Election countdown: Coakley down, Cruz to rally the base in Ga.
And we're down to 10. Candidates are down to their next-to-last weekend of campaigning before Election Day. Here's what the buzz is for Saturday, with 10 days to go:
Uphill climb for Coakley
Democrat Martha Coakley could be on the verge of letting another one slip away in Massachusetts.
Coakley, the state's attorney general, lost to Republican Scott Brown in 2010 in the race to fill the seat held by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Now, a new Boston Globe poll shows her trailing Republican Charlie Baker by 9 points among likely voters in the race for governor.
She's getting assists from some of the biggest stars in the Democratic Party — including former president Bill Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama — in a state President Obama won two years ago with more than 60% of the vote. It's looking like she may need all the help she can get.
Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide
Surrogates on the trail
The top of the GOP ticket in Georgia will get an assist from a conservative favorite on Saturday. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a potential 2016 contender, is scheduled to head to the Peach State on Saturday to fire up the GOP base for Gov. Nathan Deal and Senate candidate David Perdue. Deal's locked in a tough re-election battle with Democratic state Sen. Jason Carter, former president Jimmy Carter's grandson, while Perdue is in a close race with Democrat Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Georgia senator Sam Nunn, in the state's open Senate race.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton heads to North Carolina to campaign for Sen. Kay Hagan as she tries to hold off a challenge from Republican state House speaker Thom Tillis.
Boehner brings in the bucks
Political analysts agree that Speaker John Boehner should feel pretty comfortable about keeping his majority. The question is, how large will it be? Boehner transferred $1.3 million from committees he controlls to the National Republican Congressional Committee this week, raising his total fundraising during the 2014 cycle to almost $100 million, his campaign says.
Cook Political Report currently projects the GOP to pick up four to 10 seats.
Florida, Florida, Florida
The Sunshine State is almost always a hotbed of activity during election season, and this year is no different on the airwaves. Spending on ads by parties, candidates and interest groups was approaching $82 million by Oct. 20, the Center for Public Integrity reports, leading to a rate of nearly 101 TV spots per hour — most, not surprisingly, aimed at the hotly contested governor's race between Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democrat Charlie Crist.
We'll go out on a limb and say many Floridians are counting the days until Nov. 4.
Elsewhere on the trail
Roll Call looks at the most vulnerable senators in this year's election cycle — by wealth.
The Hill looks at Georgia's tight Senate race and says Michelle Nunn has momentum.
The Washington Postoutlines four ways the 2014 midterms are like 2010 all over again, and four ways they're not.
Hanging chads
The $73 million man of the midterms? It's none other than billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, who donated another $16 million to his super PAC this month. He's by far the biggest super PAC donor of the midterms; most of his contributions have gone to NextGen Climate Action, the political action committee he created to make global warming a top issue.
USA TODAY politics editor Paul Singer takes us through the top 3 political headlines of the week: Gardner vs. Udall in Colorado, midterm spending, and Obama's drag on the ballot for Democrats.
And Paul Ryan's PAC has hired a filmmaker who worked with Mitt Romney -- but isn't saying why.
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