Elections '06

This midterm elections season we went state by state, parachuting into some of the most contested Congressional races in the country. We sifted through the hype to search out local color and national trends.

You can subscribe to a podcast of every elections show here:

Elections ’06: Rhode Island Senate, 9/26/06

The Rhode Island senate race, where the long-held “Chafee seat” could be up for grabs. When they vote in Pawtucket and Providence, Warwick and Westerly, what will Rhode Island be saying to the rest of the country? It’s the first in our series on contested Congressional seats.

Elections ’06: The Arizona 8th, 10/2/06

Arizona’s 8th district. An openly gay Goldwater Republican retires and now a Minuteman border hawk trails a small-business Democrat who’s trying to force a national referendum on George Bush. It’s the next stop in our roving election series.

Elections ’06: Ohio’s 15th, 10/9/06

Hello, Columbus. In Ohio’s 15th Congressional district, Corn Belt meets Rust Belt, and GOP scandals have become the elephant in the room. Will the Democrats get the buckeye bulls-eye they’ll need to win Congress?

Elections ’06: Tennessee Senate, 10/17/06

Tennessee’s Senate race, where a Republican talks healthcare and school funding, and a pro-life Democrat preaches from the book of Reagan. It’s politics to the music of Memphis blues, Nashville country and Knoxville bluegrass, and it’s the next stop in our midterm elections series.

Elections ’06: Missouri Senate, 10/24/06

The Missouri Senate race, where Truman-ite Claire McCaskill faces the post-Ashcroft Republican Jim Talent. Stem cells rule the conversation in red-jacket St. Louis Cardinals country, and every turn in the game has national echoes and implications.

Elections ’06: Pennsylvania Senate, 10/30/06

In the Pennsylvania Senate race, Guns, Germans and Steel. Bob Casey, a pro-life Democrat will win some Quaker State conservatives. Senator Rick Santorum’s anti-gay intelligent design politics isn’t looking as smart as it did. For whom will the Liberty bell toll?

Elections ’06: Montana Senate, 11/1/06

On our blog, Emmett O’Connell writes that Western red is different from Southern red. But with a Democratic governor now, Montana’s mountain majesty has never seemed so purple.