Widget Image
Follow PPD Social Media
follow
1,000 Followers
follow
0 Followers
follow
People's Pundit Locals Community
Monday, March 10, 2025
SECTIONS
logo
mobile-logo
HomeStandard Blog Whole Post (Page 900)
Politics

joni_ernst_bruce_braley_ap_iowa_senate_race

Republican Joni Ernst (left) and Democrat Rep. Bruce Braley (right) face off in the contested Iowa Senate race in November. (Photo: AP)

PPD projects Republican Joni Ernst will win the Iowa Senate race outright, giving the GOP a majority outright in the U.S. Senate for the first time since they lost it in 2006. Ernst is the first women ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate in the state of Iowa.

As the returns came pouring in, Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley saw his supporters leaving the headquarters and heading for the cash bar. Braley made a huge mistake belittling Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley as a lowly farmer.

The soon-to-be former Majority Leader Harry Reid said Saturday on a conference call with progressive groups in Iowa that the state would decide the balance of power in the Senate, urging Iowa Democrats “to double down and save the Senate.”

“If we win Iowa, we’re going to do just fine,” Reid said. “Iowa is critical, there’s no other way to say it.”

He was certainly right.

Braley’s missteps have done much to shape the state of this race. He was caught on video belittling Iowa farmers by attacking Iowa’s favorite senator, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. Then, in an attempt to answer a voter’s question on the comment, he falsely claimed to be a farmer, which again, was caught on video.

Braley had also missed the majority of his Veterans Affairs Committee hearings, which the poll shows hurt him almost as much as the comment about Grassley.

In every election projection model — save for ours at PPD — Braley was considered the early favorite in the race that clearly slipped away from Democrats. PPD early and repeatedly argued that Iowans favored a Republican-controlled Senate, agreed with the GOP on the issues, and had a severe case of voters’ remorse with President Obama.

PPD projects Republican Joni Ernst will win

Politics

florida governor race

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Republican again, is challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Scott in the Florida governor race.

PPD can now project Republican Governor Rick Scott will defeat Democrat Charlie Crist in the Florida governor race 48.3 – 46.9, in a particularly nasty multi-million dollar race. PPD’s election projection model, a Florida-based organization, was the only model to rate the race Leans Republican.

PPD can now project Republican Governor Rick

Politics

PPD projects Republican Governor Scott Walker will win his third election in just 4 years against Democrat Mary Burke, in a race he was greatly handicapped. The race appeared to break Walker’s way toward the end, though PPD’s election projection model rated the race Likely Republican.

Speaking at his victory rally, Walker said Democrats “tend to measure success by how many are dependent on the government,” Walker said. “By how many people are on unemployment… We measure success by how many people are no longer dependent on the government.”

Walker and Republican Governor John Kasich in Ohio are widely seen as reformers in the party and potential 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls. Of course, both needed to win their race in order to still be considered a top contender.

Gov. Scott Walker won the governorship in the 2010 midterm elections, but was quickly forced to defend his seat in a recall election mounted by public unions after he passed the Budget Reform Bill that took the state from a deficit to a surplus. The bill required public sector unions to contribute a small percent to their won pensions, excluding police and other emergency workers.

This put the governor on the top of the list for progressive groups to target. So far, they are 0 – 3.

 

PPD projects Republican Governor Scott Walker will

Politics

mark_udall_cory_gardner_colorado_senate_race_ap

Vulnerable incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Udall (left) and Republican Rep. Cory Gardner (right) are pictured. (Photos: AP)

PPD projects Republican Cory Gardner will win the Colorado Senate race against incumbent Democrat Mark Udall, giving the GOP their fourth pickup. The race was rated Likely Republican on PPD’s 2014 Senate Map Predictions model, and the Republican was surprisingly endorsed by the liberal Denver Post.

The Post called Udall Senator Uterus, for running a one-issue campaign about abortion. It backfired. Cory Gardner was an exceptional candidate that ran, perhaps, the best campaign in the country.

He carried independents by roughly 10 points, and flipped the Denver and Colorado Springs suburbs back to Republican territory handedly.

PPD projects Republican Cory Gardner will win

Politics

tom_cotton_mark_pryor_arkansas_senate_race_ap

Vulnerable incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor (left) and Republican Rep. Tom Cotton (right) are pictured in this composite image. (Photos: AP)

PPD projects Republican Tom Cotton will defeat Mark Pryor in the Arkansas Senate race, giving the GOP another net pickup needed on their way to a new majority. Asa Hutchinson also defeated his Democratic challenger for governor.

Cotton was a top-tier candidate who put together a coalition of Establishment and conservative groups early in the cycle, which allowed him to avoid in-party distractions, rack in the money needed to be competitive and take advantage of the state’s rightward leanings.

“Congratulations to Tom Cotton, a constitutional conservative and man of principle who demonstrated tonight that voters are tired of liberals running the United States Senate,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “Tom Cotton ran a great campaign, and he never wavered in his belief that limited government and economic freedom are the keys to prosperity.”

The Club’s Super-PAC spent nearly $800,000 on independent ads to help elect Tom to the Senate, and the Club’s PAC bundled $853,012 directly to Tom’s campaign from Club members.

“The Club for Growth PAC was excited to support Tom when he first ran for Congress in 2012, and we’re ecstatic that the voters of Arkansas have given him a promotion. Tom Cotton will do great things in the U.S. Senate and we can’t wait to watch.”

