It is an absolutely gorgeous day along with the Preakness being in town this weekend and other big events, this will be it for today from me. I may have some pictures from Wine in the Woods over at Looking At Howard County later today or tomorrow.

New numbers from Scott Rasmussen in Alaska show John McCain with a decent lead over Barack Obama, but the US Senate seat appears to be a golden opportunity for a Democratic pick up.

PRESIDENT - ALASKA
John McCain (R) 50%
Barack Obama (D) 41%

US SENATE - ALASKA
Mark Begich (D) 47%
Ted Stevens (R-inc) 45%

Begich, according to the article with the poll, is the mayor of Anchorage. This poll was done May 14th among 500 likely voters. Meanwhile, the state of New Mexico after voting for President Bush four years ago, is heading into solid blue territory on both the Presidential and US Senate level.

PRESIDENT - NEW MEXICO
Barack Obama (D) 50%
John McCain (R) 41%

US SENATE - NEW MEXICO
Tom Udall (D) 57%
Heather Wilson (R) 36%

Tom Udall (D) 53%
Steve Pearce (R) 37%

This does give some confirmation to the poll from Survey USA for the New Mexico Senate race. This poll also moves New Mexico into Barack Obama’s Column and pulls him closer to John McCain in the Electoral College Watch. Obama now trails by a 296-242 margin. This poll was also done May 14th among 500 likely voters.

One last thing, John McCain is supposed to appear on Saturday night Live tonight in case anyone is interested….

American Research Group is out with new primary polls for the primaries on May 20th in Oregon and Kentucky.

PRESIDENT - KENTUCKY - DEM PRIMARY
Hillary 65%
Barack Obama 29%

PRESIDENT - OREGON - DEM PRIMARY
Barack Obama 50%
Hillary 45%

These polls were done May 14-15 among 600 likely voters in each state. Things could get interesting if Hillary takes down Obama in Oregon considering this was supposed to be the state that Obama would win to offset his embarrassing loss in West Virginia and coming loss in Kentucky.

Some General Election polls out today from Washington State and Maine. Republican US Senator Susan Collins from Maine holds a 10% lead over her Democratic challenger Tom Allen while Barack Obama has a 13% lead over John McCain in new polls from Scott Rasmussen.

PRESIDENT - MAINE
Barack Obama (D) 51%
John McCain (R) 38%

US SENATE - MAINE
Susan Collins (R-inc) 52%
Tom Allen (D) 42%

This poll was done May 14th among 500 likely voters. Also from Rasmussen is a new poll for the Washington State gubernatorial race that shows a recount probably will not be necessary this time around.

GOVERNOR - WASHINGTON STATE
Christine Gregoire (D-inc) 52%
Dino Rossi (R) 41%

This poll was done May 12th among 500 likely voters.

New general election match up pols from Scott Rasmussen in the states of Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas and Washington State.

PRESIDENT - IOWA
Barack Obama (D) 44%
John McCain (R) 42%

PRESIDENT - KANSAS
John McCain (R) 55%
Barack Obama (D) 34%

PRESIDENT - ARKANSAS
John McCain (R) 57%
Barack Obama (D) 33%

PRESIDENT - WASHINGTON STATE
Barack Obama (D) 51%
John McCain (R) 40%

If you really care about the McCain/Hillary match ups at this point, go to the respective state pages on the left-hand side.

Survey USA gives Republicans some horrendous news in their effort to keep the US Senate seat from New Mexico in GOO hands.

US SENATE - NEW MEXICO
Tom Udall (D) 61%
Heather Wilson (R) 35%

Tom Udall (D) 60%
Steve Pearce (R) 36%

What is even worse, both Republicans gave up US House seats for this futile effort, which now give Democrats two more open seats to go after. This poll was done May 12-14 among 1827 registered voters.

In Washington State, Barack Obama holds a 12% lead over John McCain in a new poll from Survey USA.

PRESIDENT - WASHINGTON STATE
Barack Obama (D) 54%
John McCain (R) 42%

Hillary (D) 49%
John McCain (R) 45%

This poll was done May 12th among 400 likely voters. For more polls from Washington State, click here.

That is all I am going to be able to get you today. It is going to be a long day for me on many fronts. For those in the neighborhood, don’t forget about tonight’s Howard County Republican Club Meeting at 7:00pm at the River Hill Sports Grille. For the rest of, talk about whatever you want….

Just breaking from Fox News.

