• PA-Sen: Well, something finally went right for Arlen Specter. After Specter got condemned to the basement on all his committees on Tuesday night, Majority whip Dick Durbin doled out a little charity this morning by giving up his own chair (Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs) and handing it over to Specter (apparently without Pat Leahy‘s say-so). I’m wondering what Specter had to do behind the scenes to smooth things over; if the rumors flying that Specter is poised to re-flip-flop back to supporting EFCA are true, that’s probably the answer.
• NY-Sen-B: Rep. Carolyn McCarthy is still making noises about a primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, but with her frequent caveats about stepping aside if someone younger takes on the challenge, it seems like she’s doing it more to yank Gillibrand’s chain on gun control issues. Gillibrand has been a reliable vote in favor of gun controls since entering the Senate, going so far as to co-sponsor the current bill to close the gun-show loophole. McCarthy confesses to being “very happy about it. I just want her to stay there.”
• NH-Sen: Judd Gregg tells CQ that wherever he goes, he’s bombarded by Republicans begging him to run for another term in the Senate. He says he’ll listen to their entreaties, but he’s “comfortable with where” he is.
• AK-Gov: Governors in general are having a rough go of it these days, and now even the once-mighty Sarah Palin is suffering, falling to a mundane 54/41 favorable rating according to Hays Research. Senator Lisa Murkowski, by comparison, is still at 76/18.
• OK-Gov: Ex-Rep. J.C. Watts is still publicly undecided about the governor’s race, and kicking the can down the road on a formal decision. Reading between the lines of his statement, it sounds like he’s having some trouble fundraising, saying “You don’t take on something like this unless you know you will have the resources to do it.”
• CO-04: The GOP got the candidate it wanted, to go up against freshman Rep. Betsy Markey in this now R+6 district. State House minority whip Cory Gardner, who represents the vast emptiness of eastern Colorado, announced that he’ll be running. Univ. of Colorado regent Tom Lucero is already in the hunt for the GOP nod.
• MN-06: One day after former Independence Party Lt. Gov. candidate Maureen Reed said she’ll be a Dem candidate in 2010, the 2008 candidate, Elwyn Tinklenberg, confirmed he’ll be running again, against one-woman gaffe machine Michele Bachmann.
• CA-47: GOP Assemblyman Van Tran made it official, setting up his exploratory committee for an uphill bid against Rep. Loretta Sanchez in this D+4 Latino-majority district in the heart of the O.C. (Discussion underway in Gus Ayer‘s diary.)
• ID-01: Idaho state Treasurer Don Crane spent the last week glad-handing GOP leaders and fundraisers in Washington, DC, fueling speculation that he’s ready to challenge frosh Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick next year. Would his candidacy dampen the spirits of ex-Rep. Bill “Brain Fade” Sali, who is currently mulling a rematch? (J)
• GA-09: When you have an R+28 district, the only question about an open seat is what variety of wingnut you’re going to get next. Former state Senator Bill Stephens (who lost the SoS primary to Karen Handel in 2006) announced he’ll run to succeed Rep. Nathan Deal, retiring to run for governor. Former state Transportation Board chair Mike Evans is already seek the GOP nom.
• IL-11: The GOP has lined up Air Force Captain Adam Kinzinger to run against freshman Rep. Debbie Halvorson in the Chicago suburbs. His exploratory committee is open, but he’s currently serving in Iraq and won’t be able to make a formal announcement until summer.
• MI-11: We’ve got somebody willing to step up against Bad Thad McCotter in this Dem-trending seat in the economically hard-hit Detroit suburbs: fundraising consultant Natalie Mosher. The DCCC sounds like it’s going to keep looking for someone else, but if that fails, bear in mind that McCotter barely won in 2008 against a different Dem nobody.
• GA-12: When you’re running for office, it’s important to sell yourself… but not oversell yourself. Surgeon and Iraq vet Wayne Mosely, who’s running against Rep. John Barrow in the D+1 rural Georgia district, recently tweeted that the NRCC rated his race as one of the top 3 in the nation! Uh, no, there’s no ranking system, responded the NRCC, although they did concede that they were “very excited” about Mosely’s candidacy.
I read that Leahy blocked the move.
it’s understandable that her pop would fall, following her disasterous veep nom career and the blight effecting all govs due to the economy, but that much of a fall seems like just to much. until i see a second poll with similar results, this is certainly no more than an outlier.
I found McCarthy’s statement funny.
I’m glad the GOP has a bad candidate in CO-04, no one from that vast emptiness can win the district and those from are usually hard right social conservatives which allows Markey to run strong in Weld and Larimer, where’s it important to win.
Not a campaign story, but an indication of the darkness within the heart of Republican Gubernatorial candidate (and current Secretary of State) Karen Handel. Notice, also, that her FACTS are wrong:
http://blogs.ajc.com/political…
At Orange County Progressive, we know CA-47 very well and we know Loretta and Van Tran.
Although Loretta gets a lot of crap from the blogosphere, because of her Blue Dog status, local progressives continue to be enthusiastic supporters of our friend Congresswoman Sanchez, who has been there on the votes that took courage, like voting against Bush on the invasion of Iraq.
Crack into the highly anticipated (if you’re a redistricting junkie like many of us are) Dave’s Redistricting App yet?
I’m pretty impressed so far. Pretty user-friendly once you get the hang of it. The obvious next step for it to go in would be to add in voter-registration numbers and/or 2008 prez results, but this is still a fantastic effort. Pretty much anything that makes the functions and devices of the government more accessible and transparent to everyday people should be applauded.
Tom Ridge was Matthews’ guest
CM “Hardball time, who will you vote for for Senate?”
TR silence “Depends who the candidates are?”
CM “Toomey the Republican and Specter the ex Republican.”
TR “That’s the great thing about America it’s a secret ballot.”
This was preceded by Chris asking if Toomey could win the general and Ridge answering it depends who the Democrat is. He expanded he would want to see who else is running in the Republican primary instead of answering if he would support Toomey.
As with Ken Calvert over in CA-44, we won’t enjoy an element of surprise this time; don’t be surprised if a nobody doesn’t get anywhere close.
“Perry Claims Gap With Hutchison is Narrowing” – heard that before.
“Henry Pressured to Run for Senate in Oklahoma” – not sure if I’ve heard that before. This article links to a Southern Political Report article, which has some stuff we’ve already discussed here, and these pieces:
OK-Sen:
Coburn’s retirement “likely”? He doesn’t even actually need a pittance in order to win in Oklahoma. I don’t think his lack of fundraising is a concern.
OK-Gov primaries:
South Carolina – Inez Tenenbaum:
I guess she’s out of the picture to run for anything in 2010; oh well.
“Kennedy May Be Strongest for Senate in Illinois” – WTF??? Okay, the article links to a Chicago Sun-Times article with lots of trivia…and this piece of surprising information.
Wait, seriously, what? Rahm, what happened with Caroline? Wasn’t that a bad idea? And what exactly is wrong with Alexi or Lisa?