Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Saturday, Feb. 11

[livvy]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.



Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

If you can:
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.



Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[livvy]

1. Alaska : State to turn over voting files from 2004 to Democrats

Original post by Blue_In_AK
Discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x412463


By RACHEL D'ORO
The Associated Press

The state plans to turn over recently barred electronic voting files from the 2004 election to the Alaska Democratic Party, an official said Thursday. Elections director Whitney Brewster said officials expect to submit a proposed plan to the Democratic party by Monday, the agreed-upon deadline.

<SNIP>

The Division of Elections in late January rejected the party's request for the files, saying the data format belonged to a private company and could not be made public. But Diebold Election Systems Inc., which provided Alaska's electronic voting machines, agreed to waive propriety rights to the files, the North Canton, Ohio-based company said in a Jan. 31 letter to the division.

<snip>

In the Alaska election, Democrats point out, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, appeared to have received 226,992 votes in a district-by-district tally in her successful election bid. But official totals show Murkowski got only 149,446 votes. Brewster blamed the discrepancy on a faulty tabulating method. In 2004, the state allowed residents to cast their ballots as many as 15 days early at four regional centers. On election night, however, those votes were added in their entirety to results tabulated within each separate district -- which skewed the total numbers.

<snip>

Democrats contend the discrepancies go beyond early votes. There also were problems with absentee and questioned ballots, said Kay Brown, a spokeswoman with the Alaska Democratic Party. "Overall there are multiple errors in the presentation of the votes," Brown said. "We want to make sense of the numbers. The numbers do not add up. ... The public deserves clean, clear straightforward reports."

<snip>
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7434587p-7345457c.html
(probably need a subscription to view) I was able to view the article without subscription...livvy

[livvy]

2. Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x412463

edited to correct link

[Mnemosyne]

3. Great animation livvy!

And the sig pic is awesome! I'm printing as I type for my front door!

Thanks! K&R

V

[livvy]

5. Thanks! If you'd like a link to higher resolution it's here....

One for cheney, too. Help yourself!:-) I've got them on my car.
http://photobucket.com/albums/a181/livvy2/Signs/

[Mnemosyne]

21. Those are awesome! And the pukes will have to think

for a minute before they catch on. :rofl:

Thank you livvy, you are a peach! :hi:

V

[livvy]

4. Republican Chief Outlines 2006 Strategy

By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer Fri Feb 10, 9:22 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Republican national chairman Ken Mehlman on Friday outlined a political strategy for 2006 to portray Democrats as too weak to protect the country and to bypass the mainstream media to spread the GOP message.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Mehlman roused the crowd at a Washington hotel to cheers as he told them
President Bush had finally responded to decades of terrorist attacks.

"For a generation, terrorists learned they could make war on free nations without fear of war in return," Mehlman said, adding that Bush understood how to respond. "On Sept. 12, the terrorists got war in return.">snip

John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations, keynoted the conference dinner, sketching out the Bush administration's efforts to reform the U.N.>more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060211/ap_on_re_us/conservatives;_ylt=Al0EiuSpUadd463S9JX_TPCyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[livvy]

6. Pa. GOP Leaders Endorse Former Steeler

By PETER JACKSON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania's Republican Party leaders endorsed former Pittsburgh Steelers star Lynn Swann for governor on Saturday, virtually guaranteeing that he will be the GOP standard-bearer against Democratic incumbent Ed Rendell this fall.>snip


Swann is seeking to become Pennsylvania's first black governor. Though he has revealed little about his political philosophy, he has said the Democratic Party has "taken the African-American vote for granted."

This is a very short 4 paragraph thing. The rest can be found here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060211/ap_on_el_gu/pennsylvania_governor_swann;_ylt=AhJtrwSN2x8BeKjsbGjkWWGyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[livvy]

7. Democrats look for gains in governors' races

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent Fri Feb 10, 2:35 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats are positioned for gains in governors' races in November and could capture governorships in many big battleground states, giving the party an early edge in the 2008 fight for the White House.

