Author: DavidNYC

Man, this is turning into a crazy day:

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) Thursday acknowledged that his family made nearly $100,000 in payments to family members of his former mistress after her husband, a longtime aide and personal friend, discovered the relationship.

Since Ensign admitted his affair with former campaign staffer Cynthia Hampton, he has repeatedly denied making payments to her, her husband, Doug, or other members of the family.

But in a statement released by his attorney Thursday afternoon, Ensign for the first time acknowledged that in April 2008, his family – backed by his father’s casino and land development empire – made a series of payments to both Hamptons and their children, totaling $96,000.

“In April 2008, Senator John Ensign’s parents each made gifts to Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton, and two of their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000. Each gift was limited to $12,000. The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts. After the Senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time. The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others,” Ensign’s lawyer Paul Coggins said in a statement.

Pattern of generosity! I think Ensign needs to resign. It’s not just the payoffs, but the fact that he lied about them and tried to hide them.

Whoa whoa whoa:

The Senate deadlock may be over.

Rogue Democrat Pedro Espada Jr., who collaborated with Republicans in a June 8 coup that toppled Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, is returning to the fold, sources said.

That will give Democrats a 32-30 majority and, ostensibly, allow the Senate to convene and vote on crucial legislation, like mayoral control of city schools and a city sales tax hike.

Under the deal, Malcolm Smith will be the Senate president, several senators said.

Espada (D-Bronx) and Democratic conference leader John Sampson will serve as co-majority leaders, they said.

Jesus wow.

UPDATE: Espada is scum, the Senate leaders suck, this has been a huge mess & massive waste of money… but the one silver lining here is that Tom Golisano can seriously, seriously suck it.

• AL-02: Noted sartorialist Bobby Bright was photographed (proudly?) holding up a t-shirt with the logo “Fire Congress” on the front. Also be sure to check out the shirt Bright himself is actually wearing.

• IL-Gov: GOP state Sen. Kirk Dillard formally announced his entrance into the race today.

• MI-09: Former GOP state Rep. Andrew Raczkowski has filed paperwork to run against Dem Rep. Gary Peters in this D+2 district. “Rocky,” as he is known, got hammered by Carl Levin in the 2002 Senate race, 61-38.

• MN-06: Dem state Sen. Tarryl Clark, generally considered a possible MN-Gov candidate, may turn her attention instead to Michele Bachmann. Of course, she’d face a contested primary against El Tinklenberg (who was last seen giving $250,000 from his unexpected 2008 surplus to the DCCC).

• NC-Sen: Civitas has Sen. Richard Burr’s favorables at 31-19, which is the weakest they’ve been all year. I don’t quite understand why 50% are either undecided or haven’t heard enough, though. Meanwhile, Burr’s pollster Paul Shumaker, who did a garbagey poll for Burr and then pretended it was an independent survey, will now pay for the poll out of his own pocket and call it an in-kind contribution to the campaign. Nice try, bucko.

• NJ-Gov: Rasmussen has Chris Christie up 46-39. Believe it or not, that’s good news – last month, it was 51-38. Don’t get too excited, though. With leaners, it’s 53-41. Obama can’t show up here soon enough.

• NV-Sen: Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn advised John Ensign to pay off his mistress’s million-dollar mortgage and move her & her husband out-of-state. Seriously.

• NYC-Mayor: Another poll – this time from Marist – shows Bloombo under 50, and his re-elects are an uninspiring 44-51, despite the fact that he’s blanketed the airwaves with zillions of ads for months. The problem is that Comptroller Bill Thompson (who clocks in at 35) doesn’t seem to be running much of a campaign.

• New York: Ken Rudin makes an interesting point – if you count “new LG” Richard Ravitch, four of NY’s six statewide elected officials… weren’t elected to the positions they now hold. Comptroller Tom DiNapoli was appointed when Alan Hevesi resigned; Gov. David Paterson was elevated when Eliot Spitzer resigned; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed when Hillary Clinton resigned; and now Paterson is attempting to appoint Ravitch. Only Sen. Chuck Schumer and AG Andy Cuomo faced voters for their current jobs.

• OH-Sen: A good get for Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher – he just received the endorsement of the 134,000-strong Ohio branch of the United Auto Workers union.

• UT-Sen: Just when you thought the Utah GOP Senate primary couldn’t get any zanier and more chock-full of wingnuts, along comes news that new Rep. Jason Chaffetz — rising star of the movement conservatives, who just vaulted into power by out-conservativing Chris Cannon in a 2008 primary — is now thinking about a challenge to the establishment’s Bob Bennett. It’d be a pretty brash move by Chaffetz, especially since AG Mark Shurtleff is already mounting a strong primary challenge from the far right. (C)

• VA-02: Scott Rigell, who owns car dealerships “throughout the Virginia beach area,” has filed paperwork to run against Dem Rep. Glenn Nye in this R+5 district. Rigell, like the vast majority of auto dealers, is of course a Republican, but he did donate $1,000 to Obama last year.

