In this week's Capitol Report on News9, analyst Patrick B. McGuigan looked at the races for governor and the U.S. Senate seat Tom Coburn is vacating. On the governor's race, the CapitolBeatOK editor told reporter Alex Cameron the Republican incumbent, Mary Fallin, will probably coalesce her conservative base, although state Rep. Joe Dorman, the Democratic challenger, is forcing the governor's surrogates to reply to his criticisms on a wide range of issues. In the U.S. Senate joust, Republican James Lankford is solidifying the Republican ranks, gaining the Eagle Forum's endorsement last week. Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Connie Johnson is visiting Republican strongholds like Yukon to reach more voters. On the world scene, President Obama's push back against the terrorist organization ISIS may seem like “too little, too late” to some critics, but McGuigan pointed out Sen. James Inhofe supports legislation clearly to authorize the president's military steps. The most challenging part of the operation may come in Syria, where there are powerful elements who are, as one American general put it, “bad buys, really bad guys, and truly awful guys.”

• published: 16 Sep 2014
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