From NBC's Mark Murray
How big of a political problem are Sharron Angle's past statements on Social Security?

Big enough that the Republican challenging Harry Reid in Nevada's Senate contest is now airing a TV ad in which she calls to "save" the entitlement program for seniors. "We have a contract with our seniors who have put into Social Security in good faith," she says in the advertisement. "I’d like to save Social Security by locking the lock box, putting the money back into the Trust Fund so government can no longer raid our retirement."

Her desire to "save Social Security," however, it at odds with what she said during the primaries.

Angle's Web site back then had discussed transitioning out of the program.

"Free market alternatives, which offer retirement choices to employees and employers, must be developed and offered to those still in their wage earning years, as the Social Security system is transitioned out. Young workers must be encouraged to investigate personal retirement account options."

Her Web site, though, has since been scrubbed and now says this:

We must keep the promise of Social Security by redeeming the "IOU's" that have been written to the Social Security Trust Fund and then putting that money in a lock box that cannot ever be raided again by Washington politicians. The only way we pay for it is by cutting spending. We should also create personalized accounts for the next generation that cannot be raided.

And during a May primary debate, Angle called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare. “We need to phase Medicare and Social Security out in favor of something privatized,” she said.

"Professional left"-gate continues, its fires stoked today by Florida Rep. Alan Grayson and his designation of Press Secretary Robert Gibbs as "Bozo the Spokesman."

My DD's Jerome Armstrong characterized Gibb's complaints as the latest attempt by Washington Democrats, led by the White House, to find a scapegoat on which to blame its lack of PR and legislative success with regard to policies its supporters on the left wanted to see enacted.

"The combined strategy of tarring Tea Partiers and beating the straw out of Bush again has been in play for over a year now, as the main oppositional message of attack, with no tangible results (I would argue its actually empowered conservatives and enlarged their megaphones). Remember when Rush Limbaugh was going to be made the face of the Republican Party? Yea, right," Armstrong wrote.

"Democrats had another route. They should have said no to the bank bailouts; the stimulus should have been less about funding status quo and more about innovation; healthcare reform should not have turned out to be a mandate of buying corporate insurance; pulling out of Iraq should not have become the bait to switch on the the surge in Afghanistan... So now, in the face of that failure, and the impending '10 losses, bozo the spokesman blames the ones that argued to take the other route-- for not cheerleading their failure enough," he concluded.

AMERICAblog's Gaius Publius praises Grayson for keeping blame on Gibbs and the GOP, not expanding his frustration to other members of his own party.

"Watch Grayson carefully. He's asked point-blank to rat out members of the administration as complicit, and dodges each time, bringing it back to Gibbs and the Republicans. That's really important," he wrote. "Ratting out the unworthy, that's our job, and we're glad to do it. Being in position to replace them, that's the job of people like Alan Grayson, Howard Dean, and Elizabeth Warren," he continued, writing earlier that he would like to vote for Grayson for president someday, "sooner rather than later."

On the right, conservative blogger Ed Morrissey at HotAir writes about what he sees as Grayson's inartful criticism of Gibbs: "Rep. Alan Grayson is hardly a model of logic and reflection at the best of times, but here he calls Gibbs a “bozo” for complaining that the Left isn’t giving Barack Obama enough credit, while chastising him … for not talking more about the credit that Obama deserves... Grayson actually serves more as an example of what Gibbs means. After all, Grayson’s in Congress, and Obama let Congress write the whole agenda this year. Maybe Grayson’s constituents should address the real problem and fire Grayson instead."

From msnbc.com's Tom Curry:

REDMOND, Wash. -- In the U.S. Senate race here, Republican frontrunner Dino Rossi poured cold water this week on Sen. Lindsey Graham's idea of ending birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants' kids.

"It's something people in D.C. are talking about," Rossi said as he toured businesses in Democratic-leaning Cowlitz County, Tuesday. "It's nothing I'm running on. It's not an issue I'm focusing on at this point. … That's not the direction I'm heading. I'm talking about border security."

In his pitch to voters, Rossi mentions that his grandparents were immigrants from Italy who entered the United States through Ellis Island. His grandfather ended up in Black Diamond, Washington as a coal miner. Rossi said his grandparents believed that "you could rise to whatever level your talent and work ethic would take you. … You didn't have to do what they did in the old country; you could go in any direction you wanted to go."

Rossi toured a seafood packing plant in Cowlitz County in which, according to the plant manager, all of the workers were Latinos. Travelling with the seasons, they pick fruit and cut down Christmas trees when they aren't packing and processing sardines, whiting and other fish at the plant.

Rossi is running in a state where orchard owners and seafood packers depend to a large degree on a seasonal low-wage Latino workforce to do jobs many Americans avoid.

"We need a tall fence with a high gate," Rossi told a Chamber of Commerce lunch Tuesday in Woodland, Wash. He said the federal government needed to seal the border and stop repeat offenders who commit violent crimes in the United States.

But he said his "high gate" concept means "We have to have a way for people to come here who really want to work hard and chase that American dream – because we want them to come. But we want them to come legally."

Rossi as yet has no answer to the problem posed by birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants: can the government deport an illegal immigrant woman who gave birth to a child in the United States and whose child is automatically an American citizen?

And should the government deport women such as the one mentioned by Cowlitz County Prosecutor Sue Baur in her speech to the Chamber of Commerce: a Honduran who says she would be killed by her husband if she had to go back to Honduras? (Baur suggests to the luncheon crowd it might be good idea "to make it a little bit easier" for such people to become legal residents.)

We asked Rossi, What do you do with illegal immigrants who are here having children?

"I honestly haven't heard a decent solution – I'm all ears – for what you do with folks that are already here," he said.

"When I talk about a tall fence with high gate, it's the idea that people can come here to work, but we've got to know who's coming. We've got to know their background, if they've got a criminal background."

He added, "There are people who come work on a temporary basis, but there are also people who want to come here and be part of America – just like my grandparents did when they came from Italy. That's a piece that we don't want to slow down. We want the new blood that comes here legally. My brother-in-law just became a citizen and he's from Australia. He stood in line and did the whole process the way it was supposed to be done."

