House and Senate Outlook Daily Update

There's some positive movement for the Dems in the WaPo's Congressional Countdown, with three toss-ups moving into the Leans Democrat column. (Interestingly, the red Republican portion of the graphic is on the left side -- wonder if they were just trying to shake things up?) One of the three races is Pennsylvania's 7th, where Crazy Curt Weldon might have put his foot in his mouth once to often (and perhaps got caught in the cookie jar as well).

In Pennsylvania, Republican Rep. Curt Weldon appeared to have opened a small lead over retired Admiral Joe Sestak (D) until revelations surfaced that the home of the Weldon’s daughter had been raided by the FBI in connection with an investigation of influence peddling by the Pennsylvania Republican. This is not the year for a candidate to acquire that kind of baggage. Thanks to Mark Foley and Jack Abramoff, voters are highly sensitized to issues of sleaze and corruption in Washington. Any candidate who develops a similar taint is in big trouble.

The bigger worry is still the Senate, with Tennessee looking to be this year's Ohio:

The other Senate development worth mentioning came in Tennessee. The Republican National Committee took down a controversial independent-expenditure ad there after a barrage of criticism over its alleged racial overtones. GOP strategists insisted the ad was not removed because of the uproar. They say it has run its planned course. Democrats were dubious of that explanation. The race between Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D) and former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker (R) remains a tossup -– and pivotal to the future control of the Senate.

And you might be wondering why the Right Wing Noise Machine is huffing and puffing so much over Michael J. Fox's ads for candidates in Missouri and Maryland. ThinkProgress has an answer:

A new study of Michael J. Fox’s stem cell ad shows “support for stem cell research increased from 78% prior to viewing the ad, to 83% after viewing the ad. Support among Democrats increased from 89% to 93%, support among Republicans increased from 66% to 68% and support among Independents increased from 80% to 87% after viewing the ad.”