I had seen the GOP primary poll, but not the Goodman-Reid Democratic primary one. Though I would have liked to see a Goodman-Sandoval general election match-up, which I believe was not conducted?

http://www.nevadanewsbureau.com/2009/11/16/new-poll-reid-goodman-in-dead-heat-in-democratic-primary-for-governor/

In addition, the reason Sandoval was chosen as the GOP representative in the three-way poll was because he came out on top in a Republican-only primary poll done two weeks earlier:

http://www.nevadanewsbureau.com/2009/11/08/poll-sandoval-leads-gibbons-in-gop-primary-but-many-remain-undecided/

Maurice, I am quite ashamed I haven’t written anything about the MA primary in weeks; I started by not spending much time writing about it, and that kind of determined the rest. I’ll try to do so this week since the election is only 9 days away. As for Diane Patrick’s endorsement, I really don’t see how it could hurt; if it had been the governor, then maybe one could make a case that his unpopularity would be a weight.

And from what I know, Capuano’s winning the endorsement war. Not so much in the state legislature, where Coakley is ahead 3:2, but with 6 of the other 9 congresspersons for him (only Tsongas against), that speaks of a bit more pull to me. Plus the Dukakis family, any he has an edge with organizations. And mayors 20:8.

And Pagliuca has basically no one, and Khazei only has the Globe.

I sure hope he can make up the ground in time.

Certainly. Arpaio’s made national news for over a decade with his innovative, tough on crime policies. Goddard’s just the Attorney General. Ask most people who the Attorney General of their state is, and they won’t have a clue.

I’m not personally sure if he’s temperamentally suited to be Governor, but he is beloved by Arizona.

California’s gubernatorial race will be interesting, because there is so much at stake. Over the years, politicians of both parties, governors and legislators have really done a lousy job. It will cost a fortune for any candidate to run, which is why there only seems to be one Democrat even running. (If you cut California equally in half by population, the two new states would be ranked 3rd and 4th in population amongst the 50 states.) California’s economy is ranked about number 8, worldwide, bigger than most countries. Let’s hope more attention gets focused here!

That said, if Sandoval does lose in the general, it’ll be because Oscar Goodman ran as a D and won the primary. That scares me a little. He’s by far the strongest candidate they could put up.

Joe Arpaio is more then just a one-issue immigration guy. His tough-on-crime reputation and impatience with bureaucracy in general makes the right like him. His biggest problem is his age, and the fact that there’s really no clear indication he’s interested. If he IS interested, I think he’s probably the best candidate R’s could realistically put up. I don’t know what kind of Governor he’d be, I’m not even sure if I’d vote for him, but it wouldn’t be boring.

I think is what you are seeing in Wisconsin is a general dislike for the “establishment”. Thompson is nothing if not the establishment, that’s why he’s polling worse in the Gov. race. Against Feingold, he’s doing better (although it depends on which poll you believe how much better) because both are “establishment” candidates.

Anyhow, I don’t ultimately expect Thompson to pull the trigger. But we’ll see.

As for Arpaio, besides all this numbers there is a little detail that might prove decisive: he’ll be 78 years old on election day. Hardly an age to start a vigorous statewide campaign and a new career as Governor.