From AP via the San Francisco Chronicle (H/T to Gene Berkman):
Massachusetts independent Timothy Cahill filed a lawsuit Thursday against former operatives who recently defected from his campaign, saying they conspired to get his running mate Paul Loscocco to quit the ticket, and were working with national Republicans to pass along confidential information that would undermine his candidacy for governor.
One of the aides, former campaign manager Adam Meldrum, issued a statement saying the lawsuit was a ruse to prevent him from gaining whistleblower status. He said he has been planning to present the attorney general with evidence of illegal coordination between the Massachusetts Lottery, which Cahill heads as state treasurer, and his political campaign.
In a statement accompanying his lawsuit, Cahill said the conspiracy against him was aimed at benefiting his Republican gubernatorial rival, Charles Baker, who has been running about even with the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Deval Patrick.
GENERAL POLITICS:
Republicans have the upper hand in races and are likely to gain seats up and down the ballot given a troubling climate for Democrats.
The GOP is looking to its strength among gubernatorial nominees, in particular, to help it pick up the 40 seats it needs to win power in the House. It’s more likely than the Senate to change hands; the GOP would need to gain 10 seats there.
“In a midterm election where turnout could be a key factor in deciding which party holds a majority in Congress, enthusiasm for GOP candidates at the top of the ticket will benefit Republicans in battleground districts,” said Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, the chairman of the House Republicans’ campaign committee.
But David Plouffe, a Democratic National Committee senior adviser, predicted that Democrats will do better than expected in key races.
Said Plouffe: “If we continue to show progress gradually ……….. we’re going to win some of these close elections. We’re going to surprise people.”
Republican and Democratic strategists say House control is up for grabs ………
http://www.news.yahoo.com
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY:
To find out whether such physiological responses were also related to political action, Michael Gruszczynski, also at Nebraska, and colleagues asked 51 people about their degree of political participation, such as whether they voted or had ever contacted government officials.
The researchers then ran tiny currents across the volunteers’ skin to monitor how much they perspired as they looked at pictures of sunsets, cute animals, fist fights and vomit – pictures already known to evoke an automatic sweat response.
The team found that the more a person sweated in reaction to the pictures, the more likely they were to actively participate in politics – with those whose perspiration increased the most around twice as likely to participate in political action as those who perspired the least.
[Lake: smallish sample]
http://www.newscientist.com