Rossi's chief rival in next Tuesday's primary, Clint Didier, a farmer and retired Washington Redskins football player who has been endorsed by Rep. Ron Paul and Sarah Palin, says on his campaign website, "This country was built on immigration. The problem isn't immigration, the problem is illegal immigrants. We've got enough laws on the books. All we've got to do is enforce them. We need a workable guest worker program."

New NBC/WSJ poll suggests we’re living in a ‘Jet Blue’ nation… Survey also points to voters holding their noses when they head to the polls in November… In the generic ballot, GOP leads in the South but nowhere else… One problem for Obama solved (BP spill), but others remain (Afghanistan and economy)… Previewing NM-1… And Bill McCollum has the debate stage to himself.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Jet Blue Nation: If you follow politics and read polls, you already know the public is angry. But our new NBC/WSJ poll reveals that Americans are more than angry -- they're ready to cuss out someone over the intercom, grab a beer from the drink cart, and exit via the emergency slide. Consider: 60% believe the current Congress is either below average or among the worst, an all-time high in the survey; the percentage viewing the GOP favorably (24%-46% fav/unfav) is at an all-time low; the numbers for the Democratic Party aren’t much better (33%-44%, and the "very negative" for the Dems matches an all-time high); nearly six in 10 say the country is headed in the wrong direction; and 64% think the U.S. economy hasn’t yet hit rock bottom (“Recovery Summer," anyone?). “I think it’s a ‘Jet Blue’ election. Everyone is frustrated,” says NBC/WSJ co-pollster Peter Hart (D). “And everyone is headed for the emergency exit.”

*** A hold-your-nose election: So what does this mean for the upcoming midterms? Well, if you’re a politician -- especially from the party that’s currently in power -- brace yourself for a tough election. The NBC/WSJ poll shows Democrats with a one-point advantage on the generic ballot (43%-42%), which is an improvement from its two-point deficit in June. But among those expressing a high interest in voting in November, the GOP has an 11-point edge (50%-39%). Yet that is down from the Republicans’ 21-point lead in June (56%-35%). Where Republicans have made major gains in the poll is on the issue of the economy. In July ’08, Dems held a 16-point advantage on this issue (41%-25%); a year later it was six points (35%-29%); and in March it was even (31%-31%). Now -- Republicans have a three-point edge (34%-31%). By the way, Republicans made gains on just about every domestic economic issue imaginable, including Social Security. The Dem lead on that issue is at its lowest point in 16 years. “The economic story is a vise on the Democratic Party that will lead to a very large electoral night for Republicans,” says co-pollster Bill McInturff (R).

*** It’s the geography, stupid: But could those GOP electoral gains come from just one part of the country? The poll contains this interesting finding: The GOP has a HUGE generic-ballot edge in the South (52%-31%), but it doesn’t lead anywhere else. In the Northeast, Dems have a 55%-30% edge; in the Midwest, they lead 49%-38%; and in the West, it’s 44%-43%. Yet do keep this caveat in mind: Many of the congressional districts Republicans are targeting outside of the South resemble some of those Southern districts they’re hoping to win back in November -- where you have whiter and older voters. Think Stephanie Herseth's seat in South Dakota; Tim Walz' seat in Minnesota; Leonard Boswell's seat in Iowa; and Ike Skelton's in Missouri.

*** One problem for Obama solved, but others remain: President Obama’s job approval stands at 47%, which is up two points from June. Yet get this: 50% now say they approve of his handling of the Gulf spill’s aftermath (up from 42% in June -- nothing like plugging a hole finally), but because of the Wikileaks story and the continued violence in Afghanistan, his numbers on the handling of the war have plummeted (from 53% approval in June to 44% now). More troubling for the White House, 52% say they disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy -- the highest percentage for Obama since he took office. Overall, 40% think the country is worse off since he became president; 31% think it’s better off; and 28% think it’s in the same place. However, seven in 10 believe Obama’s performance has met or exceeded their expectations, which suggests that the country hasn’t given up on his presidency. “People haven’t turned in a personal way against him,” Hart says. “His numbers, as they’ve gone up on the Gulf [spill], sort of says that he will not be like Bush where Hurricane Katrina took him under.”

*** Two other things to keep an eye on: In our poll, Obama’s job-approval rating (47%) is higher than his personal rating (46%). Now it's just one point, but is it possible that as the president becomes more political on the campaign trail, his personal ratings take a hit? But with the GOP’s favorable score dropping (from 30% in June to 24% now), are those attacks working? Also, for the first in the survey, the Tea Party has a net-negative fav/unfav rating (30%-34%). Are the Democratic attacks working here, too?

*** 75 House races to watch: NM-1: The Democratic nominee in the race is first-term incumbent Martin Heinrich (the first Democrat to represent the district since its creation in '69). His Republican opponent is businessman Jon Barela. As of June 30, Heinrich had $1.3 million in the bank, while Barela had $540,000. In 2008, Obama won 60% in the district, and Kerry won 51% in ’04. Heinrich voted for the stimulus, cap-and-trade, and health care. Both Cook and Rothenberg rate it as Lean Democrat.

*** More midterm news: In Florida, Bill McCollum had the debate stage to himself yesterday, after Rick Scott opted out… And in Michigan, a new Detroit News/WDIV poll has Rick Snyder with a sizable lead in the general election for governor. and

Countdown to WA and WY primaries: 5 days
Countdown to AK, AZ, FL, and VT primaries: 12 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 82 days

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Here’s our take on the new NBC/WSJ poll: “To borrow the famous line from the 1976 film "Network," Americans are mad as hell at Washington — and they’re not going to take it anymore. That, at least, is the conclusion from the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which finds:
-- that less than half the country approves of President Obama's job;
-- that the percentage believing the current Congress is either below average or among the worst is at an all-time high;
-- that the number viewing the Republican Party favorably is at an all-time low;
-- and that the Democratic Party doesn’t fare much better.”

Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s take: “Americans are growing more pessimistic about the economy and the war in Afghanistan, and are losing faith that Democrats have better solutions than Republicans… Underpinning the gloom: Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the economy has yet to hit bottom, a sharply higher percentage than the 53% who felt that way in January.”

The New York Times on the Team Obama members who’ve exited the White House. “Eighteen months into President Obama’s term, some of the first-generation team that arrived with him at the White House are moving on. One by one, usually with little fanfare, they have turned in White House badges and BlackBerrys to rejoin the outside world, some eagerly seeking the exit, others unhappily shown the door.”

