribune/WSBT-TV poll of 400 likely voters showed Donnelly with a 50 percent to 42 percent lead over Chocola, with 8 percent undecided and a 5 percent margin of error. That compares to a July poll that showed Donnelly with a 46 percent to 41 percent lead over Chocola, with 13 percent undecided and the same 5 percent margin of error.

This poll is still on Rasmussen's premium section, but got leaked onto the blogosphere. Topline numbers: Lieberman (I-Inc.) 45% Lamont (D) 43% Schlesinger (R) 5% 550 Likely Connecticut Voters +/- 4.5% MOE

Stabenow (D-incumbent) 54% Bouchard (R) 41% Sole (G) 2% FitzSimons (UST) 1% Undecided 1% 749 Likely Michigan Voters +/- 3.6% MOE

Original source for Leip's Atlas was Kos, so take that with a grain of salt. Here's what they say Rasmussen's new premium poll from Rhode Island says: Whitehouse (D) 51% Chafee (R) 43% +/- 4.5 MOE, 500 likely voters

These numbers are still on Rasmussen premium, but this website leaked them. Sherrod Brown (D) 47% Mike DeWine (R) 41% MOE +/- 4.5% 500 Likely Voters

Geography Surveyed: Missouri Data Collected: 09/11/2006 - 09/13/2006 Release Date: 09/14/2006 11:30 AM ET Sponsors: KCTV-TV Kansas City, KSDK-TV St. Louis Talent, McCaskill Still Tied in U.S. Senate Race: In an election for United States Senator from Missouri today, 9/14/06, Republican Senator Jim Talent and Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill remain tied, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KSDK-TV St. Louis and KCTV-TV Kansas City. McCaskill gets 48% of the vote, up 1 point from an identical SurveyUSA poll 1 month ago. Talent gets 47%, also up 1 point. McCaskill's 1-point advantage is within the poll's 4.6 percentage point...

GRAND RAPIDS -- The latest EPIC-MRA poll, released just 54 days before the November 7 general election, shows statewide incumbents are holding the lead. The poll, exclusive to 24 Hour News 8 and our media partners, sampled 600 people between September 7 -12, and includes a margin of error of 4 percent. Governor Jennifer Granholm holds an 8-point lead, 50-42, over Republican nominee Dick DeVos. It's the second consecutive poll Granholm has held a lead bigger than margin of error. In the previous poll, Granholm led 49-42. In the race for the US Senate, incumbent Debbie Stabenow has opened a...

If the election for United States Senator from Connecticut were today, and you were standing in the voting booth right now, who would you vote for? Republican Alan Schlesinger? Democrat Ned Lamont? Independent Joe Lieberman? Or some other candidate? 7% Schlesinger (R) 38% Lamont (D) 51% Lieberman (I) 1% Other 2% Undecided

Ford (D) 48% Corker (R) 45% Undecided 6% Other 1% 638 Likely Voters, MOE +/- 4%

The controversy surrounding U.S. Sen. George Allen’s campaign trail remarks in August has helped turn his re-election race into a close contest, according to a poll conducted for The Roanoke Times and other Virginia newspapers. Allen, the Republican incumbent, leads Democrat Jim Webb by just 4 percentage points — 46 to 42 — in a survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. Allen’s lead has diminished by 12 points since a Mason-Dixon poll conducted in July, even though Webb was barely seen on the campaign trail for much of the summer. The erosion of Allen’s lead is largely because of...

Outgoing Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney hinted Thursday that she or her supporters might try again to challenge the legality of state voting laws that allowed Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary where she lost her House seat last month. McKinney, the first black woman elected to Congress from Georgia, said "malicious crossover" voting by Republicans disenfranchised black voters in her district from picking their candidate of choice, despite the fact that the winner of the primary is also black. She said the state's primary system violates the Voting Rights Act, which was first passed in 1965 to protect minority...

This is a Rasmussen poll that's still on the premium portion of Rasmussen's site but got leaked to Leip's site. Cantwell 52% McGavick 35% Undecided 13% MOE +/- 4.5 percent from a sample of 500 likely voters.

Lieberman 51% Lamont 35% Schlesinger 4%

LANSING, Mich. (AP) A polling company that eight weeks ago reported Republican challenger Dick DeVos apparently leading Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm says a new poll shows the race now is about even. The poll also found incumbents leading or apparently leading in the races for U.S. Senate, attorney general and secretary of state. The election is Nov. 7. Des Moines, Iowa-based Selzer & Co. said that 46 percent of 803 likely Michigan voters interviewed Monday through Wednesday said they backed Granholm, while 44 percent backed DeVos and 10 percent were unsure or gave another response. The 2-percentage-point difference between Granholm...

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK (516) 767-4688 http://www.ny.lp.org/ Contact: Richard Cooper, State Chair nylibertarian@hotmail.com John Clifton www.electclifton.org; Michael Sylvia mike@mikesylvia.org www.mikesylvia.org; Eric Sundwall info@sundwall4congress.org www. sundwall4congress.org; Steve Finger 917-623-0652 Finger4Congress@aol.com, www.fingerforcongress.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GOP Tries Blocking Libertarian Candidates Albany, NY 8/31/06 Libertarian Party of New York State Chair Richard Cooper reports that general objections have been filed against both the statewide Libertarian petition and that for Eric Sundwall in the 20th Congressional District. Cooper asks “Are the Republicans and lobbyist John Faso desperate to keep the Libertarians out of the race? They know we won’t hesitate to expose Republicans...

U.S. Sen. Jim Talent's deluge of ad spending apparently has paid off. The latest Research 2000 poll for the Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV (Channel 4) found that Talent, R-Mo., has chipped away at the edge held by his Democratic rival, state Auditor Claire McCaskill. With a little more than two months left before Election Day, the two are in a statistical dead heat. The Maryland-based firm's latest poll of 800 likely voters, conducted Monday through Thursday, found that 47 percent backed McCaskill and 46 percent supported Talent. Two percent supported Libertarian Frank Gilmour; 5 percent were undecided.Advertisement Green Party candidate Lydia...

Pennsylvania: Rick Santorum (R) - 38% Bob Casey, Jr. (D) - 56% 600 Likely Voters Minnesota: Mark Kennedy (R) - 40% Amy Klobuchar (D) - 50% 790 Likely Voters

HELENA - A new poll shows GOP incumbent U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns locked in a statistical tie with Democratic challenger Jon Tester. The USA Today/Gallup Poll released Friday shows likely voters favor Tester 48 percent to Burns' 45 percent, inside the poll's margin of error of 4 percentage points. Registered voters favored Burns 44 percent to 42 percent, again inside the margin of error. The telephone survey of 870 registered voters was taken Aug. 23-Aug. 27, and included a subsample of 641 people deemed most likely to vote in November.

WASHINGTON - A new poll shows Republican Sen. Jim Talent with a slight lead over Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill among likely voters in Missouri's U.S. Senate race. The USA Today/Gallup poll released Friday showed Talent favored by 50 percent of likely voters, compared with 44 percent for McCaskill. The margin of error was 5 percentage points.

WASHINGTON - A USA Today/Gallup poll released Friday shows the Democratic challenger apparently leading Ohio's closely watched U.S. Senate race as both sides started an advertising blitz. The poll, conducted Aug. 23 through last Sunday, has Rep. Sherrod Brown slightly ahead of Republican incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine, 46 percent to 40 percent among 584 likely voters.