ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE: In response to my question below: Moe Lane: My quick handicapping of Democratic at-risk Senate races in 2014.

UPDATE: Reader David Rosenfeld writes:

For 2014, I looked at Democrat senators from states that went for Romney in the presidential election. Mark Begich (AK), Mark Pryor (AR), Tim Johnson (SC), and Kay Hagan (NC) fit that description. So do Max Baucus (MT) and Jay Rockefeller (WV), but their long-term incumbency makes them seem somewhat less vulnerable to me. I’m also tempted to say that Al Franken is vulnerable, because he was elected so narrowly.

It all comes down to candidates, doesn’t it? The Republicans need to find smart, well-spoken candidates who can clearly and unashamedly articulate conservative economic principles and explain why those principles are good for the country. Less Todd Akin, more Marco Rubio.

It is worth remembering that Claire McCaskill boosted Todd Akin in the primary (by running attack ads against his stronger opponents) to give herself the weakest possible opponent in the general election. Alan Grayson did the same thing in my majority-Hispanic congressional district in Florida, running attack ads against a Hispanic Republican candidate during the primary, which resulted in him facing a much weaker opponent in the general election. I expect that we’ll see more of that tactic in the future, because it works.

Maybe the GOP could learn something here?

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails:

These are the states where there is an incumbent D senator with a 2014 election, where the Romney ticket won in 2012:

* Montana ( Max Baucus )
* South Dakota ( Tim Johnson )
* Arkansas ( Mark Pryor )
* Louisiana ( Mary Landrieu )
* West Virginia ( Jay Rockefeller )
* Alaska ( Mark Begich )

And these are the main 2012 battleground presidential states, where there is a 2014 U.S. Senate race and the incumbent is a D:

* Colorado ( Mark Udall )
* Iowa ( Tom Harkin )
* Michigan ( [Carl Levin] )
* Virginia ( Mark Warner )
* North Carolina ( Kay Hagan )
* New Hampshire ( Jeanne Shaheen )

So, those are the most likely states for an R pick-up in 2014.

Here it is in map form. The four states with a red + are states where there is a state government GOP trifecta…the GOP controls the governorship, state senate and state house.

GOVERNMENT: FHA Red Ink May Be $32.8 Bil, Double Official Audit.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: 7 Amazing Ways Nanotechnology Is Changing The World.

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STILL FIGHTING: Allen West wins partial recount request. How much help is he getting from the GOP?

JOURNALISM: AP story about Petraeus scandal mistakenly refers to “Florida socialist” Jill Kelley. Well, to be fair, she did visit the White House three times this year, so that may have confused all those layers of editors and fact-checkers. . . .

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: Obama’s Economy: What We’ve Learned Since Re-election. “In the ‘now they tell us’ file, add a vast array of reports that have come out since the election showing just how weak the economy really is. Looks like the president will need a new scapegoat soon.”

IS THAT A THREAT OR A PROMISE? Meghan McCain Threatens To Leave Republican Party Over Marriage Equality. I suspect that most Republicans will say “don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.” She should have threatened to stay.

UPDATE: Can I call ’em, or what?

STILL KINDA WISTFULLY LOOKING AT THE Electoral Heat Map.

HEY, HAS ANYBODY SEEN A LIST OF DEMOCRATIC SENATORS WHO ARE VULNERABLE IN 2014?

ARE WE HEADING FOR A FOOD CRISIS across much of the globe?

NEW YORK POST: Petraeus Testifies, Leaves Questions. “Congress needs to create a joint, bipartisan investigating committee that will answer all these questions — up front and in public. The same way Congress dealt with the Iran-Contra affair back in 1987. Benghazi, unresolved, will poison American politics for years. Congress can’t let that happen.”

I’VE ONLY BEEN CALLING FOR THIS SINCE 2002: Republicans Repudiate 40 Years of Tougher Copyright Laws. “For Republicans, opposition to new intellectual property enforcement is starting to look like a political winner. It pleases conservative bloggers, appeals to young swing voters, stokes the culture wars and drives a wedge between two Democratic constituencies, Hollywood and Silicon Valley.”

More here.

Also: Repeal the Hollywood Tax Cuts!

THE CONSOLATIONS OF PHILOSOPHY: Edmund Burke was a prophet without honour in his own time. “Choosing to be truthful in politics often means choosing to be justified by long-term events not short-term elections.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Financial Worries Pile on Long Before Graduation. “Money troubles interfere with the academic performance of about one-third of all college students, and a similar number of students regularly skip buying required academic materials because of the costs, according to a survey released on Thursday. In an era of stagnant incomes and rising tuition and student debt, the burden of college costs on families and former students is well documented. But the new findings, from the National Survey of Student Engagement, show that financial worries are a major source of stress for undergraduates while they are still in school.”

MICKEY KAUS: MSM falls for “New Coke” poverty con.

The regular old, still-official poverty line is simple and understandable. It is the level that bought a minimal market basket of food in 1963-4, adjusted for subsequent inflation and multiplied by three. As such it measures what people think a poverty line measures–how many people fall below certain absolute living standards, whether basic human needs are being met. We’ve been using it for decades, so while it may be too high or too low people have a rough feel for what it is and what it isn’t.

The new “supplemental” poverty line is a complicated measure produced by formulas that are barely understood by poverty experts. It takes into account in-kind government benefits, which is fine, and regional costs-of-living. But at its core it is a deception: it measures not absolute poverty but relative poverty–i.e. inequality. . . . Under the old poverty line, “poverty” could be eliminated as society got richer–an achievable and widely shared goal. But the new poverty line will rise as society gets richer. . . . Most scandalously, the Census’ own official press release explanation doesn’t let Americans in on the secret of the new numbers.

It’s not a poverty measure. It’s a full-employment measure for “poverty” bureaucrats. It’s tough living in a world where you can’t trust the numbers. As Kaus notes: “If Republicans weren’t shellshocked they might make an issue of this.”

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THE AWKWARD MOMENT WHEN Rachel Maddow Corrects Nancy Pelosi on Afghanistan.

FREE SHORT STORY: Sacrifice.  The gods sell all that they give…

PYRRHUS OF EPIRUS WAS UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT: Maine’s striking Hostess workers say company’s collapse a strong message of union resolve.

WHEN PROFESSORS TALK RACE WAR.

But she needs to get with the times — as I said earlier, nobody’s worried about being overrun by Mexicans anymore, because what Obama’s doing to the U.S. economy will do more to stanch immigration from Mexico than any border fence.

WELL, THIS SEEMS LIKE NEWS: BREAKING: The president knew the truth about Benghazi. “How could the president and his senior staff then have allowed (or rather, sent) Rice to go out to tell an entirely different tale to the American people on Sept. 16 on five TV shows? This report indicates that the president certainly knew that Benghazi wasn’t a rogue movie review gone bad. He had information that plainly spelled out what was later confirmed by additional intelligence. If this information was too confidential to share with the public, at the very least the president and others should not have misled voters.”

FROM REDALERTPOLITICS: 30 Under 30.

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