The New York Times has a colorful account of Rep. Charlie Rangel's 80th birthday party: "Mr. Rangel seemed to capture the down-but-not-out spirit of the event when he looked out at the packed Grand Ballroom and shouted, 'This damn sure ain’t no funeral, is it?' The timing of Mr. Rangel’s party could not have been worse for many Democrats across the state: they face a brutal campaign climate. Many complained that the event, a few weeks before their party’s primary, had forced them to choose between their allegiance to a venerable colleague and their own shot at re-election this fall."

Politico: “A former professional wrestling executive, a libertarian ophthalmologist and a man who thinks bicycle use could empower the United Nations filed to run in elections. That’s not the start of a joke: that’s a sampling of the deeply unusual pool of candidates running – and actually being nominated – for high office this year.” More: “A phenomenon that began with physician Rand Paul’s victory in the Kentucky Senate primary has effectively gone national: Primary voters are again and again choosing offbeat candidates shunned by national party strategists, and imperiling potential Republican gains this November in the process.”

The New York Times on Tuesday’s primary results, especially Ken Buck’s win in Colorado: “The slate of general election prospects includes fewer moderate Republicans than party leaders had imagined when they began recruiting candidates a year ago, and more backed by the Tea Party movement. The results leave Republicans facing a critical question heading into the general election: Can the added enthusiasm of their conservative base for the insurgent candidates offset a potential loss of appeal to independent and centrist voters?”

Here’s Dan Balz’s take: “Tuesday's primary elections produced a series of seemingly contradictory claims and interpretations: a good night for outsiders and the ‘tea party’ movement, an equally good night for incumbents and President Obama. What it all means for November is the real question.”

CALIFORNIA: "Democrat Jerry Brown has the strongest record of any of the five most recent California governors when it comes to creating jobs as a percentage of national job growth, says a former state Employment Development Department director who has been studying the numbers," the L.A. Times writes. "Michael Bernick, a San Francisco employment lawyer who ran the jobs agency under former Gov. Gray Davis, notes that the 1.9 million net gain in jobs during Brown's two terms as governor, from January 1975 to January 1983, accounted for 17.3% of the nationwide gain in jobs for the same period."

COLORADO: Appearing on CNN, Republican Senate nominee Ken Buck said "that Republican frustration with both parties in Washington politics is driving grassroots victories over establishment candidates in GOP primaries around the country. 'I think Republicans realize that Republicans are every bit as much to blame for the mess that we are in in D.C. as the Democrats,' Buck said.

FLORIDA: "Republican candidate for governor Bill McCollum got the stage to himself on Wednesday at what was supposed to be a third televised debate with opponent Rick Scott, who opted out," the AP writes. "Front-runner Scott said organizers couldn't meet his demands of a different kind of forum to be held in north Florida. The event, which was taped to air later in most Florida TV markets, went on with McCollum taking questions from journalists for a half-hour."

The latest difference between Gov. Charlie Crist and Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio is seen in their difference on the newly-passed federal aid law for schools and teachers, the St. Petersburg Times' politics blog writes. "Gov. Charlie Crist welcomed yesterday's news... Today, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio tells the Buzz he would have voted against the package."

LOUISIANA: Reporting on its new poll, Southern Media and Opinion Research finds that "The upcoming August 28 Republican primary which pits incumbent U.S. Senator David Vitter against challenger Chet Traylor is not much of a contest. Senator Vitter easily leads his opponent Chet Traylor 77.8 percent to 3.9 percent. Nick Accardo, another challenger, got 1.3 percent."

MICHIGAN: "Republican Rick Snyder heads into the general election campaign with a nearly 20-point lead over Democrat Virg Bernero in the race for governor, according to a Detroit News-WDIV poll released Wednesday," the Detroit News writes. "The Ann Arbor businessman holds a 51 percent to 32 percent edge over Lansing's mayor."

NEVADA: The Washington Post describes Sen. Harry Reid's new ad against Republican Sharron Angle as attacking her "with one of her own. The ad features self-identified Republican, NRA member and President of the Peace Officers Research Association of Nevada Bill Ames."

Here's our write-up of the new NBC/WSJ poll.

WASHINGTON — To borrow the famous line from the 1976 film "Network," Americans are mad as hell at Washington — and they’re not going to take it anymore.

That, at least, is the conclusion from the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which finds:
-- that less than half the country approves of President Obama's job;
-- that the percentage believing the current Congress is either below average or among the worst is at an all-time high;
-- that the number viewing the Republican Party favorably is at an all-time low;
-- and that the Democratic Party doesn’t fare much better.

What's more, nearly six in 10 respondents still say the country is headed in the wrong direction, and almost two-thirds think that the U.S. economy has yet to hit rock-bottom.

And it's unlikely those attitudes will change before the midterm elections that will take place less than three months from now.

"I think it’s a ‘Jet Blue’ election. Everyone is frustrated," says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. "And everyone is headed for the emergency exit."

Click here for the rest of the story.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Call it a Tea Party "takeover" of the Republican Party.

That was the message from last night's election results in Colorado and Connecticut, according to Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine.

"Maybe some would have argued that OK, Rand Paul, he's an aberration," Kaine said in a phone interview with First Read. "Rand Paul and Sharron Angle, they're both aberrations. But you go Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, the two Colorado candidates, Linda McMahon, and chasing Charlie Crist out of the party in Florida, bouncing Bob Bennett from the Senate primary in Utah, this is not just an exception or two. This is a kind of main theme of the Republican midterm strategy [which] is, 'We will make a deal with the Tea Party, and then the Tea Party dictates a lot of these candidates, and these candidates are millstones for these guys."

Republican leaders, however, haven't always been on board with Tea Party candidates. In Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed Trey Grayson, Paul's opponent in the primary. In Florida, the National Republican Senatorial Committee recruited and backed Crist until he, reading the polls, switched to independent. In addition, Sue Lowden in Nevada and Jane Norton in Colorado were the GOP establishment favorites.

"It's not a marriage," Kaine conceded, "It's a takeover.

"I dont think they can control it. I think they thought, 'Hey, this will be great for us because there's energy there, but what they're seeing is the energy cuts a lot of different directions. A lot of these Tea Party guys, they don't mind losing a seat. 'If we don't like this institutional Republican we're going to put in one of our guys even if that person goes down in flames.'"

