Tag: Bill Owens

• MA-Sen: Now we know the dates for the special election to fill the seat left behind by Ted Kennedy. Deval Patrick set the dates as Dec. 8 for the primary (which will be the real focus in this dark blue state) and Jan. 19 for the general. Meanwhile, while many possible contenders are waiting to see what Joe Kennedy II does, it looks like AG Martha Coakley (who has been sizing up a Senate run for years) isn’t wasting any time. One of her representatives picked up filing papers today.

• FL-Sen: It shouldn’t be a surprise that Marco Rubio didn’t like Charlie Crist’s pick of George LeMieux as interim Senator, since approximately nobody liked it. Rubio takes to NRO to say he would have picked conservative Orlando-area state Sen. Dan Webster instead (who could still surface as a candidate in FL-08).

• IL-Sen: Cheryle Jackson, president of Chicago’s Urban League, hasn’t gotten much attention yet in the Democratic primary. However, she just got several noteworthy endorsements, from Rep. Bobby Rush and the Cook County Democratic Women Organization.

• NC-Sen: Maybe Rep. Bob Etheridge is moving toward a Senate run after all? He just launched a blistering salvo toward Richard Burr over health care reform in a DNC conference call today, attacking Burr’s “Patients Choice Act” counterproposal. Etheridge wouldn’t say anything about his intentions for 2010, though.

• NY-Sen-B: Somehow the New York Post got the ball rolling on the idea of an Eliot Spitzer comeback, either with a run for Comptroller or even Kirsten Gillibrand’s Senate seat. Spitzer quickly acted today to dispel the idea.

• SC-Sen: Democrats are back to the drawing board on a challenger for Jim DeMint. State Sen. Bradley Hutto had sounded very interested, but announced over the weekend that he won’t run. Lawyer and former Fritz Holling aide Ashley Cooper is about the only other credible name on tap.

• NJ-Gov: The police department of Lambertville, NJ – the town where Chris Christie got seemingly preferential treatment after he was pulled over for speeding back in 2005 – says that their director is “no longer returning media calls.” Sketchy, huh? Christie’s varying tales about what exactly happened at that stop aren’t helping him, either. He’s now claiming that his identity as US Attorney only came up during the incident because the tow-truck driver recognized him. Shah, right. (D)

• SC-Gov: Seems like Mark Sanford’s up to his 10th or 11th life already. After rumors that the legislature was ready to do a special session to impeach him, now the state GOP is saying it’s not ready to issue an ultimatum letter threatning impeachment (although they throw the door open to any lawmakers wanting to draft the legislation individually).

• MO-04: It’s not unusual for a challenger to have nice things he said about an incumbent thrown back in his face. But this is kind of an extreme case: GOP state Sen. Bill Stouffer, chasing 33-year Rep. Ike Skelton in the 4th, has not only called Skelton “an outstanding advocate for the people of west-central Missouri and the state as a whole” but said it while sponsoring legislation to name a bridge after Skelton.

• NY-19: Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball continues to impress, well, at least Pete Sessions; he just got named to the “On the Radar” part of the NRCC’s “Young Guns” program. He’s running against sophomore Rep. John Hall in this R+3 district.

• NY-23: Looks like Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman is gaining some traction, seeing as Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava has started attacking him in the press. This could bode well for Democrat Bill Owens – back in 2004, in a state Senate race in the same part of New York, Dem David Valesky snuck through with a narrow win after a Conservative candidate helped split the right-wing vote in the district. (D)

• WI-05: Best wishes for a speedy recovery for Wisconsin’s Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who has been diagnosed with treatable, early stage prostate cancer.

It’s done:

Nearly 12 hours after they first convened at the Minnowbrook Conference Center on the shore of this Adirondack gem, the 11 county party chairs comprising the 23rd Congressional District picked Bill Owens, a Plattsburgh attorney, as the Democratic Party’s candidate to replace John McHugh in Congress.

At first glance this seems to be a bit of an odd choice — I’m not sure what Owens, a registered independent, brings to the table here. There has been a bit of buzz about him, with a “national Democratic source” telling the New York Daily News’ Elizabeth Benjamin that “everybody is talking about this guy Owens, saying he’s the best of what’s left” after Aubertine pulled the plug. I have to hope that there’s something impressive about him, because he beat out two other finalists with more apparent advantages — one of whom had serious financial backing (McGrath) and the other a legitimate political resume (Sullivan).

UPDATE: CQ mentions a possible reason why Dems selected Owens, a former Air Force captain, for the job — they believe he may be willing to bankroll his own race. Perhaps the county party chairs were able to squeeze out an estimate from him.

LATER UPDATE: The Hill has a lil’ more:

Owens himself cited his work creating the Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corporation — known as PARC — as his key qualification. […]

Already, Owens strove to emulate [Rep. Scott] Murphy, who ran his campaign largely based on support for President Obama’s economic stimulus plan and distanced himself from traditional politics, all while associating himself with a president whose approval ratings were sky-high.

“I’m not a career politician.  I’m a veteran who proudly served my country in the Air Force and I have demonstrated the same commitment to bringing jobs to our community,” Owens said in a statement.

RaceTracker Wiki: NY-23

A long list of dudes applied for the Democratic nomination in the soon-to-be-vacant 23rd District of New York a couple of weeks ago, but many of the names were downright uninspiring. The Democratic county chairs in the district will select a nominee tonight, but it looks like they’ve already tossed out most of the chaff. From PolitickerNY.com:

Democrats have narrowed the field of potential candidates to replace John McHugh in Congress down to three people: Brian McGrath, John Sullivan and Bill Owens.

Sullivan, the former mayor of Oswego who serves as the deputy Medicaid inspector general, made a push in recent weeks to be considered and said he has raised around $30,000, with more funds pledged. McGrath is an attorney from New York who is a Lowville native. Owens is an attorney from Plattsburgh.

The Dem county chairs are currently finishing some chow right now, and will deliberate on the remaining three choices soon, with a decision to come later in the evening. We’ll keep you posted.

PPP (1/23-25, registered voters):

Michael Bennet (D-inc): 40

John Suthers (R): 34

Michael Bennet (D-inc): 43

Scott McInnis (R): 37

Michael Bennet (D-inc): 48

Tom Tancredo (R): 39

Michael Bennet (D-inc): 41

Bill Owens (R): 44

(MoE: ±3.2%)

The bad news is: few people in Colorado know much of anything about their new senator, Michael Bennet, appointed out of semi-obscurity (he was the Denver schools superintendent) to fill the seat left vacant by Ken Salazar. His favorable/unfavorable rating is 33/21, with a massive 45% not sure.

On the plus side, though, that leaves him plenty of room for growth, and his unknown-ness doesn’t seem to be hampering his prospects for re-election in 2010. Bennet wins three out of four prospective matchups, and the only one he doesn’t win is against popular former governor Bill Owens, who hasn’t given any indication of any intent to run against Bennet. Two of the other matchups are even more irrelevant, as Attorney General John Suthers and ex-Rep. Scott McInnis both took themselves out of the running in the days since the poll was taken. That leaves Bennet vs. Tom Tancredo, which doesn’t look to be much of a contest at this point.

H/t DTM,B!