• WA-Sen: Not that you were probably sitting up at night worrying about Patty Murray’s re-election prospects, but a poll by local pollster Elway finds her looking pretty good with 53-34 job approval. 44% say they would re-elect her and 33% say they wouldn’t, with the rest taking a wait-and-see attitude to see what sort of opposition the Washington GOP can scrape up. (C)

• Census: Looks like we may finally get a floor vote on Census Director Robert Graves’ confirmation, who is currently subject to holds by both David Vitter and Richard Shelby (over use of sampling techniques and ACORN’s involvement in the census); Harry Reid is planning a cloture vote now that we’re eight months away from the April 1 count. (C)

It seems that just about every major newspaper maintains one or more political blogs these days. (And many smaller papers do as well.) Tell us about your favorite newspaper blogs, whether national or local, which focus on SSP-style electoral politics in comments.

David Paterson is going to attempt to do something many folks thought was unpossible:

Gov. David A. Paterson will name a lieutenant governor in a televised speech he has scheduled for late Wednesday afternoon, according to a person close to the governor.

It remains unclear, however, whom he will pick. …

Speculation in the capital ran rampant on Wednesday about a possible pick for the post, including the former Chief Judge Judith Kaye and Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi. Ms. Kaye did not return a call for comment. Mr. Suozzi indicated at an appearance on Wednesday that he would not be appointed, nor had sought the job.

Swing State Project sources also indicate that SSP Publisher DavidNYC is in the hunt. Apparently, Paterson, who represented the West Side for many years in the state Senate, wants to balance his ticket with someone from the East Side. Anyhow, how might Paterson accomplish this trick, given that the state constitution doesn’t specify anything about any line of succession for the Lt. Gov. spot?

But whether Mr. Paterson can legally appoint a lieutenant governor has been a matter of some debate. One school of thought, which has been advanced in recent days by Democrats and government watchdog groups, is that a provision of state law allows the governor to fill elected offices for which there is no provision explicitly spelling out how the vacancy should be handled.

But Republicans are sure to sue to block any such move, and even AG Andy Cuomo claimed that this would be an unconstitutional “political ploy.” Still, with such an embarrassing circus in Albany, anything that might put pressure on the Senate to bust its insane logjam could be helpful at this point – it’s pretty hard to see things getting worse. Stay tuned this afternoon.

(Hat-tip: Taegan Goddard)

UPDATE: I’m watching New York 1, and they just announced that Paterson will (attempt to) tap former MTA head Richard Ravitch. The Daily News confirms.

Live from SSP World Headquarters in New York City, it’s your daily Daily Digest!

• CA-47: The GOP has heavily touted Assemblyman Van Tran, who is waging an uphill campaign against Rep. Loretta Sanchez in this D+4 district. Tran, however, may face an additional hurdle: businessman & veteran Quang Pham, who just filed papers. Politico explains that there is “lingering anger with Tran’s role in a bitter contest for a Board of Supervisors seat in 2007, where Tran denounced the winning candidate as a communist.”

• S. Fla.: A couple of entries for the Where Are They Now? files. Joe Garcia, who ran against “Super” Mario Diaz-Balart in FL-25 last year, just accepted an Obama administration job – he’ll become Director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact for the Energy Dept. Meanwhile, Annette Taddeo, who took on Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in FL-18, has declined to run for CFO to replace the outgoing Alex Sink.

• FL-08: No need for me to summarize: “After saying for weeks that he would let people know by the Fourth of July whether he plans to run for Congress next year, Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty has left town on a holiday cruise without making a decision.” What a wank.

• FL-12: Despite the GOP’s effort to clear the primary for state Rep. Dennis Ross in this open seat being vacated by Rep. Adam Putnam, Polk County Comm’r Randy Wilkinson formally announced his candidacy late last week.

• IL-Sen: Looks like Illinois Republicans are growing tired of waiting for Capt. Kirk to beam back from the planet Vulcan. NRSC officials are meeting with Plan B, aka IL GOP chair Andy McKenna. McKenna previously sought this seat in 2004, coming in fourth in the Republican primary, well behind Dairy King Jim Oberweis. Crain’s Chicago Business charitably explains McKenna “never has had much of a following among the party’s conservative reform wing.”

• NH-Sen: It’s starting to look like Sarah Palin is Kelly Ayotte’s political mentor in more ways that one. First, Ayotte announces she’s going to quit her current job in the middle of her term. Then, responding to the fact that she pledged to complete her entire four-year appointment, she offers this incoherent non-answer:

“I would say that at the time of my reappointment no one could have predicted the political future. The political landscape has changed drastically since then. Clearly the intent was to continue serving, but I think in fairness no one could have predicted the changes that have occurred on the political landscape.

Maybe she was just too busy reading all the magazines to make any sense.

• NJ-Gov: Jon Corzine is up with a new negative ad. Meh. It doesn’t do it for me.