Kaine will be in Colorado tomorrow for a "unity rally" with the Democratic Senate candidates -- White House-backed Michael Bennet, who won last night's primary, and the defeated former state House speaker Andrew Romanoff. Kaine said the rally was planned a couple of weeks ago with the state Democratic Party.

Of the Colorado Senate and governor's races, Kaine said: "We feel very, very good about both those races. I think last night was a very good night for us, and a tough night for the other side, because what it did is it showed that the Democrats are coming together and that the Tea Party takeover of the Republican Party is producing very ideologically extreme and flawed candidates that enable us to make this election in the fall a choice between, 'Do you want to keep moving forward, or do you want to go backward.'"

He touted that months ago, handicappers saw good GOP pick-up opportunities for both Colorado seats. But not anymore.

"It's turned from a very tough climate for us" in Colorado, Kaine said, "to a very positive one largely because of the Tea Party takeover."

Kaine also pushed back on Bennet having said that while he appreciated President Obama's support, he didn't think his endorsement had much of an effect. The DNC chairman said the DNC's Organizing for America was hard at work turning out voters and that Bennet reached out to the network of 2008 Obama supporters early on.

"That field effort ... was a very important part of his win," Kaine said.

Kaine added that he thinks it would be a "mistake" for candidates in swing districts and red states to turn away from the president.

"I think it's a mistake," Kaine said, adding, "The midterm election is not a presidential year or high turnout election. It's a lower turnout election. You do not win as a Democrat without energizing Democrats. And no one energizes Democrats like President Obama."

When asked why someone should vote for a Democrat this fall, Kaine put it this way:

"You should vote for them because we were in a ditch at the end of a lost decade, and Democrats have been doing heavy lifting to get us moving forward again; the economy is growing not shrinking; we're adding jobs not losing them; the stock market's over 10,000 not at 6,000. We're not where we want to be at yet, and the president says that every time he talks, but thank God we're climbing again; we're moving forward again. And what the other guys are offering is, 'Hey we want to go back and do exactly what was done in the lost decade that put us in the free fall."

Republican National Committee spokesman Doug Heye contended it's Democrats who are in the "free fall."

"The Obama admininstration finds itself in an absolute free fall and needs some straw man to blame," Heye said of Kaine's view that the Tea Party has taken over the GOP. He added, "The honest truth is that it's neither" a takeover or a marriage between the GOP and the Tea Party. "Certainly we have to appeal to those voters like we have to appeal to all voters. Democrats have said we're going to co-opt them or we have to co-opt them. There's no possibility of that. You can't pick up the phone and call the 'Florida Tea Party,'" for example.

He continued, "It seems the Democrats are insulting voters, and somehow saying that some voters shouldn't be taken seriously while some voters -- the ones they think they can get -- should."

He highlighted White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' comments about the left. "You look at Democrats," Heye said, "They're insulting voters on the left and voters on the right."

Asked if that actually helps the president appeal to the middle -- exactly the voters Obama has struggled with since taking office, but who helped him win in 2008 -- Heye said, "You can do that when your poll numbers are at 68%, and you're riding a wave. Keep in mind how much things have changed in the last 14 months."

On last night's results, Heye said Democrats have reason to be worried about the midterms, since "Democrat after Democrat" is shying away from the president, he charged. Heye noted the ad running in Indiana's second congressional district, in which Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly uses an image of President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (as well as House Minority Leader John Boehner) as the "crowd in Washington."

"That ought to be very troubling," Heye said.

Yes, the 'Aqua Buddha' saga continues to, um, bubble.

The Washington Post's Greg Sargent caught up with the woman who anonymously accused Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul of 'kidnapping' her and forcing her to smoke marijuana while they were both students at Baylor University. The woman, who remains unnamed in the piece, said that the incident has been "blown out of proportion" and that she was "hazed" by Paul and a friend but not "forced" to do anything. From Sargent:

The woman -- who was made available to me for an interview by GQ reporter Jason Zengerle in response to the Paul campaign's denunciations of his article -- said she didn't mean to imply that she was kidnapped "in a legal sense."

"The whole thing has been blown out of proportion," she told me. "They didn't force me, they didn't make me. They were creating this drama: `We're messing with you.'"

The woman said that much of the subsequent coverage of her allegations missed a key nuance: As a participant in a college ritual, where lines between acquiescence and victimization are often blurry, she was largely playing along with the notion that she was being forced to follow Paul's orders.

"I went along because they were my friends," she said. "There was an implicit degree of cooperation in the whole thing. I felt like I was being hazed."

Yesterday, Paul disputed the woman's account on FOX News. "I absolutely deny kidnapping anyone, ever," he said. He did not elaborate on the veracity of the GQ's story's claim that he and a friend had been smoking pot and urged the woman to worship 'Aqua Buddha.'

"I'm not really going to try to go back 27 years to remember everything I did in college," Paul said yesterday.

From NBC's Carol Marin of Chicago affiliate WMAQ

"Everybody wants a scoop, Carol. Everyone wants to be first."

The last conversation I had with Dan Rostenkowski was on April 22nd of this year. His voice was as big and bold as it ever was but punctuated by fits of coughing from time to time that made him put down the phone until it subsided.

"I'm dying," he told me a few days before.

But in this last conversation of ours, when I brought that fact up again, he thundered, " I don't want that to get out. It's my business." Then he paused and added, "I have lung cancer. I don't know how long I've got."

I called him Mr. Chairman during our conversation that ranged from politics to the state of the news media. He did not have a good opinion of my profession.

Mr. Chairman, I asked, what's the difference in politics between the way things are and the way they were?

"The 24 hour news cycle!" he boomed. "They don't care about accuracy. But then again, Carol, the whole world has changed... Legislators don't have the opportunity to let people absorb what the meaningful legislation they are proposing means."

Rostenkowski coughs again, and then said, "I watch all these talk shows....you people in your 4th estate aren't analyzing anything anymore....the competition is so great."

Democracy, he told me, is painful. It requires sacrifice, and is endlessly complex.

The complexity was something he reveled in as the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee from 1981-94, a period of time in which he and a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, worked out revisions of the tax code.

But the politics of his time became more complex as well. And soon he was on the wrong end of a federal investigation that sent him to prison.

"I attended Oxford," he would later say ruefully. Not the University. The prison.

