POLITICAL INSIDER

An insider's view of this year's elections based on dispatches from around the nation.

Clinton helps Ark. Democrat

[September 02, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former President Bill Clinton is coming to the aid of endangered Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

The former president, who previously served as Arkansas governor, will headline an event celebrating Lincoln's one-year anniversary as chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Lincoln's campaign announced Wednesday that Clinton will join her in Little Rock on Sept. 8.

She is the first Arkansan and first woman to lead the committee.

Lincoln is seeking a third term but faces a tough challenge from Republican Rep. John Boozman. Most polls show Lincoln trailing Boozman in Republican-leaning Arkansas.

Clinton returned to his home state earlier this year to campaign for Lincoln as she waged a difficult primary battle against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. The former president also was featured in campaign ads for Lincoln during the primary.

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A day after Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid used his GOP opponent's words against her in a television ad, Republican Sharron Angle's campaign was up with a website that turns the tables.

The site, harryreidsoundboard.com, features some of the four-term incumbent's gaffes or inelegant statements, which include "Coal makes us sick" and "undocumented Americans." Other sound clips portray him as goofy as he says, "Gee whiz" and "Guess again."

"Harry Reid has tried desperately to make this election about Sharron Angle, but the truth is that Harry Reid is the one who has failed our state miserably," said Jerry Stacy, an Angle spokesman.

Kelly Steele, a spokeswoman for Reid, argued that "far more alarming than the occasional inartful comment, Angle's radical views -- from her plans to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, to her 'sink or swim' message to Katrina victims, to her advocacy of armed revolt against government -- these statements aren't gaffes, they're long-held positions Sharron Angle believes at her very core."

Nevada's Senate race is close, costly and one of the national parties' top contests. Reid, who built up a massive campaign account, remains vulnerable despite a fundraising advantage. He is on television with ads and is expected to continue on the air for the final two-month push toward November.

Democrats have been defending Reid by attacking Angle, a tea party favorite, and her past statements.

In one interview, she suggested rape victims turn lemons into lemonade and not have an abortion. In another statement, she said voters would use "Second Amendment remedies" if Washington doesn't stop its spending spree, a reference to the constitutional right to bear arms.

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Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine says the Midwest is proving to be a battle for Democrats, who face voters' anger over a fractured economy.

Visiting Minnesota, the party chief said the state was a top opportunity for his fellow Democrats to pick up a Republican-held governor's seat.

"Minnesota is offense, not defense, so that's one of the reasons I really like Minnesota," Kaine said after an appearance with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton, the former U.S. senator.

"If you look at the opportunity to pick up a seat, this would be in the top five" races nationwide where his party can gain ground.

Democrats face tough governor's races in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Minnesota is the only one where Democrats have the chance to capture a Republican seat, as Gov. Tim Pawlenty steps aside.

Minnesota's race is a toss-up, according to a new Minnesota Public Radio poll that showed Dayton and his GOP opponent, Tom Emmer, at 34 percent each. Independence Party nominee Tom Horner was at 13 percent, while the rest of voters surveyed said they were undecided. The telephone poll had a sampling error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.

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Quick hits:

• It took a month, but Jane Norton and Ken Buck finally stood together on a Colorado stage, trying to put a bruising Senate Republican primary behind them. Norton, the state's lieutenant governor and Washington's preferred candidate, lost to Buck on Aug. 10 and had not appeared with him since, although she had signed e-mails in support of her one-time rival. Buck faces Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in the general election.

• The Republican Governors Association is on the air in Hawaii with ads promoting gubernatorial candidate Duke Aiona's energy record and featuring footage of beaches. "Clean energy is not an option. It's a necessity," Aiona says, looking into the camera.

• New Hampshire Republican Ovide Lamontagne is showing an upcoming television ad to supporters of his Senate bid and asking them to raise money to get it on the air. The conservative lawyer is a long shot in a primary to face Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes in November. Lamontagne has trailed former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte and businessman Bill Binnie in the polls, but this weekend he picked up the backing of the influential New Hampshire Union Leader. In the ad, he promises to commute to Washington and work to repeal President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

[Associated Press; By PHILIP ELLIOTT]

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