Senate Hinges On Turnout
"50,000 doors knocked in Alaska" reports W. Post: " In Alaska, Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska.) is betting on his ground operation to beat Republican Dan Sullivan. With an extensive network across the state, which his campaign claims to have contacted 'everyone in rural Alaska,' Team Begich has knocked on over 50,000 doors in the last week alone, roughly one sixth of the expected turnout."
CO's Udall "rallies his clipboard army," reports W. Post: "His operation, he said, has 7,500 volunteers across the state ... The next 50 hours or so are crucial for Democrats, who readily acknowledge that they are procrastinators when it comes to voting ... Colorado now makes it very easy to vote by mail or in person, and right now Republicans have an advantage ... Udall said his volunteers knocked on 65,000 doors Saturday -- and that a surge of Democratic ballots will be counted after the next mail delivery Monday."
KY's Grimes tears up. Time: "'You are the messengers that Mitch McConnell can’t buy. He can buy the airwaves,' Grimes said, choking up, her eyes welling with tears, 'but not the hearts and minds of each and every one of you… You know that after 30 years of Mitch McConnell we can do better. And I tell you, this strong independent Kentucky woman, I’ve got kick still in me.' ... Grimes also grew visibly angry waving a mailer sent out by the Kentucky Republican Party that she said amounted to voter suppression."
Dem turnout a problem in IA, reports McClatchy: "Undergirding [voter] uncertainty is the discomfiting sense that no one - not the president nor members of Congress - has much control over events around the world ... But that unease is playing out differently among different groups of voters. Some are planning to sit out the election despite the get-out-the-vote armies from the two parties and outside groups deploying across the swing states to coax sporadic voters to the polls."
Senate may go in to overtime. NYT: "... operatives in both parties are already preparing for likely runoff elections here and in Georgia ... In Georgia, a Libertarian candidate threatens to draw enough votes to force a runoff between the Democrat Michelle Nunn and the Republican David Perdue. The election would not take place until Jan. 6, three days after the new Congress is scheduled to convene ... Louisiana’s election is a so-called jungle primary, an unusual nonpartisan race in which all candidates are on the same ballot, regardless of party. So Ms. Landrieu is fending off attacks from two Republicans ... analysts say runoffs might favor Republicans because Tea Party backers and Libertarian voters are more likely to line up behind a Republican than a Democrat. But those voters might also stay home..."
Dark money abounds. NYT: "A stealthy coterie of difficult-to-trace outside groups is slipping tens of millions of dollars of attacks ads and negative automated telephone calls into the final days of the midterm campaign, helping fuel an unprecedented surge of last-minute spending on Senate races. Much of the advertising is being timed to ensure that no voter will know who is paying for it until after the election on Tuesday ..."
"Could have been different" for Democrats, says HuffPost's Robert Kuttner: "... there is a latent winning politics that too few Democrats are embracing. Warren is one of the exceptions who shows what's possible ... A Democratic Party worthy of the name would be addressing the real pocketbook frustrations of the Barista Generation."
Obama Prepares For The Day After
"Obama’s political and policy teams are planning a big counterattack if the Republicans win the Senate," reports Politico Magazine: "introducing a slate of legislative proposals and executive actions on immigration, infrastructure and early childhood education that are popular with the Democratic base and that he will dare the GOP to oppose."
Obama should nominate Labor Sec Tom Perez for AG, says Mother Jones' David Corn: "President Barack Obama will need to show some fight after the midterm elections ... the guy has the legal, policy, and management chops to be attorney general. And if Obama nominated him, the president would send a resounding message that he remained committed to a progressive agenda."
UN Scientists Issue Carbon Budget
Carbon caps urged in UN carbon budget. Bloomberg: "Burning reserves of oil, natural gas and coal already identified by national governments and commodity companies would cause widespread droughts, more-violent storms and melting of polar ice caps ... The finding, encapsulated in a so-called carbon budget for the world, is crucial because it tells governments how much room they have to maneuver in balancing measures to reduce emissions that may be costly to companies and the economy, against the predicted consequences of doing nothing ... The figures suggest that if the world spews another 1.1 trillion tons of carbon dioxide or less into the atmosphere, there’s a better-than-even chance temperatures won’t push past the 2-degree threshold. That theoretical budget may be used up by 2033..."
Dire warnings in report, note NYT: "...the global situation is becoming more acute as developing countries join the West in burning huge amounts of fossil fuels ... Failure to reduce emissions, the group of scientists and other experts found, could threaten society with food shortages, refugee crises, the flooding of major cities and entire island nations, mass extinction of plants and animals, and a climate so drastically altered it might become dangerous for people to work or play outside during the hottest times of the year."
