What is the solution? (2006 election related)

[ProSense]

Cantwell is no Lieberman, but she has been hounded by critics of the Iraq occupation. The article is based on Rasmussen (could be biased), but it appears that Cantwell is losing support. The Democrats need to ensure that they keep this seat. Cantwell is obviously standing her ground when it comes to her position on Iraq. I still think Democrats will vote for her, they'd be crazy not to. Still, with voter contempt on the rise, is there anything the party or Cantwell can do to keep this seat?

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Cantwell's lead over McGavick nearly gone
Latest poll shows senator losing ground to challenger

By NEIL MODIE
P-I REPORTER

Dwindling voter support for U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's re-election bid has put her in a statistical toss-up with her Republican opponent, according to a new poll announced Wednesday.

Rasmussen Reports, an independent national polling firm, said a survey of 500 likely Washington voters June 13 showed the Democratic incumbent leading challenger Mike McGavick 44 percent to 40 percent. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Rasmussen's last five monthly polls have shown a gradual erosion of Cantwell's support as well as a steady shrinking of her lead over McGavick, a former insurance executive and former Senate aide. In January, Rasmussen said Cantwell was favored by 51 percent of voters and McGavick by 36 percent.

While some political experts are skeptical of Rasmussen's automated telephone-polling methodology, the firm claims to have been the nation's most accurate pollster during the 2004 presidential election. And other surveys have shown a similar narrowing of Cantwell's lead.

Snip...

Hovering 6 percentage points below 50 percent in a head-to-head matchup is a big danger sign for an incumbent. In a news release, Rasmussen attributed Cantwell's eroding support largely to her past backing of the Iraq war and her vote against an attempt to block the nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Both positions have angered voters on Cantwell's left. She now has two anti-war opponents in the Democratic primary as well as an anti-war Green Party opponent. The Rasmussen announcement didn't say whether the unaccounted-for 12 percent of those polled were undecided voters, backers of Cantwell's non-Republican opponents or a combination of the two.

Snip...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/274851_senate22.html

If constituents want withdrawal, why oppose it?

[rox63]

1. Cantwell is doing a tough balancing act

She's trying not to completely lose the more conservative eastern part of the state, while also keeping the more liberal western part of the state. Eastern Washington bears more resemblance politcally to it's neighbor Idaho, than it does to the western liberal strongholds like Seattle, and much of the Olympic Penisula. If she completely loses either of those constituencies, she loses the election. And it's too important a seat, in too divided a state, to bitch too much about her compromises.

OTOH, I think Joe Lieberman is fair game. CT's Dems can and should support a more liberal Senator.

[ProSense]

2. I guess because

the issue with lot of voters is withdraw or stay, and balancing those two constituent groups is really tough. The media really overplayed her "support for the war" "incoherent position," the same crap they used on other Democrats. I think the position Reid took, stating his opposition to the war and support for witdrawal, is what Cantwell and others in that situation need to repeat over and over until the election.