“Rural voters are crucial” for Democrats if they are to win Senate races in Kentucky and Georgia, blogs political consultant Matt Barron in The Hill newspaper. The incumbent in Kentucky is Republican Mitch McConnell, the majority leader. Democrat Alison Grimes has criticized McConnell for missing dozens of Agriculture Committee meetings. Barron says Grimes will need a large tally in the urban areas but also has to hold down McConnell’s margin in rural counties. He quotes a Kentucky activist who says Grimes should spend more time in western Kentucky. Barron says Michelle Nunn will need “a significant infusion of rural votes in central and southern Georgia” to win her race.” A Georgia political blogger says the campaign “needs to talk about issues that resonate with rural areas.”
“The Upshot,” the New York Times political handicapping column, says the long-gloomy outlook for Democrats to retain control of the Senate is somewhat brighter. In Iowa, Democrat Bruce Braley leads Republican Joni Ernst by a hair; “(h)is lead, however, is fairly consistent,” says the Times. In Kansas, “there’s a particularly great degree of uncertainty.” The Upshot says, “Overall, the Republicans are still the slightest favorites to retake the chamber.”
Lawyers for Sen Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the Republican leader on the Senate Agriculture Comittee, are due to file briefs by Thursday under the schedule leading to oral arguments before the state Supreme Court on Oct 2. Challenger Chris McDaniel is trying overturn the nomination of Cochran to a seventh term.