Thursday, October 02, 2008

CQ Politics changes Peters/Knollenberg to tossup

CQ Politics, one of the political magazines that rates Congressional race, changed the Peters/Knollenberg race from lean Republican to tossup, apparently on news that Peters took a 4 point lead in the latest polling by the DCCC.

Races for Michigan GOP Reps. Walberg, Knollenberg Now Rated Tossups

By Marie Horrigan, CQ Staff

A tossup race this year seemed like a strong possibility for eight-term Michigan Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg . He survived a close 2006 contest in suburban Detroit’s 9th District, which is closely divided between the two major parties. The Democrats’ challenge to freshman Republican Tim Walberg looked like more of a long-shot, if only because GOP voting habits are generally strong in the south-central 7th District he represents.

But as both contests head into the home stretch, the outcomes appear highly uncertain, prompting CQ Politics to change its rating on each to No Clear Favorite from Leans Republican.

There are two common threads between these races, the only two in Michigan’s 15 districts that are rated as competitive. Both Republicans survived unexpectedly close races in 2006 over little-known Democratic opponents, with Knollenberg winning by a career-low 5 percentage-point margin and Walberg winning by just 4 points. And these close shaves drew top-tier Democratic recruits in this year’s contests, with Walberg facing Mark Schauer, the minority leader in the state Senate, and Knollenberg battling Gary Peters, a former state senator who is a familiar figure in the 9th District.

Click here for the rest of the story.

1 comment:

MIKE said...

Time to restore democracy to our country. Time to restore sanity to government. Time to throw the bums out. Time to give the middle class a break. I can't wait for Nov. 4.