SSP Daily Digest: 9/14 (Morning Edition)

FL-Sen: Charlie Crist’s vat-grown clone, George LeMieux, pulls off a sure-to-piss-off the base move with his very first act as a Senator: calling for Joe “The Heckler” Wilson to be censured. It’s almost as if Crist and his merry gang have moved beyond merely ignoring Marco Rubio to actively disrespecting him.

FL-Gov: GOP state Sen. Paula Dockery, who seemed on course to make a Sarah Steelman-esque fade-out from the GOP’s gubernatorial primary, reiterated yesterday that she’s still seriously considering entering the race against state AG Bill McCollum.

IL-14: The race for the GOP nomination to take on Democrat Bill Foster is starting to get awfully crowded. State Senator Randy Hultgren confirmed this weekend that he’ll be entering the race, pitting him against prodigal son Ethan Hastert, ex-DoD official Mark Vargas, former Aurora alderman Bill Cross, and Jeff “Some Dude” Danklefsen. State Sen. Chris Lauzen, who caused a lot of problems for Jim Oberweis in the primary last time around, says he’s undecided on another run, but has a lot of nice things to say about Hultgren.

NV-Gov: Democrats hoping to win back Nevada’s executive branch received a major blow on Friday, as their strongest contender, state Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, has decided to pass on the race. Buckley’s exit leaves no obvious roadblock in place to prevent Clark Co. Commissioner Rory Reid (son of Harry), probably the weakest candidate the Dems could muster here, from securing the Democratic nomination. Rory’s candidacy could give the Nevada Democratic Party the headache of promoting a Reid-Reid ticket for 2010 — something that both father and son are unhappy with, but don’t seem to be able to stop. One wild card remains: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman (D), who’s been considering running as an independent. He could probably paste Rory in a primary if he wanted to, though.

PA-Sen: Arlen Specter’s highest-profile Democratic supporter, Barack Obama, will make a stop in Philly on Tuesday to host a fundraiser for Specter’s campaign, and Harry Reid is shuffling around the Senate schedule to accommodate the event.

PA-06, PA-07: Now that former US Attorney Pat Meehan (R) is in the race for Joe Sestak’s open seat, it looks like he’ll have a clear primary. Businessman Steven Welch, who had previously been in the mix for PA-07, is now climbing up Jim Gerlach’s escape hatch in PA-06 to run in the GOP primary against state Rep. Curt Schroder. Schroder is keeping a cool head for now, but didn’t refrain from pointing out to local media that Welch is a “PA-07 resident”.

TX-Gov: Former Travis Co. DA Ronnie Earle — most famous for securing the indictment of Tom DeLay — is now “leaning toward” a run for Governor of Texas. If Earle ultimately takes the plunge, he would join a curious collection of Democrats that includes ex-Ambassador Tom Schieffer, ’06 Ag Commissioner candidate Hank Gilbert and humorist Kinky Friedman.

TX-17: Dem Rep. Chet Edwards, who’s miraculously held down this R+20 district for years, could face his highest-profile challenger since he beat back state Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth in 2004. GOP state Sen. Steve Ogden, who announced on Thursday that he won’t be seeking another term in local office, says that he isn’t ruling out a run against Edwards.

VA-Gov: Um, whoops. Republican gube candidate Bob McDonnell unleashed a stray F-bomb in an interview with a local radio station on Friday: “I’m going to find other ways to be able to fund transportation. I’ve outlined 12 f–king funding mechanisms that are creative, that are entrepreneurial.”

Polltopia: Where should PPP poll next: Arizona, California, Georgia, Missouri, or Ohio? You can take your pick.

53 thoughts on “SSP Daily Digest: 9/14 (Morning Edition)”

  1. Do we have a shot of picking up Ogden’s state sen. seat?

    Also I’d probably support the Travis County (former) DA for TX gov because he seems like the most likely to win.  All the other candidates suck!

  2. Why in the world is Georgia, then Arizona, winning this?  I’d think Ohio, seeing as it is usually a good thermometer for the mood of the nation, isn’t in first.  Also we haven’t seen a poll of Missouri in a while either.  I can even understand Arizona… but Georgia?  Really?

  3. Democrats in Nevada hold three prominent statewide offices.  They are Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Treasurer.  With Reid being a weak candidate, would any of the statewide Democratic officeholders be interested in running for governor?  I assume that they won’t be because they are all in their first term in their positions and none has been elected to anything before being elected to their current offices.

  4. Lazio running according to politicalwire.com

    I think this is bad news right?  We’d prefer a no name state senator?  Either way I don’t think it matters who runs as the R.  What really matters is who is on the D side.

  5. He’s not interested in running for Congress against Chet, though I’m sure Pete Sessions the NRCC chair will give him a call. He wants to be Lt. Governor if he runs for anything.

    His Senate seat was Democratic in the 90s, former Congressman Jim Turner held it, but the Round Rock to Brazos Valley area has gone hard right since then. Gattis has the family name and connections to win, unless someone from Aggieland is well funded and steps up.

    The GOP drew themselves to thin in DFW. There will have to be a hispanic state senate seat in Dallas, and likely a congressional district drawn similar to the one Martin Frost represented.

    If Earle gets in that hurts Hank Gilbert, they share much of the same group. It’s up in the air.

     

Comments are closed.