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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

May 18th Will be the Best Gauge of Voter Discontent

Never mind Rep. Alan Mollohan's (D-W.V.) primary defeat Tuesday. Avert your gaze from Sen. Bob Bennett's (R-Utah) loss last Saturday. The biggest and most consequential elections don't take place until next week, May 18, a date that ranks as the most important of the election calendar so far.

Just four states — Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania — will go to the polls that day, but the ballot will be packed with marquee elections that will provide the broadest and most detailed data to date about the toxicity of the political environment and the intensity of anti-establishment fury.

And the action doesn’t stop there: Four days later, on May 22, a closely watched special election in Hawaii offers Republicans a serendipitous opportunity to pick up a House seat in one of the most Democratic states in the nation.

While the third week of May isn’t the most crowded in terms of sheer number of elections — that would be the second week of June, when 10 states will hold primaries on June 8 — it’s nevertheless among the most consequential of the midterm election year because it will offer the fullest measure yet of the depths of anti-incumbent hostility. - Politico Story

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