Democratic congressional candidate and LEO publisher John Yarmuth seems to have gained some ground in his challenge to five-term Republican Rep. Anne M. Northup. A New York Times article indicates that the GOP stronghold of Kentucky's third Congressional District may now be less so. The Times observes that CQPolitics.com has downgraded the race from "Republican Favored" to "Leans Republican," while another poll gives Yarmuth a 48-47 point advantage over Northup. Northup's zealous support of the war in Iraq and the congressional-page scandal appears to have eroded Northup's voter base, the Times suggests.

Continue ReadingNYT Says Yarmuth Is Closing on GOP Incumbent

Geov Parrish, a Seattle Weekly columnist who resigned in August, is airing his grievances with the alternative weekly. In a column in Eat the State!, a twice-monthly Washington state political and opinion journal, Parrish laments the acquisition of his paper's parent company, Village Voice Media, late last year by New Times. "The new Seattle Weekly is being run by an enormous corporation that will run it the same way they'd run a widget factory," he writes. While much of Parrish's criticism of the reconstituted, 17-paper VVM is familiar, he offers an up-close-and-personal account of the impact of the merger on a single paper.

Continue ReadingFormer Columnist Details Estrangement From Post-Merger VVM Paper

Dan Savage, editor of Seattle's The Stranger and writer of the syndicated column Savage Love, continues to moonlight as a political activist, according to the Chicago Reader. (See second item.) His current efforts are focused on unseating arch-nemesis Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn. But in an interview with Stephen Morse, a reporter for the Daily Pennsylvanian, a University of Pennsylvania student newspaper, Savage reserves much of his invective for Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, a potential spoiler who could siphon off votes from Democratic candidate Bob Casey Jr. In a video clip of the session, Savage says, among other things, "Carl Romanelli should be dragged behind a pickup truck until there's nothing left but the rope." Savage later apologized for the remark on the Stranger's blog.

Continue ReadingSavage Shreds Green Candidate on Campaign Trail