Did he believe, I asked him in our last conversation, that all the years he spent in politics and in Congress would be overwhelmed by the memory of that federal conviction?

"What do you think?" he roared.

I told him I believed there was much more to say about him than that. And about his larger-than-life legacy.

"I hope you're right," he said.

From NBC's Mark Murray
In the past year and a half, Congress has produced plenty of legislative achievements. The far-reaching health-care law. The landmark financial reform. The economic stimulus.

But the public isn't buying those legislative successes.

According to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal, a combined 60 percent say that the Congress is either below average or one of the worst in history -- the highest percentage here in the history of the poll.

By comparison, 31 percent say it has been average, and only 6 percent believe it has been above average or one of the best.

The attitudes about President Obama are slightly better, however. In the poll, 58% think the president has performed as expected, 29% say he's done worse than expected, and 12% who believe he's done better than expected.

The poll -- which was conducted Aug. 5-9, and which has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points -- will be released in full at 6:30 pm ET.

Former Illinois Rep. Dan Rostenkowski has died, NBC News confirmed Wednesday.

Rostenkowski died peacefully at his home in Wisconsin this morning, a close friend told WMAQ. He was 82.

Rostenkowski served in Congress from 1959 to 1995 and wielded the gavel as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee for 11 years. A corruption scandal ended his 42-year career in public service. He pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud in 1996 and spent 15 months in federal prison.

In 2000, he was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in the final days of Clinton's presidency.

Like most political outlets today, the blogosphere is abuzz with analysis of last night's primary results. While all the races got plenty of mention, some of the strongest opinions were saved for the Senate and gubernatorial wins in Colorado.

Conservative blogs were full of praise for Tea Party-preferred Republican nominee Ken Buck, while also downplaying Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet's chances.

On the Senate race, NRO's Jim Geraghty wrote, "Appointed incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet wins, so he can continue to run against Washington. He will take on Ken Buck, who won a hard-fought race against Jane Norton. I expect the Bennet campaign will do everything it can to make this race about one issue: high heels. Fairly or not, Buck off-the-cuff seemed to insinuate that “I don’t wear high heels” was a reason to vote for him, and the Democrats will make sure that comment gets before every woman inColorado . (One other complication from that remark? Men tend to like women who wear high heels!) Having said that," Geraghty finishes sarcastically, "Bennet enters the general election with a job-approval rating in the sterling mid-30s."

Geraghty seemed less enthusiastic about the chances of the Republican nominee for governor, Dan Maes. His summary suggested Maes lost a "shoot yourself in the foot" contest rather than won a gubernatorial primary: "Maes’s suggestion that a Denver bike program represented a United Nations plot — and willingness to go on MSNBC to discuss the idea before an incredulous anchor! — just wasn’t enough when matched up against [Scott] McInnis’s admission that he used part of a judge’s work for a series of essays on water rights that the gubernatorial candidate published without crediting it, a mistake he called unacceptable and inexcusable, but also unintentional. (Initially blaming the staff was a nice touch.) As you probably guessed, Maes will be an underdog against the Democratic nominee, Denver mayor [John] Hickenlooper."

Red State's Erick Erickson wrote of Buck's victory as a demonstration of conservative groups' (including his own blog) influence on statewide races: "We at RedState have beaten the bushes for Ken Buck. We have hounded third party groups to get involved for him. We have hounded organizations and people to sit on the sidelines when they leaned toward Norton. Jim DeMint jumped in for Ken. FreedomWorks jumped in for Ken. Gun Owners of America jumped in for Ken. The momentum built. The tide turned. And today I am very, very, very pleased to tell you Ken Buck is the Republican Senate nominee for Colorado."

Conservative blog HotAir's Ed Morrissey wrote that the Bennet-Buck matchup will be a chance "to see whether Obama is box-office poison in the general election. Bennet will be an incumbent defending his seat in an anti-incumbent and anti-Democratic cycle, carrying the endorsement of an unpopular President. He’ll face a Tea Party candidate in Ken Buck, who defied the GOP establishment and won massive grassroots support despite getting outspent by over $2 million. What could go wrong for Democrats?"

Joan McCarter at the liberal Daily Kos suggested that, rather than spark questions about President Obama's effect on candidates, yesterday's Senate primary results "should put to rest the idea that Obama is toxic to Dems. In a political environment like this, the one thing that seems to be emerging, beginning with the fall of 2009 with the special elections in NY-23 and Massachusetts is that there really isn't a convention wisdom to this cycle. The electorate doesn't particularly inclined to follow any rule the punditry prescribes for it."

Washington Monthly's Steve Benen wrote that Colorado offered "arguably yesterday's marquee matchup... Bennet came out on top, exceeding expectations in his first-ever race, winning by 8.4%. He'll face right-wing county prosecutor Ken Buck, who narrowly defeated former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, the choice of the party leadership, in a Republican primary."

On the gubernatorial race, Benen wrote, "In the gubernatorial race, anti-bicycle neophyte Dan Maes somehow managed to beat former Rep. Scott McInnis in a Republican primary. He'll face Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D), and in all likelihood, former Rep. Tom Tancredo (I) in November."

*** UPDATE 3:00 pm ET *** The Senate will, in fact, be coming back for the technical fix on border security bill and to pass a resolution on former Senator Ted Stevens death. This is not the full Senate coming back. See below...

From NBC's Ken Strickland
There is a very good chance the Senate will interrupt its recess and come back in session to AGAIN pass a border-security bill. Yes, it would pass the exact same bill it already passed Thursday night.

But hold your horses and the "breaking news" banner -- as long as all 100 senators agree, otherwise known as "unanimous consent," the entire body would not come flying back to DC. Maybe just a single senator or two at the most who live nearby would. And the whole process could be done in less than two minutes.

(During the Bush administration Majority Leader Reid would have "pro forma" sessions every few days to prevent recess appointments. They'd gavel in and gavel out in literally a matter of seconds. This would be about as fast.)

So what happened? Let's call it a technical difficulty.

Last Thursday night, the Senate passed the McCain-backed $600-million border security bill. Because the bill included some tax provisions in it, the Senate had to attach it to a House-passed bill. (As I'm sure you remember from Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution, "All bills raising revenues shall originate in the House.")

So, knowing the House would come back in session this week, as they did, the Senate did the smart thing and took an old House-passed bill laying around the chamber, substituted the border-security measure, and passed it. Done... right? Wrong.