Republicans must defend 22 of the 36 governors' offices on the ballot in November, including eight states where the incumbent retired or is barred from running again. Democrats defend 14 governorships but only one in which the incumbent is not running.

The lopsided political map, along with a tough national election climate for Republicans, put Democrats in a strong position to pick up at least the four governorships needed for a national majority. Republicans hold 28 governorships to 22 for Democrats.>snip

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, chairman of the Democratic Governors' Association and a candidate for re-election this year, said he anticipated a net gain of five or six governorships for his party.>more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060210/pl_nm/usa_politics_governors_dc;_ylt=AkTMa51ZpazXcyYiAkEhKrNWr7sF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[livvy]

8. PASS HR 550: Voter Verified Paper Ballots

by Allen L. Roland, PhD

PASS H.R. 550 / VOTER VERIFIED PAPER BALLOTS

One bill -- H.R. 550 -- could be the most important bill your Representative co-sponsors this year.

The "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act" (H.R.550) is the "gold standard" of voter verifiability legislation, requiring not only voter-verified paper records but also mandatory manual audits to confirm that voting machines are working properly.

The voter-verified paper record is the "bottom line" ~ without it we can't have reliable elections. This bill continues to gain momentum, with 156 Republican and Democrat co-sponsors to date, but more co-sponsors are needed. More than half of the states already have enacted voter-verified paper record requirements, but to protect all votes we need this bill.

You can help: please make sure your Representative co-sponsors H.R. 550 immediately.

Links to Take Action and to Roland's weblog found at:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_allen_l__060209_pass_hr_550_3a__voter_.htm

[livvy]

9. Editorial: NYT Voting Rights Under Siege

Published: February 10, 2006

American laws that strip convicted felons of the right to vote, barring nearly five million from the polls in the last election, are the most punitive and regressive laws of their kind in the democratic world. Several states have recently softened or eliminated the voting bans, and many others are considering laws that could eventually establish voting as a basic American right that should never be curtailed in a way that bars a whole class of people from the polls.

This attitude is gaining traction even in the Deep South, which pioneered voting bans to disenfranchise black Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the new trend toward fairness has somehow vaulted over Pennsylvania, where the Republican majority in the State House is pushing to pass one of the most odious felon-voting bans ever seen above the Mason-Dixon line.> 2 more paragraphs

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/opinion/10fri2.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[livvy]

10. NC: Board refers two to DA

Saturday, February 11, 2006
Board refers two to DA
Official says laws possibly broken

By David Rice
JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU

RALEIGH

The State Board of Elections referred the political-fundraising cases of former state Rep. Michael Decker and M. Scott Edwards, the treasurer of the N.C. Optometric Society PAC, to the Wake County district attorney yesterday for possible criminal prosecution.

"It appears to this board that the criminal laws may have been violated, and (we are) requesting that he make his own determination," said Larry Leake, the chairman of the elections board.

The action followed 21/2 days oftestimony in which optom-e-trists from across the state said they routinely sent Edwards 10 to 12 signed checks for $100 each with the "payee" line left blank so Edwards could determine how to distribute the money.

It also followed testimony from House Speaker Jim Black on Thursday that he filled out the "payee" line on at least three checks, including a $4,000 check from Edwards that went to Decker. He is the Walkertown Republican who helped Black stay in power as speaker by switching parties in January 2003.>more

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834025081&path=!localnews&s=1037645509099

[livvy]

11. More links on the issue....

N.C. elections board seeks criminal probe

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The State Board of Elections asked prosecutors Friday to investigate possible campaign finance violations by a former lawmaker and a political action committee leader, but it delayed any decision on House Speaker Jim Black's campaign.