• OH-Sen: Haven’t we heard this before? SoS Jennifer Brunner has penned a 1,300-word post on her website decrying the “insiders” who supposedly want her out of the primary… and back in May, she also sent a letter to supporters saying she wouldn’t quit the race. I don’t know why she feels the need to keep saying this. Also, in a sign that things are only likely to get worse before they get better, she includes this flourish: “If this race for the U.S. Senate is about the trappings of insider politics, then I suspect Lee Fisher will be your man.” Gonna be a long year.

• OK-01: Rep. John Sullivan, who just returned to work after a monthlong stay at an alcohol rehab facility, said that he would seek re-election. Rep. Patrick Kennedy is also back after receiving similar treatment.

• PA-Sen: Chris Cillizza reports that the AFL-CIO “will almost certainly weigh in” on the expected Specter vs. Sestak primary, but isn’t giving any hints about whose side they’ll take.

• WI-07: It looks like another former “Real World” contestant is gearing up for a run for Congress. Last cycle, Kevin Powell (season one) got crushed by Rep. Ed Towns in NY-10, but is apparently back for another round. Meanwhile, out in Wisconsin, Real World-er Sean Duffy (season six) is weighing a challenge to Rep. Dave Obey. There is one thing Duffy must remember.

Strike another name off the open seat watch:

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) is running for re-election to her House seat, passing up an opportunity to run for governor of South Dakota.

“I wanted you to be among the first to know that today I am announcing my intention to run for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010,” Herseth Sandlin said in an e-mail to supporters.

“I strongly believe I can best serve the state by building on the work I’ve undertaken over the last five years in Congress, including effective implementation of the new Farm Bill and Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, promoting biofuels and wind energy within a comprehensive national energy strategy, and advancing key priorities for South Dakota’s economy.”

As you may know, Republican Gov. Mike Rounds is term-limited next year, so Herseth Sandlin would have been in a good position to take over the statehouse. Of course, had she run for higher office, her R+9 at-large seat would have been heavily favored to turn red. So while our chances of winning the governor’s mansion are probably pretty limited now, SD-AL is one House seat we won’t have to worry about.

RaceTracker: SD-Gov | SD-AL

Quinnipiac University (6/26-7/1, registered voters, 4/28-5/4 in parens):

Lee Fisher (D): 37 (42)

Rob Portman (R): 33 (31)

Undecided: 26 (26)

Lee Fisher (D): 36

Tom Ganley (R): 30

Undecided: 31

Jennifer Brunner (D): 35 (40)

Rob Portman (R): 34 (32)

Undecided: 29 (27)

Jennifer Brunner (D): 35

Tom Ganley (R): 31

Undecided: 31

(MoE: ±2.8%)

While they don’t show nearly as big a decline as they did with their Ohio gubernatorial numbers, Quinnipiac also has Democrats slipping in the Senate race. I’m prepared to believe that Democratic fortunes are really heading southward, but I do have to wonder if Q is overstating things. In May, they had Obama’s job approval at 62-31 in the Buckeye State. Now he’s at 49-44. Did his numbers really collapse so dramatically here, despite only a slight downtick nationwide? Perhaps, but I’d like to see confirmation elsewhere.

Anyhow, Quinnipiac has also started testing Tom Ganley’s name – he’s the wealthy car dealer who recently made his entrace into the race official. Portman has a 33-10 lead on Ganley in the primary. On the Dem side, Lee Fisher’s lead over Jennifer Brunner has shrunk to 24-21 (from 31-26), with a lot more folks undecided than previously. With the primary still ages away, I don’t think we can read a lot into these numbers.

RaceTracker: OH-Sen

Breaking:

NH AG Kelly Ayotte (R) will resign today in a run-up to a Senate bid; she should be putting out a press release shortly, a GOP strategist tells me. She is expected to announce her desire to run for retiring GOP Sen. Judd Gregg’s seat at a later date.

Ayotte, the state’s first female AG, will stay in her job until 7/17.

Of course, doing so would mean she’s going back on her pledge to Gov. John Lynch that she’d serve out a full term as Attorney General. Then again, any Dem who expects ambitious Republican office-holders to keep their word is sort of letting themselves get played for a fool, no?

Sounds like a Class A opportunist:

Cahill has made little secret of his ambitions for the governor’s office but hasn’t said whether he’ll challenge Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, who plans to run for a second term.

Cahill is more conservative than Patrick and would have faced an uphill fight to win the Democratic Party nomination, given that the party’s primary voters tend to be more liberal than the party, or the electorate, as a whole.

Cahill had previously acknowledged that he was considering the party switch, given the daunting task of trying to unseat an incumbent Democrat.

“It’s just an option that I have to consider, given I have a governor of my own party who is, as of now, planning to run for re-election,” Cahill said last month.

A Suffolk University poll actually showed Cahill beating Patrick in a primary, but apparently he doesn’t have the stomach for that. Back in 2006, this race also saw an independent candidate, but the well-funded Christy Mihos (who is running as a Republican this time) pulled just 7%. Evidently Cahill thinks he can do much better.

The Swing State Project currently rates this race as Likely Dem, but that may change in a hurry (and also potentially mess up our lovely chart if Cahill gains traction).

RaceTracker: MA-Gov