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Senate:
• CT-Sen: Former U.S. Comptroller David Walker is considering a run for Senate, probably as a Republican (says the National Journal), but perhaps as an independent. Walker was originally appointed by Bill Clinton but served for many years under George Bush as well. He's now the head of the extremely wankerish right-wing Peter G. Peterson Foundation. (You may remember them from their ridiculous "OweNo" campaign — but you probably don't.)
• MA-Sen: Is this who Patty Murray had in mind? I don't quite think so, but anyhow, state Rep. Tom Conroy says he's joining the Democratic field.
• NY-Sen: Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos recently informed fellow Republicans that he plans to explore getting steamrolled by Kirsten Gillibrand.
• RI-Sen: WRNI is reporting that GOP ex-Gov. Don Carcieri will not run against Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse next year. Note that this is according to the station's sources, not from Carcieri himself.
• SC-Sen: Come on, really? Now Jim DeMint wants to run for president?
• TN-Sen, TN-09: Not that you were ever worried, but Rep. Steve Cohen quite emphatically ruled out a run for statewide office — ever. Said Cohen in response to a very unlikely "draft" movement: "I have but one political desire and that is the great 9th District. ... I get to represent Memphis, which is more meaningful to me than Tennessee."
• TX-Sen: Two pretty important endorsements for would-be conservative standard-bearer Ted Cruz: both Dick Armey's FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth gave their backing to the former solicitor general.
• UT-Sen: I've felt for a while that Sen. Orrin Hatch might be a good bit tougher to take down than Bob Bennett was last year. Like the second golfer up to the tee, Hatch had the chance to see what mistakes Bennett made and to learn from them. Among other things, it seems like he's figured out how to get at least part of the conservative movement to embrace him. Case in point: David Koch is hosting a high-dollar fundraiser for Hatch (along with NRSC chair John Cornyn) in NYC later this month.
• WI-Sen: Why does Russ Feingold need three months to decide on whether he'll seek Herb Kohl's seat? Feingold (who I honestly didn't think was even this interested) said he won't make up his mind until Labor Day, which leaves quite a few other candidates in the lurch. I'm aware that he encouraged others to get into the race, but when someone with Feingold's name recognition and reputation hovers over an election like this, it'll cause at least some donors, organizations and activists to wait-and-see.
Gubernatorial:
• NH-Gov: Republican robo-pollster Magellan Strategies shows Dem Gov. John Lynch beating possible opponent Ovide Lamontagne by a 56-35 margin. Lynch has not yet decided whether to seek a fifth two-year term.
House:
• AR-01, AR-02: Roll Call offers up three possible Dem names to take on freshman Rep. Rick Crawford in the 1st: state House Speaker Robert Moore, state Rep. Keith Ingram, and 2010 candidate Chad Causey, who was a former chief-of-staff to Marion Berry, the prior occupant of this seat. Over in the 2nd CD, Democrats are apparently trying to recruit ex-LG Bill Halter (who tried to unseat Blanche Lincoln in the Senate primary last year) to run against Karl Rove acolyte Tim Griffin, also a freshman.
• IA-04: Unusual: Rep. Steve King said on CNN that he would support phasing out the highly contentious federal ethanol subsidy (of seemingly sacred importance to Iowa's corn farmers). Though Roll Call suggests the move is designed to give cover to Republican presidential candidates, I wonder if King's statements could also play a role in his likely race against Democrat Christie Vilsack.
• ND-AL: It's getting mighty crowded: Two more Public Service Commissioners are thinking about joining the Republican primary field, Tony Clark and Kevin Cramer. Their PSC colleague, Brian Kalk, is already in the race (having previously downgraded from the Senate contest). Click the link for a detailed view of this trio.
• NH-02: DFA and the PCCC launched a new ad attacking Charlie Bass for his vote in favor of the Ryan plan. The buy is for $25K, and you can see the spot here.
