There are several interesting primary elections being held outside Georgia this week, and the results could be more bad news for Sarah Palin, Tea Partiers, and rich guys who want to buy an elected office. Let’s go state-by-state, beginning with our neighbor to the south.
Florida – this is the state where two wealthy businessmen made late entries into statewide races and have tried to spend their way to victories that may not happen.
In the Republican primary for governor, Rick Scott has spent nearly $40 million to try to take down Attorney General Bill McCollum, and for a time he had a substantial early lead in the polls. But Scott, who once headed a hospital chain (HCA/Columbia) that was heavily fined for defrauding the government, has been sinking in late polls and faced the prospect of a close loss to McCollum as primary day approached.
In the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, billionaire financier Jeff Greene jumped into the race against U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and has spent more than $22 million to try to win that party’s nomination. Greene also had an early lead in the polls but has slumped behind Meek in the late going. (Even if Meek wins the primary on Tuesday, he is still far behind Republican Marco Rubio and independent Charlie Crist in the Senate race.)
There has been a similar campaign approach in California, where wealthy businesswomen Meg Whitman (who’s the GOP nominee for governor) and Carly Fiorina (running against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer) are spending even larger amounts of money to try to win statewide office. Whitman and Fiorina have already won their primaries.
Arizona – Sen. John McCain has been a favorite target of Tea Partiers and anti-immigration activists in the state that has become ground zero in the fight to seal the borders, but he is expected to win big in the Republican primary over former congressman J. D. Hayworth.
McCain fought off the Hayworth challenge by reminding voters of Hayworth’s ties to imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff and by persuading Sarah Palin to campaign for him in Arizona.
Alaska – While Palin may have helped McCain stave off defeat in Arizona, she has been less successful when endorsing other candidates in other states (just ask Karen Handel, who lost Georgia’s GOP primary for governor).
In Alaska’s Senate race, Palin backed Tea Party favorite Joe Miller in the Republican primary against Palin’s long-standing political adversary, incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Murkowski, like McCain, is expected to cruise to an easy victory in a race that has exposed just how unpopular Palin is with voters in her own home state. As reported by The Hill’s Shane D’Aprile:
A Rasmussen poll from May found 50 percent of Alaska voters held an unfavorable view of Palin. Just 41 percent said they would back Palin for president in 2012 should she decide to run.
“I’m sure Palin’s had an impact [on Miller],” said Alaska-based pollster Ivan Moore. “And I’m sure it’s been a net negative for him. You shouldn’t even want the endorsement of someone with those ratings in the state.”
It may also have been a mistake to emphasize the Tea Party message of “too much government spending” in a state whose residents have benefited handsomely from federal earmarks and pork-barrel spending:
Alaska is also a state that has welcomed money from the federal government for infrastructure and transportation projects. And voters have rewarded politicians who have proven adept at securing those dollars. So it’s no surprise that Miller’s message might not resonate with Alaskans, who elected a man legendary for delivering earmarks for his home state to six terms in the Senate.
The late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was second only to the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) when it came to securing pork barrel spending for his home state. Were there more infrastructure in Alaska, joked one Republican consultant, Stevens might even rival Byrd for the number of roadways that bear his name.
“That messaging just doesn’t resonate as well here,” said one Republican close to the Murkowski camp. “Most Alaskans understand that federal government jobs are important to the Alaskan economy.”
The state is home to the country’s largest Coast Guard base and much of the state’s land is federally-owned. Each citizen also receives a yearly dividend from oil revenues, typically at least $2,000 per person. Millions upon millions of dollars in earmarks — demonized by some Republicans in Congress — have gone to projects in Alaska.
Even in the midst of a federal corruption probe back in 2007, Stevens managed to secure more than $200 million in earmarks from that year’s defense spending bill and he unapologetically backed what became a symbol for wasteful spending in Washington — a $58 million project derided as the “bridge to nowhere.”
