Ten Buck Friday For September 19, 2014

Jeffrey M. Jones writing for Gallup notes, “Americans now view the Republican Party as favorably as they view the Democratic Party. While the Democratic Party's rating has been steady, the GOP's rating has improved, restoring their image to what it was prior to the federal government shutdown in the fall of 2013.”  Ace distills it down further saying, “I suppose it's just that the Democrat Party is being discredited by events.”

With the Senate’s passage of a short-term spending bill on Thursday that avoids another government shutdown, Harry Reid’s attempt to provoke a shutdown has failed and this certainly benefits the GOP.

The latest Quinnipiac poll indicates that Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) is trailing his Republican challenger Cory Gardner by 8 points.  This remarkable advantage seems to come on the heels of Udall’s outrageous claim that ISIL is not an imminent threat and news that Udall’s campaign reneged on a series of debates with Gardner.

Whereas last week Real Clear Politics reflected a 1.2 point lead by Bruce Braley (D-IA) over Joni Ernst, the very same Quinnipiac poll shows Ernst pulling ahead and now leads Braley 50% to 44%.  The RCP average has the two in a dead heat. 

The North Carolina race is really troubling to me.  I’m not certain that a visit by NJ Governor Chris Christie to stump for GOP challenger Thom Tillis has helped his cause.

The Senate Majority PAC, a group connected to Sen. Harry Reid and heavily funded by billionaires and labor unions, has been the biggest-spending Super PAC of the 2014 midterm contests. The Center for Responsive Politics database shows that in addition to Reid’s aforementioned Super PAC, another group called Patriot Majority has flooded Hagan’s campaign with $36 million for ad buys and voter outreach.

North Carolinians have been receiving mailers from Concerned Veterans for America reminding voters of her broken promises to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs.  CEO Pete Hegseth said, “Based on her own words, Senator Hagan was sent to Washington to improve care for North Carolina’s veterans. But since 2008, North Carolina’s VA facilities have deteriorated to become some of the worst in the country. Plain and simple, Senator Hagan knew that delays were taking place and only became interested in fixing the VA when it became politically expedient. How can North Carolina Veterans trust that this time will be any different?”

The group published an ad that highlights her saying, “We have got to do a better job of supporting our veterans,” and urged the people of North Carolina to call and tell her to fix the VA.

Jim Geraghty noted as recently as September 12th that it is disconcerting that Tillis is having trouble gaining traction against Hagan in a state that Mitt Romney won.

This week I’d like to ask my readers to consider contributing $10 to Thom Tillis for this week’s Ten Buck Friday.  Make sure to mark your contribution “Ten Buck Friday” so the candidate will know the conservative blogosphere is with him in standing guard over liberty.

You can contribute to Thom Tillis here.

Please consider visiting the other bloggers who are participating in this movement:  Adrienne's Corner, Diogenes' Middle Finger, Fisherville Mike, For God, Family & Country,  Laughing Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Mind Numbed Robot, PoliNation, Proof Positive, Texas Conservative News, Theo Spark and Wyblog.