The decisions came hours after a board investigator testified that former Rep. Michael Decker and Michael Scott Edwards, a leader of the North Carolina State Optometric Society's political action committee, appeared to have broken the law.>more
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Campaign_Finance_NC.html

Posted on Sat, Feb. 11, 2006
How common are blank checks?
Black cites attorneys' group, but PAC says it doesn't take blanks
JIM MORRILL
[e-mail]

RALEIGH - When the chairman of the State Elections Board asked House Speaker Jim Black this week if other groups made political donations like the state's optometrists have, he had a ready answer.

"Yes, yours," Black replied to Larry Leake, an attorney.>more
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/13846217.htm

Elections Board Forwards Findings To Wake DA

POSTED: 11:07 am EST February 10, 2006
UPDATED: 3:44 pm EST February 10, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The State Board of Elections voted unanimously Friday to turn over information gathered in a hearing about potential campaign finance violations to authorities for possible criminal prosecution.

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby will receive information pertaining to former state Rep. Michael Decker, R-Forsyth, and Michael Scott Edwards, a former director of the political action committee for the N.C. State Optometric Society.>more

http://www.nbc17.com/news/6905867/detail.html

There are other links to this issue here:
http://news.google.com/nwshp?tab=wn&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official_s&ned=us&ncl=http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite%3Fpagename%3DWSJ%252FMGArticle%252FWSJ_BasicArticle%26c%3DMGArticle%26cid%3D1137834025081%26path%3D!localnews%26s%3D1037645509099&hl=en

[livvy]

12. OK: State Rep. Pushes Primary Election Reform Legislation

State representative pushes primary election reform legislation

Special to the E-E

OKLAHOMA CITY - Some primary elections could soon be open to all voters under legislation filed by a local state representative.

“Many registered voters in Oklahoma must pretend to be something they are not in order to take part in Oklahoma's election process,” Rep. Steve Martin (R-Bartlesville). “In some areas where Republicans dominate, Democrats and Independents must register as Republicans if they want to have a voice in local elections; in other areas Democrats are the majority party, and Republicans and Independents must register to vote as Democrats.”

In the event that all candidates for an office are of the same political party, Martin's House Bill 2686 would allow all registered voters to vote in that primary election. If candidates from two or more parties file for an office, the primary election would remain closed as it is under current law.>more

http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2006/02/08/news/2524.txt

[livvy]

13. MA : Health Care Ammendment Gaining Momentum

Health Care Amendment Campaign Gaining Momentum; Supporters Plan Action for May 10th Constitutional
by: Rand Wilson
February 10, 2006 at 16:52:52 EST

BOSTON, MA - February 10, 2006 - Representatives from 30 labor and community groups have joined 50 other organizations committed to support passage of the Health Care Amendment that would guarantee every Massachusetts resident access to affordable coverage for medically necessary health and mental health care services. The amendment will be on the agenda of the Constitutional Convention slated to meet again on May 10th.

The Health Care Constitutional Amendment is receiving growing support as more and more groups see it as an essential foundation for real reform. On January 25th representatives from 30 labor and community groups statewide met with members of the campaign to discuss an action plan. The groups agreed that getting the Amendment on the ballot is critical for achieving comprehensive health care coverage for every Massachusetts resident that is affordable and fair. The amendment needs 50 votes at the next ConCon to qualify for the November ballot.>snip

The constitutional amendment would require the state to guarantee every Massachusetts resident access to affordable coverage for medically necessary health and mental health care services including prescription drugs and devices - but the amendment does not restrict the Legislature on how to provide that access. Sent to legislators as a ballot petition by 71,385 registered voters in July of '04, the Amendment received overwhelming, preliminary approval with 153 votes - far surpassing the required 50. The Amendment must now receive a second "yes" vote by 50 legislators at the upcoming Constitutional Convention in May, and then go to voters in November 2006 for final ratification. Once the laws are enacted to ensure universal coverage, proposed plans will go to voters for their approval.>snip

The text of the proposed Constitutional amendment reads:
"Upon ratification of this amendment and thereafter, it shall be the obligation and duty of the Legislature and executive officials, on behalf of the Commonwealth, to enact and implement such laws, subject to approval of the voters at a state wide election, as will ensure that no Massachusetts resident lacks comprehensive, affordable, and equitably finance health insurance coverage for all medically necessary preventive, acute and chronic health care and mental health care services, prescription drugs and devices.">more

http://www.bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1448

[livvy]

14. Human rights advocate with Indiana connections dies

Posted on Sat, Feb. 11, 2006

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Willie Grace Campbell, who spent five decades promoting human rights and women's empowerment and whose influence reached to the White House, has died. She was 90.