When the House came in yesterday, someone noticed the border-security bill was a "House bill," but it was the wrong kind of "House bill." In order for the House to pass it and send it directly to the president, it specifically needed to be a House TAX bill. The Senate used a House APPROPRIATIONS bill. (D'oh!)

(In the rush to get to recess, it's likely some Senate staffer grabbed the baking soda when what he or she meant to grab was the baking powder.)

For the congressional wonk in you: I'm told that what the Senate did would have drawn a "blue slip" violation in the House. A House wonk describes it as "a resolution passed by House that is printed on blue paper that signifies a violation of the origination clause when the Senate sends a bill over that is a problem."

So to prevent a constitutional issue -- and any possible court challenges -- the House passed the Senate's border-security bill, but gave it the correct status as a TAX bill. This means before it goes to the president, the Senate has to come back and pass the House TAX version of the bill.

So unless one senator objects, Reid's office hopes to have the Senate "in session" ever-so-briefly before the end of the week. If they're able to do it through "unanimous consent," which is the expectation, the whole process should happen faster than it took you to read this note.

Well, it looks like we're not headed to another overtime in the GOP gubernatorial race in Georgia, after all. Palin-backed Karen Handel has conceded to Gingrich/Huckabee-backed Nathan Deal.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

In a statement just released from the Handel campaign, she said she called Deal this morning to concede the nomination.The November ballot is now set. Deal will represent the GOP and face Democrat Roy Barnes and Libertarian John Monds.

Earlier Wednesday, Deal appeared at a GOP "unity breakfast" in Buckhead, but Handel did not. But her statement this morning is clearly aimed at healing a party battered by months of a tough primary campaign and a brutal three-week runoff. Barnes, meanwhile, cruised to victory over six other opponents in the Democratic primary. While other Democrats, particularly House Minority Leader DuBose Porter, D-Dublin, took their shots at Barnes, that contest never reached the level of contention the GOP race.

*** UPDATE *** NBC's Domenico Montanaro writes that Democrats feel more confident against Deal than Handel with former Gov. Roy Barnes (D) running. But the Republican Governors Association fires back in an e-mail to First Read that Barnes has his own baggage. Spokesman Mike Schrimpf writes:

"Roy Barnes is now on his fourth campaign for governor. Georgia voters have already rejected Roy Barnes in two out of three attempts to win the governor's office while his lone victory ended in a major case of buyer's remorse. But as bad as his record was during his lone term, he managed to make it even worse after leaving office. There is lots and lots of information that can be use against him."

The race is now likely a toss up.

After he officially became the Democratic nominee for Senate in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal's campaign is up with its first ad of the general election.

The campaign tries to warm up Blumenthal with smiling images in what looks like his study, him with sleeves rolled up, shaking hands and touching arms and shoulders, nodding approvingly on a bench with children in a park, and also highlighting the work he's done as the state's longtime attorney general.

"The people of Connecticut know me," Blumenthal says. "And one thing they know for sure is that I will fight for them."

He also continues the anti-Washington theme. He opens his ad, saying, "When I look at Washington, D.C., I don't see a lot of people standing up for the people against the special interests."

This despite his party, the Democrats, in control of the White House, the Senate, and the House. Democrats argue they have passed sweeping legislation on health care, financial regulation, student loans and more that have been against the "special interests." Republicans generally are the ones who argue the opposite, like with regard to the $26 billion state aid package, which House Minority Leader John Boehner's office derided as nothing more than a "special-interest bailout" for unions.

The Tea Party wins again with Buck's victory in Colorado… But could the Tea Party end up costing the GOP two or more Senate seats?... The White House snaps its losing streak with Bennet's victory in Colorado… Another round of overtime for Deal and Handel?... Overall, the Democrats had a pretty good night… The only downsides: Dayton's win in Minnesota's gubernatorial primary and the fact that Linda McMahon is going to force them to spend a lot of money… Yesterday's Rangel debacle… It's NBC/WSJ poll day… And profiling MO-4.

From NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Tea Party wins again: Lost in the White House's and DSCC's big win in Colorado, the likely second round of overtime for Republicans in Georgia, and perhaps the Democrats' best primary night of the year was this key development: The Tea Party won yet another key primary. In Colorado last night, Ken Buck held on to defeat establishment-backed Jane Norton, making him the fourth Tea Party candidate to win a Republican Senate primary this year, joining Rand Paul in Kentucky, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and Mike Lee in Utah. And then you have Marco Rubio in Florida, who won his primary by default. On the one hand, the Tea Party is giving the GOP a jolt of energy and enthusiasm heading into the fall. For instance, more Coloradoans last night voted in the Republican Senate primary than the Democratic one; in fact, Norton and Buck both got more votes individually in their primary than Michael Bennet did in his, and Bennet won by a larger margin.

*** Could the Tea Party cost the GOP two or three Senate seats? On the other hand, there are legitimate concerns about whether Buck, Paul, and Angle are their party's best nominees and if they could enable Democrats to win these Senate contests in an environment where nearly everything is going the GOP's way. John Cornyn and the NRSC have been doing their job this cycle: putting seats in play and trying to recruit the most electable candidates (like Charlie Crist in Florida, Trey Grayson in Kentucky, Norton in Colorado or Dino Rossi in Washington). The problem is that GOP voters are defeating these establishment-backed candidates -- or, in Crist's case, forcing them out of the Republican primary. If Republicans lose two out of four in Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, and Nevada, it's hard to find a path to the 10 seats they need for control of the Senate. Buck, by the way, does seem to have some outside multimillionaire benefactors. The "Americans for Job Security" organization was restarted, in part, to help Buck get on the Colorado map. The NRSC is going to need a TON of outside money to keep Buck in the game, especially since the entire state GOP is a mess right now, thanks to the governor's race debacle.