• TX-35: Obviously the district number and pretty much everything else about this bullet is subject to change, but the Austin American-Statesmen suggests that if Rep. Lloyd Doggett tries to continue his career in the proposed 35th (should it be enacted), there are a whole bunch of Latino Democrats who could challenge him in a primary. They include state Reps. Trey Martinez Fischer, Mike Villarreal, Roland Gutierrez, and Joaquin Castro, and state Sen. Carlos Uresti. The last two have also been mentioned as possible challengers to GOP freshman Quico Canseco in the 23rd. (Is it still called the 23rd?)
Other Races:
• PA-AG: Ex-Rep. Patrick Murphy announced that he raised half a million bucks in the six weeks since announcing his campaign for state AG. He has $450K on hand.
• WI Recall: Some deep paranoia must be lancing through the Wisconsin GOP right about now. Somehow, someone secretly tape-recorded a meeting of the La Crosse County Republican Party and then leaked it to the press. Among the gems is a feeble (and hard-to-figure) attempt at ratfucking:
On the recording obtained by the Tribune, party vice chairman Julian Bradley says he just spoke with Mark Jefferson, executive director of the state GOP, and “we are actively keeping our ears to the ground and if anybody knows anybody for a candidate that would be interested on the Democratic side in running in the primary against Jennifer Shilling…. So if anybody knows any Democrats who would be interested, please let us know.”
Even better is this tidbit from Dan Kapanke:
"We’ve got tons of government workers in my district — tons. From La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We gotta hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th — or whenever the (election) date is."
Of course, I don't begrudge these guys having their strategy sessions, but it's never fun when the secret stuff is suddenly not-so-secret anymore.
Meanwhile, on the Dem side, Russ Feingold sent out an email blast to his list soliciting funds for the recall effort. And speaking of money, Ballotpedia rounds up the most recent batch of fundraising reports for all nine recall targets.
Grab Bag:
• Dark Money: The National Journal profiles GOP money-man James Bopp, who is trying to circumvent what remains of our federal campaign finance laws via a new (and currently-being-challenged) vehicle that called "the Republican Super PAC."
• Passings: Former California Treasurer Matt Fong, who challenged Sen. Barbara Boxer in 1998, passed away at the age of 57 due to skin cancer.
• WATN?: Meriden Patch catches up with Jodi Rell, who retired as Connecticut governor last year. The 65-year-old Republican has all but ruled out a return to politics and is occupied with being a "full-time grandmother."
Redistricting Roundup:
• Alabama: Trent called it: Both Houses of the Alabama legislature passed a new congressional map which keeps Chilton County in the 6th CD, much to the delight of state Sen. Cam Ward (and the chagrin of state Sen. Scott Beason, who had tried to move it into the 3rd). For a moment, it looked like we might see a serious showdown between the House and the Senate, since the Senate had initially sided with Beason and the House with Ward. But Trent banked on the more popular Ward getting his way, and indeed that's how things played out. Now the map will go to new Gov. Robert Bentley, who almost assuredly will sign off on what his Republican colleagues have drawn (though DoJ preclearance still awaits).
• Illinois: Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to sign the Democratic-passed redistricting maps on Tuesday.
• Texas: A few Texas links for you. The first is Charles Kuffner, who offers his analysis of the new GOP map. (In a word: "A joke.") Kuff also links to data helpfully provided by the Texas Legislative Council, which helpfully crunches election results for the proposed districts (you'll find both 2008 and 2010 numbers). Also of note: Dem Rep. Gene Green filed suit against the map (even though it hasn't passed yet); he says he's okay with his own district, but complains that the plan shortchanges Hispanics in the Harris County (Houston) area.
Finally, there may indeed be an explanation for the bizarro wrangling over when the lege would undertake redistricting after all. Most legislation in the state Senate requires a two-thirds vote to pass get brought to the floor, a rule which is in effect during the regular session. The GOP only has a 19-12 majority, which means they ordinarily need at least two Democrats to get anything done. But in a special session, this obstacle can be removed, and indeed Senate President David Dewhurst says it likely will be. Obviously, this would allow Republicans to pass a map in the face of unified Democratic opposition, and even a few defections of their own.
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