From David Lauter’s L.A. Times post, “Democratic strategists prescribe populism to cure party ills“: “Stanley Greenberg, who has advocated populist economic arguments since before his stint as Bill Clinton’s White House polling chief, made a similar argument this week in releasing a new survey of voters in 12 Senate battleground states. The poll showed that some voter groups that are key to Democratic chances are significantly “underperforming” relative to 2012, Greenberg said. That’s bad news for Democrats. But the survey, which tested the impact of different political arguments on voter intentions, indicated that a “populist economic narrative” could motivate those voters, even in states that traditionally lean Republican. The subjects Greenberg tested included raising the minimum wage, stronger laws to guarantee equal pay for women, closing corporate tax loopholes and raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.”

Democrat Paul Davis leads by 8 points in KSN News poll in bid to take KS governorship away from Republican Sam Brownback.

At latinpost.com Nicole Rojas reports that “Latino Voter Turnout Likely Down in 2014, but Immigration Reform Will Still Affect Results.” Rojas quotes Patrick Oakford of the Center for American Progress: “Colorado has one of the fastest growing Latino electorates in the United States, and a lot of the races right now in Colorado are really close. So the Latino vote will matter,” Oakford said…Latinos will particularly be influential in Colorado 6th District, where incumbent Republican Congressman Mike Coffman will face off against Democrat Andrew Romanoff. “It’s a really close election. Mike Coffman narrowly won his previous election, and Latinos are going to be crucial to that,” Oakford said.”

NYT’s Jeremy W. Peters reports that anti-choicers are polishing their message with a new spin that sounds like it’s from Frank Luntz’s playbook.

At Pew Research Center Drew DeSilver addresses one of the most consequential of questions of electoral politics in the U.S., “Voter turnout always drops off for midterm elections, but why?” Lots of good numbers and analysis here, but could it be as simple as the reality that low-information voters are more likely to cast a ballot in presidential elections?

After reading Aaron Blake’s “Americans hate Congress. They will totally teach it a lesson by not voting,” noting that turnout was twice as high in percentage terms 50 years ago, I wondered if maybe many Americans are too time-challenged/exhausted to get informed about local elections.

At The National Journal Norm Ornstein posts on “The Existential Battle for the Soul of the GOP: What happens when extremism becomes mainstream?,” and observes “The most interesting, and important, dynamic in American politics today is the existential struggle going on in the Republican Party between the establishment and the insurgents–or to be more accurate, between the hard-line bedrock conservatives (there are only trace elements of the old-line center-right bloc, much less moderates) and the radicals.” Ornstein then presents a remarkable catalogue of radical right-wing crazy talk. This one should be a keeper/sharer. Ornstein concludes, “when one looks at the state of Republican public opinion (especially among the likely caucus and primary voters), at the consistent and persistent messages coming from the information sources they follow, and at the supine nature of congressional leaders and business leaders in countering extremism, it is not at all likely that what passes for mainstream, problem-solving conservatism will dominate the Republican Party anytime soon.”
NAACP set to make voter suppression the central focus of its annual convention, which begins Saturday.

At Bloomberg News Mike Dorning explains why “Obamacare Fight Carries Risks for Republicans in 2016 Swing States.”