Campbell died of congestive heart failure at her home here on Monday, said her daughter, Nancy Duff Campbell, co-president of the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C.

President Clinton appointed Campbell board vice chairwoman of the African Development Foundation in the 1990s, and she held the post until her death.>snip

She went on to join the national board and for more than five decades worked through various organizations to promote civil rights in the United States and abroad, especially for women. During the 1960s, she helped launch voter education projects in six cities and in 1965 took part in the first White House Conference on Civil Rights.>more

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/13849058.htm

[livvy]

15. Georgia's Bible bills gaining support, raising questions

Posted on Sat, Feb. 11, 2006

DOUG GROSS
Associated Press

ATLANTA - An election-year flurry of religion-based proposals are cruising through Georgia's Legislature this season - even as critics say they may land the state in court for tinkering with the line between church and state.

A push to teach the Bible in public schools, a renewed take on displaying the Ten Commandments at courthouses and even a measure ensuring government employees and students can say "Merry Christmas" without repercussions have won support from members of both parties.

All three measures passed at least one chamber of the Legislature last week by overwhelming votes.>snip

"In both of these cases, I think the Legislature is wading into Constitutional quicksand," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State.>more

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/13848819.htm

[livvy]

16. Open Voting Through Open Source Opens Society by Alex S. Gabor

February 11, 2006

Open Voting Through Open Source Opens Society

Alex S. Gabor

George Soros Supports Open Source Software in Election Systems

Recent hearings begun in California on the use of “open source software” have heated up the debate on voter and election frauds and where it can or should be used in our electoral system while a parallel development on the issue of voting rights has been filed in a lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuit challenges the use of voting machines and absentee voting in elections for public office.

The hearings focus on the issue of making elections more transparent and accurate. Companies such as Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia, Hart, InterCivic who provide computerized voting systems using proprietary software have been unusually silent on the issues slowly creeping before the California Legislature and at the Supreme Court.

In what has become a major national political platform for Progressive Democrats, whose leaders include political activists Mimi Kennedy, Cindy Asner, and Cindy Sheehan, who most recently announced she would not run against Senator Diane Feinstein, the open source open voting issue has become a major hot button.

The lawsuit was originally filed by freelance journalist Lynn Landes in July of 2004 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Landes. Well-known brand names in the open source software industry are Firefox, Linux, and Red Hat. A number of government agencies and operations have been migrating their software systems to open source software such as the Department of Defense, the State of Massachusetts, and the California Air Resources. Part of the debate and controversy centers around whether voting systems that rely on proprietary software, such as Diebold, should be re-certified for use in California for the 2006 elections.>more

http://www.opinioneditorials.com/freedomwriters/agabor_20060211.html

[livvy]

17. VT: Politics is a rough and tumble sport unlike any other

Politics is a rough and tumble sport unlike any other

By Christopher Graff, Associated Press Writer | February 11, 2006

MONTPELIER, Vt. --Martha Rainville and Richard Tarrant have made their marks in very different worlds.>snip

Rainville is running for the U.S. House; Tarrant for the U.S. Senate.

Neither has ever held a publicly elected +political+ office.>snip

"Traditionally, Vermonters have liked to have their national delegates to have some experience in elective office," said Gregory Sanford, state archivist.

