A DailyKos/Research 2000 poll taken Jan. 13 found no clear favorite in the Colorado Senate race, using any hypothetical matchup between either of the two Democratic candidates and the three major Republican candidates.

In the likeliest matchup, Sen. Michael Bennet (D) had 40 percent and ex-Lt. Gov. Jane Norton (R) had 39 percent. The results were essentially the same when Bennet was paired with county prosecutor Ken Buck (R) and former state Sen. Tom Wiens (R).

All three Republicans are also running essentially even with Andrew Romanoff (D), a former Colorado House Speaker who is challenging Bennet in the primary election.

A new poll from DailyKos and Research2000 confirms what election watchers have been saying for the past week -- the special House election in upstate New York is coming down to a race between Democrat Bill Owens and third-party candidate Doug Hoffman. The poll was conducted Oct. 26 to 28. The election is Nov. 3.

Among likely voters, Owens, an attorney, leads Hoffman, an accountant running on the state Conservative Party line, 33 to 32 percent, well within the 4 percentage point margin of error. Republican Dede Scozzafava lags behind at 21 percent. Fourteen percent remain undecided in the 23rd District, which takes in the Northeast corner of the state. Nine-term Rep. John M. McHugh resigned the seat in September to become Secretary of the Army.

Owens held relatively steady compared to the DailyKos poll released Oct. 23, which had him at 35 percent of the vote. The big swing is in the standing of Hoffman and Scozzafava, who continue their dramatic movement in opposite directions.

Iowa Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley, who has been a titanic political figure in his state for decades, could face a competitive race for a sixth term -- particularly if Democrat Christie Vilsack chose to challenge him.

A Daily Kos/Research 2000 survey conducted Oct. 12-14 had Grassley with a 51 percent to 40 percent lead over Vilsack, a lawyer and teacher who is married to Tom Vilsack, President Obama's Agriculture secretary and Iowa's governor from 1999 through 2006.

There's been speculation that Vilsack is the unnamed "mystery candidate" that Iowa Democratic leaders have promised will soon announce a campaign and give Grassley his toughest re-election fight ever. Grassley has won at least 66 percent of the vote in each of his four Senate re-election campaigns, usually against hapless Democratic opposition.

The likely Democratic and Republican nominees for the Senate in Delaware next year are very well-regarded by voters and are locked in what would be a tight race, according to a Research 2000/Daily Kos poll conducted Oct. 12-14.

The survey gave Republican Rep. Michael N. Castle, who announced his candidacy last week, 46 percent of the vote in a hypothetical November 2010 matchup against Democratic state Attorney General Beau Biden, who had 45 percent.

Biden, who is interested in seeking the seat long represented by his father, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., has an approval rating of 65 percent and a disapproval rating of 29 percent. Castle, a former Delaware governor, has nearly identical ratings, with a 64 percent approval rating and a 30 percent disapproval rating.

A Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll conducted Sept. 14-16 gives Republican Bob McDonnell a 7-point lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds in the Virginia governor's race -- a larger lead for McDonnell than in a different poll this week that suggested the Nov. 3 race is a dead heat.

McDonnell has 50 percent and Deeds has 43 percent in the Daily Kos/Research 2000 survey, which gives the Republican a higher approval rating (56 percent) than either Deeds (47 percent), outgoing Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine (45 percent) or even President Obama (45 percent).

The survey showed that Deeds still has some work to do to solidify his Democratic Party base. He is winning 80 percent of self-identified Democrats, but 89 percent of self-described Republicans say they are backing McDonnell, who also has a 13-point edge over Deeds among political independents.

A new poll conducted Aug. 30-Sept. 2 from DailyKos and Research 2000 confirms that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in trouble going into his 2010 re-election.

Though he still has more than a year until he faces Nevada voters, the fact that this poll and one conducted in August show him trailing relatively no-name GOP opponents is bound to be troubling for Reid and his allies.

In a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, Reid trails declared Republican challenger Danny Tarkanian 40 percent to 45 percent, just clearing the 4 percent margin of error, with 15 percent undecided. Tarkanian, a Las Vegas real estate developer and son of famed college basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, lost his two previous attempts at elected office — in 2006 in the race for Nevada secretary of State and in 2004 for state Senate. Forty-seven percent of respondents, however, hold a favorable opinion of Tarkanian; 25 percent have no opinion.

Reid also trails Sue Lowden, who just announced Wednesday night that she is resigning her post as state party chairwoman as she explores a Senate bid. Lowden’s lead - 44 percent to 41 percent - is within the margin of error, however. A third of voters have yet to form an opinion of the former state senator, who lost her last campaign for political office, for state Senate in 1996. Forty-three percent held a favorable view of Lowden.

A Research 2000/Daily Kos poll of 600 likely voters conducted Aug. 9-12 shows Republican Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, and Democrat Jerry Brown, the current state attorney general and a former governor, leading their respective fields for the open 2010 governor's race in California.

In a hypothetical general election matchup between the two, Brown bested Whitman 42 percent to 36 percent, with 22 percent undecided.

Brown also led San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in a hypothetical Democratic primary matchup, 29 percent to 20 percent -- but a whopping 51 percent said they were undecided.

On the Republican side, Whitman led former Rep. Tom Campbell and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner in the GOP primary: 24 percent for Whitman, 19 percent for Campbell, 9 percent for Poizner and 48 percent undecided.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is term-limited in 2011. CQ Politics rates the governor's race Leans Democratic.

Only time will tell if Thursday evening's campaign appearance by President Obama will help, but at the moment Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds is trailing Republican candidate Bob McDonnell by eight points, according to a Research 2000/Daily Kos poll conducted Aug. 3-Aug 5.

Fifty-one percent of those surveyed by telephone said they would support McDonnell for Virginia governor if the vote were held today, compared to 43 percent for Deeds. Only six percent of those polled said they were undecided.

McDonnell also leads Deeds in overall ratings, with 57 percent of those surveyed viewing him favorably to 46 percent for Deeds.

Campaign help from President Obama hasn't helped New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine improve his chances in this year's election, according to a poll from Research 2000/Daily Kos conducted Aug. 3-5.

The poll showed Republican Chris Christie leading by eight percentage points overall and by a wider margin among older voters.

Christie, a former federal prosecutor, was preferred by 48 percent of the likely voters polled, while Corzine was the choice of 40 percent with 9 percent undecided.

The poll's margin of error was 4 percentage points.

Despite the birthers' best efforts, Americans believe by 77 percent to 11 percent that President Obama was, in fact, born in the U.S., according to a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll conducted July 27-30. Twelve percent were not sure.

The group of biggest doubters were Republicans who agreed that Obama was U.S.-born by a lesser 42 percent to 28 percent with 30 percent not sure. Independents acknowledged Obama's native birth by 83 percent and Democrats by 93 percent.

Regionally, the part of the country with the most doubts was the South where 47 percent said Obama was native-born while 23 percent said he was not and 30 percent were unsure. Americans in all other regions said Obama was native-born by 87 percent or more.