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Parker and the NRCC have pointed to documents filed with the board of trustees of Huntsville Hospital that allege Griffith under-treated cancer patients while working as a radiation oncologist at the hospital in the mid-1980s in an effort to increase profits.
The state Senator and national party have vigorously pushed back against those attacks, releasing ads of their own. Griffith has said that the documents Republicans are pointing to were part of a smear campaign begun by some hospital officials who saw him as a competitor after he began work to open a separate cancer treatment center in Huntsville.
But Republicans don’t seem like they’re going to let the issue go. Democrats also aren’t simply playing defense; they have begun hitting Parker over his lobbying ties.
This race is only going to get more heated and ugly leading up to Election Day.
Arkansas
Senate
Incumbent: Mark Pryor (D)
1st term (54 percent)
Outlook: Safe Democratic
The most exciting race in the world of Arkansas politics these days may well be Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s re-election — which doesn’t take place until 2010.
That’s because neither Pryor nor any of the state’s four House Members drew a major-party challenger in the 2008 cycle.
Pryor is one first-term Senator who can already start planning for his second. With $3.6 million in his campaign coffers and only token third-party opposition in his way, he’s set to cruise to victory in November.
House
3rd district
Incumbent: John Boozman (R)
4th term (62 percent)
Outlook: Safe Republican
Boozman gets some attention in Arkansas political discussions because he’s the only Republican in the state’s Congressional delegation. But that distinction hasn’t made him vulnerable.
Boozman hasn’t had trouble winning re-election in the conservative 4th district since he won a special election in 2001. And though he raised a meager $68,000 during the second quarter of the year and reported just $175,000 in cash on hand at the end of June, he should have little to no problem dispatching the Green Party candidate in November.
Florida
House
8th district
Incumbent: Ric Keller (R)
4th term (53 percent)
Outlook: Tossup
Even Republicans acknowledge Keller’s course correction earlier in the cycle on the Iraq War may not be enough to help him emerge with his job after Election Day. Running uphill against what Democrats claim is a shifting electorate in central Florida, Keller survived a close call with lawyer Todd Long (R) in the late-August primary and could have his hands full with wealthy businessman Alan Grayson (D) on Election Day.
Grayson defeated Keller’s 2006 challenger, Charlie Stuart (D), by more than 20 points in the primary, spending more than $850,000 of his own money in the process. Despite his ability to self-finance, Republicans claim that Grayson’s unpredictability, ties to liberal groups and lack of experience will seal his fate — no matter how inhospitable the political terrain is for Keller.
13th district
Incumbent: Vern Buchanan (R)
1st term: 50 percent
Outlook: Likely Republican
Call it a race to the bottom. Democrats are hitting Buchanan hard this cycle on a recent series of lawsuits filed by former employees alleging campaign finance violations and other possible misdeeds at his Florida automobile dealerships. Still, polls continue to suggest that ethical dents in Buchanan’s armor are matched only by the electorate’s distaste for his challenger, bank executive Christine Jennings (D).
Jennings lost to Buchanan by 369 votes last cycle, but the result was soon challenged by Democrats amid allegations that faulty voting machines purged 18,000 votes in Democratic-dominated Sarasota County. After a lengthy and expensive investigation, the House finally put the issue to rest in February 2008, issuing a report that the machines did not malfunction.
Schumer Advocates for Many on Panel
Nov. 16, 12 a.m.
As Senate Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson once said of the Joint Economic Committee, “It’s as useless as tits on a bull.” But as that panel’s chairman during the 110th Congress, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) seized the opportunity to elevate the traditionally low-profile post to the forefront of shaping policy. Read Full Article
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