Ending months of speculation, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards plans to endorse Barack Obama at a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., Wednesday evening.

I always love politicians who wait until a nomination is a foregone conclusion and then come out and endorse a candidate. Way to go out on a limb….

Two polls out for next week’s primary in Oregon after last night’s embarrassing defeat for Barack Obama. Public Policy Polling’s poll has Barack Obama with a double-digit lead.

PRESIDENT - OREGON - DEM PRIMARY (PPP)
Barack Obama 53%
Hillary 39%

This poll was done May 10-11 among 949 likely voters. A second poll from Davis, Hibbitts and Midghall has Obama ahead by 20%.

PRESIDENT - OREGON - DEM PRIMARY (Davis, Hibbitts, Midghall)
Barack Obama 55%
Hillary 35%

This poll was done May 8-10 among 400 likely voters.

Saxby Chambliss will have no problem holding onto the US Senate seat from Georgia according to Strategic Vision.

US SENATE - GEORGIA

Saxby Chambliss (R-inc) 58% Vernon Jones (D) 29% Saxby Chambliss (R-inc) 57% Dale Cardwell (D) 27%

Saxby Chambliss (R-inc) 58% Rand Knight (D) 25% Saxby Chambliss (R-inc) 57% Josh Lanier (D) 24%

And how bad are things for Hillary? Strategic Vision has stopped including her in head-to-head match ups against John McCain.

PRESIDENT - GEORGIA
John McCain (R) 54%
Barack Obama (D) 40%

This poll was done May 9-11 among 800 likely voters.

For more polls from Georgia, click here.

Public Policy Polling is out with a new poll for the North Carolina gubernatorial that shows a dead tie between Republican Pat McCrory and Democrat Bev Perdue.

GOVERNOR - NORTH CAROLINA
Pat McCrory (R) 45%
Bev Perdue (D) 45%

This poll was done May 8-9 among 616 likely voters.

For more polls from North Carolina, click here.

Busy, busy day. I guess American Research Group decided against releasing a final poll in West Virginia, which sort of surprises me. Usually they release last day polls. Neither did Suffolk University.

Polls close in West Virginia at 7:30. I am still trying to find a good election results site.

For the Special Election in Mississippi, polls close at 8:00 pm

There had only been thirteen of these in Major League Baseball history. Last night was number fourteen.

Only 14 times in 100+ years of baseball…sort of like Hillary’s odds of winning the Democratic nomination at this point….

While the WV primary is tonight, don’t forget we also have the Special Election in the First District of Mississippi where Republicans will desperately be trying to hang on to another US House seat. The Democrat came within 0.56% of garnering 50% in the first round and winning the seat outright.

More from that Research 2000 poll from Kentucky, this time the US Senate race.

US SENATE - KENTUCKY
Mitch McConnell (R-inc) 48%
Bruce Lunsford (D) 36%

Mitch McConnell (R-inc) 47%
Greg Fischer (D) 35%

This poll was done May 7-9 among 600 likely voters. The same poll yesterday showed Lunsford with a 20% lead over Fischer in the Democratic primary.

For more polls from Kentucky, click here.

Two new polls from Survey USA put Hillary well ahead of Barack Obama in Kentucky while Barack Obama holds a smaller lead, although still in double digits, in Oregon.

PRESIDENT - KENTUCKY - DEM PRIMARY
Hillary 62%
Barack Obama 30%

PRESIDENT - OREGON - DEM PRIMARY
Barack Obama 54%
Hillary 43%

These polls were done Mary 9-11 among 641 likely voters in KY and 615 likely voters in OR. Seeing that she should romp in WV tomorrow night and holds a dominant lead in Kentucky, Hillary could put a serious chink in Obama’s armor should she want to by spending all her time in Oregon with the hopes maybe pulling out a victory. On the flip side, seems to me Obama needs to spend as much money in Oregon to make sure he wins big in Oregon and puts the Democratic race away….

It looks like John McCain will have an easier time dispatching his Democratic opponent than sitting Senator will have dispatching hers. At least that is what the folks over at Public Policy Polling are claiming.

PRESIDENT - NORTH CAROLINA
John McCain (R) 49%
Barack Obama (D) 42%

John McCain (R) 46%
Hillary (D) 38%

US SENATE - NORTH CAROLINA
Elizabeth Dole (R-inc) 48%
Kay Hagan (D) 43%

This poll was done May 8-9 among 616 likely voters. For more polls from North Carolina, click here.