Mississippi GOP Senate Race headed for run-off because of Dumb rule.
Having a run-off would have been a reasonable thing to do in close race had McDaniel fell well short of 50% but that is not the case here.
Chris McDaniel defeated Thad Cochran 49.5% to 49% in their GOP primary show down with 3rd party candidate Tomas Carey grabbing 1.5%. While the party rules often require 40% in many states in Mississippi they require 50%. This means that any reasonably close race with even a slightly significant campaign or a very close race with an insignificant 3rd or other party candidate will always require a run-off. So even if one candidate gets 49.9% and two others split the rest of the vote a run-off would be required even though it's perfectly obvious which candidate would have won in any head to head match up. And that is the purpose of the run-off. To see which candidate would win in a head to head match-up. If you analyze the vote, Thad Cochran would have needed atleast 67% of the Thomas Carey vote which was very unlikely to happen. When you consider that not every Carey voter would have voted, it means Cochran would have needed an even higher percentage of the vote. It's fairly obvious that McDaniel would have won in a head to head match up.
This run-off only hurts republicans causing them to spend more money on defeating each other instead of defeating their democrat opponent.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/senate/2014_elections_senate_map_no_toss_ups.html
This run-off only hurts republicans causing them to spend more money on defeating each other instead of defeating their democrat opponent.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/senate/2014_elections_senate_map_no_toss_ups.html
Latest Iowa Polls Show Joni Ernst with Small Lead in Iowa
Since July of 2013 Democrat Senate candidate Bruce Baley has had a lead in the polls but Joni Ernst has taken a lead two recent independent polls. Rasmussen has her leading by one and the Loras College Poll has her leading by 6. This state has been consistantly but slightly pro-democrat and this seat was held by the democrats