2014 BATTLEGROUND SONAR

(2014) The left’s secret club

The Spring Investment Conference will feature a number of Clinton allies and others associated with the centrist wing — including Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Kentucky Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes and Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. But the conference — which kicks off Sunday night at a Ritz Carlton ballroom with a dinner keynoted by de Blasio — is also seen as a coming out party of sorts for the group’s progressives, who have expressed some measure of dissatisfaction with what they see as a level of timidity on their pet issues from the Obama White House. According to a conference agenda obtained by POLITICO, panels will focus on elevating progressive issues like income inequality, climate change, drug reform, gun control, abortion rights and the death penalty.

(2014) New York Times/Kaiser Family Foundation poll presents distorted view of Senate races in four states

In the 2012 presidential race Republican Governor Mitt Romney carried Arkansas by 24-points. So why does the New York Times/Kaiser Family Foundation poll out this morning have a sample that gives Mr. Romney only one point more than President Obama? With a sample that has Mr. Obama’s share 23 points more than it was in the state in 2012, no wonder the survey has Democratic Senator Mark Pryor up by 10 points over Republican Tom Cotton in the 2014 Senate race. The race is more likely to be where the Real Clear Politics average was before the Times and Kaiser came out of the field: dead even.

(COLORADO) Chamber poll shows dead heat in Colorado Senate

U.S. Chamber of Commerce polling, conducted by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates last Wednesday and Thursday, shows the Colorado Senate race is a dead heat with the climate favorable for the GOP. The internal survey, obtained exclusively by POLITICO, has Republican Rep. Cory Gardner up by 2 points among likely voters, 44 percent to 42 percent, over Democratic Sen. Mark Udall.

(OREGON) This ad from GOP Senate candidate Monica Wehby will make you cry

Monica Wehby, a pediatric neurosurgeon running for the U.S. Senate in Oregon, has released a new ad that will make you shed a tear. The ad, "Trust," features Lexi Liebelt, a woman who, when she was 21-weeks pregnant, was told by her doctor that her pregnancy needed to be aborted due to problems with the spinal cord. “The world stopped,” Liebelt says over sad music. “Dr. Wehby was the first person that gave us hope,” Liebelt says. "She was the first person that said 'Congratulations you’re having a daughter.'"

(MICHIGAN) This ad might be the GOP’s best response to the ‘war on women’

With a slew of women running political campaigns across the country in match-ups against men, it’s inevitable that the “war on women” rhetoric will keep coming up in overt and subtle ways. In Pennsylvania, gubernatorial hopeful Allyson Schwartz is putting gender front and center in one of her first ads, vowing to break through the “boys club” as she tries to stand out in a crowded Democratic primary field. And in Michigan, former secretary of state Terri Lynn Land, the presumptive GOP nominee facing Democratic Rep. Gary Peters for an open U.S. Senate seat, has taken it head-on in a 30-second spot called “Really?” that is simply one of the standout ads of the season.

(ARKANSAS) Super PAC to air positive ads for Tom Cotton

A super PAC supporting Rep. Tom Cotton is preparing a major TV ad-buying investment in his Arkansas Senate battle against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor, hoping to positively define the GOP challenger with more than $1.5 million worth of ads, a source told POLITICO. The group, the Government Integrity Fund Action Network, has started placing air time for the buy, which is expected to stretch over the next six weeks and will hit the Jonesboro, Little Rock and Memphis markets, the source said.

(LOUISIANA) Landrieu’s Koch Insincerity

A prominent Democratic senator doesn’t want to talk about contributions she received from David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who have been targeted for abuse and attacks by Democratic politicians and liberal media. Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu, a vulnerable incumbent facing a tough challenge in the November mid-term elections, declined to respond to questions about her ties to the Kochs, successful businessmen and philanthropists who have become personae non gratae among Democrats, and who have been subjected to a series of tirades from the Senate floor by Majority Leader Harry Reid.

(NEW HAMPSHIRE) Defending ObamaCare, Sen. Shaheen gets defensive

Jeanne Shaheen, the senior senator from New Hampshire, won her seat by defeating a Republican incumbent in 2008. She was thought to have a safe seat this year, and most polls and observers still give her an edge, if a tenuous one, over likely GOP challenger Scott Brown.

(WEST VIRGINIA) Charleston Gazette Endorsements Need a Little Perspective

But I’ve written before (here and here) about how little value endorsements have in high-profile contests (Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama couldn’t help him carry the state in the 2008 Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary) and the Gazette endorsement is particularly irrelevant. Why? Because the Charleston Gazette is increasingly out of step with West Virginia’s politics.

(HAWAII) U.S. Senate race in Hawaii pits opposing wings of Democratic Party

Here in Hawaii there's a similar fight over power and purpose, but this one is between Democrats. It's a fight for a U.S. Senate seat, a rare enough prize in a state that has elected just six people senator since statehood in 1959. But it is also a battle over age and gender, over ethnicity and identity, over old grudges and new tensions. Rivalries and historical resentments often surface in Hawaii politics — sometimes years later, like a bottle cast to sea — and the fierce contest between appointed Sen. Brian Schatz and his fellow Democrat, Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, is no different: The two ran against each other in a 2006 congressional primary, and they both lost.

POLLING BRIEF

Quinnipiac University - April 15 – 21

The economy and healthcare, listed by Colorado voters as top issues in this year's U.S. Senate race, could be the mountains which Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall must climb, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Sen. Udall gets 45 percent to 44 percent for U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, his Republican challenger, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

In an open-ended question, allowing for any answer, 16 percent of voters list the economy or jobs as the most important issue in deciding their U.S. Senate vote, and 14 percent list healthcare. No other issue comes close.

Voters who list the economy back Gardner over Udall 53 - 40 percent and voters who cite health care back the Republican 57 - 36 percent.

Colorado voters oppose the Affordable Care Act 59 - 37 percent, including 62 - 34 percent among independent voters.

ON THE TWITTERS

@TwitchyTeam- 'Have a tissue handy': New ad from Ore. GOP senate hopeful Monica Wehby strikes 'powerful' chord [video] http://bit.ly/QFlrWC

@GeorgiaTipsheet - On Michelle Nunn's oft-forgotten primary opponents. http://bit.ly/1nrbSs5 #gapol #gagop #gadems #gasen

@ThePlumLineGS - Q poll: Dead heat in Colorado Senate race: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=2034

@HolmesJosh - Well, this will be difficult for @alisonforky to explain to KYians --> The left’s secret club http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04 … #KYSEN

@BreitbartNews - Major Flip-Floppage on ObamaCare From Rep. Gary Peters in MI Senate Race: Until very recently, MI Congressman ... http://bit.ly/QzXal2

@phillipmbailey - Now that @AlisonForKY supports #KeystoneXL pipeline project does @CREDOSuperPAC still plan to “mobilize” for her against @Team_Mitch? #KYSen

@guypbenson - Very well done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXqHI059n90&feature=youtu.be #ORSen

SCOOBY SNACKS

Oceans 14: George Clooney vs Steve Wynn

Keith Olbermann Compares MSNBC to a Drunken Car Crash

Lupita Nyong'o Is PEOPLE's Most Beautiful

Detroit Squatters Initiate Food Fight with Local News Reporter

From the All Time Dumb Reporter Questions File….

Every Wish You had a Beer Lollipop?

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