But more than experience in elective office is at play here.>more

http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2006/02/11/politics_is_a_rough_and_tumble_sport_unlike_any_other/

[livvy]

18. Updates On Franklin County Voting Machine Allocation Debate

http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/blog.htm


Saturday, February 11, 2006

Updates on Franklin County voting machine allocation debate
Walter Mebane (Cornell University) has updated his research paper on the Franklin County (Ohio) voting machine allocation debate. His updated paper is available from his website.

Walter's updated analysis includes some newly received data from Franklin County. Here is a snip of the email that Walter sent to the electionlaw listserv regarding his updated database and his new analysis of that data:

Late in the afternoon on February 8, 2006, Matt Damschroder, Director of the Board of Elections in Franklin County, Ohio, responded via email to several questions I had asked Franklin County officials about data they had sent me pertaining to their voting machine allocation decisions for the 2004 general electon (to be precise, he responded to a message sent by my research assistant). We had asked the Franklin County Board of Elections to supply the count of voters in each precinct that they used to make the machine allocations. In response they had sent us several files on January 23, 2006. We then asked, among other questions, which of several alternative formulas matched the measure used to make the allocation decisions. Damschroder's message was in response to those questions.

In light of Damschroder's detailed responses, I now believe that the data provided by Franklin County do not allow us to recover the information or the decision rules Franklin County officials used to allocate voting machines to precincts for the 2004 general election.>more

I have accordingly updated my paper posted at

http://macht.arts.cornell.edu/wrm1/franklin2.pdf


http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/blog.html

There are other updates on the page at the link above from previous dates.

[Wilms]

19. Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x412426

[livvy]

20. OH: Gubernatorial front-runners come out swinging at debate

http://www.dispatch.com/images/2005/v3-images/top-logo.gi

FIRST FIVE-WAY DISCUSSION

Saturday, February 11, 2006
Joe Hallett
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Attorney General Jim Petro piled on Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell who piled on U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland who told Blackwell to stop wagging a finger at him.


The first debate featuring Ohio’s five announced candidates for governor didn’t disintegrate into a slugfest, but the rhetorical sparring was lively entertainment for more than 100 editors and reporters at ringside while in town yesterday for the annual Ohio Newspaper Association convention.

GOP candidates Blackwell and Petro, and Democratic candidates Strickland, state Sen. Eric D. Fingerhut and former state Rep. Bryan Flannery engaged in a surprisingly substantive exchange that focused heavily on Blackwell’s controversial tax and expenditure limitation, or TEL, amendment headed for the Nov. 7 ballot.

Blackwell wasted little time trying to define the race as a contest between him and Strickland, the Democratic front-runner, by scolding the congressman for showing "your unsophisticated inexperience at the state level." Strickland fired back after Blackwell sought to distance himself from a Republican-controlled state government awash in scandal. >more

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/11/20060211-A1-03.html

[livvy]

22. OR: Court sends ballot titles back for rewrites

Court sends ballot titles back for rewrites
The Associated Press
Published: Saturday, February 11, 2006

SALEM - The Oregon Supreme Court has ordered the attorney general to rewrite the ballot titles of three proposed initiatives, including one that would require parents to be notified before their 15- to 17-year-old has an abortion.

The other initiatives were filed by 1000 Friends of Oregon, a land use group that seeks to dampen the effect of Measure 37.

The parental notification initiative, sponsored by Oregon Right to Life, includes exceptions for emergencies and sets civil penalties for doctors who don't comply. >snip

The land use measures were challenged by Oregonians in Action, which sponsored Measure 37. Passed by voters in 2004, Measure 37 allows landowners to seek compensation from state and local governments if land use restrictions lessen their property value.>more

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/02/11/d3.or.ballotwording.0211.p1.php

[livvy]

23. Newest Senator Assails Bush's Budget Plan

By JEFFREY GOLD, Associated Press Writer Sat Feb 11, 11:09 AM ET

TRENTON, N.J. - The budget proposed by
President Bush adds to middle-class burdens while providing greater benefits for the wealthy and oil companies, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Saturday.

