Kansas Sen Pat Roberts, during a campaign stop at a livestock auction barn, told listeners, “When we get a Republican majority, I’ll be chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and we are gonna put the livestock producer first.” according to Roll Call, “In the six campaign events Roll Call attended with Roberts last week, this was as close as he came to making the Senate race personal.” At present, Roberts is the No 3 Republican on the panel, but Thad Cochran is expected to become Appropriations Committee chairman if the GOP wins a Senate majority, and Mitch McConnell would become majority leader, leaving Roberts as Agriculture chair.
Florida Rep Steve Southerland “has served up a case study in how to blow a relatively safe Republican seat,” says Politico. Southerland, who tried to include in the farm bill the deepest cuts in food stamps in a generation, is challenged by Democrat Gwen Graham in a district that includes the state capital of Tallahassee. “Even though this district is rural, conservative and a pocket of deep resentment toward D.C. Democrats, Southerland finds himself in a multimillion dollar brawl with Election Day rapidly approaching. The contest has shocked Washington Republicans, who resent that they have to spend millions of dollars to prop up a member of the House Republican leadership in a district where President Barack Obama’s approval ratings hardly crack 30 percent,” says Politico.
Republican Torrey Westrom leads Democrat Collin Peterson, the Democratic leader on the House Agriculture Committee, 44-43, with 13 percent undecided, says a Republican-commissioned poll by the Tarrance Group of 300 likely voters in the western Minnesota district. The margin of error is +/-5.8 percent. A GOP poll a month ago had Peterson ahead, 45-40. Analysts have said Peterson is the favorite in the race.
“Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) is struggling after a spate of recent missteps, and Democrats even privately admit he needs a near-perfect finish to survive,” says The Hill newspaper. Pryor is chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture. “Pryor, however, invested heavily in field operations and already bought most of his television ad time for the remainder of the campaign, making the cash disparity less of a problem,” says The Hill.