Pryor, in the end, voted for ObamaCare against the wishes of his constituents, along with a liberal president roughly 97 percent of the time. His defeat marks the conclusion of Republican dominance in a state Bill Clinton hailed from.

PPD’s 2014 Senate Map Predictions model rated the Arkansas Senate race either Leans Republican or Likely Republican the entire cycle.

PPD projects Republican Tom Cotton will defeat

Politics

Mitch McConnell Alison Lundergan Grimes

Kentucky Senate race: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes at the Fancy Farm picnic Saturday, August 2, 2014. (Getty Images)

Mitch McConnell will easily defeat Alison Lundergan Grimes. It became apparent early that McConnell was running far ahead of expected margins in what is traditionally Democratic coal country.

Mitch McConnell will easily defeat Alison Lundergan

Politics

[show-map id=’9′]

Live updates and coverage of 2014 Senate election results with state-by-state map of the 2014 midterm elections. Tired of traditional media outlets making calling the race for the wrong candidate? The staff at PPD was, too, so we will crunch the numbers and make the calls instead, with live updates appearing right before your eyes.

[liveblog]

Live updates and coverage of 2014 Senate

Economy

(Photo: REUTERS)

New orders for U.S. factory goods fell for second straight month in September, another setback for the U.S. manufacturing sector that just began to bounce back. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday orders fell by 0.6 percent, but August’s orders were slightly revised to show a 10.0 percent fall instead of the previously reported 10.1 percent decline.

Wall Street’s expect the decline, but not for it to coincide with unexpected poor reports in manufacturing earlier in the weak and widening trade gap measures. The Commerce Department said the U.S. trade gap skyrocketed 7.6 percent to $43.03 billion, while exports are expected to weaken even further after a survey of U.S. manufacturers published on Monday showed a decline in a gauge of export order growth.

The broad-based decline in orders, which was topped by aircraft, machinery, capital goods and computers and electronic products, will hopefully remain short-lived.

In September, if we exclude orders for the volatile transportation industry, then factory goods orders were essentially flat for the second month. Commerce Department also said orders for durable goods, which are manufactured products designed to last three years or more, declined by 1.1 percent.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft – seen as a measure of business confidence and spending plans – fell 1.6 percent rather than the previously reported 1.7 percent decline.

New orders for U.S. factory goods fell

Economy

import-prices

U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March, but not as much as economists hoped and expected. CREDIT: Reuters

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly ballooned in September, a widening fueled by a plummeting in U.S. exports that sent them to a five-month low. The latest Commerce Department report Tuesday suggested a slowing global demand that is likely undercut U.S. economic growth in the final quarter.

The slowdown follows a long-term pattern observed since the financial crisis, which reflects faster growth in the second and third quarters only to have annual GDP growth weighed down by a weak finish.

The Commerce Department said the U.S. trade gap skyrocketed 7.6 percent to $43.03 billion, while August’s trade deficit was revised to $39.99 billion from a previously reported $40.11 billion shortfall.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the gap narrowing slightly to $40.00 billion.

However, when the Commerce Department adjusted for inflation, then the trade deficit increased to an even greater $50.76 billion from $48.22 billion.

September’s gap is far larger than the $38.1 billion deficit that the government had assumed when it released its expected gross domestic product (GDP) estimate for the third quarter last week. Now, the data suggest the 3.5 percent annual growth pace it claimed was far too optimistic, and will probably be trimmed when the government publishes its revisions later this month.

Trade was reported to have contributed 1.32 percentage points to the estimated 3.5 percent GDP growth, leaving a lower-than-average real GDP number.

U.S. exports in September fell by 1.5 percent to $195.59 billion, which was the lowest measurement since April. It’s a sign that weakening demand in large markets, including China and the euro zone, was starting to sputter.

Still, exports are expected to weaken even further after a survey of U.S. manufacturers published on Monday showed a decline in a gauge of export order growth. Save for a slowdown in global demand, export growth is is also crimped by a strong — relatively strong — dollar. The dollar, though still with weakened purchasing power, is a safer bet than our trading partners’ currencies.

The decline in exports in September was really across the board, save for food and beverages, which actually ticked up a bit.

While imports from Canada hit their highest levels since 2008, U.S. exports to the European Union fell 6.5 percent and good sent to China fell 3.2 percent. Exports to Japan were even worse, tumbling 14.7 percent, far exceeding the similarly disappointing declines in exports to Mexico and Brazil.

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly ballooned in

World

al-Nusra terrorists in Syria

Two of the main groups of Syrian rebels receiving weapons from America to fight both the regime and jihadist groups in Syria have surrendered to Al-Qaeda. The U.S. and its allies were relying on Harakat Hazm and the Syrian Revolutionary Front to become part of a ground force that would attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham…

al-Nusra terrorists in Syria

Two of the main groups of Syrian rebels receiving weapons from America to fight both the regime and jihadist groups in Syria have surrendered to Al-Qaeda. The U.S. and its allies were relying on Harakat Hazm and the Syrian Revolutionary Front to become part of a ground force that would attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham…

People's Pundit Daily
You have %%pigeonMeterAvailable%% free %%pigeonCopyPage%% remaining this month. Get unlimited access and support reader-funded, independent data journalism.

Start a 14-day free trial now. Pay later!

Start Trial

Subscribe