*** Bennet bests Romanoff and relief in the White House: In the general election, Buck will face incumbent (and appointed) Sen. Michael Bennet, who defeated challenger Andrew Romanoff in last night's Democratic Senate primary in Colorado. Lots of Democratic groups are claiming credit for the Bennet win, including SEIU and the League of Conservation Voters. But the Obama White House can take a big sigh of relief. Not only did the Bennet victory snap Team Obama's losing streak when wading into races -- the governor races in New Jersey and Virginia, the loss in Massachusetts, and Arlen Specter's primary defeat in Pennsylvania -- but this win also took place in the presidential battleground of Colorado. Perhaps no state in the country in 2008 represented Obama's surge more than Colorado, where the Democrats held their convention and where Obama was able to pack some 80,000 into Invesco Field. If Obama didn't have coattails in a Democratic primary in Colorado, the White House would have some really big concerns… To say the White House is "relieved" is an understatement. The idea of dealing with a "Bill Clinton's candidate defeated Barack Obama's candidate" headline was beyond depressing to the West Wing.

*** Another round of overtime in Georgia: The other big story from last night was the deadlocked race between Palin-backed Karen Handel and Gingrich/Huckabee-backed Nathan Deal in the GOP gubernatorial run-off in Georgia. With 99% of the voted counted, Deal was leading Handel by fewer than 3,000 votes, which will likely trigger a recount. "Under Georgia law, the runner-up can request a re-count if the margin is less than 1 percent of the total vote," the AP says -- and the difference is well below 1%. At least in the short run, the unsettled race only helps Democratic nominee Roy Barnes, who won his primary outright last month.

*** A good night for the Democrats: Indeed, last night might have been the Democrats' best primary night of the year (of course the bar is kind of low). Bennet heads into the general election as the favorite in Colorado; John Hickenlooper may very well have locked up Colorado's gubernatorial race after Dan Maes defeated Scott McInnis in the GOP primary (and Maes won't get out of the race easily); Roy Barnes has the short-term edge with Georgia's GOP race still unsettled; and Dan Malloy's victory over Ned Lamont in Connecticut's gubernatorial primary probably gives Democrats their better general election candidate there.

*** Dayton beats Kelliher; McMahon will be a thorn in the Democrats' side: The only relatively bad news for Democrats was Mark Dayton's narrow win over Emily's List-backed Margaret Anderson Kelliher in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Minnesota (he lost the Twin Cities but won everywhere else). With his deep pockets, Dayton can still beat Republican Tom Emmer in the general election. But there's also a reason why Dayton -- a former U.S. senator -- didn't run for re-election in 2006. Meanwhile, in Connecticut's Senate contest, Linda McMahon will be a thorn in Democrats' side and will force them to spend more money than they want to in this race. But just asking, did anyone else catch that McMahon's husband, Vince, wasn't on the stage for her victory speech?

*** The Rangel debacle: Charlie Rangel might feel better after his own "Jet Blue moment" on the House floor yesterday, but all he did was make it harder for Democrats to stand by him. On a day when the Democrats believed they had a good story to tell -- passing legislation into law that saves teaching jobs, etc. -- Rangel stole the spotlight with his speech on the House floor. "I am not going away," he declared. What motivated him to give that speech at that time? A bad poll in his primary race? His desire to separate himself from Maxine Waters' own ethics problems? Whatever the reason, Rangel made sure that yesterday was about him, and not about Democrats passing key legislation. In fact, one of his quotes was "What about me?" You can't make it up.

*** NBC/WSJ poll day: How does the public feel about Congress' performance? President Obama's job? The upcoming midterms? The war in Afghanistan post-Wikileaks? Tune into NBC Nightly News at 6:30 pm ET, or click on to MSNBC.com, for the results from our brand-new NBC/WSJ poll.

*** 75 House races to watch: MO-4: The Democratic nominee is 17-term incumbent Ike Skelton, who was first elected in 1976. His GOP challenger will be former state Rep. Vicky Hartzler. McCain won 60% of the vote in this district in '08, while Bush got 64% in '04. As of June 30, Skelton had $1.4 million in the bank, and Hartzler had $240,000. Skelton voted yes for the stimulus and cap-and-trade, but no on health care. Both Cook and Rothenberg rate the race as Lean Democrat.

Countdown to WA and WY primaries: 6 days
Countdown to AK, AZ, FL, and VT primaries: 13 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 83 days

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"In a defiant and highly unusual speech, Democratic Representative Charles Rangel defended himself yesterday against ethics charges by lashing out at the committee holding his trial, poking fun at President Obama, ridiculing conservative House Democrats, and refusing to resign quietly," the Boston Globe writes. "'I am not going away,' Rangel, 80, said in a speech from the well of the House."

Rangel’s speech overshadowed the passage of the $26 billion in state aid. "The measure, which President Obama signed two hours after the House passage, will boost Medicaid and education funding and is expected to help prevent states and local governments from laying off hundreds of thousands of teachers, firefighters, and police officers," the Boston Globe says. "The bill passed largely along party lines, by a 247-to-161 vote, with only three Democrats voting against the measure and only two Republicans voting for it."

Anything you can do, we can do better... "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is expected to bring the chamber back into session as soon as this week to clear border security legislation, his office said Tuesday. 'In light of the vote in the House, the hope is that we can pass the bill by consent by the end of the week,' Reid spokesman Jim Manley said."

Roll Call lists the survivors and victims of the Alaska plan crash that killed former Sen. Ted Stevens.

The AP's Espo sums up the night: "All hail inexperience -- the less familiarity with politics the better, no matter the party or state."

COLORADO: The Denver Post notes how Republican Senate nominee Ken Buck rode an anti-establishment wave to victory, calling it the "latest example of a story playing out in the Republican Party nationwide: Tea Party underdog emerges from nowhere and beats the more moneyed, establishment candidate."

"Buck, who ran an upstart, topsy-turvy campaign fit for an outsider, began as an underdog, leapfrogged to frontrunner status by midsummer but then lost traction in the final weeks due to a string of verbal gaffes that had the GOP consultant class rolling their eyes," Politico writes. "But he also eviscerated the conventional wisdom that the record-breaking GOP turnout would benefit his opponent, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton."

The New York Times' takeaway on the victories of the Republican and Democratic Senate nominees: "Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, a Democrat who had hitched his star to the fortunes of President Obama, survived a bitter primary challenge. But in this state’s Republican primary, a Tea Party-backed insurgent, Ken Buck, upended the candidate endorsed by Washington Republicans, Jane Norton, a former lieutenant governor. The two victories suggested that the anticipated wrath of the American voter might not be quite ready to sweep away all before its path -- but the tide is still strong."

The Boston Globe's front-page headline: "Obama’s choice wins in Colo. vote." But the paper points out: "That result, however, was an exception on a primary night in which outsider candidates, feeding on voter anger, generally held sway."

