Cook Political Report rates Alabama Senate race a "toss up"

[riversedge]

Source: al.reporter








Published 46 mins ago on December 24, 2019



In what might seem surprising to some, The Cook Political Report, last week, moved U.S. Senator Democrat Doug Jones’ re-elected bid into the “Toss-up” category.

“A year into this election cycle, the overall Senate landscape generally looks much like I thought it would,” writes The Cook Political Report’s Jennifer E. Duffy. “The races that seemed likely to be the most competitive are, in fact, the most competitive today. And, if the race ratings don’t quite reflect it yet, Democrats appear to have expanded the playing field enough to put Republicans’ majority at risk.”

Jones’ campaign cites strong Q3 fundraising and recent legislative victories as reasons to be optimistic.


“Democratic strategists argue that Jones does have a path to victory, but they also acknowledge that he needs a few breaks,” notes Duffy.

Democratic polls show a tight race in 2020 depending on who wins Alabama’s Republican Primary. Currently, former U.S. Senator and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is narrowly leading the field of contenders. Still, a recent ALFA survey finds Sessions in a statistical dead heat with former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville.

.................

Read more: https://www.alreporter.com/2019/12/24/cook-political-report-rates-alabama-senate-race-a-toss-up/

---

I am sure tons of dark Repug PAC moneywill be raining onto ALabama.

Link to tweet

?s=20

[paleotn]

1. Repug PAC money raining into AL? That's a good thing....

They're having to spend significantly to hold what's usually safe seats. So there's less to spend in ME, CO, AZ and NC....the most likely Dem pick ups. In my mind, Jones' 2017 race was a fluke driven by an extraordinarily bad R candidate. It takes someone as fucked up as Roy Moore to flip an AL Senate seat. But now it's a toss up? That gives me a thrill. That will be a cherry on top of flipping the Senate. Oh, and SC. Wouldn't that be a hoot sending Lindsey packing. One can dream.

[SergeStorms]

7. The RNC has deep pockets.

They're setting records for fund-raising. Of course Citizens United prevents us from seeing whose pockets that money is coming from, but it's pretty much a no-brainer that it's billionaires Trump has enriched beyond belief with his tax cuts and regulation slashing. Then, of course, there's "mother Russia", the Saudis, and every other dictatorship Trump turns a blind eye to. They'd all dearly love seeing Trump re-elected.

[not_the_one]

8. sounds like a job for some good, investigative journalists

I believe the way it works is you dig, and you dig, and you dig, and you dig, and eventually you find something that will lead to some more digging, where you find more stuff, rinse and repeat...

Nothing should be impossible to find out. Look at all the stuff about Ukraine that wasn't supposedly available to the public...

And I also don't understand why American hackers are such a worthless, unpatriotic lot. You'd think they would be all over this like chocolate on a Brooklyn Brownie. (Mmmmm, it has been a long time since I had a Brooklyn Brownie...)

Our hackers are clearly inferior to the Russkies.

[SergeStorms]

9. With all the lies and dirty deeds perpetrated by TrumpCo.

we'd need hundreds of thousands of investigative journalists working 24/7 just to keep up. I guess they pick which lie or dirty deed they want to investigate and go with it. I think there are still journalists working on Trump stories from his inauguration. There are just too damned many!

[Hortensis]

2. Reelected Doug Jones. Wouldn't that say something about Alabamans?!

I like the term "cable news non-troversies." So true. "Non-troversies." So many different words for lies these days.

[CaptainTruth]

3. What was the Cook rating moved from? Lean, Likely, or Solid R?

Without knowing the previous rating you can't assess the significance of the move. It bugs me when reporters leave out basic factual info like that.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I'm not getting what they are trying to say either

Just from a few google searches, Cook Polifical Report has had Doug Jones in "Toss-up" since at least as far back as March of this year - https://cookpolitical.com/analysis/senate/alabama-senate/alabama-senate-opponent-means-move-toss and I don't think it ever moved that race to lean/likely/solid of either party since.

[Bradical79]

5. I think they were refering to people like me

I hadn't been paying attention to the actual polls and projections and just assumed Doug Jones' victory was an aberration made possible by a Republican candidate who preyed on underage girls. I think there's a lot of people like me out there.

[FBaggins]

10. It's been rated as a tossup since at least March

I'm not sure where the article is getting their information from. Cook's site allows you to look at their predictions by change dates.

https://cookpolitical.com/ratings/senate-race-ratings/192341

It's also hard to spin this as good news for Jones... since "tossup" is the worst an incumbent will get from Cook this far out.

[cstanleytech]

6. A strategy the Democrats might want to try might be to pour some extra money into Kentucky

to attack Moscow Mitch forcing the Republicans then to spend even more resources to defend their own Senate Majority leader as if it looks even more likely that they will lose his seat it might panic them nationwide.