Hotline Sort: Clinton Delivers in Clutch

By Josh Kraushaar  //  September 6, 2012 | 7:30 a.m.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misstated the presidential results in the Connecticut 5th District poll. President Obama led Mitt Romney 50 percent to 46 percent in the survey.

Welcome back to Hotline Sort. The DCCC ties Chris Gibson to Paul Ryan, the RNC argues women just aren't that into the president, the RGA goes negative on Inslee and Clinton delivers a classic at the convention.

13) A week after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released an internal poll showing Connecticut 5th District nominee Elizabeth Esty leading GOP nominee Andrew Roraback 44 percent to 35 percent, Roraback is countering with his own poll today showing him up by a similar margin, 42 percent to 35 percent over Esty. Connecticut has unexpectedly become a political battleground over the last few weeks as GOP Senate nominee Linda McMahon has drawn even in polling with Democrat Chris Murphy. The 5th District is the least Democratic district in the state, so if McMahon is to perform well she would have to do well in this district, and it's not hard to see how that would help Roraback. Today's Republican poll shows President Obama at 50 percent and Mitt Romney at 46 percent, which would be a six-point drop-off from Obama's 2008 performance.

The survey was conducted by National Research from Sept. 3-4 (meaning part of the sample was collected on Labor Day) and surveyed 400 likely voters. The margin of error is 4.9 percentage points.

12) Count California 24th District Republican nominee Abel Maldonado among the raft of House candidates launching their first ads this week. Maldonado touts his business experience with his family farming operation and intones against Washington, without mentioning his incumbent opponent, Democratic Rep. Lois Capps. Maldonado rose to prominence in the California GOP as a state legislator and then lieutenant governor, but like nearly every challenger so far this cycle, Maldonado makes no mention of his government experience in his first spot.

11) Reindeer rancher Kerry Bentivolio won a special election primary Wednesday night, which will give him a head start in Congress if he defeats Democrat Syed Taj for the Michigan House seat of former Rep. Thad McCotter in November.

Bentivolio will appear twice on the ballot in November - one for the remainder of McCotter's term, and one for the following two years.

10) The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee went up with a new ad against freshman Rep. Chris Gibson - one of the first that features a photo of Paul Ryan himself in an ad to attack a Republican congressman

9) The RGA is up with a new attack ad against Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee, blasting him for supporting tax increases on small businesses.

8) The DSCC is up with a hard-hitting ad in the North Dakota Senate race, accusing GOP Rep. Rick Berg of being "beholden" to the Republican party and supporting changes to Medicare. A woman in the ad says she knows Democrat Heidi Heitkamp will "protect Medicare."

7) Maine Sen. Susan Collins headlined a fundraiser for Maine Republican Senate candidate Charlie Summers, the underdog against independent candidate Angus King.

6) Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be making a surprise appearance at the convention in Charlotte Thursday, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. 5) Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be leading a late effort to help Priorities USA, the Obama-aligned super PAC, raise money as they struggle to keep pace financially with the outside groups aiding Romney. The NYT quotes Democratic consultant Paul Begala, who has led the effort to raise money for Priorities USA, conceding: "I've never done this before, so I don't really know [f Democratic groups are raising enough]. I know strategy." 4) The 2016 presidential position has already begun in Charlotte, and nowhere was that clearer than at the Iowa delegation's breakfasts, where a parade of potential candidates spoke to the delegates. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a dark-horse contender, quipped: "I can see Iowa from my house!" Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley recounted he visited all 99 counties in Iowa as a field staffer for former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Newark Mayor Cory Booker revealed that his grandmother was an Iowan. What about the biggest name mentioned for 2016? Bill Clinton addressed, to NBC News, whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has another presidential run in her: ""You know, she -- we're not kids anymore. I don't have any idea if she'll ever run again. She says she won't. Right now, I want to help him because I think it'll help my country. Because I believe America is going to do great." 3) The RNC is out with a new 30-second ad geared at single women, showing a young woman sitting next to a cardboard cutout of President Obama, expressing her disappointment in him. The ad was previewed on NBC's "Today Show" Thursday. 2) The Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts Senate nominee Elizabeth Warren stuck to her populist script in her convention speech Wednesday, not mentioning Sen. Scott Brown at all. She was introduced to boisterous cheers, though her speech only contained a few lines that received sustained applause. 1) Bill Clinton delivered, as the National Journal wrote, "a folksy yet brutally partisan convention address that captivated his fellow Democrats." He made a more effective case for Obama's policies than the president himself, and delivered his own rebuttals to Republican attacks on the Democratic positions welfare, Medicare and job creation. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Vice President Biden will be getting less primetime coverage than Clinton, Warren or even San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. He's introducing Obama around 9:30 p.m., a time when only one of the major broadcast networks will be airing coverage. For full coverage of last night's convention proceedings, head to NationalJournal.com Scott Bland contributed to this report

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