The AP: "Tea party favorite Maes wins Colo. gov. primary."

In his victory speech, Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes said that he had "defied party insiders," the Denver Post writes. "'This campaign started in every backyard barbecue I could attend," Maes said. 'This campaign was not set up by the party kingmakers or the big money donors.'"

Politico adds, "The race appears destined to become the latest version of a familiar 2010 story: a well-funded, careful Democrat running in a hostile electoral environment, versus a flawed, ideological Republican with the national landscape tilted heavily in his favor."

CONNECTICUT: The Boston Globe called last night one "in which outsider candidates, feeding on voter anger, generally held sway. In Connecticut, Republican voters overwhelmingly chose a wealthy wrestling executive and political novice as their candidate for US Senate. Linda McMahon, who defeated former US Representative Rob Simmons, will now face Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination."

The New York Daily News' predictable headline: "Wrestling pioneer Linda McMahon body slams foes to win Connecticut GOP Senate primary."

"In a major come-from-behind upset, Democrat Daniel Malloy won the gubernatorial primary Tuesday night as Greenwich cable TV entrepreneur Ned Lamont conceded the race in a speech in Bridgeport," the Hartford Courant writes. "Malloy had been behind in the polls for more than six months, but he roared back with a strategy of targeting 'prime' voters who have a history of voting in Democratic primaries."

"Greenwich businessman Tom Foley has won the Republican nomination for Connecticut governor and will face former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy in November," the AP adds.

GEORGIA: As of 7:47 am ET this morning, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's headline: "Still too close to call" and "Deal 'cautiously optimistic' that lead will hold." From the story: "Making a 6 a.m. appearance on Channel 2 Action News, Deal said it's 'nice to be in the lead.' With 99 percent of the votes counted, Deal holds a 0.2 percent advantage over Karen Handel. He said military votes will likely not be in until Friday. Handel declined an invitation to appear on Channel 2." As of 7:48 am ET, results showed Deal with just a 2,489-vote lead out of almost 580,000 and just three precincts not yet reporting.

The "bruising Republican primary runoff for governor had no winner Wednesday as some 2,500 votes separated the two candidates, leaving the race too close to call and a re-count likely," the AP writes. "In unofficial returns, Nathan Deal and Karen Handel each claimed 50 percent of the vote with 99 percent of precincts reporting."

MINNESOTA: Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton's win "breathed new life into a political career that appeared dead after a futile U.S. Senate term. He now shoulders a party's hope of breaking a nearly 25-year losing streak in governor's races," the AP writes. Dayton will face Republican Tom Emmer, who "has a conservative track record as a legislator and got a boost from Sarah Palin's endorsement a day before the state Republican convention. Since then, he's had a few stumbles, including a furor over his suggestion that tips somehow be used to calculate restaurant server wages."

ARIZONA: "In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the House approved $600 million yesterday to pay for more surveillance drones and about 1,500 more agents along the troubled Mexican border," the AP writes. And look who was speaking out -- Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a freshman who is potentially vulnerable in her House bid. She said, "it’s time for the federal government 'to stop letting us down and start getting the job done' on tighter border security."

FLORIDA: "Democratic Senate candidates Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene continued ripping each other on ethics issues [yesterday] in the first debate between the primary rivals that will air statewide," the Palm Beach Post writes.

In an interview with Politico, Greene responds to Mike Tyson's extensive description of his travels with the Democratic Senate candidate. "But whatever Tyson was doing, Greene said, he didn’t do it around him or on his boat," Politico writes. "'We have a zero tolerance policy (for drugs), I always have and always will, on the boat…I’m not a drug-doer, I don’t even drink. I don’t drink coffee. I like nice wines with dinner,' but that’s extent of it, he added."

INDIANA: "A House Democrat on Tuesday took a subtle swipe at President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in his latest campaign ad," The Hill writes. "Two-term Rep. Joe Donnelly's (Ind.) TV spot features a photo of Obama, Pelosi and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) as he references the 'Washington crowd.'"

OHIO: "A day after his opponent released internal polling suggesting that the race for Ohio’s 18th district is a dead heat, Rep. Zack Space (D) is firing back," Roll Call reports. "The Space campaign announced that the Congressman has exceeded the $2 million fundraising mark for the cycle. Space showed more than $1.2 million in cash on hand at the end of June, far outpacing state Sen. Bob Gibbs (R), who reported just less than $210,000 in the bank." And: "Both House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and political strategist Dick Morris are set to visit the southeastern Ohio district on Gibbs’ behalf over the next week."

The AP on the still-undecided GOP gubernatorial run-off between Karen Handel and Nathan Deal in Georgia:

The bitter, Republican runoff for Georgia governor between former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal and ex-Secretary of
State Karen Handel may be too close to call.

In unofficial returns Tuesday night, the candidates each claimed 50 percent of the vote with 99 percent of precincts reporting. Just over 3,500 votes separated the two with an unknown number of provisional ballots as well as overseas and military ballots yet to be counted.

Under Georgia law, the runner-up can request a recount if the margin is less than one percent of the total vote.

The three-week runoff between Deal and Handel has featured brutal attack ads, dueling endorsements from Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich and tough talk on the campaign trail.

President Obama snaps his losing streak when dipping his toes into the electoral waters. The AP has just called Colorado's Democratic Senate primary for incumbent (and appointed) Sen. Michael Bennet. He defeated former state House speaker Andrew Romanoff.

Bennet will face the winner of the GOP primary between Ken Buck (who has 52% with 63% of precincts reporting) and Jane Norton (who has 48%).

No surprise here: The AP has called Connecticut's GOP Senate primary for WWE exec Linda McMahon, and she will face state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

But this can't be good news for McMahon. With 58% of precincts reporting, McMahon grabbed 49% -- less than the combined amount that primary opponents Rob Simmons (29%) and Peter Schiff (22%) received. A win is a win, of course, but do remember that Simmons had suspended his campaign until a few weeks ago.

One-time progressive hero Ned Lamont -- who beat Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic Senate primary, but then lost to him in the general when Lieberman ran as an indie -- lost to former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy in tonight's Democratic gubernatorial primary in Connecticut, per the AP.

In the GOP race for governor, with 46% of precincts reporting, former ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley leads Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, 43%-37%.