"This is a budget that does more than ignore the problems facing the middle class — it actually makes them worse," Menendez said in the Democrats' weekly radio address.

"At the same time, the budget includes a wide variety of handouts to the president's special-interest friends, including billions of dollars of wasteful spending that would help add $4 trillion to our nation's debt," said Menendez, the nation's newest senator.>snip

Meanwhile, Menendez said: "The president proposes spending $648 billion on tax breaks for those earning more than $1 million. That's more than six times the amount needed to restore the president's proposed cuts in Medicare.">more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060211/ap_on_go_co/democrats_budget;_ylt=AodXAbwosoW71YEVJyd1FiGyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[livvy]

24. Photo With Bush Helps Congressman's Rival

By T.A. BADGER, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 10, 1:27 PM ET

SAN ANTONIO - A photo of
President Bush cupping the cheeks of Rep. Henry Cuellar at last week's State of the Union address has been the gift that keeps on giving for Cuellar's chief rival for the Democratic nomination. >snip

Cuellar's Democratic rival, Ciro Rodriguez, has produced a leaflet centered around the photo. It reads: "
George Bush thinks Henry Cuellar is `chulo'" — Spanish slang for "pretty boy." >snip

:rofl: (sorry for editorializing, but this really made me laugh)

But the Rodriguez campaign said the picture has generated more than $80,000 in contributions in little more than a week and given a major boost to his supporters a month before the Democratic primary.

"The saying goes, `A picture tells you a thousand words,'" Rodriguez said. "Well, in this case, it's gone beyond a thousand, especially on the dollars." >more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060210/ap_on_el_ho/cheeky_photo;_ylt=AnHvCEvssRu5C8e4ztER3.SyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[livvy]

25. Democrats Favored in Congressional Race

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

February 10, 2006
Democrats Favored in Congressional Race
A Pew Research survey finds Democrats with "a sizable lead in the congressional horse race and an advantage on most major issues." In a generic ballot, Democrats lead by 50% to 41% among registered voters andretain "a huge advantage on traditional party strengths like the environment and health care." Democrats also lead the ability "to deal with the economy (by 46%-36%) and reform the federal government (42%-29%). Terrorism, and to a lesser extent crime, remain the GOP's only strong issues."

The latest Fox News poll shows similar results, with Democrats seens as "better at handling an array of key issues and gaining public trust on some areas traditionally considered Republican strengths." By a margin of 42% to 34%, Americans think Democrats should take control of Congress in this year's elections.>snip, but there is really only one more sentence.
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/02/10/democrats_favored_in_congressional_race.html

If you follow the link in that last sentence, it takes you to this page, which contains predictions for the 2006 elections.

First Comprehensive 2006 House Forecast, Part I
by Chris Bowers, Fri Feb 10, 2006 at 01:01:09 AM EST

Well, it took me an entire day, but I have finally done a comprehensive investigation into the House situation in 2006. Let me just say that this is a lot more complicated than doing a Senate forecast, which is probably why in 2004 I just left the entire task to Jerome. Now, however, after acquiring a lot of insider data and spending twelve hours pouring over it, I feel comfortable making a House forecast. This ground work will also allow me to make updates on this forecast in less time in the future.

Frankly, I think this is a really good forecast, and I would really like you to read the whole thing. It may be my first comprehensive House forecast, and it may not be at the level of pros like Charlie Cook, but this is at least as good as any free report you will come across.

For those of you who can't be bothered to read my 2,000 word posts, I'll just cut right to the chase. I currently forecast a 12-seat gain for Democrats. This post will cover the twelve individual districts that Democrats are already in a position to win. Posts later today will cover districts where Democrats have everything in place except enough money, and districts where Democrats are close, but I don't see a Demcoratic pickup yet.>more

The races are listed below that he's making predictions about, including AZ, CO, CA, CT, FL, IA, IN, KY, NM, PA, and TX.

Here is the link:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/2/10/119/32630